frugal feeding

At the beginning of the university term I decided I wanted to continue eating a wider range of foods. So I picked up tins of a number of different pulses, which come in at a wonderful 30p each and serve two, and thought I’d sort of “invent” a variety of dishes as I went along. Two of these tins contained butter beans, the first of which I used to make butterbean patties, but I really wanted to conserve the shape and textures of the butterbeans, so with some help from BBC Goodfood – which by-the-way is fantastic – this butterbean broth was born.

I like to think this meal has an Italian twist to it, because it’s very fresh and very light and healthy, which is really what I was aiming for. One of the main reasons for this is the use of fresh basil, something which is highly recommended – using dried basil isn’t really the same because it seems to lose most of its taste, and become rather unappealing. It is a little more expensive, but in this case, definitely worth it. Additionally, if you have time it is a really good idea to bake your own bread rolls to serve this with – they are so much better than those you buy in supermarkets, and using them really makes this dish super cheap.

Butterbean Broth {recipe}

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 400g tin of butterbeans

• 400g tin chopped, or peeled, tomatoes

• handful of fresh basil, ripped

• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

• oil

• seasoning

• bread to serve

Method:

1. Heat up some oil in a pan and quickly fry off the garlic. Add the tomatoes almost immediately, so the garlic doesn’t burn. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Add the butterbeans and half of the ripped basil. Stir, and season to taste. Cook on a medium heat for another 5 minutes.

3. Serve, as shown, in a bowl with bread. Scatter the remaining basil over the top.

Cost: This meal should cost, for two people, around £1-1.10. That means, after employing the use of some extremely complex mathematical equations, that this meal will cost around 50p per portion. Bargain!