*All prices correct at time of writing
As you can see by our catchphrase “Lifestyles of the poor and infamous”, our budgets are tight. A £15 weekly food budget per person is slightly higher than my actual spending limit, so I’m definitely a pro of eating cheap and healthily.
As you can see below, I’ve split the week into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With my set budget, I created a meal plan of things I fancy eating: cereal, sandwiches, chicken and rice. It’s basic – like my cooking skills – but my meal plan covers all of the food groups and hits a commendable 3-a-day (5-a-day was a bit too much for my £15 budget).
Now it’s time to head to Aldi, our current king of budget supermarkets to try and purchase everything on my meal plan.
Breakfast menu
Total = £2.57
While I could easily eat cereal everyday, adding toast as an option is handy for days when I haven’t got time to wash up a bowl before dashing off to work. The loaf of bread here will also be making my daily sandwich for lunch.
Lunch menu
- Sandwiches: 10 slices British ham, £0.85; 10 slices mature cheddar cheese, £2.19; Beautifully Buttery, £0.99
- Bananas, £0.78
Total = £4.81
With bread, ham, and cheese for your lunch, you’ve got protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Finish lunch off with a piece of fruit and you’ve got yourself a balanced meal.
If you’re working from home, you can liven up your sandwich by turning it into a toastie – you can also add a spice or two, a bit of pepper, and some sauce to make it bougie.
Something to remember: next week, you won’t need to buy butter. The £0.99 you save can go towards an extra filling, more fruit, or a multipack of crisps (£0.89).
Dinner menu
- 1kg long grain white rice, £0.52
- 1kg frozen chicken breast fillets, £4.25
- 1kg frozen peas, £1.09
- Broccoli, £0.79
- Red kidney beans, £0.49
- Chilli con carne spice mix, £0.39
Total = £7.14
The chilli con carne spice mix serves four, so you could make a big batch of chilli and eat it for four meals. Batch cook the chicken and kidney beans in the chilli and store it in the fridge, preparing the rice and vegetables fresh each evening. You could also mix some rice, chilli, and veg together & bake it, so you get a nice crispy top.
Changing the texture of your food is a simple way to trick your mind into thinking your dinner is brand new, as opposed to leftovers you’ve been eating for three days straight.
The beauty of the food in my dinner menu? Nothing is recipe-specific, everything is easily adaptable into a variety of meals. Chances are, you’ve got some salt, pepper, and spices in your cupboard and there’s nothing to stop you trialling different flavours to make your chicken and rice more exciting.
If you’ve got a stock cube, for example, boil the rice with that instead of plain water. Or, cook the rice slowly in a pan, as if you were making a paella, and add a handful of veg, some chicken, and some spices to make more of a meal.
Can you feed one person for less than £15 a week?
Yes. Yes, you can. You’ll have to shop savvy, but it is doable. My breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu comes to £14.91, only slightly under budget. We’ve got a full article on how to shop on a budget if you need a bit of help on what to look out for and consider before putting things in your basket.
But remember, as you build your cupboards up, you’ll find you can use your budget on other things. For example, the £2.60 I save not having to buy butter, rice, or peas for the next week, I can get a multipack of crisps, yoghurt, or some jam to change up my cheese & ham sandwiches. I could also pop to Tesco and grab 15 eggs for £2.15 to increase my protein intake.
With a bit of time dedicated to planning, you can most definitely eat a balanced diet on a minimal budget, you’ve just got to shop around.
