One day this week, I did a variation of the bacon and sweetcorn pie. I used a tin of corned beef that was in the cupboard to make a corned beef pie. The pie only used half the tin, for a 4 portion pie. I used the other half to make 4 portions of beef hash which I’ll post in a bit. I was going to use mushrooms, but found that I didn’t have any, so used sweetcorn, but again, I’ll post it using mushrooms.
If you have some, gravy would go well with this.
Dirt Cheap Meals
I know that I specialise in cheap family meals, but pies are one of those base recipes that once you have mastered it, there are many variations that will mean using the same recipe, but giving you lots of different flavours to enjoy
If you like things like steak and kidney pudding, it would be worthwhile trying this cooked in that way. Instead of using a flan dish, put two thirds of the pastry in a one pound pudding basin, pile in the filling and top with the remaining pastry. Cover tightly with a lid or a double layer of greaseproof paper tied round the top of the basin tightly with string, and steam for about 2 hours. Can be done in a slow cooker to save fuel.
Substitute
- 70g chicken for the corned beef
- 70g bacon for the corned beef
- 70g salmon and prawns for the corned beef
- Sweetcorn for the mushrooms
- And of course, any of the variations can also be steamed as a pudding instead of baked as a pie, giving you yet more variety using the same recipe
good with any combination of vegetables that you have, as you can see from the picture, I used broccoli and cabbage
I will post about the hash I used the other half of the tin of corned beef for tomorrow, or of course, you could do 2 x four portion pies and pop one away in the freezer.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 100 g flour self raising 3p
- 50 ml veg oil £1.09/1 litre, 5p
- 50 ml cool water
Pie Filling
- ¼ tin corned beef value tins £1.59 40p
- 50 g onion chopped, 80p/kg 4p
- 5 ml veg oil 1p
- 50 g mushrooms frozen ones are cheapest at £1.92/kg 10p
- 15 g flour 5p
Served with
- 400 g potatoes 44p/kg 18p
- 160 g peas 66p/kilo, 11p
Instructions
Pastry
- Make the pastry. Put the 50ml oil and 100g flour in a bowl and add about 50ml water until you have a soft dough. How to make pastry using oil hints. Leave to rest while you make the filling
Pie Filling
- Sauté the onion in the 5ml of oil until soft.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until they have released their water.
- Mix the 15g flour with 100ml water and add to the pan. Stir around until thickened.
- Season, but be light handed with the salt as you will be adding the corned beef which is salty. Stir in the chopped corned beef . Leave to cool a little.
Assemble the pie
- Roll out just two thirds of the pastry and use to line a flan dish etc big enough for two portions.
- Pile in the filling mixture
- Roll out the remaining third of the pastry and place over the filling
- Bake the pie at 180C/160 fan/Gas 4 for about 30 minutes until golden
- Meanwhile cook and mash the potatoes and cook the peas.
- Serve the pie with the mashed potatoes and peas.
Nutrition
Other pies you might like
Like the idea of the stockpile log, don’t think I could be that organised tho 🙂
Well done with your dehydrator, that must have been very satisfying when you got that
I’m looking forward to the houmus recipes.
I’m also shocked at the price increase of what used to regarded as staples or economical ingredients. I have a stockpile and a stockpile log of all the food we have so I know that I paid £1 for a tin of spam and £1 for a tin of corned beef within the past couple of years. My tins of tuna cost 40p – but they were on a BOGOF offer about 2 years ago.
I agree with Helen that good food doesn’t have to cost a fortune, though I DO miss having a joint of meat occasionally. I’ve just bought a dehydrator after saving £1 a week from the food budget – that’s the only place there’s any wriggle room – and it took me ages, but I think I’ll continue to put aside £1 a week and put it into a treat fund.
yes I had noticed too how it has gone up horribly. This pie is something I had done a few times and wasn’t sure it would even hit the 50p mark any more it had gone up so much.
I am really enjoying the process of finding meals that are good to eat and that will fit this budget. Been reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall this morning and found some houmous recipes that I think will work well here. A carrot one, a beetroot one and a white bean one.
Glad you like the ideas, that’s what it’s all about for me
Love this idea for making corned beef stretch further. This is an ingredient I would use for a cheap meal when my kids were growing up making shepherds/cottage pie, hash or pasta bake with it. Now its doubled in price over the course of just 2-3 years like swede and potatos its almost a luxury food (how can a single swede possibly cost a £1? It used to be poor man’s food). I can remember a tin of corned beef in Aldi being just 79p and that wasn’t in the distant past but just a couple of year ago. Aldi’s is still reasonable compared with others, though, at around £1.65 a tin (not exactly sure as I don’t buy it often now). Thank you for all your great meal ideas; it just shows you don’t have to spend a fortune to eat good, satisfying meals.