Healthy recipes on a budget: How to make 15 meals for £20 - Times Money Mentor

2023-01-09 21:57:08 By : Mr. Alex Tao

Helping you make the most out of your money

Helping you make the most out of your money non stick egg pan

Healthy recipes on a budget: How to make 15 meals for £20 - Times Money Mentor

Feeding yourself and loved ones on a budget is getting harder as the cost of buying food and cooking a meal is rising.

But while most of us are feeling the squeeze, there are ways you can keep a lid on your food bill and energy consumption without having to sacrifice healthy meals or spend hours in the kitchen.

It just takes a bit of planning — and the good news is that I have done the hard work for you. Below I’ve set out some delicious recipes that won’t cost a bomb and are hassle-free to make.

The total ingredients listed below cost less than £20 and make 15 meals in total. They’re ideal for families or for loading your fridge with batch-cooked meals for the week. 

But first, below are my go-to tips for creating budget meals.

Find out: 17 ways to cut the cost of your food bill

Since launching my Beat the Budget website in 2018 I have created about 300 cheap recipes costing around £1 a portion.

So here are my three top tips for saving time, reducing costs and enjoying delicious food. 

If you can, try to limit your use of the oven as it’s one of the most expensive ways of cooking food, and is getting more expensive as the cost of energy rises.

I love to make one-pot, stove-top recipes (see my recipes that I created with Times Money Mentor below). You don’t have to clean up lots of pots and pans afterwards and as you’re only using one hob, it also limits your energy consumption.

If you do decide you need the oven and have the space, try to maximise the use of energy by batch-making three tray bakes.

You can rotate the trays to ensure everything cooks evenly and that will save you individually putting the oven on three times. You then only need to use a microwave (very energy efficient) to reheat your meal prep. 

If you have the money to invest, appliances such as air-fryers and slow cookers are more energy efficient than an oven. A recipe that is typically baked in the oven can go in the air-fryer, but when it’s a saucy, comforting recipe, opt for the slow cooker. 

Find out: How to save money on your energy bill

You usually get more for your money when you buy in bulk. But of course you don’t want to buy so much that you end up wasting food that has expired.

One way around this is by batch cooking. By making more portions than you need, you can then freeze them to spread across the month.

Of course this requires a bit of preparation, but it means you can buy better value ingredients which will make your money go further.

If you hate reheated pasta or noodles then you can prep certain elements of the dish, such as a loaded veggie bolognese sauce. Then on the day that you want to eat it, cook as many servings of pasta that you need.

Batch cooking will reduce your time spent cooking, energy use and your costs. It’s a win win! 

Finding frozen ingredients that you love is cost-saving in two ways: the bags are often larger and better value, making your money go further and you will also reduce waste.

I love to buy ingredients such as frozen spinach because it easily goes soggy in the fridge, causing waste.

Buying frozen spinach allows me to take a serving of spinach whenever I need, without having to worry about it going off.

Experiment with all of the frozen meat, fish and veg (frozen mixed vegetable bags are great for variety) and see which ingredients can help you save costs the most. 

Here are more tips on cutting the cost of your food bill. Plus, read Times Money Mentor’s guide on budgeting.

Food prices are rising at record levels but it’s still possible to cook meals on a budget.

I rarely spend more than £20 on my weekly food shop. The ingredients that I’ve listed below cost less than £20 and will cook 15 portions.

Here’s the shopping list:

If you want more low-cost, hassle-free recipe ideas then head to my website Beat the Budget.

In 1980, the UK gained its fourth TV channel to much fanfare. Watching television has come a long way since then. Nowadays you can choose from hundreds of channels, rewind or record shows, catch up with the latest series or an old box set and watch movies until your heart’s content.  But the cost of […]

Most of us are willing to make changes to become more environmentally conscious. But if you’re anything like me, you’re not quite ready to do anything as extreme as ditching your car or not washing your hair to stop the ice caps melting. I really want to do more for the environment, but I also […]

Stoozing is when you borrow money at no interest, then place that amount into a savings account. After a certain amount of time, you withdraw the money, repay the debt with it and keep any interest you’ve earned. This means you make a guaranteed profit, as long as you follow the rules carefully. The term […]

Join our Couch to £5K challenge this January — six weekly newsletters to help you reach your financial goals.

By entering your details, you agree these will be used according to our privacy policy. When you subscribe, you will also receive our weekly newsletter too. You can unsubscribe, although if you do you will stop receiving both newsletters

Join our Couch to £5K challenge this January — six weekly newsletters to help you reach your financial goals.

By entering your details, you agree these will be used according to our privacy policy. When you subscribe, you will also receive our weekly newsletter too. You can unsubscribe, although if you do you will stop receiving both newsletters

By entering your details, you agree these will be used according to our privacy policy. When you subscribe, you will also receive our weekly newsletter too. You can unsubscribe, although if you do you will stop receiving both newsletters

Times Money Mentor has been created by The Times and The Sunday Times with the aim of empowering our readers to make better financial decisions for themselves. We do this by giving you the tools and information you need to understand the options available. We do not make, nor do we seek to make, any recommendations in relation to regulated activities. Since we're not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we're not authorised to give you this sort of advice. Where we give providers or products a customer experience rating or a product rating, these are compiled against objective criteria, using information which has been collected by our partner Fairer Finance. In some cases, we may provide links where you may, if you choose, purchase a product from a regulated provider with whom we have a commercial relationship. If you do purchase a product using a link, we will receive a payment. This will help us to support the content of this website and to continue to invest in our award-winning journalism.

Healthy recipes on a budget: How to make 15 meals for £20 - Times Money Mentor

Use Of Grill Pan © Times Media Limited 2023. Registered in England No. 894646. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF.