Recipes to get you through the recession!

Here's a host of cheap and tasty recipe ideas to get you through the recession and out the other side.

The average Briton can make ten meals off by heart, according to a new survey commissioned by the UKTV Food channel.

Spaghetti Bolognese was the most popular dish, with 65% of those surveyed saying they could make it without having to look at a recipe.

The question is: are your favourite dishes likely to save you money or leave you out of pocket?

Here, I'm going to round up lots of affordable, tasty and easy recipes to add to your list.

Wartime austerity

Knee-deep in recession, people are beginning to take inspiration from wartime ideas about frugality and stoicism in the face of adversity (there's even a whole brand dedicated to the WWII slogan Keep Calm and Carry On).

When it comes to cooking, we young 'uns have a lot to learn about wartime austerity and the age of rationing.

To find old-style recipes that make a little go a long way, keep an eye out for a cheap second-hand copy of the excellent We'll Eat Again: A Collection of Recipes from the War Years by Marguerite Patten.

Alternatively, have a look through these frugal recipes from wartime Britain, and find out what an adult's wartime rations were in this wartime menu from the BBC.

Go veggie

Fresh meat and fish are generally pricy ingredients - and you can slash your meal budget by swapping to veggie alternatives a couple of nights a week.

If you're a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore, don't panic. The Vegetarian Society has an easy-to-use recipe index which lets you browse by meal type, by ingredients or by seasonal themes.

And there's now a huge range of meat substitute products, for those who still want to pretend they're eating meat. Cheap and easy options include this hearty sausage hotpot and this spaghetti bolognese.

Eat the seasons

Eating fruit and vegetables that are in season can help your wallet as well as the environment. Visit your local farmers' market or fruit and veg stall and you might the produce actually costs less than at the supermarket.

Ingredients grown locally are likely to be fresher,and therefore tastier, as well. Check the Eat the Seasons website to find out which ingredients are in season at the moment.

Waste not, want not

Most of us waste huge amounts of food - and money - by not properly using up our leftovers and by allowing things to go off.

The Love Food, Hate Waste campaign is dedicated to reducing food wastage in the UK. The website gives tips on food storage techniques, portion sizes and even has a list of store cupboard essentials, from which you can always conjure up a meal.

It also features lots of recipes for leftovers, like this beef and bean salad and this rhubarb, apple and orange compote.

Certain foods are particularly handy to have around, because you can use them in so many different dishes and make a meal out of practically nothing. For example, this list of recipes just shows you how many things you can do with an egg!

Healthy eating on a budget

In a recent poll commissioned by debt charity Christians Against Poverty, one in three people said they were now eating less healthily because of rising food prices and a squeeze on finances.

However, a strict budget doesn't mean your health has to suffer. The Beyond Baked Beans website was originally set up to help students eat well, and it has loads of easy, healthy recipe ideas for those living on a shoestring.

This is a particularly good recipe resource for people living alone, as (unlike many cookbooks) there's a whole section dedicated to quick meals for one or two people.

Community support

The Fool's Living Below Your Means and Recipes & Cooking discussion boards are excellent places to go for frugal tips and recipe ideas.

For example, here's a recipe for a slow cooker chicken curry. And if you're wondering which slow cooker you should go for in the first place, this Fool discussion thread will point you in the right direction.

Another thread shows how changing your eating habits could save you a fortune and improve your health.

And here are lots of great tips for having a celebratory buffet on a really tight budget.

Compare and save

When you're shopping online, you can cut your costs by using MySupermarket to compare the price of ingredients at Sainsbury's, Tesco, ASDA and Ocado.

And when it comes to the own-brand lottery, use the Supermarket Own Brand Guide to tip the odds in your favour. This website has loads of information on how own-brand and branded products compare - both in terms of taste and cost.

Bon appetit!

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