Cheap dinner ideas under $15: Home cook makes potato pasta for $3 per serve

Home cook shares ‘best meal ever’ that will feed a family-of-five for less than $3 a serve

  • Home cook prepared potato pasta for $3 per serve
  • The meal was enough to feed one adult and four kids

An amateur home cook has shared his ‘quick and cheap’ recipe for a ‘fulfilling’ meal costing just $3 per serve.

For his family Craig prepared ravioli with frozen peas, corn, red sauce, and mashed potato topped with cheese.

While he admitted the dish wasn’t ‘five star’, it was ‘yummy, easy, cheap and the kids loved it’.

Sharing images to a popular cookery group, the meal was enough to feed himself and four kids aged between two and 13. 

The homemade dinner idea comes at a perfect time as families stretch budget due to an increase in expenses. 

For his family Craig prepared ravioli with frozen peas, corn, red sauce, and mashed potato topped with cheese, which only cost $15 – $3 per serve

The homemade dinner idea comes at a perfect time as families stretch budget due to an increase in expenses (pictured: the ingredients used)

The homemade dinner idea comes at a perfect time as families stretch budget due to an increase in expenses (pictured: the ingredients used) 

‘Halfway through I mashed half the potatoes which turned out to be a good idea – made the meal more fulfilling,’ Craig wrote.

The dish is roughly cost $15 total – $3 per serve – for one adult and four children.

The meal also would’ve taken around 15 minutes to prepare by boiling the pasta, mashing the potatoes and adding in all remaining ingredients. 

The end result looked delicious and satisfied the whole family.  

'Halfway through I mashed half the potatoes which turned out to be a good idea - made the meal more fulfilling,' Craig wrote on Facebook

The meal also would've taken around 15 minutes to prepare by boiling the pasta, mashing the potatoes and adding in all remaining ingredients

The meal also would’ve taken around 15 minutes to prepare by boiling the pasta, mashing the potatoes and adding in all remaining ingredients

How much did everything cost? 

Ravioli – $5 on sale 

Sauce – $3.50 

Small canned potatoes – $1.40 

Parmesan cheese – $4 

Frozen peas and corn – $1.10 estimate 

Total: $15

Cost per serve: $3

The Facebook post inspired other home cooks to replicate the dish themselves for next to nothing and thanked Craig for the idea.  

‘Good job Craig, it sounds simple but delish, and if your kids loved it that’s all that matters. I would have loved it too!’ one wrote. 

‘Looks good!!!! I always stock up on those pastas when on special. They freeze well,’ another said. 

A third said: ‘Great job.’ 

Another asked: ‘How were the potatoes in the can? Would they be okay deep fried or sautéed with garlic and butter?’

But Craig said: ‘Not sure, just in a can on the shelf at Woolworths.’

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