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Stretching grocery budgets and being smart with the weekly food shop can be tricky at the best of times. It becomes particularly challenging if you are cooking for one, when bulk buying and batch cooking might not be an option. With this is mind, we asked some of our favourite food writers to put together budget meal plans to serve one person, creating a week's worth of dinners that are varied, use easy-to-find ingredients and don't require any specialist kit or techniques.

7 meals for under £1.85 per portion

This plan includes recipes for seven meat-free meals which cost less than £13 in total (it was under £10 when first published, but prices have continued to rise). It was created by Saskia Sidey, a budget cookbook author who understands how to create great flavours from basic ingredients. Here, she has come up with recipes that are not only affordable but faff-free and, above all, delicious.

To make sure your grocery shop for the week stays under budget, the costing of these recipes has been done very carefully. For more information read our article to see how we are calculating the cost of our new budget recipes and view the full store cupboard.

The recipes

Day 1: Cauliflower and broccoli cheese

Cheesy and comforting, this filling dish is a classic side reimagined as a satisfying main course, packed with vegetables.

Day 2: Pasta e ceci

Pasta e ceci, or pasta with chickpeas, is somewhere between a pasta dish, soup and stew. Using the liquid from a tin of chickpeas helps make the pasta sauce creamy and thick. If you forget and accidentally chuck it away, just use a bit more pasta water to help bind it all together.

Day 3: Kidney bean and sweetcorn quesadillas

Quesadillas make for quick and filling meals, and this veg and bean version is no exception. Save half of the kidney bean and sweetcorn mixture to use in the stuffed red peppers later in the week. You will have leftover tortilla wraps too, which freeze well and can be used for easy lunches.

Chilli broccoli pizza

Day 4: Chilli broccoli pizza

This easy homemade pizza is cooked in a frying pan on the hob, then finished off briefly under the grill. Not only does this save you having to heat up the oven but it also makes for a lovely crisp base.

Day 5: Tomato and pea pasta bake

A thoroughly satisfying veggie pasta bake that's ready in under 20 minutes and doesn't need any oven time – the golden top and crispy edges are the work of the grill.

Day 6: Stuffed pepper with garlic potato wedges

You might find not all of the beany filling fits inside the pepper if it's on the smaller side – if so, warm it through in a saucepan and serve on the side to dunk your wedges in.

Cauliflower and chickpea stew

Day 7: Cauliflower and chickpea stew

This hearty vegetarian stew pairs sweet red onion with a hint of warming chilli and aromatic cumin. If you have any leftover, try serving it in a wrap for lunch the next day.

Shopping list

Tins, packets and jars
□ 400g tin chickpeas, liquid reserved
□ 400g tin kidney beans
□ 2 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes (you will only need half of the second tin. Check prices, but it’s usually cheaper to buy 400g tins than the smaller 200g tins)
□ 100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
□ 180g/6oz pasta, preferably penne
□ 50g/1¾oz long-grain rice

Fruit and vegetables
□ 1 cauliflower head, ideally with plenty of leaves
□ 1 broccoli head
□ 1 red pepper
□ 2½ red onions (or 2 medium and 1 very small)
□ 1 bunch fresh flatleaf parsley (3 small handfuls + 2 tbsp chopped)
□ 1 bunch fresh basil (3 small handfuls)
□ 2 limes
□ 1 large potato (to cut into wedges)
□ 1 large garlic bulb (12 garlic cloves)

Cooking ingredients
□ 1 tsp dried fast-action yeast
□ 5½ tbsp olive oil
□ 3 tsp chilli flakes
□ 4 tsp ground cumin
□ 1½ tsp smoked paprika
□ ½ tsp dried mixed herbs
□ salt and ground black pepper

Dairy, eggs and chilled
□ 200g/7oz mozzarella
□ 10g butter
□ 125ml/4fl oz full-fat milk
□ 80g/3oz cheddar

Condiments
□ 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Frozen
□ 100g/3½oz frozen sweetcorn
□ 205g/7oz frozen peas

Other
□ 4 mini tortilla wraps

Our meal plans for one were initially created on a strict ingredient budget of £10 for the week, but as prices have risen this meal plan now comes in at an average of £12.91 when checking prices at four supermarkets. And, as we wanted to make your food shop as practical as possible, we’ve costed these recipes slightly differently. Standard practice is to divide the cost of every ingredient by the number of potential servings, and then add all of those costs together.

Instead, we’ve based most of our costs on the smallest available pack size, meaning even if you don’t use a whole jar or packet, the entire cost is still included in the budget.

These costs are added to a store cupboard of common items like oil, salt, pasta and rice that you may buy regularly and use for several meals. These basics are costed according to the quantity you use. The items in this limited store cupboard tend to have long shelf lives, or are regularly purchased (bread, milk and potatoes).

We’ve also made sure each plan uses as much of each ingredient you buy as possible, not only to keep costs down but also avoid waste. So, while you can easily pick and choose which recipes you want to make from across all three, the plans work best when you follow a specific one for a whole week.

First published September 2022. Prices updated October 2023.