Budget meal plan: 5 meals for £20

I was outraged when I went to my local Asda and garlic bread had risen by 5p! It seems that everything is just hiking up in price. So I have created a 5 day budget meal plan to help families survive the cost of living crisis. The total cost of ingredients spend was actually £18.11... so you could even get yourself a pudding for later in the week to enjoy! 

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How can I budget meal plan?

The main part of budget meal planning is to use ingredients more than once. For example, I will buy a bag of potatoes and plan to use them across several meals that week. Not only does it cut down on food waste, but it saves you money too! 

When meal planning I come up with a few dinners I fancy that week and write down the ingredients. I then look at what ingredients I will have excess of and create the rest of the meals around those. Tesco have a great recipe finder tool which has saved me a few times! You simply type in three ingredients and it shows you meals you can create! 

What about keeping in budget the rest of the week?

In my No Spend January guide, one of my daily activities is to 'complete a 7 day meal plan'. However, I only shop for 5 days and the other 2 days I leave as leftover days. I tend to make extras with some meals and I freeze for a later date. Then I have left overs for lunches and dinners across the week. 

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What ingredients do I need?

This entire shopping list totals at just £18.11. This price is correct at the time of writing this post. However, give it a few more weeks and I may need to update it with the way things are rising! 

I am pescatarian, meaning I don't eat fish. So you can swap out any veggie things for actual meat if you would prefer! There isn't much of a price difference as veggie things can be just as expensive... if not more! 

I am a big lover of the Asda essential range. I try to save where I can and buy the cheaper brands. However, sometimes the essential range is sold out! Or I prefer certain brands of something and chose to spend a little more. This budget meal plan is based on shopping at Asda, so prices may vary depending on the supermarket itself. 

Meal 1: Salmon Pasta

This is one of my all time favourite recipes! I sometimes switch out the creme fraiche for mascarpone if I am feeling like I want a treat. But, I tend to use creme fraiche as a healthy alternative in lots of my meals! I actually have a blog post with this recipe already!

Meal 2: Mushroom Stroganoff

I don't cook mushroom stroganoff as much as I should! I forget just how yummy it is. I used the rest of the creme fraiche for this recipe and it was super creamy! 

Meal 3: Chicken Curry

This actually gained a good few hundred thousand views on tik tok! My budget curry... who knew it could be so popular! I use veggie quorn chicken, but you can easily just replace the quorn for real chicken. 

Meal 4: Salmon and veg

I had some potatoes left so I decided to make some mash potato. I used 2 salmon fillets between three of us... not ideal for everyone but my toddler doesn't eat much so won't eat a whole fillet to himself. However, if there are more of you to feed try making a salmon and veg bowl. I just mix all the ingredients into a bowl with some rice or another starchy alternative. That way you can easily split the salmon fillets between more people. 

Meal 5: Mushroom and Lentil Shepherds Pie

I actually made three pies and froze 2 for a later date! They are super handy because you just pop them in the oven and boom... you have a healthy, home cooked meal!