(gentle music) - For me, family comes first, but food comes a very close second.

I love it!

(woman laughs) It's the joy of growing.

It looks like ringlets, doesn't it?

Cooking.

It's a bit of all right.

And eating it.

Well, it can't be bad if I'm having a second go.

(man laughs) - Come here, my Mary!

- I'm feeling a bit sort of happy.

And I love meeting the people who share this passion.

- Exquisite.

(children cheering) - And best of all, there's still so much wonderful food to discover.

Gorgeous color!

Look at it.

It's most exciting.

Looking good.

So let's get cracking.

(gentle music) I was brought up to be frugal.

So I love to make the most of every ingredient.

We're on a budget today.

I have four delicious recipes that prove watching the pennies doesn't mean sacrificing on flavor.

A sausage filo swirl, which is so much fun to make, a mouthwatering cut of steak that won't break the bank, and a beloved pudding that makes the most of humble ingredients.

But first, a sumptuous dish with a cheeky twist.

This is spaghetti courgetti with crab.

Absolutely delicious.

I'm using tinned crab.

It's half the price of fresh crab.

A little luxury that'll go a long way.

And you can have it on the shelf and make it on the spur of the moment.

(gentle music) What also lifts this dish is mixing courgettes with spaghetti.

And I'm going to spiralize them.

Now, just look at that.

It's quite fun to do, isn't it?

So... (bright music) It will make it much lighter to eat and they're in season from June to October, so even cheaper then.

So that's just about it.

The sauce couldn't be simpler.

One sliced banana shallot in plenty of oil.

Be generous.

(food sizzling) I love the smell of the olive oil coming up.

Then I'm going to add two cloves of garlic and then one red chili, finely chopped.

Right.

That's just had a few moments.

Then in goes the courgetti.

it looks like ringlets, doesn't it?

I've got the heat right up.

Use two spoons.

Make sure that it's well mixed in.

Add a few more glugs of olive oil, season, then it's time for the star ingredient.

The drained weight of this white crab is just over 100 grams.

And in that goes.

(bright music) It smells so inviting and ready for the cooked spaghetti.

Well drained, drop that in.

That bright green looks good.

I love the final flourishes that bring the sauce to life.

Chopped dill and lemon juice will add piquancy to make it sing.

It smells like a visit to Italy and a wonderful aroma.

This was very inexpensive to make, but it has a touch of luxury about it because all these bright colors.

All these ingredients are evenly mixed in and you'll want to serve it right now.

So I'm getting on with the job.

(bright music) I'm not going to waste anything.

(bright music) I think that's an exciting dish for a special occasion and inexpensive to make.

(bright music) If there's someone who knows a thing or two about cooking on a shoestring, it's school chef Holly Charnock.

- What are you having, Izzy?

Pasta.

Jen, what you eating?

- Would you like some cheese as well?

- [Mary] Holly's genius at making the budget stretch was rewarded when she won School Chef of the Year in 2020.

- Top tips for cooking budget food is to cook from fresh, to get creative.

Also once you've used stuff, if you don't use it a lot, pop it in the freezer, bring it out for next time.

There'd be no wastage then.

- [Mary] Today, Holly and team are recreating a version of her winning dishes for the 240 students.

It's braised beef pasta.

- So it's exactly the same as what I used inside the tortellini for the competition dish.

And what we'll do is we'll cook this through and then we'll mix it through the pasta once the pasta's cooked.

- [Mary] And a beetroot chocolate brownie with banana ice cream.

- It's fancy, innit?

- [Mary] It does look delicious.

- Can't wait.

(upbeat music) - [Mary] Though the versions that won the competition for Holly looked at little grander, both still had to come in at under £1.40 a head.

The braised beef filled a tortellini and the beetroot chocolate brownie was served with a raspberry coulis.

Amazing.

- Very posh!

- So basically what we would serve on a school day, but like super pimped up.

- [Mary] Deputy head Pauline Coleman and fellow cook Chrissy Rider are about to have a taste of it for themselves.

- Mm!

- The girl done good, this is nice.

- It is delicious.

- This is really nice.

- [Pauline] Chef Holly.

- Chef Holly.

Do we have to call you something posh now?

(Holly laughs) - Yeah.

No, we just bow down every time we say it.

(laughs) - [Mary] Time for the real taste test, as the children arrive for lunch.

- What are you all having for pudding?

Chocolate brownie, fruit.

- [Child] Chocolate brownie, yeah.

- [Chrissy] And ice cream?

- Holly's got an unbelievably high percentage of children that stay for school dinners.

I think it's something like 85%.

Now, normally it's around about 50%.

So I think the main feedback from parents is that we get more and more children staying for school dinners.

- [Mary] What will they make of Holly's winning combinations?

- [Chrissy] Would you, er, would you like some cheese?

Some Parmesan, yeah?

- I personally despise cheese.

But she put it.

I really don't like it at all, but she put just a tiny sprinkle of cheese on it and I ate it all.

- [Mary] And those beetroot chocolate brownies.

- My favorite part about the dish was the brownies.

I think it's my favorite because I like how you can't taste the beetroot in it, but it gives it a nice sweet in it.

- I think that if I can give them something that makes them happy in their school day, then it makes my job easier.

It makes my life better.

So it's probably about helping them grow and develop through their school life, to be honest.

- Like, it was really, really, really, really, really, really good.

- We've always known we've got the best school chef in the country and now the rest of the country knows that, too.

So thank you, Holly.

(children cheering) - [Mary] Time for the children to show their appreciation.

(children cheering) - How cute are they!

(all clapping) - Hats off to Holly and all the school chefs around the country.

I think they'd approve of my next dish, a delicious sausage and spinach filo swirl.

It's a bit like a Cumberland sausage, which is like that, but with a coat on of filo.

Start off by sauteing one sliced leek in butter, then add some baby spinach.

And just wilt it.

(food sizzling) There we are.

And now one clove of garlic, pressed.

And then keep turning it.

If you are growing spinach at home, the best one to have is perpetual spinach and it grows on.

The more you pick, the more it comes.

Look at that spinach.

It was right to the top of the pan and with wilting, it's gone right down.

Remove the meat of six pork sausages from their skins and mix into the cooled spinach.

This is a really frugal recipe, because it's making six sausages much more into a special meal at very little cost.

Now to give it its all important wrapping.

With filo pastry, a little goes a long way, which is ideal when keeping the costs down.

So I'm going to take four sheets off.

I'm going to take the ones that are left and I should think there are about eight or nine and I'm going to rewrap that and put it straight back in the freezer, because I don't want to waste it.

I love this bit.

Using melted butter, brush the joint edges of the four sheets so they form a meter-long length.

If you don't put butter, it will crack as you roll it up.

Mind you, it cracks anyway, a little bit, but that all adds to its charm.

Then simply line the edge of the pastry with the sausage and spinach mixture.

(gentle music) When I was trying this out, I tried it out on my husband, who has a passion for sausages in any form.

And he thought it was really good.

It's looking good, isn't it?

Now, later on it will crack a bit.

So she's thinking it will definitely crack.

I really would like four hands here.

It would be quite easier.

That's it.

Roll up the sausage filo, brushing the top with a little melted butter on each turn.

(gentle music) And it's ready to cook.

If you take the tin that you make a Victoria sponge in and you just lightly butter that inside, and then butter the top like that.

So, get hold of this firmly, drop it in, push it 'round.

That's it.

It's quite fun, but it's nerve-wracking when you do it for the first time.

Now, that went in quite easily, but sometimes it cracks all along.

Don't be perturbed by that, 'cause it doesn't matter a bit.

A final brush of butter and then sprinkle with some sesame seeds to give it extra crunch.

Like that.

That goes into the middle of a 200 fan oven for about 40 minutes.

(gentle music) It will come out beautifully golden and ready to serve to a hungry family.

I knew you were going to ask.

Is it done underneath?

Well, look at that.

Not bad.

(gentle music) Reducing waste is the key to keeping costs down when cooking.

You want to make the most of every ingredient.

(upbeat music) Nuts are expensive, but here's how to keep them fresh for longer.

Nuts are high in fat and oils.

And if you try to keep them in a cupboard, they go rancid very quickly.

If sealed in an airtight container and kept in the freezer, ground nuts will be fine for a year and whole nuts for up to two years.

(upbeat music) Leftover stale bread can be made into bread crumbs.

I can remember doing this in the early days, grating it, which was jolly difficult.

And also kept in the freezer for up to two months.

(upbeat music) If you buy mushrooms that are covered in plastic, first thing you do when you get home is put them into paper bags.

They keep best that way.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) There's one ingredient that I think stands out when it comes to sensible cooking.

(bright music) The humble egg.

I'd be hard pressed to think of an ingredient that's more useful and economical than an egg.

Though there are farms classified as free range up and down the country, there is still a broad definition of what free range actually means.

- So these have been collected today.

They'll go down to the egg room now and graded to make sure there's no cracks in them.

And then five o'clock this afternoon, they'll be going to London and in the shops tomorrow morning.

- [Mary] Paddy and Steph Bourn set up a decade ago.

Their aim was to put their chickens' wellbeing at the center of what they did.

- Quite old fashioned, really.

So we breed everything on site and we keep every, all the cockerels and boys alive when they're hatched.

So it's called a closed flock scenario.

And it's really done in a manner that was probably done 80, 90 years ago.

We're passionate about the way that we look after our animals and the way we conduct our farm.

We've ended up with an amazing egg off the back of what we do.

- We've never set out to get a really good-- - Well, no, we didn't, no, I mean, if we produced the worst egg in the world, it wouldn't bother me, as long as the chickens are looked-- - As long as the chickens are looked after careful.

- But it happens that all the little things that we've done-- - [Steph] Have made a big difference.

- Yeah, chickens, er, are very complex animals.

I think they have to be treated and looked after with the utmost of kind of respect.

You know, they, you know, if you don't look after 'em particularly well, they won't perform very well.

(gentle music) - Paddy and Steph's chickens roam around at their leisure, only having to share with a couple of four legged friends.

This really is idyllic.

Absolutely beautiful, wherever you look.

Lucky chickens!

How did all this begin?

- I came to an estate in the Cotswolds and was running a chicken farm and a lady walked in the door for her parents to buy a dozen eggs.

She walked up-- - Love at first sight!

- Love at first sight, it was.

She walked out with a dozen eggs and a husband.

I mean, you know, for £1.50 at the time.

- That was a bargain.

- And you got good value?

- [Steph] I do think I've got good value, yeah.

- [Mary] They also had their daughter Sybil, who is already training for the hard life of a farmer.

- I'm gonna run the farm one day.

(gentle music) - We start at six in the morning and we let out all the chickens.

So we go around to all the sheds and check if they're okay.

The chicken always lays its eggs from seven o'clock in the morning till probably one o'clock in the afternoon.

So that's the period-- - Is that true?

They actually have a given time?

- [Steph] Yeah, they do.

- I never knew that!

- And they go in their nest boxes, don't they, and lay their eggs.

- So we collect all the eggs, go around the sheds, continuously collecting eggs.

- And the actual grass.

It looks so healthy.

There's herbs in it, isn't there?

- Yeah, we don't want to use anything that's unnatural.

So what we do every year is we pull the sheds to fresh pasture.

Gives the ground a complete rest and then it comes back the next year.

It just gives for an healthier bird and a healthier environment.

- How long does a hen go on laying?

- We have some birds that lay for two years, but our pure breeds, some of them are six years old now.

- And they're still going.

Yeah, yeah.

- And what happens to the old birds?

- In the last 10 years, all of our hens have been re-homed.

- You both look so very happy.

- It's the way of life, isn't it?

Yeah.

- Being together, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Love it, absolutely love it.

Having a family, just kind of having those old fashioned kind of things, you know.

(gentle music) - Where our food comes from is important, but so is being able to afford it.

I've always loved my next recipe because it makes use of one of the most economical cuts of steak around.

This is a steak night special, but a little bit less expensive using Bavette steak.

And it's known as the secret butcher's cut, because they keep for themselves to take home.

It has beautiful marbling of the fat throughout the meat and that makes it tender and flavorsome.

Steaks are easier to cook if they are the same thickness, so don't hold back.

(thumping steaks) I always go back to when our son William was on a very early program that I did.

And I remember Judy Charma saying to him, "What do you like about making bread?"

He said, "I like the thumping."

And it does get it out of your system, doesn't it?

(thumping steaks) That looks fairly even to me.

I'm going to cook this Bavette steak very quickly on a high heat and to give it a really good flavor, I'm going to marinate it.

Olive oil, two tablespoons.

(glass clinks) Everybody out.

Then the balsamic glaze, muscovado sugar, chopped thyme, and garlic.

What will the smell of garlic and thyme.

Lovely.

Coat the steaks in the fragrant marinade, season, then leave for at least a couple of hours.

I can get on with the most economical of veg.

Piping hot roasting tin.

In go 750 grams of new potatoes and three red onions.

Salt and pepper.

Those go into a 200 fan oven for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are lightly golden.

Now to concentrate on those beautifully marinated steaks.

I'm going to cook these very quickly and on a very hot pan.

Go on, there.

Listen, sizzle, sizzle!

(steaks sizzling) One to two minutes, each side.

(steaks sizzling) Look at that.

They smell wonderful.

And for about half the cost of sirloin or rib-eye.

(steaks sizzling) That's it.

If you just put a lid over the top, leave them to rest for about 10 minutes.

Time to check on the roasted veg.

Looking absolutely scrumptious.

Push them all up one end.

That's it.

Throw in some cherry tomatoes, douse with olive oil, balsamic glaze and seasoning.

To mirror the flavors of the steak marinade, add some thyme and garlic to the roast veg.

This is all about flavor.

They're all inexpensive things.

A bit of a good stir.

Just look at that.

Doesn't it look good?

Pop back in the oven for about eight minutes.

These steaks are rested.

Don't they look brilliant?

They've got that lovely shine that comes from the marinade.

Oh!

What a treat!

All that's needed is a big platter, so everyone can dig in.

(gentle music) Sheer luxury, but not expensive.

This is steak night fit for a king.

It does look amazing and it's going taste even better.

(gentle music) The makeup of an egg is influenced by many things.

The outside shell by the hen's breed.

- So we've got four breeds.

We have Rhode Island reds, which produce a normal brown egg.

We have Araucanas, that produce green eggs.

We have Marans, which produce the dark brown eggs.

And we have Arlington Whites, which produce the white eggs.

- And I believe the quality of an egg is affected by how the chickens are fed and treated.

From intensive to organic options, 56% of us now want to know how our eggs are farmed.

I've boiled up two eggs from either end of that scale to show the difference.

And I'm going to start off by trying that one.

It really tastes exceedingly bland.

There's no depth of flavor.

This one's absolutely bright orange.

Oh!

That's a total different kettle of fish.

It tastes really beautiful.

The sort of thing you want to wake up to on a Sunday morning.

If you're making a whole meal, it's certainly to my mind worth the extra few pence, because it tastes better.

(gentle music) Before I leave, Sybil wants me to meet the next generation.

I've never seen a gray one before.

Let me have this little black one.

- They come out of different shells, because those ones come out of brown shells and those ones come out of white shells.

- Yes, do you know, that's something that people don't realize, that white chickens lay white eggs and brown chickens lay brown eggs.

- Lay brown eggs.

- So tell me, have they got names?

- One's called Mary and that one's called Berry.

- Ah!

Which is your favorite cake made with eggs?

- I like chocolate cake.

- Chocolate cake.

Well, you can't make a chocolate cake without good eggs.

- And you can't make chocolate cake without chocolate.

- No, of course not.

Of course it is possible to make lovely cakes without eggs.

But my next recipe shows how to use them to their fullest.

This lemon and lime meringue pie is truly spectacular.

Everybody goes, "Isn't it delicious?"

and "Can I have a second helping?"

It's just one of those puds that everybody loves and they think it's very difficult to make.

It isn't.

I've made my own sweet shortcrust pastry.

Or you can buy it and it's quite inexpensive.

Use a spoon to gently create a wave along the edges.

That's it.

And then I'm going to prick the base with a fork.

That'll stop it rising up in a balloon.

So you've gotta go right down, so that you can see the tin underneath.

Chill the pastry, then bake blind for about 15 minutes in a 180 fan oven.

Then remove the beans and give it an extra five minutes so the case becomes super crispy.

With meringue, I reckon you need something rather sharp.

What makes this putting so majestic is its lemon and lime filling.

Add 30 grams of corn flour to 200 mil of cold water.

Make sure every scrap goes in.

Otherwise, I won't have a nice thick mixture.

Then the zest of a lemon and a lime along with their juice.

Give that a good whisk, so there's no corn flour stuck in the bottom of the pan and then onto the heat.

That's beautifully thick.

Just as I wanted it to be.

I'm going to add the sugar now and take it off the heat and add the egg yolks.

So, all in it once like that and give it a good beat and just remember eggs are such good value.

We're only using three eggs in a pud that'll serve six or eight people.

Allow this delicious filling to cool before pouring.

That just smells of lemony-lime and sharpness and richness.

This needs to get cold and set before piping on top.

Now to the meringues.

Clean bowl to start with.

The egg whites must have absolutely no egg yolk in it.

Nice, fresh eggs.

I'm going to whisk it until it looks like cloud.

First of all, slowly and then fast.

(mixer whirring) Now on full speed.

(mixer whirring) Once the egg white has some volume, but isn't yet holding a peak, it's time to add 175 grams of sugar.

Add it little by little, always on full speed.

(mixer whirring) Now that is beautifully shiny.

It holds up in peaks and that's how it should be.

Over the top of my head.

Very easy.

I promise you it will never fall down if you've done it properly.

Perfect.

Now all that's needed is to pipe it onto that luscious citrus tart.

(gentle music) Just a moment.

There's one that just hasn't got a peak.

I seek perfection.

So I'm just going to do this one again.

Got it.

So there it is, all ready for the oven.

130 for about 40 minutes.

Doesn't that look simply beautiful?

Just from three eggs, lemon and lime, pastry case.

(gentle music) I can hear that crispy.

Did you hear the crispy as it went through?

It looks pretty good.

(gentle music) But I think that is a very decadent pudding that has taken care, but inexpensive ingredients.

And I think anyone would be very proud to serve that for a very special occasion.

(gentle music) And there you have it.

What better way to make the most of humble ingredients?

Four delicious recipes with an eye on some budget options.

Perfect for whoever you are feeding.

Enjoy.

(bright music)