Super Cheap and Tasty Spaghetti Bolognese

Hello!

Due to this challenge I have had to figure out a really cheap meal that I could cook in bulk and eat hot or cold. And that meal was... SpagBol

I know, not the most original of cheap meals, but hey, it's a classic for a reason.

No, I did not take a fancy picture of mine, but I swear it tastes as good as this one looks!

Now I had never actually made a SpagBol before, so I was just kind of making it up as I went along, and what I ended up with was delicious, nutritious, and less than a pound a portion.

So here is my recipe :)

Ingredients:

Bought from Aldi:

500g Spaghetti - £0.20
3 tins Chopped Tomatoes - £0.93
2 tins Kidney Beans - £0.46
Family Pack Peppers (6) - £1.17
Pack of 3 Courgettes - £0.89
Onions - £0.59
Beef Mince - £2.59 (unfortunately it doesn't say how many grams on the receipt and I have thrown away the pack now! It was a fairly big pack, if that helps)

Total spend - £6.83

Items that I already had

Mushrooms
Garlic cloves
Balsamic vinegar
Oil
Mixed herbs

I'm not sure exactly what this costs but I'm pretty sure if you shop at the right places that all in all it would come under ten pounds.

This recipe makes Ten Potions :)

• Fry two onions and four finely chopped cloves of garlic until they are nice and soft and a light brown colour.
• Add in three chopped peppers (I used two red and one green) and fry until slightly softened.
• Chop up one and a half courgettes and add them to the pan. Fry until they start to brown.
• Slice as many mushrooms as your heart desires and add them too. Fry until they are brown and slightly reduced in size.
• In a separate pan, fry your mince until it is brown all over.
• Next, combine your browned mince with your veg.
• Add the two tins of kidney beans and three tins of chopped tomatoes. 
• Pour in a good few glugs of balsamic vinegar, and season with the herbs. 
• Leave to simmer.
• While your sauce is simmering, cook all of the spaghetti.
• When your sauce has reached the consistency you would like (I boiled most of the liquid off and kept it nice and thick) add in your spaghetti.

So this is definitely not a diet food. Lots of pasta, oil, and mince. But it is a good meal packed with loads of nutrition that will get you through the day, and it's so cheap! You could use whatever veg you wanted. I think the kidney beans are a good addition, as if you're making the mince stretch over ten portions it's good to add something else in for more protein, and they are only 23p a can!

Also, I did have most of a pack of onions, three peppers, some mushrooms, and one and a half courgettes left over to use in other meals (mostly omelettes - yum!) so that's a plus.

Best of all, it's really easy to cook. You may need to stretch it out over a few pans, as it's pretty hefty, but it's basically a one pot dish. Then you can split it into ten little tubs (always keep your takeaway containers!) and freeze it. It reheats no problem.

So if anyone else in the world wants to eat cheap and still fill their bellys with good food that's easy to cook - I would recommend this wholeheartedly. 

Enjoy.