Cheap Budget Meals - Lasagne

We, as a family, always enjoy Italian food.

Me, as the cook, I love to prepare an Italian meal.

As the shopper, Italian meals can be made and enjoyed on a budget! You may think that the ingredients will be expensive, however you can often buy budget pasta which is just as good and at a fraction of the price of branded pasta. You can also replace shop bought sauces with good old homemade sauce which are both cheaper and heathier!

This week I am going to tell you how to cook a lasagne on a budget.

This is my Cheap Budget Meal recipe this week...

Lasagne

Ingredients

300g lean minced beef (£1.50)
1 red onion, sliced (19p)
1 red pepper, chopped (80p)
1 lg carrot, grated (8p)
Lasagne sheets (95p per box)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (40p)
1/2tsp Oregano
Beef stock cube
300mls milk
60g mature cheddar cheese (£1)
15g butter
15g plain flour
1tsp wholegrain mustard (optional)

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200C

1 - Dry fry the minced beef with the onions until the meat is starting to brown

2 - Add the pepper to the pan and fry until both the onion and peppers have softened

3 - Mix in the grated carrot, the chopped tomatoes, oregano and beef stock cube

4 - Bring to the boil and reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes

5 - To make the cheese sauce melt the butter over a medium heat

6 - Stir in the flour and heat for a minute

7 - Gradually stir in the milk, bring to the boil stirring continuously

8 - Remove from the heat and stir in 2 thirds of the cheese and the wholegrain mustard

9 - To prepare the lasagne cover the base of an oven proof dish with half of the mince beef sauce

10 - Place a layer of lasagne sheets over the top of the sauce

11 - Cover the lasagne sheets with half of the cheese sauce

12 - Do another layer of the remaining sauce, lasagne and cheese sauce

13 - Top with the remaining grated cheese and place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until browned off and bubbling

This dish is delicious served on its own, with salad, or with garlic bread. If you have any leftovers it can be frozen and kept for another day! It can also be bulked out with extra vegetables like courgettes, mushrooms, and different coloured peppers.

This meal served all 5 of us with enough leftover for another meal for the twins for £4.92. That is just 98p per serving!

Enjoy x