Budget "Take Away" Pizza

How about making your own pizza from scratch, rather than spending £20! Here's how to do it with using basic ingredients which are cupboard staples, plus whatever you have floating around as toppings! This could include chopped ham, onion, red and green peppers, salami, mushroom, pineapple, olives, anchovies, prawns...really, there are no rules.

Ingredients
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoon dried yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons oil
5-6 cups flour
Method

1. Combine water and yeast in a large bowl and stand for 5 minutes.
   
2. Stir in the sugar, salt, and oil, then add half of the flour and mix.
   
3. Add remaining flour and knead until smooth (about 5 minutes).
   
4. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place to rise for about half an hour.
5. Punch the dough down and split into 2-3 pieces, depending on how big you want your pizzas and how thick you like your crusts. Press onto a greased baking sheet or pizza pan until the dough is about 1 cm thick.
6. Thinly spread your favorite tomato based sauce, sprinkle on mozzarella or grated cheddar cheese, add toppings, and bake at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Budget Leftover Chicken and Vegetable soup with Perl Barley

This soup is really more like a brothy stew, which is beefed up by the chicken and pearl barley. For this recipe we will use what was our basic ingredients already "bought" for the previous three recipes, but you can incorporate parsnip, turnip, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, beans and leaks if you prefer a more heartier dish!

Ingredients

1 litre home made chicken stock
1 cup of remaining chicken meat, cubed
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1/2 remaining onion, diced
1/2 cup pearl barley
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Bring stock to the boil and add the remaining ingredients.
2. Turn heat down and simmer very gently for two hours.
3. Ladel into warmed soup bowls and sprinkle with parsley
4. Serve with a rustic heavy bread.

Main Ingredients - based on Tesco's prices at date of posting:
(Not including cupboard staples and already purchased ingredients etc)

Tesco Pearl Barley 500g - £0.38
Fresh Curled Parsley 35g - £0.68

Total cost: £1.06

TOTAL COMBINED COST OF FOUR FAMILY MEALS: £7.79