Budget Friendly Alternative to a Roast Dinner

I love a roast dinner! For me a roast dinner is a part of any good weekend. But as I’m sure we are all very much aware right now, things are becoming increasingly more expensive including food and the cost to fuel your home.

So today I’m sharing my budget friendly alternative to a roast dinner. I believe that it is possible to cook your favourite meals while on a budget and I’m going to demonstrate some of the ways I keep the cost down when cooking my favourite meal.

Roast dinner meat

One of the easiest ways to cut the cost of your roast dinner is to choose an alternative meat. For this week’s roast dinner my partner and I had Yorkshire Breakfast Sausages from Swaledale, but we’ve had everything from sausages to burgers and nut roasts – which all tend to be cheaper than your usual roast chicken or beef and don’t take as long to cook.

Vegetables

The vegetables you have in your roast dinner is really up to personal choice. To keep the cost down we often buy big bags of frozen veg which we spread across several meals. We’re also very fortunate to have parents that grown their own vegetables so often receive deliveries of home grown veg.

If you have the option to grow your own food I’d highly recommend it – there’s something really satisfying about eating food that you grew yourself.

My Alternative Roast Dinner Recipe

Feel free to use aspects of this recipe and add or take away things to your own preference.

  • Preheat the oven to 200C.
  • Place potatoes in large saucepan; add enough water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt. Once boiling reduce heat to medium and boil gently for 15 – 20 minutes.
  • Place your sausages (or preferred meat – take a look at Swaledale Online Butchers) on a foil covered baking tray and place in the oven for 30 mins.
  • We love roasted kale and it’s super easy to make – just add a generous portion of kale to a baking tray, drizzle with oil and a small sprinkle of salt – put in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
  • Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Add butter, pepper and a pinch of salt; continue mashing, gradually adding enough milk to make potatoes smooth and creamy.
  • Bring a pan of water to the boil and place the green beans and broad beans in a steam basket over the top. Place a lid on the pan (or you can place the beans directly in the boiling water if you don’t have a steam basket).
  • Turn the water down to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes until the beans are tender but not soggy. Once soft drain the beans.
  • Add your Yorkshire puddings to the top of oven (we went with pre-made Yorkshire puddings for convenience). Heat for 2-4 minutes or until golden.
  • We can’t live without gravy in our house – so we used this time to mix up some gravy.
  • This meal took us around 35 minutes to cook, once everything is cooked, transfer everything to plates and pour the gravy on top.
  • Enjoy!

For more ways to save money on food check out my free food post or follow me on instagram to see what I’m cooking and how I’m keeping the cost down.