Do the maths (or how to have supper with Nigel Slater for 31p)

Having your cut-price cake and eating it doesn't mean skimping on quality. Here are 10 satisfying dishes that don't require forking out a fortune…

I would always choose a bowl of dhal over a fillet steak. But then I never think of rice, beans, pasta or cheap cuts of meat as second-class ingredients, so it is going to be no hardship to eat more of them.

Once we start exploring the food of other countries we are in for a huge treat. Middle Eastern rice dishes, Indian pulse recipes, Thai and Chinese noodles all fit comfortably into a thrifty diet without a nod toward penny-pinch cooking.

The cheapest suppers don't have to be those with a carbohydrate as their backbone either. Many a time I have made a bowl of soup from chicken bones and vegetables.

The cheaper cuts of meat from the bits of the body that work hardest can provide sustaining meals, especially when they are cooked slowly with lots of vegetables and aromatics. But a piece of robustly spiced meat goes even further. Dunking a chorizo sausage into a bean stew, thinly slicing a piece of salami into a pasta dish and shredding a small cut of chicken through a pilaf are all methods I use regularly.

The only thing that will stop us eating well in times of tightened purse strings is our unwillingness to step out of our culinary comfort zone.

Bubble and squeak

Crushed potatoes fried up with greens and butter must be one of my favourite meals. It costs almost nothing and is at its best when accompanied by a pool of steaming gravy. I love the fact that such a meal is virtually free. Cost: 34p per head

Pilau rice

Mix a little onion, a few spices, some rice and stock, and let simmer – and there's dinner. You can stir almost any vegetable into it, but I try to add lots of fresh herbs, especially mint and coriander. Some pine kernels, though pricey, take a simple rice dish to another level. As supper goes, it doesn't come cheaper than this. I doubt you could spend more than £1 per portion, even if you put saﬀron in it. Cost: 94p per head

Pea and ham soup

The best of British soups. Soaking the peas overnight will help them to cook more quickly. Just boil them up with a ham bone and some roughly chopped onion, then when the peas are soft, blitz in the blender until thick. Ask your butcher or deli nicely for a ham bone while you are doing your shopping and it will probably come free. Cost: 31p per head

Noodle soup

The quickest, cheapest supper in town. If you don't mind a mouthful of E numbers you could use the instant Japanese ones that come in packets, or make your own with home-made stock and dried noodles and a bunch of coriander. Shouldn't cost more than a quid for a bowl, depending on what else you put in it. Cost: 64p per head

Macaroni cheese

The knee-jerk supper for the hard-up it may be, but few cheap meals oﬀ er such luxury. Creamy, satisfying and diﬃ cult to stop eating. Even better with a nice crisp salad to mop your plate. I thinks it's worth splurging on the cheese here, so you should reckon on a couple of pounds per portion. Just stir cooked pasta into your classic cheese sauce and bake till all is golden and bubbling. Cost £1.57 per head (including salad)

Meatballs in broth

Good-quality mince will never be particularly cheap (buy cut-price mince at your peril), but it goes a long way when served in small, well-spiced balls in a bowl of simmering broth. I always add bacon to my meatballs and grated Parmesan for extra ﬂavour. Home-made broth is best, but the ready-made stocks in the shops are only slightly more expensive. Cost: £1.62 per head

Baked pumpkin in chilli tomato sauce

A big pumpkin, cut into quarters and baked, is a sweet and warming supper. When it really shines is if you add a spicy chilli sauce. Try it made with tomatoes and lots of garlic. Pumpkins are at the end of their season now and very cheap. Be careful with canned tomatoes, though – budget brands are often watery. Cost: £1.13 per head

Butter beans and ham in cheese sauce

When I was a kid I used to eat this from a can, but if you make it with fat, juicy butter beans and a good cheese it can be wonderful. Add drained, canned butter beans to your usual cheese sauce, cover with Parmesan and bake. I often put bacon in mine, and parsley. The basics of this dish will leave you change from a ﬁver, but much will depend on how you embellish it. Cost: £2.23 per head

Mussels and chips

I am always amazed at how cheap mussels are. I bung mine in a big pan with a glass of white wine and a clove of garlic. I like mine the way the Belgians do, with chips on the side. As they're less than a ﬁver a kilo, I'd be tempted to throw in a glass of champagne. Cost: £2.49 per head

Braised neck of lamb

Few meat dishes carry this sort of satisfaction for the price. Very little on the butcher's slab is cheaper than bony pieces of meat such as neck of lamb, and little will enrich a pan of vegetables and water more successfully. I just stuﬀ a piece of middle neck into a baking dish with water, carrots, leeks and onions and leave to cook in the slowest possible oven. The odd potato, tucked in after an hour or so, will thicken the juices a little. Cost: £1.67 per head

Annual saving per person £393.81
Assuming you spend the UK average of £864.76 per person per year on evening meals at home