This comes in at under £1 a head for four people
This creamy chicken pasta is a delicious budget-friendly recipe that is low fat and makes a great dinner recipe for the whole family.
A light evening meal, chicken and pepper pasta is an easy recipe for beginner cooks who want to cook something healthy from scratch. This makes a great lunchtime meal that can be taken with you to work or a dinner recipe that can be made within fifteen minutes.
You can even make this in the slow cooker if you prefer but we made it on the hob as it’s so quick to make anyway, especially when using frozen vegetables.
Finding easy-to-cook meals for your family on a budget isn’t easy.
Have a look at our huge selection of posts here to help you fill up your meal plan:
The Ultimate £1 Per Head Budget Meal Planning List – This is a complete list of our £1 family meals that are based on a family of 4. Use them to help keep your food bill in check while cooking amazing family dinners.
£18 a Week Food Budget Shopping List UK – This is a meal plan and shopping list that costs just £18 for the whole family. It’s not for every week but could help you take some of the pressure off.
101 Aldi Recipes That Will Give You Dinner Ideas For Tonight – This is a complete dinner meal ideas that will help you to decide what to have for dinner. This talks you through how to meal plan and how to save money on your grocery bill.
Free 20+ money saving printables
If you are looking for ways to save your family money then come join our free Resource Vault which is packed full of printables that you can use over and over again. We’ve included everything you need from our free six-week money saving challenge to our budget planners and meal plans.
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Easy meal ideas
If you are looking for easy-to-cook family meals that help you stick to a budget then have a look at Spicentice.
Spicentice sends out packs of spices that help to liven up your meals. What we love the most about Spicentice is that they include the exact ingredients you need and instructions down to the letter. This means that if you are a beginner cook then you can use this to start to cook your family great homecooked meals.
You can keep using them again and again. We started using them when we got stuck in a food rut and we didn’t know what to cook. What we liked was that they had family-friendly meal ideas that you could pick from.
Try Spicentice here using our code LASAVE20 and save 20% off every purchase*.
They are Slimming World friendly, vegan, and perfect if you want to spice up your family meals.
We have cooked loads of budget family meals with Spicentice.
Our favourite dinner recipes are:
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie For Just 82p Per Portion
Spaghetti Meatball Recipe For 73p a Head
Easy Chicken Fajita Recipe: A Family Meal for 94p a Person
Chinese Chicken Curry For Just £1.54 For 4
Really Easy Homemade Beef Burgers For Under £1 a Head
The Best Southern Fried Chicken Recipe For Under £1 a Head
Chicken Tikka Masala Curry For Under £4 a Head
The Best Katsu Curry Recipe For Under £1 a Head
The Best Turkey Curry For Under £1 a Head
The Best Firecracker Chicken For Just 99p a Head
Try Spicentice here using our code LASAVE20 and save 20% off every purchase.*
Chicken and pepper pasta recipe
This chicken and pepper pasta recipe is creamy and easy to cook. We use frozen peppers because it means we don’t need to prep anything and you only need to use as many as you need.
You can add bell peppers to make this a little spicy. We leave them out of the kids meals but add them at the end just before serving.
Instead of just red pepper, we buy our frozen peppers mixed as it helps give the dish that rainbow feel. You can also use chicken thighs if you prefer. We like chicken breasts as we buy them in bulk to freeze but any chicken would work great.
100g Lightest Philadelphia 80p
125g Wholemeal pasta 14p
125g Frozen peppers 25p
125g Cherry tomatoes 25p
10g Garlic 2p
400g Frozen chicken breasts £2.54
Total: £4 that’s £1 a head.
Start by boiling your pasta. Read the packet for boiling instructions but we normally boil ours for twelve minutes.
Defrost the chicken and chop it into chunks. Next, start to fry the chicken with a little water. Add some salt and pepper and garlic.
Once the chicken is brown, add the cherry tomatoes and frozen peppers. Leave to simmer for a little bit. You want the peppers to be soft.
When the peppers are soft and the chicken is white all the way through, turn off the heat.
Drain your pasta and add it to the chicken pan.
Add the Lightest Philadelphia or any other cream cheese you have to the pan and mix so the cheese is mixed throughout the dish.
Then serve.
Money saving tips for mums
If you are struggling to save money as a family then make sure you are doing the basics to keep more money in your pocket. Our top five tips for saving money are:
Meal planning
Meal planning is the best way to save money. Write down everything you plan on eating this week including snacks and drinks. Use this to make your shopping list.
If you need more help saving money on your food shop then have a look at our post here called The Ultimate Guide to Food Shopping on a Budget.
Compare prices
Make sure that you are switching your energy providers every year. This is an easy way to save money. You don’t even have to do much yourself.
Cashback sites
Make sure that you use cashback sites every time you shop online. We use OhMyDosh the most as they seem to have the best deals for what we need. You can even make money using OhMyDosh by watching a few videos are doing a few quick surveys.
Join OhMyDosh for free here and have £1 added to your account for free*
We also use Quidco. They are really easy to use and are a great way to get cashback online.
Related Posts:
- 101 Aldi Recipes That Will Give You Dinner Ideas For Tonight
- A Week of Budget Family Meals For Under £1 a Head
- 103 Frugal Living Tips That Will Save You Thousands in 2021
Budget right
If you are not sure where all your money is going then have a look at some of the online budget trackers. They can help you set financial goals and give you free budgeting ideas to keep you on track. These budget apps are great if you are technology-driven and have everything else on your phone.
We use Plum and Snoop. Read about the other budgeting apps that we’ve used before here.
Snoop is a free money management app that was created to help you manage and save money. Snoop wants to help you make smarter choices and get on top of your money. Snoop is free to use and offers you loads of features from warning you before money comes out and reminding you about any annual bills.
Download Snoop for free here on Apple and Andriod devices*
What we love best about Plum is that it keeps track of your money for you. You can adjust how much you want to put away and withdraw your money or move it at any time. Plum helps you to identify if you’re overpaying on bills and can switch you to a better supplier quickly, helping you save money.
Download Plum for free here on Apple and Andriod devices*
Shop your freezer
Freezer food is great when you just want a small portion of something. We buy all our meat frozen, vegetables and even some fruit. That way we only take out what we need and it stops it from going off.
Laura x
If you enjoyed this post and would like some more family friendly budget recipes or meal plan ideas, then head over to the budget food section here on Savings 4 Savvy Mums where you’ll find over 30 cheap posts dedicated to helping you cook and shop wiser for less. There’s enough tips to help you save over £300 a month! You could also pop over and follow my family food Pinterest boards for lots more ideas on how to eat well and spend less; Family Meal Plans on a Budget, Budget Family Meals & Budget Slimming World Recipes for Families.
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