Come dine with me �1 per head

[curiosity]

Hi, My daughter and her friends have decided to do their own version of Come dine with me, being they are 16 they have decided on �1 per head for 3 courses, there's 6 of them. Any ideas apart from a trip to Heron?

[mrs_overall]

Starter - home made soup using seasonal veg. Try haggling with the greengrocer/market stall holder for veg that may be a bit battered but will be fine for soup
Main - pasta. There are a zillion recipes in books/on the net for cheap pasta dishes.
Pudding - baked apple is cheap & tasty. Maybe they could go pick some blackberries for free and make a crumble.
�6 will provide them with a feast if they shop around and use their imagination!

[indianwells]

Agree with Mrs Overall. To cut costs further use lentils instead of veg for the soup and make a blackberry clafoutis for the sweet. Both dishes cost pennies and may free up a bit of money for the main. Might even be able to stretch to a chicken pasta dish?

[ruthiebabie]

What about risotto - easy and cheap to make - can be bulked out with veggies.

[curiosity]

Thanks, Indianwells how do you make a blackberry clafoutis?

[mrrobbo15]

no suggestions but cracking idea......

[curiosity]

Yes I thought so too mrrobbo, they're even going to film the private comments & marks awarded! mrs _overall after your baked apple suggestions, she realised we have brambles and an apple tree in the garden. Will the apples be ready though, too be honest we rarely use them, they are cooking apples but normally september time we've had them or does it make a difference?

[ermintrude35]

...check out the supermarkets at around 4-7 o'clock for reduced items...most of the time the pre packed fruit and veg are fine, but because they have a bbd on them they have to reduce them.... ditto on beef mince , if they are making a pasta dish they could freeze the mince, or meat of choice on the day of purchace., and defrost on the day of the dinner party.....


....homemade pizza is cheap to make, summer pudding,(especialy if they go blackberry picking- I've been already) bread and butter pudding , homemade icecream if they can beg or borrow an icecream maker.....

if you live near the coast how about fishing for mackerel, or cray fish if you are near a river, or a supervised mushroom pick.... there's loads out there to be foraged.....

[ellylongden@]

make crepes fill with cheese , check out supermarket fishmongers for bargain fresh tuna or salmon and make fish cakes very quick and easy, bargains in greengrocers fresh veg and fruit for dessert,a few pence will make pastry for a fruit tart topped with ice cream

[indianwells]

Hi Curiosity! Well, basically it's a sweet Yorkshire Pudding batter with fruit added. You can use any fruit, most commonly cherries but they are expensive and blackberries are free if you pick them yourself.
125g/4�oz caster sugar
125g/4�oz unsalted butter
2 medium eggs, beaten
140g/5oz self-raising flour
� tsp baking powder
extra unsalted butter, for greasing
Just whip up these ingredients (Ross Burdens recipe) and once you've put it into a Yorkshire tin press down your fruit into the batter and cook in a hot oven till risen and golden.

[POLLIANNA]

Try looking for the supermarkets value range items. Asda's value pasta is only 19p as is Tescos. Some value tinned tomatos, tomato puree, herbs. If they look around they could have a great 3 course meal.

[curiosity]

Thanks Indianwells that sounds really nice.

[mrs_overall]

I have to say about your comment about not using the cooking aples from your tree - what a waste!!!!! Despite being in our 50's, every September me & Mr Overall go scrumping cooking apples from a tree in the back garden of a derelict house! Stewed apple (for pies, crumbles, apple sauce etc) freezes beautifully so get out there and get picking next month!
We have fruit trees in our garden and when we have a glut of fruit our kids have made extra pocket money by selling it at the garden gate.
Let us know how the meal went and what the kids made.

[curiosity]

I know mrs overall you're right, we give to the neighbours etc. but other than that they end up on the compost heap. I will post to say how the meals went, I'm interested to see how creative they are.

[curiosity]

Well it's the 3rd one tonight (I'm thinking they're going to be fed up with pasta!) My daughter done hers last night and set the table in our frame tent in the garden with fairy lights etc & music and flowers from the garden as a centre. She bought her ingredients in Somerfield & Heron all decent offers in the reduced section. She done Pate on toast for starters ("luxury" one off in Heron 39p) Homemade Lasagne, again with reduced or on offer items the dearest being the mince at �2.50 for 800g. Leafy Salad with Tatsoi (25p) French dressing 25p in the bashed up section Rooster potatoes (half price) roasted with garlic & herbs in olive oil (herbs and olive oil from cupboard so bit of a cheat) But the garlic and onions from allotment. Apple Crumble (off the tree) with Skinny Cow Vanilla icecream (another one off in Heron @ 50p) She worked hard and they all seem to have enjoyed it. My son has also become part of the group so it was �7 but that means here we go again! He wants to do the soup though, wasn't keen on the Pate and is marking his sister down for this! If you're interested in the other meals I'll let you know.