As the winter drags on and household budgets feel the pinch, the quest for affordable yet satisfying evening meals becomes a nightly challenge. In response, a new collaboration aims to prove that comfort food need not be expensive or complicated.
Cosy Cooking on a Budget
On Monday 19 January 2026, The Independent's Budget Bites column, in partnership with the team at Sorted Food, launched a series of recipes designed specifically for the colder months. The premise is simple: create dishes that are cheaper than a takeaway, achievable on a busy weeknight, and delicious enough to warrant seconds. The focus is firmly on humble, seasonal ingredients transformed into rich, warming meals that provide a sense of indulgence without the hefty price tag.
The philosophy moves away from strict nutrition counting towards food that offers emotional warmth. It's about creating aromas of butter and herbs that fill the home and crafting meals that make staying in an appealing choice. The goal is to hit the sweet spot where affordability meets deep satisfaction.
Sage and Onion Butternut Pasta
This recipe turns roasted vegetables into a luxurious sauce. Cubes of butternut squash, onion wedges, and garlic are roasted until golden and soft. Half of the squash is then blended with roasted garlic, fresh sage, and a splash of pasta water to create a silky, flavour-packed sauce. It's tossed with short pasta and the remaining roasted veg, then topped with a crispy garnish of hazelnuts and fried sage leaves finished with lemon zest.
The method is straightforward: roast, blend, and combine. It leverages the natural sweetness of squash and the savoury depth of roasted alliums, requiring just a handful of core ingredients to deliver a restaurant-worthy feel.
Creamy Swede and Goat's Cheese Soup
This soup elevates the humble swede into a velvety, tangy centrepiece. Diced swede, carrot, onion, garlic, and rosemary are softened in butter before being simmered in vegetable stock. Once the swede is tender, goat's cheese and sour cream are stirred in and the mixture is blended until smooth.
The soup is served topped with fried apple cubes, more crumbled goat's cheese, and a drizzle of sour cream. The combination creates a perfect balance of earthy sweetness from the swede, sharpness from the cheese, and a fruity counterpoint from the apple.
One-Pan Nut Roast with Onion Gravy
Described as a meat-free main you don't have to save for Sunday, this hearty dish is cooked entirely in one ovenproof frying pan. A base of fried onion, carrot, mushrooms, garlic, and Puy lentils is mixed with chopped walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cranberries, and herbs. Bound with eggs and topped with panko breadcrumbs, it's baked until golden and set.
While it bakes, a simple but flavourful onion gravy is prepared on the hob, and tenderstem broccoli is roasted on a separate tray. The result is a substantial, nutrient-dense meal with rich textures and a generous serving of gravy, challenging the notion that plant-based eating is bland or insubstantial.
Affordable Ingredients, Maximum Flavour
All three recipes consciously utilise economical, readily available produce like onions, carrots, swede, and squash. They employ clever techniques—roasting to deepen flavours, blending to create creamy textures, and using pasta water to emulsify sauces—to maximise impact. The partnership with Sorted Food emphasises smart cooking for the current cost of living climate, ensuring flavour and enjoyment are not compromised by budget constraints.
The full shopping list for these recipes includes pantry staples and fresh items designed to minimise waste. This initiative is part of an ongoing monthly series from The Independent and Sorted Food, which also promotes Sorted's meal-planning app, Sidekick, as a tool for efficient and economical cooking.
