A woman has shared a quick and cheap carbonara recipe that costs less than £1 per portion and is ready in 20 minutes. The meal uses just five ingredients and serves four people.
Affordable Family Meal
Charlie Louise, who posts on TikTok as @charlie_louise_cc, said carbonara was a meal she used to have weekly when keeping costs down. She previously set herself a challenge to do her whole weekly shop for just £11.
The recipe costs 96p per portion. Charlie used a packet of 28p spaghetti from Tesco, a 32p onion, three eggs costing about 50p, a pack of bacon for £1.49, and half a block of Parmesan cheese for around £1.25. The total cost for four servings is £3.84.
How to Make the Carbonara
Charlie boiled the pasta for around 11 minutes, fried an onion and bacon in a pan, then mixed three eggs with Parmesan cheese until smooth. She took the pasta off the heat and combined everything, ensuring the pan was off the heat to avoid scrambling the eggs.
Total cook time is around 15 to 20 minutes. In the comments, one person noted that traditional carbonara does not include onion, but another commenter said the recipe offers good value for a family of four.
