Cannellini bean pasta

Cannellini bean pasta

This is a simple and really cheap recipe for all the vegetarians out there or for those who may not have the money to get the mince usually used. Now most people make spaghetti using jars of sauce when it is a lot cheaper to make your own.

Now there are some elements of the sauce you can alternate, if you don't like mushrooms or cannellini beans you can switch them out for alternative such as chickpeas and other 'soft' vegetables.

 

Recipe Statistics:

Approx. cost: £0.65 per portion*

*Dependant on sales and place of shopping

Serves: 2

(easily adapted to serve 4 making each portion cheaper)

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: <10 mins

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 portions of spaghetti (approximately 1/3 of a bag)
• 1 tablespoon oil (for frying)
• 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 mushrooms (sliced)
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 mug of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1/2 310g can of cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
• 12-15 black olives

 

How to cook it:

1. Place spaghetti in boiling water to cook.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds; then add the mushrooms and fry for a further 1 minute.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 4-5 minutes; constantly stirring. It thickens slightly as it cooks.
4. Drain the spaghetti and put on a plate and pour the sauce over and eat!- You could always add a slight grating of cheese at this point but that will increase the portion price (but a good use for left over bits of cheese).

Alternatives:

• Type of pasta: This works amazingly well with any type of pasta that holds sauce such as penne, fusilli and conchiglie; as well as any other form of spaghetti widths.
• Beans: You could alternate the cannellini beans with chickpeas just add a little extra water and cook for a few extra minutes.



Some buying tips and tricks...

Here are a few buying techniques that can really cuts your bill; clearly this will not be applicable to every lifestyle or it might not be physical possible due to space limits.

• Buy in bulk:-
  Buying large bags of pasta, rice and other non-perishables will really save you money per gram; however this might not be possible if you live in small student accommodation. However choose one item you use a lot to buy in bulk this will save you money.
• Buy meat from a local butchers and NOT supermarkets:-
  Buying from small time butchers will help you multi-fold, firstly you will get higher quality meats, secondly better price per pound and thirdly you will get to know them and they will more likely give you better prices. Meat in plastic wrap on market shelves (even on 'offer') are not the best deals going and are often where people spend the most money.
• Keep you cupboard stocked with the basics:-
  Everyone should have the basics kept in the house to throw together a tasty and healthy meal without having to buy new ingredients every time! Keep posted for a post about this coming up soon!!!
• Use the reduced sections:-
  In almost every supermarket there are products that are marked down because they are close to expiry dates or because the packaging is damaged; either way they are usually amazing savings. This is a great place to buy meat, veg and tinned goods (usually there because they are dented); buy foods you can make into a freezable meal/ freeze itself to increase the shelf lives of these items.
• Cook once- eat twice+ :-
  This is really simple, it usually only costs pennies extra to make an additional portion of a meal (in fact most people make more than they need and then end up throwing it away!); so instead of ditching it tub it up and throw it in the trusty freezer for a quick meal another day. This is excellent for sauces such as bolognaise and chili but also for soups and casseroles.
• Use those left overs carefully:-
  Okay, so say you have cooked a chicken for the Sunday roast but the whole chicken wasn't used (I recommend getting a whole chicken for this very purpose- really cuts down on both money and cooking time!!!!!); so instead of throwing away the rest get as much of the meat off the carcass as possible and use it for additional meals, such as meat for wraps, meat to add to dishes the next day or even freeze the chicken meat and reheat when needed. Now the bones don't have to be wasted either, its extremely cheap to make your own chicken broth which can be added to a variety of dishes and is easily frozen. Now this isn't just for chicken but for most meats and veg too! All the recipes on the blog will have links at the bottom of the page to recipes that could easily use up the left overs.

I hope you find these tips useful; if I find more techniques for reducing food bills I will add them to this post so keep checking back :-)

Helen x

A little about me...

Hey to all the people who have taken the time to read this blog,

We all know that today's society is extremely hard on peoples pockets, costs rising and average income falling; so it makes sense that everyone is trying to save where they can. This doesn't begin to cover the amount of debt the people of Britain owe, when so many people are forced into lending money to cover things they are made to believe they need. So the aim for this blog is a simple, to help people save money on one of the largest spending areas of every persons lives: Their Food Bill!!!

This blog will help people who are trying to pay off debt or save money for an occasion or simply for people on a low income who have a tight budget to stick to... the blog posts will vary from budgeting techniques to recipes and I cannot guarantee a strict timetable but I will attempt to get a post up weekly about each of these topics.

So I suppose I should tell you why I decided to start this blog; my name is Helen and I am full time student dependant on my student finance to get me through life. I currently live with my parents and two of my brothers; however my sister and her daughter eats with us every day and sometimes there are four more mouths to feed if my oldest sister decides to visit with her kids.

Well my student finance isn't the only money coming into the house but I try and help where I can; since I don't pay rent people presume its easy to save money but in the first two years of my course I was extremely reckless with my spending and I currently owe roughly £30,000 to student finance. So since this is my final year I have three pay checks to accomplish a few goals:

1. Get a job!!!! Most importantly!!!!
2. Save money to pay off some of the debt I owe!!!
3. To show my family I am not reckless any longer by helping to manage the food bills and cutting the food bill for the house through cheaper meals!!!

So of those three aims (not including getting through University) I need to really focus on my spending and getting the advice I receive to those who need it like I do.

If you believe this blog will help please follow the blog and also comment below which category you are so I can focus the blog for those who are reading it.

Many thanks,
Helen Marsh x