Costings for one pan pasta

This exercise can be used in several different ways.  The cost of living crisis has hit everyone and this one pot pasta dish can save on gas/electric by making everything in one pan.  The main idea is to cost the ingredients as it is, but then think of alternatives to the original recipe. Then if you double the recipe up, how much are you saving by buying 500g of mince?  How much are you saving by buying a 4 pack tin of tomatoes?  Look at the different prices of dried pasta.  Look at how much frozen mince is.  This is about converting g - kg too. It uses dividing and multiplying.  

Rather than buying 12 meatballs, buy mince and form your own.  Use dried herbs instead of fresh.  Use powdered garlic.  How many teaspoons of garlic powder is the equivalent to 4 cloves?  It's a good discussion point too.  Have learners price up from different supermarkets.  

When the activity is completed.  Calculate the cost per person (the original recipe serves 4).  If you double to ingredients or quadruple the ingredients, how much per person.  You will be surprised at how much difference the cost per person is when you batch cook.   If you batch cook the Bolognese sauce - think of how you can use the rest of the sauce - toasties etc.

Editor's notes

Wonderful and easily adaptable for all levels, tastes and diets. Based on this recipe from BBC Food.