Low cost low fat meals.....help

This might sound a bit boring, but if you buy a big free range chicken (about 8 quid), you can get a load of meals from it, from roast chicken, to a bake, risotto, soup, sandwiches etc. with soup, you can stretch the stock out with lentils and vegetables.its all in the quality of the stock though, and isnt difficult to make, esp if you have a pressure cooker, it makes it really economical.

Pulses are definitely the way forward. I also find a little good quality smoked bacon (sod pancetta, it's too expensive and my butcher's stuff is better) goes a long way flavour wise. Instead of chilli try chopping up a few rashers of streaky bacon, frying with onion and garlic and then bung in a tin of chopped tomatoes and a heavy dose of paprika. Bulk it out with kidney beans, butter beans or whatever you fancy plus thciken it with tomato puree. Cheap and delicious.

Thanks, i've been printing off recipes and i'm going to buy some lentils/pulses etc. at lunchtime and try some of them, Nick you're sounding like HFW y'know ?

This may sound like a really stupid question, well it is a really stupid question, but what's so good about lentils/pulses? I know they're good for you but why? I'm just pre-empting my H's questioning when I get home. He's a bit of a gym bod but is always trying to cut down and tries not to eat pasta/rice too late in the evening, I want to be ready for the interrogation ? They're protein packed aren't they? So am I right in saying I could almost be using them as a meat substitute?

Yep - good to get your protein in different ways plus I think they count as one of your 5 a day. If your H is thinking about nutrition, tell him to get a copy of Anita Bean's Complete Guide to Nutrition.

Pulses are high-fibre, low-fat, low-GI, high protein and they're a good source of B vits too I think.

I'll 2nd (or 3rd) the bean and lentils, very cheap, especially if you buy dry and soak/boil. This is a great website for buying in bulk http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/script/home.html , we get our brown rice from them, all very good quality.

I make a similar dish to the one Baron described which we call "beany", loads of different beans with tomatoes, stock and smoked paprika. I can happily just eat a bowl on it's own but it's equally good with rice.

Risotto is cheap and if you don't add parmesan I guess it's low fat, although I'd take the hit on that.

I make a lovely rice dish which is known as "fire rice" in our household. Which is boiled rice cooked off in a pan with soya and green beans, cashew nuts, coriander and Swartz Thai Spice. I suppose technically speaking nuts are high in fat oh and quite expensive but it wouldn't matter if you left them out.

Can you tell we eat loads of rice? ?

I've also found that meal planning has made a vast difference. I go the shop and keep a list on the fridge of possible meals and then make sure I use it all up with lunches and snacks so nothing is wasted.

A really easy lentil soup:

Fry some (2 or 3 rashers-ish) chopped bacon or pancetta until well coloured. Add a finely chopped onion and fry until translucent. Add 1tsp ground cumin, 1tsp ground coriander and a some good twists of black pepper and stir for a minute or so. Chuck in a bit of tabasco or chopped chilli if you like it spicier.

Add 300g red lentils, a tin of chopped tomatoes, and stock (chicken or veg, fresh or cube, whatever you like). Add veg if you like (root veg works well) but it's nice as it is.

Cook for about 40 minutes or so. Check seasoning - likely to need more pepper but probably no salt if your stock was salted.

Stir in fresh herbs if you like (coriander or parsley) but it'll be fine without, and serve with crusty bread.

If you've not been shopping you can live without the bacon, but bacon does give lentil soup, and indeed many other soups, a lovely extra flavour dimension.

Pooch, that site is fab, really bargainous! ?