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This student-friendly meal plan covers a week’s worth of dinners and lunches for one hungry adult, coming in at under £17 in total. That’s less than £1.25 per portion!

We’ve batch cooked lots of the elements to keep kitchen time to a minimum and there’s no fancy kitchen kit required – a few basic essentials are all you need.

We have put plant-based foods at the heart of the plan so you can eat on a budget without resorting to low-quality foods, although the recipes aren’t all vegetarian. They are written by Elly Curshen (aka Elly Pear), who is a whizz with leftovers and has a real knack for making basic ingredients shine.

More budget meal inspiration

• Budget meal plan for one
• Budget vegan meal plan for one
• Budget recipes and advice

How we costed our recipes

We have stuck to a strict ingredient budget of £1.25 per meal, which adds up to under £17 for the week.

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.

Meanwhile, store cupboard items like oil, salt, pasta and rice are costed according to the quantity you use, as they tend to have long shelf lives and are commonly found in people’s kitchens.

The recipes

Day 1
Dinner: Spinach and coconut dal

The meal plan kicks off by batch cooking a delicious dal to be served with pitta and yoghurt. This dal recipe makes four portions: one to eat today, and three to store in the fridge and freezer ready to be eaten as leftovers later in the week. Dal keeps really well and we’ve used clever twists and tricks to serve it in different ways and keep things interesting.

Day 2
Lunch: Leftover dal
Dinner: Pearl barley risotto

For lunch, simply reheat yesterday’s dal and top with a little yoghurt and red chilli.

Dinner is another batch cook meal that will help set you up for the week. Pearl barley is cheap, filling and really good for you – it also reheats better than rice, making it perfect for batch cooking. As well as making three portions of the risotto, you’ll also roast a whole butternut squash that will be used throughout the week.

Day 3
Lunch: Leftover risotto
Dinner: Leftover dal with roasted butternut squash

An easy day with very little cooking! Today’s lunch is one portion of last night’s risotto topped with ricotta, fresh basil and a little finely chopped red chilli.

Dinner also makes use of leftovers by combining the butternut squash you batch cooked yesterday with the dal from day one. Roughly chop the roasted squash and add to the dal in a pan and heat until piping hot. Serve with toasted pitta, yoghurt and little fresh chilli.

Day 4
Lunch: Spinach and ricotta omelette
Dinner: Leftover risotto fritters

Lunch is a simple omelette finished with spinach and creamy ricotta. It takes less than 5 minutes to whip up and will keep you full all afternoon.

Dinner turns a portion of the batch cooked risotto into fritters. If you haven’t made fritters before, don’t worry – it’s a really simple process. All you have to do is stir through an egg and some basil, dollop into a frying pan and fry until golden-brown. This recipe is lovely served with any kind of hot sauce you have handy.

Day 5
Lunch: 6-minute egg with yoghurt and toasted pitta
Dinner: Pasta with spicy sardine and tomato sauce

Lunch is a simple but sophisticated affair with a budget take on Turkish eggs. This popular brunch dish serves soft-boiled eggs with a jammy yolk on a bed of thick, flavoured yoghurt topped with brown butter and chillies. Serve with shards of toasted pitta for dipping.

For dinner, you have a quick pasta based on two store cupboard essentials: tinned tomatoes and tinned fish. Sardines pack a punch nutritionally and are a really cheap way to get Omega 3s, calcium and protein into your diet.

Day 6
Lunch: Baked egg in tomato sauce with ricotta and toasted pitta (see the recipe tips)
Dinner: Pearl barley with spinach, peas, tomatoes and butternut squash

Today’s lunch is an egg baked in tomato sauce (leftover from last night’s dinner) mixed with ricotta. Pop it in an oven-safe dish and bake for 15 minutes. Serve with toasted pitta bread for dipping.

Dinner is a filling and nutritious warm salad of pearl barley, spinach and tomatoes mixed with the butternut squash you batch cooked earlier in the week. The recipe makes two portions, so you have one left for a quick lunch tomorrow.

Day 7
Lunch: Leftover pearl barley and vegetable salad
Dinner: Tomato, squash and chilli pasta

For lunch, you can eat the leftover salad warm or cold, so it’s a good one to take with you to uni or work. If you want to heat it, a quick blast in the microwave is all it needs.

Dinner is a quick veggie pasta, mixing the last of the batch cooked butternut squash with sweet cherry tomatoes. It’s topped with crunchy breadcrumbs, in the style of Italian pangrattato (aka poor man’s Parmesan), which adds a lovely crunch to the dish.

Day 8
Lunch: Leftover dal with a 6-minute egg (see recipe tips)

The final meal is leftover dal with a 6-minute egg. Place the final portion of dal in a saucepan or microwave-safe container and heat until piping hot. Meanwhile, boil an egg for 6 minutes, then carefully peel, cut in half and place on top of the dal. Serve with a little finely chopped red chilli if you like, and if you have any strained yoghurt left over you can dollop that on top, too.

At this point, you should have used up all the fresh ingredients, except for a chilli and some fresh root ginger (unless you were able to buy them loose). Both things freeze well. Slice or chop the chilli and put inside a freezer-safe bag or small container, to use in future. The ginger can be frozen whole and grated straight from frozen (this is a game changer!).

Shopping list

Fruit and vegetables
□ 1 bulb garlic
□ thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
□ 3 medium onions
□ 1 bag fresh spinach (240–300g)
□ 2 large or 3 small red chillies
□ 1 butternut squash (about 1kg/2lb 4oz)
□ 1 basil plant (will last well all week, unlike a packet of cut basil)
□ 1 punnet (about 330g) cherry or baby plum tomatoes

Dairy and eggs
□ 500g/1lb 2oz Greek-style yoghurt (cheaper natural yoghurt can also be used but will need to be strained for the egg recipe)
□ 1 tub ricotta (alternatively use feta, freezing a third of the pack as soon as you open it on Day 2 and defrosting ready for Day 6)
□ 60g/2¼oz butter
□ 6 free-range eggs

Tins, packets and jars
□ 500g/1lb 2oz red lentils
□ 500g/1lb 2oz pearl barley (for convenience you can swap for pre-cooked mixed grain pouches, but this will cost more)
□ 160g/5¾oz penne pasta (or other pasta shapes)
□ 1 tin coconut milk (400ml)
□ 1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)
□ 1 tin sardines in spicy tomato sauce

Cooking ingredients
□ 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
□ 3 tablespoons olive oil
□ 3 vegetable stock cubes
□ 30g/1oz curry powder
□ 1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Frozen
□ 40g/1½oz frozen peas

Other
□ 1 pack pitta bread
□ ½ tsp sugar (optional)

Originally published September 2023