Atlantic Canadian home cooks and chefs are sharing some great tasting eats that can serve a lot of people without breaking the bank

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With today’s rising costs, Atlantic Canadians are increasingly looking at where every dollar is spent — and one of the biggest areas that they're trying to cut is their grocery bills.

To help stretch the food dollar, some Atlantic Canadian home cooks and chefs are sharing some budget-friendly cheap eats that can serve a lot of people without breaking the bank while still tasting great.

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For Bonita Hussey, a jiggs dinner is an ideal way to fill a lot of bellies without breaking the bank.

Hussey — a home chef and founder of Bonita’s Kitchen, which she runs out of her home in Spaniard’s Bay, N.L. — describes the popular Newfoundland dish as a good ol' Sunday dinner from a long time ago.

“This recipe has been handed down from generations from our elders and is the type of meal that goes a long way," she says. "One would say it can feed a big family and plenty for 20.”

Hussey explains that the difference between jiggs dinner and boiled Sunday dinner is that jiggs dinner is served with no gravy — only pot liquor ‘juice’ — while a boiled Sunday dinner is served with gravy from protein like roasted chicken, beef, pork or turkey.

“It can be made for one person in a small saucepan to a big family gathering or catered meal," she says. “I’ve cooked it for our big family gatherings and as well for a big New Year's Eve catered event.”

Hussey says the cost is a little more now to cook this meal with the increasing cost of living, but it is still affordable for a big family gathering.

“Traditionally we would cook this meal for Sunday dinner, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and for special occasions," she adds.

Have some leftover veggies, salted beef and peas pudding from your jiggs dinner? It can be turned into four more meals, she says.

Paul Routhier’s personal chef service, called Knife for Hire, is based in Halifax, N.S. His favourite cheap eat is cottage pie.

"It's a recipe I've been making for years, which probably came from my mother," he says.

Some may know this recipe as shepherd's pie but Routhier points out that it is traditionally called cottage pie.

"If you were to top the dish with bread crumbs it would be called a Cumberland pie," he points out.

The big difference in the name of the dish comes down to the meat. Shepherd’s pie is traditionally made with lamb, often a braised lamb shank that's shredded off the bone. The version most people have is made with beef, which technically makes it cottage pie.

Looking to make it a bit more affordable? Take advantage of frozen. You can substitute frozen diced carrots instead of fresh diced, he suggests, simply adding the frozen carrots when the peas and corn are added. Using ground beef and frozen vegetables makes this dish affordable.

“This dish is comfort food for us. We typically make it when the weather is a bit chilly and we need a pick me up.”

Chef Brittany Boothroyd graduated from the culinary arts program at the Culinary Institute of Canada in her home town Charlottetown, PEI in 2012. She received her pastry arts certificate in 2013 and her cook's red seal certification in 2015.

Boothroyd became a vegetarian in 2016, which is reflected in her Charlottetown-based business Wild Kitchen, where she offers plant-based cooking classes in a variety of capacities.

Boothroyd’s cheap eat is a recipe for veggie burgers that she developed herself. She says these freezer-friendly veggie burgers are great for meal prep.

“The burgers turn out best when made the day before and has the night to bind together," she adds.

Boothroyd says the burgers are “great for vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters.”

Note: You will need a cotton traditional pudding bag for your yellow split peas to make a steamed pudding. If not, you can slow boil it in a small saucepan, stirring every so often so it doesn't boil dry or burn.

To make the meat filling:

A post shared by Chef Brittany Boothroyd (@wild.kitchn)

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