Money and Food

When I hit the age of 19, I started being able to cook. It took a year of living alone and eating raw carrots and cereal for dinner to realise that there must be more to cooking than this. At home, my mum was never very interested in cooking. Having four children, plus their friends for dinner each night took away some of the joy I imagine. So when Matt and I started dating, he did all the cooking...and it was for the best. Somewhere in the next year, I started cooking meals, and I started to cook them well.  A process I really enjoyed. Once we got married I took responsibility for our weekly menu plans and food budget. This was an interesting experience as we came from two very different mindsets. Matt likes to budget, plan and cut the food budget if there are greater needs. I had no self control, would go to the shop and buy what I fancied, random ingredients that I didn't need. No wonder I got stressed about how much I spent on food. I guess it wasn't really helping that I was pretty certain my way was best (I was/am very stubborn). 

Haha, but I was WRONG. Once I started thinking about the meals at the beginning of the week, planning what we would eat and fitting it within a budget, I realised it was actually a lot of fun. But the biggest lesson I learnt is that having control of your money helps you feel more in control of your life. This means that you can save money for exciting things, and you also tend to eat more healthily. 

I don't profess to be a pro, but I know that being a good steward of your money makes life a lot more fun. So this is for all you students, savers and those wishing they ate more healthily.

Each Wednesday I will post a cheap and healthy recipe for you. Why Wednesday? It's the day I usually am busiest or most tempted to buy rubbish food from the corner shop. At some point I may post our whole week's menu plan, cheap lunch options and budgets. These recipes are vegetarian, which means healthier, cheaper and often more delicious.

Vegetarian Chilli with homemade Tortilla chips

This recipe is adapted from Jamie Olivers vegetarian chilli. It serves 4 as a main so you can freeze it for another day. This meal costs £3.70 from Sainsburys (meaning it may be cheaper if bought in asda, tesco, lidl etc). I haven't taken into account the price of herbs and spices as they may already be in your cupboard/garden. 

The Chilli                                                                            The Chips

2 sweet potatoes                                                                Tortilla wraps

1 onion                                                                               Salt

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

2 tins (400g) chopped tomatoes

2 tins of beans (I use kidney beans and chickpeas)

Garlic

Chilli flakes/powder

Coriander

Cumin

Cinnamon

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Sprinkle with a pinch of cumin and cinnamon, drizzle with olive oil and scatter with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to coat then put them on a baking tray. Put the tray of sweet potato in the hot oven to cook for 40 minutes until soft and golden.

Peel and roughly chop the onion. Halve, deseed and roughly chop the peppers. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Put a large pan on a medium-high heat and add a 3 tbsp of olive oil. Add the onion, peppers and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add the herbs and spices and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.

Drain the cans of beans, then tip them into the pan with the tinned tomatoes. Stir well and bring to the boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and leave to tick away for 25 to 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it, and add a splash of water if it gets a bit thick.

Get the roasted sweet potato out of the oven and stir it through your chilli.

Turn the oven down to 170°C/350°F/gas 4. Chop up the number of tortillas you want into wedges and place on a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt and put in the oven for 12 minute, turning them over after 6 minutes.

Taste and season the chilli with salt and black pepper, if needed. Serve hot with the tortilla chips. Optionally serve with grated cheese, soured cream or guacamole.

Enjoy!

PS. Matt and I are going on Holiday in two weeks, which means we are in Super Save Austerity Measures Mode (SSAMM as I will now call it). 

It's gonna be so worth it though!

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