Enjoy cheap family meals at Morrisons Cafes or cook up your own at home with Mrs Crunch’s tasty recipes

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has dished up a mega value meal deal for hard-pressed families. Everyone who dines out on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in August will be given up to £10 per person off their food bill at pubs and restaurants under the “Eat Out To Help Out” initiative. But can you dine just […]

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak has dished up a mega value meal deal for hard-pressed families.

Everyone who dines out on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in August will be given up to £10 per person off their food bill at pubs and restaurants under the “Eat Out To Help Out” initiative.

Getty Images - Getty

But can you dine just as well at a discount for the rest of the week? If you are going out, Morrisons has cut the prices of a string of family favourite meals in its cafes.

And if you are staying in, try these three hearty eats, each coming in at less than £2 a portion.

Meatball rigatoni pasta bake

Serves six – £1.44 per serving

Preparation time: Ten minutes

Cooking time: 90 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 handful fresh basil, finely chopped
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 500g lean pork mince
• 100g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 6 tbsp plain flour
• 500g rigatoni pasta
• 1 mozzarella ball, sliced
• 100g parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD: For the sauce, chop an onion, two cloves of garlic and the red pepper. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and lightly fry the chopped vegetables for ten minutes until softened. Add the tomatoes and basil and season before simmering over a low heat for 30 minutes.

Prepare the meatballs by adding 500g pork mince to a large bowl with a handful of chopped basil, 100g breadcrumbs, an egg, salt and pepper. Mix well. Shape the mixture roughly into the size and shape of golf balls, and roll each meatball lightly in flour.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan and add the meatballs, frying over a medium heat for five to seven minutes or until browned while carefully turning. Remove from the pan and rest on kitchen paper. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C. Cook the rigatoni in boiling, salted water until al dente.

Drain, return to the pan then add the tomato sauce mixture, stirring well. Add the meatballs to the pasta and sauce and mix. Tip into an oven-proof dish and lay the mozzarella across the top, followed by grated parmesan. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Quorn sausage casserole with beans

Serves four – £1.87 per serving

Preparation time: Five minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, very finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 150g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 200g mixed frozen pepper, slices
• 1½ tbsp smoked paprika
• 400g passata with onions and garlic
• 1 cube vegetable stock, using 150ml water
• 400g beans of your choice, such as butter beans, cannellini or black eye beans
• 1 pack Quorn frozen sausages, sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp parsley, freshly chopped

METHOD: Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and fry over a medium heat for four minutes until soft.

Add the garlic, mushrooms and peppers. Cook for a further three minutes. Stir in the paprika and cook for one minute further.

Tip in the passata and vegetable stock. Stir in the beans and the sliced Quorn sausages, then allow to simmer gently for six minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper before garnishing with chopped parsley.

Spicy tuna jackets

Serves four, £1.98 per serving

Preparation time: Five minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 4 x 145g tins of tuna chunks in springwater
• 1 red or green chilli, finely chopped
• 12 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 300g low-fat cottage cheese
• 4 large baking potatoes
• 2 handfuls of watercress

METHOD: Drain the cans of tuna, then mix the fish with the chilli, the tomatoes, the red onion, the coriander and the cottage cheese.

Bake the potatoes at 220C/gas 7 for approximately one hour. Run through with a knife to make sure they are soft throughout before eating.

Fill the baked potatoes with the tuna mixture, then garnish with watercress sprigs and serve.

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