What with rent, bills, travel costs and all the other myriad costs of living it’s no surprise that for many people, there’s scant little left over for food. Many across the UK are struggling, as is witnessed by the upsurge of demand for food banks which are increasingly making up for the growing shortfall of our ailing welfare system.
For some, the lack of money to eat properly is a long, bitter and unending misery, one I’m ashamed is so prevalent in our modern ‘civilised’ society. For others, it’s a few lean days towards the end of the month, when one pay cheque has long since dwindled and the next one’s desperately awaited. In either case, most of us can benefit from ideas of how to eat well for less, and how to stretch a meagre budget.
Poverty is a worldwide problem and there are regions of the world in which many people do not have access to clean water, let alone enough to eat.
Creating food on a very tight budget is not something I’ve had to do much, and that’s a case of extreme privilege on my part. In today’s post I’m creating a recipe on a tighter budget, yet still not as tight as many in the UK have to survive on.
Many recipes suggested as low budget rely on the cook having access to store cupboard staples, often bought in bulk to reduce price. But that can only happen in situations where people have cupboard (or refrigerator) space to store bags and boxes and jars for later, not to mention the upfront money to buy store cupboard items in the first place. For many people, there’s no budget to build up such a pantry, nor any place for them to store one.
My lower budget dish is a savoury bread pudding – particularly useful if you have stale bread that you don’t want to waste. I’ve also seen this kind of dish referred to as a bread casserole and a bread bake. My amounts make enough to serve two people, but you can scale up the amounts to make a larger pudding if you have a suitable size casserole dish.
Bacon, Cheese & Onion Savoury Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 100 g bacon, chopped into small pieces, or lardons
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 5 thick slices bread (or a few more if medium or thin sliced)
- 50 g strong cheddar, grated
- 1 tsp dried herbs
- 3 large eggs
- 300 ml full fat milk
- generous pinch salt
Equipment: You will need a medium sized casserole dish or deep baking dish – mine is 20 cm in diameter, about 7 cm deep.
Notes
We used an equal mix of thyme and sage.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 °C (fan).
- Cook the bacon pieces in a saucepan until they are just starting to show a hint of brown, then remove from pan and set aside.
- Use the same pan (with the bacon fat left in it) to cook the onions until they are lightly caramelised.
- In the mean time, cut the bread into pieces – we cut each slice into nine.
- In a jug or mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, dried herbs and salt and set aside.
- Layer about two thirds of the sliced bread into your casserole dish, standing the pieces up on their sides. Mix them up so that they don’t sit as large blocks, but have nooks and crannies between them.
- Scatter half the bacon and half of the grated cheese evenly over the bread, and then spread all of the caramelised onions over the top.
- Cover with the remaining pieces of bread, laid flat across the top of the previous layer.
- Scatter the remaining bacon over the top, and about half of the remaining cheese.
- Carefully pour in the egg and milk mixture, making sure to distribute it evenly around the casserole dish – we pour in a spiral pattern from outer edges in.
- Sprinkle the last of the cheese over the top.
- Transfer the casserole dish into your hot oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
- Serve immediately.
You may also enjoy reading these tips budget-friendly recipes from fellow bloggers:
- Fab Food 4 All’s Simple Pork Fried Rice
- Food to Glow’s Spicy Peanut Soup and Flatbreads
- Natural Kitchen’s Breakfast Kedgeree
- The Crafty Larder’s Rubber Chicken
- Utterly Scrummy Mummy’s Flatbreads, Crackers and Drop Scones
- Veggie Lad’s Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
For those who would like a better understanding of food poverty in the UK – the reality of feeding yourself well on a very limited budget, and why demonising those who eat poorly is neither helpful nor fair, I urge you to read Miss South Food’s archive of food poverty posts.
Voucherbox made a £50 donation to Zamcog on publication of this post.
Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!30 Comments to "Budget Cooking | Bacon, Cheese & Onion Savoury Bread Pudding"
It feels so sad that in our so-called advanced society we can be experiencing levels of poverty where people have to decide between heat and food. And where mothers go without in order that their children eat. It is just shocking. At work I recommend dishes like savoury bread pudding for those whose budgets are severely limited as it is a good vehicle for not only leftover bread, but scraps of vegetables and a tin of soup. Your recipe looks great – budget or no budget. Thank you so much for linking to my peanut stew. It is actually anot only slightly cheaper version of one that I made for us quite a lot, and for work. The breads too!
It’s a real indictment of the priorities of our society that we, collectively, have allowed this to happen. And that continue to allow it and of course it’s getting worse too. Yes, I am a huge fan of recipes that help use up leftovers – food waste is another huge challenge in the UK, and for those living on a tight budget, it’s even more important to make sure nothing that can feed the family goes to waste.
Like Kellie said, it’s shocking to think that we’re in 2017 and this amount of poverty still exists. And to think, the amount of food supermarkets throw out and waste, which could help so many families in need. This sounds wonderful and so hearty and comforting recipe. I love that it’s budget friendly too.
Yes, completely true. Supermarket waste is the other side of the coin to waste inside the home. Just awful when so many are going without. Glad you like the recipe!
I think the pudding looks delicious, but there’s no way I’d get my husband to eat it. I shall have to make it some time when he’s out at a work event.
He doesn’t like bacon, cheese, onion or bread? Eek! Definitely make it for yourself instead, you could easily halve and bake in a smaller dish for one!
This sounds like such an affordable and delicious meal! Perfect!!
Thank you, I hope others enjoy it as much as we do.
Such a wonderful cause. Your casserole looks delicious and a great way to use up leftover ingredients. I love how you broke down all the components to show the cost.
Thanks Tara, it was a good exercise, and a very good reminder of how quickly ingredient costs add up, even for the simplest recipes.
I don’t think I have ever tried a bread pudding. I must start with this one 🙂
We usually make sweet ones but have been wanting to play with ideas for savoury ones for a long time!
This would be awesome for a hearty brunch on the weekend. Pour the mimosas, cause I’m in!
Yes, I think it would be great for brunch!
I would never guess from looking at this dish that it was budget friendly! It looks so delicious!! Savoury bread pudding is the best!
It definitely delicious! Yes, budget friendly as the flavour ingredients (bacon, cheese) are used only sparingly but enough to make it tasty. The bread is cheap, even more so when it’s a case of using up stale leftovers.
Wow, this dish looks super-comforting for winter.
Yes, best served hot from the oven.
Awesome comfort food, my family would love this:-)
We are suckers for comfort food here!
What a great recipe, it looks really warming for these cold evenings we’re having.
Thanks, hope you enjoy it!
I really enjoy a bread pudding. We don’t make it savory too often in the States. Your flavors are pure comfort food.
We don’t in the UK either but it’s something I came across via Pinterest a few years ago!
I have never tried a savory bread pudding. I am putting it on my list now!
It’s good! Hope you enjoy it!
You are speaking my language with a savory bread pudding, I must give this a try soon.
Glad you like it!
I love that you made this bread pudding into a savory dish. And, I love that it’s budget friendly! I’m always trying to keep on budget. But, some months are easier than others. This recipe will help me on the months where other thing get in the way.
Thanks Debi, savoury bread puddings is an idea I first came across via Pinterest some years ago. Really worth trying!