With food prices remaining stubbornly high, keeping to a budget needn't mean sitting down to uninspiring meals. On a recent visit to Lidl, I set myself a strict £20 limit, aiming to pick up ingredients for five evening meals to feed a family of four.
Sometimes, a little forward planning is all it takes to appreciate that cooking from scratch is frequently more economical — particularly if you already have a few seasonings sitting in the cupboard. When it comes to making your food budget go further, Lidl and Aldi are undoubtedly the best places to begin. Their prices are consistently lower than those at many larger supermarkets, yet the quality remains impressive.
Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs
Rather than reaching for ready-made meatballs, I crafted my own using minced meat, breadcrumbs and a handful of simple seasonings. I even produced the breadcrumbs myself from leftover white bread, rather than purchasing them separately. If you haven't got breadcrumbs or any stale bread to hand, an egg works equally well to bind the meatballs together. Alternatively, a little cheese does the job nicely. It's all about making the most of whatever you have available.
Paired with spaghetti and a straightforward homemade tomato sauce — essentially a tin of chopped tomatoes and some seasonings — this proved to be a wholesome family favourite that costs a fraction of the price of buying everything pre-prepared. The spaghetti came to roughly 80p, the mince around £3, and the chopped tomatoes approximately 50p. I already had seasonings at home and a garlic bread in the freezer, though this could easily be left out altogether. Cost: £4
Caesar Pasta Salad
This is a speedy, fresh dish that's ideal for hectic weeknights and warmer spells of weather. I boiled macaroni and tossed it with lettuce, Caesar dressing and a handful of grated cheese. I also threw in a couple of rashers from the bacon I'd picked up for another pasta dish. If your budget stretches a little further, adding cooked chicken makes it considerably more substantial. I also knocked up my own croutons using the same loaf of stale bread.
It's a straightforward meal that comes together in no time, and any leftovers make a brilliant packed lunch the following day. You can also throw in whatever you have lurking in the fridge that needs using up, so it needn't be a strictly traditional Caesar salad — sweetcorn, cucumber and pepper all work wonderfully. The whole meal came to roughly £3, with most of the budget going on the Caesar sauce. You could always substitute it with a homemade dressing if you have the right ingredients to hand. Parmesan cheese is ideal if your budget allows, but finely grated cheddar or whichever cheese you have available works perfectly well. Cost: £3
Jacket Potato with Cheese and Beans
Sometimes the simplest meals are the finest, and baked potatoes are brilliantly suited to the air fryer if you'd rather not have the oven running for an extended period. Jacket potatoes topped with baked beans and cheese make for a hearty, satisfying dinner that is remarkably kind on the wallet. You could also serve a side of salad or coleslaw if you have some at home. For this recipe, I needed two full-size tins of baked beans, four large baking potatoes, and a bag of cheese, which I used in several other dinners throughout the week. Purchasing cheese from supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl is considerably more economical than opting for bigger supermarkets and branded varieties. Cost: £3
Sticky Chicken, Rice and Cucumber
Opting for frozen chicken is an excellent way to cut costs without sacrificing flavour. I coated the chicken in a sticky sauce and served it alongside fluffy rice and fresh cucumber for a well-balanced, tasty meal. If cucumber isn't to your liking, broccoli makes a great alternative. Buying frozen food not only keeps costs down but also means it lasts considerably longer. Long-grain rice is also remarkably good value when purchased in a large bag, and works out far cheaper than pre-cooked varieties. It can take a little practice to get right, but once you've mastered it, it becomes second nature.
There's a wide range of cupboard staples you could use for the sauce, though I kept things simple with soy sauce, ketchup and honey, all of which I already had to hand. Should you need to purchase these ingredients, they would sit comfortably within the budget. The principal cost for this meal was the chicken — I used battered chicken dippers, with more than 15 remaining in the bag for future meals. Cost: £4
Cheesy Bacon Pasta
This indulgent pasta dish is among my personal favourites. Crispy bacon is stirred through cooked pasta with a rich, cheesy sauce made from nothing more than cheese, black pepper and pasta water. The process is straightforward: boil pasta in water, fry chopped bacon until crispy, then use the remaining bacon fat as the base for the sauce. A ladle of pasta water is added, combined with cheese and a generous amount of black pepper for seasoning, before the pasta is folded in. The bacon is the primary cost in this dish, and smoked rashers were used to boost the flavour. The pack came to around £2.50, with the majority used for this meal and two rashers set aside for the Caesar salad. Cost: £4
Across the five evening meals, the total spend was £18, leaving approximately £2 for a couple of seasonings, should you require them.
