£1 dinner for four - tomato, chilli and basil pasta recipe

Tomato, chilli and basil pasta sauce

Tonight's dinner is going to take quite some beating in the cut-price stakes! My tomato, chilli and basil pasta sauce with penne came in at just 25p per portion - tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch sorted!

I had two punnets of #SOS cherry tomatoes to use up which cost a mere 15p each. Here's how I made dinner for four (or lunch and dinner for two in our case!) for just a quid:

1) Chop up an onion, a fresh chilli, and a couple of cloves of garlic.
2) Heat a glug of olive oil in a pan and soften the onion on a low heat for a few minutes.
3) Add the chilli and garlic.
4) Halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan.
5) Add some freshly ground salt and pepper.
6) Keep on a low heat for 10-15 minutes and stir occasionally - you can cook it for less time if you want the tomatoes to retain their shape more.
7) Turn off the heat, add some fresh chopped basil and stir through.
8) Stir into some cooked pasta and serve with some extra basil sprinkled on top.

You could also add some bacon, chicken, chorizo etc. to this for a meaty kick.

We've discovered economy dried pasta recently and have to say we can't tell the difference between the more expensive options! Morrisons and Tesco's value pasta costs around 30p for 500g - hence this meal coming in at just a £1 when the price of all the ingredients was added together!

Will be quite a challenge to cook cheaper than this but I'm sure I'll find a way!