While Jamie Oliver's on TV promoting feeding a family of four for "just £5", many frugal living experts are laughing at the abundance of his budget.

We know it can be done a LOT cheaper!

Cheese & Potato Pie is one of my favourite dishes. I probably eat this out of choice 6 times a month!

Cheese and potato pie is a great way to cook leftovers too - I always do extra potatoes just so I can cook this the following day! Use up your leftovers with this quick, cheap and tasty leftovers recipe.

Cheese & Potato Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 0.5Kg potatoes
• 0.25Kg strong cheese
• Knob of butter
• Sprinkling of salt
• Splash of milk
• Sprinkling of black pepper

Now, reading above, I'd make two notes:

1) Notice how the potatoes are twice the weight of the cheese. This isn't a precise science and just use what you've got. But because of this easy to remember ratio it means you can scale this up or down from 1 person up to a dozen or more!

2) Apart from the potatoes and the cheese, everything else is to your personal taste, which means if you ONLY have potatoes and cheese you can still make it!

1. Peel and slice the potatoes thinly and put these on to boil. Bring them to the boil then simmer until the potatoes are very soft. Alternatively, if you have a vegetable steamer, you can use that. I find steaming potatoes gives them a super texture.
2. Cut or grate the cheese.
3. Drain the potatoes and mash them. Put in a splash of milk, knob of butter and any salt/pepper to taste at this point. If you don't have these, or don't like them, it's fine to just mash the potatoes alone.
4. Mix most of the cheese in with the potatoes.
5. Place the potato/cheese mix into a greased ovenproof dish*. Top with the remaining cheese and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the cheese on top is bubbling and nicely browned.

* I use silicone bakeware for all my baking now. You can make up your cheese & potato pie in a loaf tin or a cake tin. As nothing seems to ever stick to silicone bakewear it's super-easy to wash up once your pie's cooked.

Wondering what to serve with cheese and potato pie?  Well, for me I keep it simple.  When I make cheese and potatoe pie I usually serve it with baked beans or a splash of brown sauce, but here are some other ideas on what to serve with cheese and potato pie.

Serve immediately with any one of the following, or whatever you fancy!

• green salad
• tinned tomatoes
• baked beans
• splash of brown sauce
• Or you can even serve this as cheesy mash as an accompaniment to any other main meal you're cooking.
• Sliced tomatoes on the top ... you can even put these on before you cook this cheese & potato pie if you want!

Quick Tip:

When you're next boiling potatoes, make too many and set some aside to be turned into a cheese and potato pie for maybe the next night.

If you've got any leftovers, place them in a plastic/covered dish in the fridge, they'll be fine to heat up again for the next 3-4 days. You can microwave it for 3-4 minutes if you're in a hurry.

Freezing is possible, but sometimes mash can become a little watery when defrosted.

Pricing:

You can use cheap cheese and cheap potatoes for this cheese and potato pie, as you're cooking it it won't matter, but get a mature cheddar or strong sharp cheese for maximum taste. Based on these prices, you can make the basic cheese & potato pie, serving 4 people, very cheaply!

Let me know if you enjoy this cheese recipe! I know I do.

Sign up at Hub Pages for a Free Membership and add comments and helpful resources of your own. Write your own valuable Hubs for the community. SIGN UP HERE

You can write articles like this and earn money, so why not join us. It's completely free, easy and there's lots of help. Click here to Join HubPages Now and join in the fun. No fees, no costs, no charges, ever.