2 Budget-Friendly Recipes From Jody Allen’s ‘The $50 Weekly Shop’

There is no better time than now to start getting thrifty and to help you out, check out author Jody Allen’s cheap and easy to make recipes from her book called the $50 Weekly Shop, published by Penguin.

Put simply, you can’t go wrong. Plus the meals are super delicious!

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

What can I say – this is one of my favourite recipes!

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed
• 2 tablespoons chilli oil (see tip below)
• 1 × 400 g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup grated cheese
• chopped parsley, to serve

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C. 

Place the sweet potatoes on a baking tray and lightly rub with chilli oil. Bake for 1 hour or until soft and cooked through. 

Remove from the oven. Cut the top off each potato lengthways, scoop out a couple of spoons of the cooked flesh and place the tops and flesh in a bowl. Gently mash with a fork. Season to taste and stir in the beans. Spoon the bean filling evenly into each potato and top with the cheese and parsley. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown. 

* If you don’t have any chilli oil, simply add a pinch of chilli to 2 tablespoons of olive oil and stir well

Faster Pasta

This meal is not only fast (it’s ready in the time it takes to cook the pasta) but also incredibly frugal. Perfect for a weeknight meal.

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 350 g spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
• 1 small onion, diced
• 250 g bacon rashers, diced
• ½ red capsicum, diced
• 1 teaspoon butter
• chopped parsley, to serve
• 1 cup grated cheddar, to serve

Instructions

Cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions and keep warm. 

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 5–8 minutes or until fragrant and soft. Add the bacon and capsicum and cook for 10 minutes or until the onion is starting to caramelise. Add the butter, allow to melt then add the cooked spaghetti. Stir well to combine. Serve with fresh parsley and grated cheese.

To make this meal even cheaper I like to cook it the night before shopping day. It’s a great meal to ‘use up’ anything left in the fridge. So don’t strictly adhere to the recipe – use what you have! Other ingredients that work well include grated zucchini or carrot, or finely chopped mushrooms.

Both recipes were extracted from Jody Allen’s ‘The $50 Weekly Shop’ which can be bought here.