A cheap 7-day meal plan using red lentils, chickpeas and bacon. Frugal, nutritious and easy to cook
Budget meal plan with lentils and chickpeas
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All Meal Plans
Learn about All Meal Plans on our blog
Week Seven Meal Planner – minced beef, bacon, red lentils
Need to feed your family with the minimum of cash? This meal plan is based on minced beef, bacon & red lentils. As at 27th August 2025, £1.46 each, per day! Everything you need, three meals a day plus cakey extras
Meal Plan 4 – butter beans, oats and parsnips
How to eat well on a teeny, tiny budget! A weekly meal planner to serve 2 adults for 7 days at a cost of £1.34 a day each as at August 2025
Meal Plan 3 – chorizo, chick peas and dried mash
A weekly meal plan based around chorizo or salami, chick peas and dried mash. Feed yourself all week for £1.40 a day – priced in August 2025
Meal Plan Two – salted cashews, black olives and soft cheese
First written in September 2013, re-priced annually since then. I’m so pleased this meal plan is still pricing up at just over £1 a day in August 2025 – 12 years old, and still going strong!
Meal plan 7 – Beef Ragu for 3 different dishes
Make 1 big ragu and you can make a cottage pie, a lasagna and spaghetti bolognese with it!
Vegetarian Christmas
If you are on a tight budget, Christmas food can be very difficult, causing stress, and maybe even debt too. No need to get into debt, when with a bit of extra planning, you can enjoy a delicious vegetarian Christmas festive meal, without spending a fortune. If you don’t know where to start, or would like a few vegetarian christmas recipe ideas, have a look at this detailed, 2 person, 7 day Christmas dinner menu for the entire Christmas week.
Christmas Week Food. Lots of festive flavours & not many £££’s
If you are on a tight budget, Christmas food can be very difficult, causing stress, and maybe even debt too. Happily, no need to get into debt, when with a bit of extra planning, you can enjoy a delicious festive meal, without spending a fortune, and continue festively all week for around £2.60pppd!
Meal Plan 14 – 7 days for two adults and two x 15 year olds – chicken, cheese and bacon
A 7 day meal plan for 2 adults ad 2 teenagers based around a whole chicken, cheese and bacon with, lots of veggies too
Week Twelve Meal Planner – chicken, bacon, sausage, vegetables
For this, our twelfth weekly meal plan for 2 adults and 2 children (up to around 10 needing 1700 calories each), we base it around a whole chicken, bacon, sausage and lots of vegetables.
As at 11th October 2024, you will need £55.68 in your purse at the checkout, but the amount of food actually consumed (if you follow the plan fully) comes to £50.27 or £1.80, per person, per day.
Oaty Apple Crumble, swap the topping for just oats or breadcrumbs
Oats are a great addition to any crumble topping. This one is from a 7 day, £1.22 a day meal plan. Lots of ideas for other flavourings too
Meal Plan Thirteen from the Tonight programme on ITV – Roast chicken, burgers and curry
This meal plan is after ITV asked if I would like to help a family save money on their grocery bill. For 5 people, it costs less than £100 for the week