LIFE

Mum shares meal idea which feeds 'entire' family for under £5 – using leftovers

Last modified on Wednesday 10 May 2023

Dinner / child eating dinner

A TikTok mum has shared a delicious recipe, that's not only budget-friendly but uses up loads of items from your cupboard as well ...

If you're looking for a new budget recipe to add to your arsenal, a TikTok mum has shared a meal you'll definitely want to try.

Sophie, 24, from Brighton, otherwise known as @budgetmumsoph on the platform, has shared a clever way to feed her family for less than £5 with a delicious cheap and easy meal.

And she's whipped it up using leftovers!

The meal comes to just £3.11 altogether, and provides the perfect way to use up store cupboard essentials you're bound to have, too.

@budgetmumsoph Let’s make dinner for under £5 #budgetdinner #dinnerideas #budgetdinneruk #aldimeals #aldirecipes #dinnerideas ♬ Natural Emotions - Muspace Lofi

The mum explains how to use lasagne sheets to make filled cannelloni pasta on the cheap, saying they're are a 'cheaper' alternative to 'big pasta.'

'A cannelloni-type dinner,'

'So lasagna sheets. I seem to accumulate these all the time and we actually don't have lasagna that often so instead I decided to make my own sort of cannelloni-type dinner,' she said.

The mum went on to explain that she partly cooks the lasagne sheets so that she can roll them up 'like big pasta.'

And after creating the filling, which is made of spinach and ricotta cheese, the lasagne sheets just need to be filled and rolled up into a cannelloni shape.

Sophie went on to repeat this process several times before adding passata and mozzarella on top, and baking her dish in the oven.

'I'm no chef I'm just trying to make budget different easy dinners'

'So easy. I mean I'm no chef I'm just trying to make budget different easy dinners, and here we go,' she said in the clip.

'It was so yummy as well.'

Sophie also revealed how much each ingredient cost her for anybody who wanted to try recreating the dish themselves.

The full ingredients list is as follows:

'Spinach - £1.09, 54p used.

'Lasagne sheets - 79p, used 40p. Ricotta - £1.25. 

'Passata - 45p, used 23p. Mozzarella - 69p.

'Total cost - £4.25. Ingredients used - £3.11.'

Sophie regularly shares budget dinner ideas and snacks on her TikTok account, including a recent video demonstrating how she made pizza roll ups for her toddler.

If you're looking for more cheap recipe ideas to try, here are 30 great ones for large families.

Or, if you need help structuring your family's food, why not try out this budget meal planner ...

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