Good Cheap alternatives to Potato, Rice and Pasta?

Question

Bored of these with all my meals, any ideas? Or cheap ways to make them excitingly different??

Answer 1

Quinoa is good - from a health food shop - use it like cous cous but rinse it first otherwise it's bitter. It's good as it's a protein food rather than a carb, and it's much nicer with mixed vegetables in it. Or try bulgar wheat, or just have some really nice fresh bread with stews/casseroles. If you're fed up of potatoes, mix them with other root veg, eg, when you make mash, use half spuds, and mix in swede, celeriac and sweet potato. Or if you make your own chips, make some with beetroot, sweet potato and parsnip. Experiment with the rice too - add veg to it to make your own pilau/vegetable rice - mushrooms, peas,sweetcorn - or add herbs and spices - curry powder, or fresh coriander or basil, turmeric to make it yellow, cashew nuts etc. And with the pasta, just mix in a spoonful of pesto into it when it's cooked, or add fresh basil and soy sauce, cherry tomatoes, olives, etc.

Answer 2

Go African and try Nsima (Maize Meal). You can get a large bag of white maize/corn meal from most supermarkets/convienience stores for less than £2.

For 1 serving use 180ml boiling water, 60ml cold water and 88g maize meal. In a bowl make a paste with part of the maize meal and the cold water, add the paste to a saucepan of boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture has a thick texture. Cover the saucepan and simmer gently for 15 mins, turn the heat down to lowest setting, remove lid and gradually stir in the rest of the maize meal. Stir constantly until mixture thickens to desired consistency. Cover and cook on lowest heat setting for about 5 mins and stir again before serving.

Goes well with beef or chicken stews, currys, vegetables etc.

Also, mashed sweet potato with garlic and creme fraiche is nice!

Answer 3

WOw..

As far as the potatoes, have you tried making twice-baked potatoes? They're great!

As far as the rice... what about Oriental fried rice? Or some delicious rice pudding with a touch of cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins if you like them?

As far as pasta... I have a cookbook with a LOT of great recipes!

What type of food do you like? Italian? Mexican?

Also... try checking out cookbooks at your local library if you get a chance... They're free, and libraries are FILLED with awesome cookbooks that will really stir up your imagination ;o)

Answer 4

Polenta & cous cous great alternatives with huge number of ways to cook them.
What sort of rice? try brown basmati - loads of flavour.
Also beans and pulses are filling, nutritious, cheap & very tasty if you cook them well - try The Bean Book by Rose Elliot or anything by Cranks - all good stuff for student type budgets.

Answer 5

Cous Cous is very nice and cheap also. You can add all sorts of spices to it to compliment the dish you are making. It is also wonderful cold with a salad. Or you can even buy a sweet cous cous, again you can add vanilla essence, cardamon pods, or a nice raspberry jam goes well. Hope these helpeda little, good luck.

Answer 6

Man, there is such an unending variety of recipes, especially for rice, that you don't ever have to eat the same thing twice in many years.
Go on the net and consult with sites that have ethnic recipes, like Indian, Thai, Indonesian and so on.
All these cuisines do wonders with herbs and spices and CHEAP is the key word.
Bon appetit!

Answer 7

try baby carrots, great alone or used with dips instead of french fries. the snow pea pods, same thing, nice and crunchy. But if you want pasta, try the whole wheat kind and add some zesty italian tomatoes and some stir fry veggies that are in the freezer section of the grocery. Lots of food and not alot of calories.

Answer 8

Cream Crackers

Answer 9

potatoes, rice and pasta along with bread are our staple diet, but they don't have to be boring you can do lots of stuff to them to make them tasty have a look online or buy some good cook books(or go to library)

Answer 10

Why not try some pearl barley? It's a very underrated ingredient and can be substituted for rice or used in stews.