Even then, I'm using Sealord red salmon at six bucks a can. You can do the same thing with a Pam's can for about $3-50 if you want to save a couple more dollars, but I figure at dinner for five for $13-00 we can afford to go for the top-quality stuff. And it is good quality - these are really, really tasty.
Cook about 100 gm of potato for each person. That is one tennis ball-sized spud each. Add a couple of fairly good sized carrots, cut into chunks and boil until soft enough to mash. Grate other vegetables - I used half a head of broccoli, which goes really well in it, but you can use pretty well anything: cabbage, beans, cauliflower.... whatever.
Grate enough for a cupful or more of these, throw in some grated onion or garlic, or both!
Feel free to chuck in handfuls of whatever flavouring you like: spices mainly - I don't believe herbs go well with it, although you could try dill, which is good with fish. As long as it isn't something too strong, you won't overcome the delicious salmon and might just add a little extra zing.
Ok. Once the spuds & carrots have cooled until they're not hot to touch, throw it all into a really big mixing bowl. Again, I find the stock-pot the best thing to use because it saves on spills and is big enough to handle the mixture.
Add the whole - drained - can of salmon, removing the backbone only. Throw in 3 eggs and any flavourings and mix like mad. I use an old-fashioned potato masher: it mixes everything well, but doesn't make it too smooth, which is not ideal.
Turn your trusty electric frypan on a medium high heat, spoon in the fishcake mix into piles of about 10 cm diameter and ignore for about 20 minutes. By that time, they should be firm enough to turn without falling to bits. That's easy to cause if you go short on the eggs, so make sure you don't ever do that. The end result is quite edible, it just gets a bit messy and hard to deal with.
After the 20 minutes, turn the fishcakes over and ignore them for another 20 minutes.
Serve & enjoy. Goes particularly nicely with Watties' tomato sauce. It's never worth saving a dollar to buy that cheap crud supermarkets sell as an alternative - only Watties works, ok?
Cost:
Salmon $6-49
Eggs $1-00
Potatoes $1-80
Carrots $1-00
Broccoli $1-50
Other bits $1-50
Total $13-29.
In terms of nutrition, I can see the food pyramid in perfect proportions, with the added bonus of all Omega goodness of salmon. Notably, 100% fat free - not even the whisper of fat in there.
$2-65 per person that could easily be reduced to $2-00 a person, or $10 total by changing brands or using cheaper ingredients. Fruit World often sells bags of nearly-expired vegetables very cheaply and they're ideal for this kind of meal.