This is a spin off from our Good Food on a Budget post, for those who just want to look for affordable meats. So we’re focusing mostly on the cheaper cuts of meat and looking at how to cook them.
One of our Mums used to cook in bulk for an elderly couple, and needed to work to a budget. She says “For budget, you can’t beat mince or eggs. Our personal go-to for budget meals are cottage pie (I can get 6 portions out of a kilo of mince). Chilli con carne with a baked potato. Egg frittata with tinned salmon or sausage. Possibly butter chicken when I stretch the meat with lots of vegetables.”
Mince dishes
- Savoury mince. Usually refers to pan cooked mince with some veges added. But you could also use beans, lentils or grains to bulk it up. Serve it with rice, mashed potatoes, pasta or on toast. Just a Mum NZ’s Savoury Mince ~ Aussie Woman’s Weekly Savoury Mince ~
- Leftovers: When I used to go to Youth Group in my teens, we would often have a games night, with Toastie Pies all round. Everybody brought a tin of baked beans, a tin of spaghetti or some leftover savoury mince. It all went into one pot and was heated together to make the Toastie Pie filling.
- Cottage pie (beef) – for a change from potato on top, try mashed pumpkin or kumara. Or make shepherd’s pie with minced lamb instead. Traditionally these were ways to use up leftover roast meat, but they can also be made from raw minced meat. Beef & Lamb NZ’s Cottage Pie ~ NZ Woman Weekly’s Cottage Pie ~ Edmonds Shepherd’s Pie ~ Jamie Oliver’s Shepherd’s Pie ~
- Chilli con carne (use your favourite recipe, or see one recipe here) can be made up with lots of veg and some legumes (see here for how to prepare beans, and for more legume recipes). Serve in different ways for variety – on rice; on mash (potato, pumpkin, kumara); as nachos with corn chips, sour cream and guacamole for a treat meal – Hearty Chili with vege ~
- Bolognese sauce – serve it the classic way (with spaghetti), layered to make lasagne, mixed with pasta and baked, or with zuchini noodles (if you’re gluten free or keto). NZ Woman’s Weekly recipe ~ Taste Aus’s recipe ~
- Curried mince – choose between retro Australasian style or a more authentic Indian recipe – Verve 80’s Curried mince ~ Classic Curried mince – slow cooker style ~ Easy Keema Curry ~
- Meatballs – can be served with pasta and a tomato sauce (TIP for tomato based dishes – instead of tomato puree, use tomato paste, which is more concentrated, and thin it with a little homemade stock.) Great for taking to a potluck or adding to a lunchbox. Oven Baked Beef Meatballs ~ Chelsea Winter’s Spaghetti & Meatballs ~ Cheesy Baked Meatballs ~ Nadia Lim’s Basic Meatballs ~ Low Carb Meatballs suitable for keto, starch free or gluten free diets
- Meat patties for homemade burgers – stretch the meat out with some added grated veges (eg. carrots or silverbeet) and the kids won’t know. Make them in bulk and freeze some to quickly cook up another time. Use chicken or fish for some variety. Josh’s secret recipe patties ~
- Meat loaf – can also add grated veges or hide some liver. Good for lunchboxes too – in a sandwich or just sliced. Edmond’s Meatloaf (with sausage meat as well) ~ RecipeTinEats Meatloaf (with just mince) ~ Chicken Meatloaf ~
- Make your own “sausages”. Bought sausages are largely filler. Make your own for better nutrition. Or even easier, don’t worry about casings and make a shaped sausage or patty – Breakfast sausages ~ A variety of breakfast sausage recipes ~
- Any style of cooked mince – chili, bolognese, curried, or herby – can be used to make “loaded baked potatoes“. Add some grilled cheese on top, or some sour cream.
Corned Beef
If you’re struggling even to manage the cost of mince, tinned corned beef is another budget option. There are a surprising number of ways you can make a hearty, satisfying meal from it.
Beef / steak
Pak’n’Save have a good chart that shows the different cuts of beef, from cheapest to dearest and how to cook them
- Corned beef / silverside is the cheapest. Although it’s described as being roast-able, that’s not the best way to cook it. If you have a crockpot / slow cooker, try this recipe. Otherwise good old Edmonds has a 30 min simmer recipe.
- Other economical cuts that require a long, slow cook in liquid include beef shin on the bone (which will also give you a nourishing broth), blade, chuck or brisket. Slow Oven Cooked Beef Shin ~ New World Slow Cooker recipes for brisket, topside, chuck or blade steak ~
- You can also slow cook these cheaper cuts of meat in the oven, as long as you do some prep the day before to tenderise. See how to do that here.
- The best priced roast beef is topside – sear it first, then roast it. The Butchers Block NZ Topside Roast ~ Hello Fresh Topside Beef ~ NZ Woman’s Weekly Slow Cooker Topside ~
- The cheapest frying steak is usually rump steak, and it can be lot cheaper if you buy a whole rump, then slice it up and freeze it. You could use a steak mallet to tenderise it, or marinate it, though the following recipes don’t require that. Just a NZ Mum’s Perfect Rump Steak ~ Hello Fresh Honey Mustard Rump Steak ~
Lamb
The Pak’n’Save chart for lamb.
- Lamb mince is a lot more expensive than even the dearest beef mince, but you could look out for it being on special. Or if you can source some cheaper lambs fry, to supplement it, you could try Lamb patties with liver.
- The most affordable cuts of lamb are all on the bone – shoulder chops, leg roast or lamb shanks. They can all be roasted, braised, stewed or slow cooked. How to choose, store and cook perfect lamb chops ~ Perfect Roast Leg of Lamb ~ Variety of Roast Lamb Recipes, including slow cooker ~ Oven Roasted Lamb Shanks ~ Chelsea Winter’s Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks – oven or slow cooker options ~
- If you can get some cheap lamb bones, they can be used instead of pork bones in a boil up. See the recipe under Pork.
Chicken
The chart for cuts of chicken.
A complicating factor with chicken is whether you buy commercial or free range – hence the wide spread of prices. Commercial chicken will probably rank alongside beef for price, but free range will be more expensive gram for gram.
- If you would eat every part of the chicken, a whole chicken is probably the most economical. Cook whole or cut into parts. It can be roasted, rotisseried, poached, slow-cooked, air-fried, or barbecued. Then use bones or carcass in stock or soup. Oven Roasted Whole Chicken ~ Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken ~ Citrus Braised Slow Cooker Chicken ~
- If you prefer chicken parts, drumsticks are one of the most economical. Again, save the bones for stock. If you don’t have enough, keep them in the freezer till next time. A Collection of Chicken Drumstick recipes ~
- Chicken breasts are cheaper per kilo if bought skin on and bone in – bonus, saving the bones for stock, of course. The meat is more dry than other cuts of meat, so cook it in ways that keep the moisture in. Lots of different recipes here ~ One of our Mums cooks them in the slow cooker or pressure cooker with spices and herbs. “Shred them and have with rice and sour cream, guacamole and cheese and salad. Or as tacos / wraps.” Another often uses minced up chicken instead of beef in homemade burgers.
- Chicken wings can also be economical, especially if bought in bulk. Baked chicken nibbles or wings – a lemon honey version, a satay version, another citrus version I tried a few years back, or my current rough and ready version that works for most diets – mix together a large spoonful of ground almonds with a sprinkling of salt and some moroccan spice, dry the nibbles and dip in the mix, bake 20-25 mins each side at 200C.
If people are really on a budget and up for a challenge, one option is learning to cull a hen or rooster. It’s easier than you think. People often give away hens that are no longer laying or unwanted roosters. If braised long and slow you can then remove the meat to add to stews or soups creating a nutrient dense meal for virtually no cost.
Pork
The chart for pork. And for bacon.
- Pork mince is more affordable than lamb, but still a bit more than beef. Use with other minces in a meatloaf.
- A leg of pork is probably the cheapest kind of roast you can do. How to roast different cuts of pork – with or without crackling.
- Use pork bones (free range if possible) to make a classic Kiwi boil up. This recipe uses potato, purple kumara, cabbage and watercress and includes instructions for doughboys (dumplings). One of our Mums regularly makes boil up for her growing youngsters. She adds a slosh or 2 of vinegar to help pull more minerals out of the bones. She adds sea salt for even more minerals. For greens, she says watercress is best, otherwise cabbage, puha or silverbeet. In Wellington, purple kumara are not so common and she will often use carrot instead (one of the cheapest root veges). She uses GF flours for the doughboys and they still work fine.
- Another recipe for gluten free dumplings
Organ meats
If you’re not used to cooking with these, you might not be keen. But they are actually the most nutritious parts of the animal, and are often cheaper than muscle meat. One of our Mums says “Offal is not expensive from butchers or the supermarket. I find rural people who homekill often don’t eat offal so I have friends who save it for me. Lambs fry with egg and avocado; Beef heart stew; Fried sliced lambs heart; would be our favourites.”
- Chicken livers are a milder flavour than beef or liver, so are probably the most accessible if you haven’t eaten liver before. The best known chicken liver recipe is pâté. Try one of these recipes:
- classic
- with sausage seasoning
- with mushrooms
- as a mousse.
- Beef liver / lambs fry:
- Two tips for making liver more enjoyable:
- Slice very thinly, then cook quickly in butter. This will give you a nicer texture.
- Pair with a sweet vegetable like pumpkin or kumara, to soften the strong flavour
- Moroccan Lamb Liver
- Lamb Liver Pâté
- Liver balls in tomato sauce.
- A collection of recipes with hidden liver.
- Two tips for making liver more enjoyable:
- Kidneys:
- Chicken or Ox Heart:
- Tongue:
Related posts
Recipe posts compiled by Deb.
For more recipes, go to the Recipe Index page
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