A week of easy meals for £25

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Posted at 12:02PM, 26 February 2013 by Lily Barclay - Writer, bbcgoodfood.com

The big squeeze on families and soaring food prices has left most of us feeling the pinch, and quite a painful one too. These days it's very easy to feel overwhelmed with the cost of day-to-day living, but with a bit of creativity and careful planning you'll find you can still eat well, whilst sticking to a strict budget.

Everyday changes like getting creative with leftovers, visiting local food markets and cooking from scratch mean you will have the satisfaction of feeding your family on wholesome, seasonal food. But the key point always comes down to planning, because impulsive spending leaks money and waste. Oh, and never, ever shop when you're hungry...

Check out our week of easy meals for £25, and let us know how you get on:

Your shopping list Fruit and veg

Large pack of fresh mint

2 onions

1 bunch spring onions

2 peppers

1 carrot

About 400g pack mixed stir-fry vegetables

Meat, fish & dairy

50g/2oz pecorino or Parmesan

200g tub half-fat crème fraîche

175g/6oz thinly sliced smoked ham

1 pack skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks (4 of each)

125g pack garlic butter

175g/6oz cheddar or mozzarella

300g/11oz minced beef

Dry goods & bakery

400g/14oz pasta shapes

500g/1lb 2oz basmati rice

400g can reduced-fat coconut milk

6 tbsp piri-piri marinade

500g pack ciabatta bread mix

2 x 400g cans plum tomatoes

120g sachet black bean sauce

3 nests medium egg noodles

Freezer

400g/14oz frozen peas

140g/5oz frozen fine green beans

400g/14oz frozen coley or other white fish

Check your storecupboard and fridge for

3 tbsp korma or mild curry paste

1 chicken stock cube

2 tbsp sunflower and 2 tsp sesame oil

4 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp sweet smoked paprika

2 tsp oregano

1 vegetable stock cube

5-6 slices bread, crusts removed (for 200g fresh breadcrumbs)

4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

3 tbsp ketchup

2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame seeds

MONDAY

Pasta with ham & minty pea pesto

A steaming bowl of pasta makes the perfect Monday night supper, and this recipe is low-fat to boot. Serve your choice of pasta with ham and homemade sauce made from salty Italian cheese and crème fraîche.

Pasta with ham & minty pea pesto

TUESDAY

Creamy fish curry

Whip up a curry in a hurry with this low fat Goan-style mild dish with korma paste, coconut, green beans and sustainable coley

Creamy fish curry

WEDNESDAY

Piri-piri chicken with spicy rice

Use a lime-spiked spicy marinade to coat thighs and drumsticks then roast and serve with paprika rice in this healthy yet filling dish

Piri-piri chicken with spicy rice

THURSDAY

Tomato soup with tear & share cheesy bread

Comfort food doesn't get much better than a bowl of creamy homemade tomato soup and warm cheesy bread. This super-simple recipe will be on the table in under an hour too

Tomato soup with tear & share cheesy bread

FRIDAY

Black bean beef meatballs with stir-fried noodles

Try out a new idea with beef mince, served in balls in a Chinese sauce with sweet chilli and five-spice, so much better than a takeaway.

Black bean beef meatballs with stir-fried noodles

Have you got any tips on how to eat on a budget? We'd love to hear them...

Comments

Caroline

27 February, 10:47AM
Caroline

When available, I always buy meat from the "special offer" counters for food close to its sell-by date. It is still freezable and perfectly safe, provided that you thaw, prepare and eat it as soon as you take it out of the deepfreeze.

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katcurnock

27 February, 2:50PM
katcurnock

A) not a week, 5 days. B) not a week's worth of meals, a week's worth of dinners. Add on lunch and breakfast, suddenly not so cheap

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Rileywoo

27 February, 4:05PM
Rileywoo

How about lots of recipes for meals for one??

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martinchan

28 February, 5:21AM
martinchan

Great <a href="http://manrecipes.com/"> food recipes </ a> blog posting

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faves

3 March, 11:03AM
faves

no mention of breakfast cereals, milk, coffee, tea, bread, toilet roll etc etc etc all the things we need to buy week in week out, also what about days 6 and 7, 5 days is NOT a week, give us something realistic and we might be prepared to pay more attention. I have a limited budget and shop carefully, seasonally and as cheap as chips and still spend in the region of Â£60 to Â£70 pounds weekly to feed the four of us and 2 cats. Please, step into the real world.

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Nex

5 March, 1:43AM
Nex

A) not a week, 5 days. B) not a week's worth of meals, a week's worth of dinners. Add on lunch and breakfast, suddenly not so cheap + C) No mention of fish or pesto on shopping list, but Monday meal has pesto & tuesday meal has fish.

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aanderson

5 March, 9:59AM
aanderson

There are ingredients for pesto and there is fish.

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Anna

5 March, 10:36AM
Anna

Agree with a lot of the other posts, this is not a weeks worth of meals, no breakfast or lunch or saturday and Sunday. Although it is doable to have weeks worth of shopping for 2 people for Â£30 -Â£40 the above meals are what i would not consider cheap meals - how about cooking a roast chicken Sunday, then Chicken & sweetcorn pasta bake on Monday, followed by chicken noodle soup (by which point you boil the bones for stock and) on tuesday - ideas like this are much more penny saving - can anyone tell im bit skint at the moment!

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v.finney

5 March, 10:22PM
v.finney

I think the point has been missed here by some users....although is that also a potential idea for a feature, a week of breakfast/lunch/dinner for Â£50??? Would definitely be interested in that, lunch particularly is often the forgotten meal...

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IsobelM

7 March, 1:33AM
IsobelM

Not a weeks worth of meals and as I recently lost my job and i'm unemployed i'm trying to survive with a food budget of Â£15 to Â£20 per fortnight and its damn near impossible and that's only for 1 person. A 500g pack of mince has to do me 5 dinners padded out with veg. so far i've made mince & potatoes, from scratch bolognese, chilli (although i cheated and used a jar of sauce i already had). The other 2 portions have been frozen because i'm now sick of mince!

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Ruth

7 March, 8:53AM
Ruth

Isobel, try the 'living below the line' website which has great recipes for about Â£1 or less. https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-guidance

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Ruth

7 March, 8:58AM
Ruth

OK, how about a sensible budget and please state for how many people; for a single person, say Â£10 per week (many have to manage on less); and cover three meals per day for seven days, not one meal per day for five. I think stuff like fresh mint, pecorino, parmesan and most of the meat will be off the menu.

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