Turn Your Cheap Meal into a Gourmet Dish

We all know that January is a tough month, no matter where you find yourself or what you do for a living. Unless you are lucky enough to have some funds stashed away, January will inevitably become ‘Janu-worry’.

The festive season has come and gone, and now you find yourself eating 2-minute noodles and cereal for supper.

And while there is nothing wrong with a delicious bowl of 2-minute noodles, there are cheap and easy ways to tweak these meals ever so slightly in order to make them a little more ‘gourmet’.

Here are two, super easy ways in which you can turn a cheap, everyday meal into a gourmet dish that’ll leave you wanting more.

Italian 2-Minute Noodles with Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 packets of 2-minute noodles (any flavour you like)
1 tin of diced tomatoes in tomato juice
1 small onion
1 sachet of tomato paste
250 ml cream

Method:

Start by making your creamy tomato sauce. In a pan, add the chopped onion and tin of diced tomatoes and stir over a medium heat.

Once the onions have become translucent and the mixture has started boiling, slowly add the cream and stir. Let simmer over a low-medium heat for at least 5 minutes.

Next, cook the 2-minute noodles as you would usually (you can choose to either add the flavouring or not).

Once the noodles are cooked, toss them in the pan with the sauce, and stir well.

Serve in bowls. If you want to add something extra, sprinkle with grated Mozzarella cheese.

Gourmet Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

Bread (of your choice)
Butter
Cheese (either Mozzarella, Cheddar or White Cheddar)
1 onion
1 tomato
1 pack of bacon
Fresh Basil leaves

Method:

Start by cooking the rashers of bacon. You can use whichever cuts of bacon you like, depending on cost.

Cut the onion into thin rings, and fry in the pan with the bacon.

Butter your slices of bread lightly on both sides. Remove the bacon and onions from the pan and allow to cool.

Cut the tomato into thin slices and put it on the bread slices. Either grate the cheese, or cut into slices, and add it onto the tomatoes on the bread.

Then, add the bacon rashers and onion. Add the fresh basil leaves.

Close the sandwich and fry on either sides in the same pan as the one used for the bacon and onions. Fry until the bread is golden brown on both sides and the cheese has melted.

Serve with a tall glass of water, and you’re good to go!