Here’s today’s budget busting lunch:
Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F
Take one seeded ciabatta (£1 for a pack of 4 in Tesco)
Mix a little olive oil with 1 clove of crushed garlic. Cut the ciabatta in half and brush with the oil.
Finely chop a mix of veggies (I use red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, courgette (zucchini), mushrooms). Tip the vegetables into a roasting pan. Add a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix to coat the veggies in the oil.
After the veggies have been in the oven for 10 minutes, add the ciabatta (cut side up). Cook on for a further 5 minutes then remove from the oven and assemble.
Voila! A super quick, cheap, delicious lunch 🙂
This ciabatta could easily be elevated to ‘dinner’ status by adding a little pesto, and a nice salad side dish or bowl of crispy kale 🙂
For more budget busting meals, check out my Recipe section. All the dinners are super cheap to make, costing pence rather than pounds per portion (even using organic ingredients!)
My favourite budget-busting meal has got to be dhal and chapatis. It’s so cheap to make and so tasty! It’s one of the family’s all-time favourite meals. What’s your favourite budget busting meal?
That’s a fantastic idea – I bet you would pay a lot of money for something like that in a cafe! My favourite budget busting meals are vegetable soups and anything with beans in it 🙂
I actually had one in a cafe at the weekend and it cost £4.95! M loves taking these roasted veg ciabattas to work… it saves him a small fortune and they’re way nicer than the sandwiches available at work. Apparently the veggie sandwich option is always cheese 🙁
Yum, that looks delicious! I think I have to agree with you, dahl is such a tasty and cheap recipe. I also love Buddha bowls made with greens, brown rice and some beans, always cheap and so full of flavour!
Can you believe I’ve never had a Buddha bowl? As a Buddhist, I seriously should get my act together and try one 😉
Roasted veggies are so delicious!
Looks good! My fave budget busting meal? Probably lentils, rice and carrots – all cooked together. Nothing exceptional, but actually tastes good 🙂
Yum! My go to budget busting meal is probably spaghetti w/ marinara. Simple & delish!
Oh my I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors of that ciabatta, and I can almost taste how very delicious that would be.
A terrific and inexpensive way to have lunch.
Thanks for the idea, I made something similar for dinner using homemade ciabatta, red onion, bell peppers, roasted tomatoes, and tempeh (for protein). I roasted the vegetables much longer at 400 degrees– 15 minutes for the bell peppers, similar for the red onion, longer than that for the tomatoes. Yum, got lots of compliments at the table and we’ll be having it again!
Thank you so much for leaving a comment on this page and reminding me about this quick, budget-friendly meal. We haven’t eaten this in ages! I think it would be a great addition to Lil’ L and M’s lunchboxes!
I’ve never made ciabatta myself so I’m going to have to check out your blog. Your recipes sound so delicious!