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As Skint Dad was packing for his trip to Austin, he left me and the girls to cook up this week’s cheat recipe.
Skint Dad isn’t the biggest fan of cheese sauces so this was probably a good one for him to skip. I got the girls to do pretty much all of this actually (it is very easy) and they devoured most of it too!
I like to get the girls to help out as much as possible (although I get a bit scared when they use the knives!)
We’ve not bought Macaroni and Cheese pre-made from a supermarket before and have just always cooked it with the bits we have laying around in the cupboard and fridge. This is probably why I love this recipe as even when we think we’ve got nothing left, we can get a batch of mac and cheese in less than 30 minutes.
Having a quick look on mySupermarket, there are quite a lot to choose from (but not all of them look that appetising…). Prices for the basic range start from just 30p for a can, which feeds two people (not sure what they put in it (not sure I want to)). The price goes up to £3.50 for a ready meal for one!
I popped some ham and tomatoes into our mac and cheese to make it a little more exciting but you don’t have to add anything extra if you don’t want to. Or, you could add in other things that you have laying around like cut up sausages, leftover chicken, mushrooms, sweetcorn, peppers – the choice is yours.
Budget Recipe: Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
- 300g macaroni (30p)
- 25g margarine/butter /spread (4p)
- 25g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 250g grated cheddar cheese, plus 50g for topping
- 100g chopped ham
- 4 tomatoes, chopped
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni as per packet instructions. This usually takes about 12 minutes.
- Start to melt the butter in a large pan, then mix in the flour until it turns into a paste.
- Cook for about a minute then add the milk, a little bit at a time, and mix into the butter and milk paste until it starts to absorb the milk. Add a little more and continue to stir in the paste.
- Continue this until all the milk is used then keep stirring until it starts to thicken.
- It should take about 10 minutes in total.
- Once it's thick, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese.
- Stir in the tomatoes and ham, then mix the cooked macaroni in.
- Add to an oven proof dish and sprinkle with the last of the cheese.
- Pop under the grill for no more than 10 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
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LydiaGrace says
Well done Skintmum, this looks absolutely delicious! As a student on a budget, the food recipes on this blog are always useful and interesting, but I think this one is my favourite!
Naomi aka Skint Mum says
Glad you’re enjoying them. Living on a student budget must be very tough! Bulk cooking and freezing may be your best option – if you have a big enough freezer :-)
Kate @ Money Propeller says
Oh, I Iove this one! I should try this one this weekend!
Naomi aka Skint Mum says
Please do, and let me know how you get on with it
Naomi aka Skint Mum says
It was very tasty! I love putting other stuff into a mac and cheese as it brings some colour to the dish and gives it a bit of variety.
We try to use anything we’ve got left over in the fridge, just to use it up. It makes it taste different every time (and usually adds a sneaky 1 of 5 a day for the kids!)
Odelle says
Shoreditch: Love Mac & Cheese, I try to add variety by adding crispy bacon & topping off with breadcrumbs made with stale bread, extra cheese & browned under the grill….Delicious!
Sarah G says
To save a bit of time making the white sauce, measure out the milk and bung in the pan, measure the flour and the sift into the milk, whisk, then measure and add butter, saves a bit of time and is less hassle making sure the roux doesn’t burn!
LeftSideDevil says
To make it easier to mix the milk, it really helps if you warm it up first – I put it into a microwaveable jug, in my microwave it takes about 3 mins to bring it up to temperature. It mixes into the flour and butter roux much more easily.
If you have it, a teaspoon of mustard powder mixed in with the flour and butter makes the sauce much cheesier. It also seems to work if you’ve just got “wet” mustard – I’ve tried with both english and french mustard and it does well (although I chickened out and used a little less of the hot english mustard).