But you don’t have to just be at university to get the most out of this meal plan – it’s for anyone who’s feeing the pinch or simply want to save money on their food bill. I hope these £1 student recipes to give you some inspiration. This is a little bit of a different meal plan today. Some of you asked for inspiration for students going off to university so here we are! My criteria was: ⭐️ Very good value (aka CHEAP!) ⭐️ Easy to keep leftovers or make just one portion. ⭐️ No fancy equipment used and simple to make. This collection of recipes prove you don’t have to break the bank to cook nutritious, delicious and satisfying meals. And, of course, these would also work really well for any family too. Hope you love them! I’ll be sharing this meal plan on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, so watch out for the videos so you can cook along. For reference, I shopped for this Meal Plan in July 2022 at Asda and it cost £22.87.
Why use a meal plan?
⭐️ Knowing exactly what food to buy for avoids food waste, saving you money. ⭐️ Having a plan for dinner each night avoids the mental load of “what’s for dinner?” questions every night. The printable shopping list can be found here. Meal Plan 10 – £32 (All 10 minute meals!) Meal Plan 9 – £32 from Aldi ➡️ HOWEVER… It’s always worth considering making extra portions and saving for lunch or dinner the next day as it will save you time, effort and energy. Also bonus if you find dinner ready cooked in the fridge when drunk/hungover (HI STUDENTS!) ➡️ Buying frozen vegetables (if you have freezer space) can be a really good way of saving money when cooking just for yourself. (Annoyingly they were out of stock when I shopped for this but I’ve left them on the shopping list with a * as I think they are worth looking for rather than fresh to save money and waste.) ➡️ My printable shopping list includes the cheapest options to buy. Obviously if you want to buy higher quality (free range eggs, for example) you can substitute in. ➡️ The shopping list includes some store cupboard items that aren’t included in the budget that are worth always keeping in your cupboard. They will help you make heaps of other meals. ➡️ I normally include a fish dish every week. I haven’t done it here as fish can be very expensive, but if you do want one, try my Easy Tuna Pasta Bake. It’s SO easy, a classic. ⭐️ Frozen or fresh broccoli works well here. Frozen may take a little extra time to cook. ⭐️ You can easily adjust this recipe to make one portion. Dinner 2 ⭐️ My cream cheese pack was slightly smaller, but that’s fine. I just used the 200g pack. ⭐️ Also courgette pack sizes vary. One pack will be enough even if there’s only x2 courgettes, I wouldn’t bother spending money on another whole pack. You will have spare peas to add if you want more veg. ⭐️ Substitute parmesan for some of the grated cheddar from the shopping list. ⭐️ Make a single portion or make extra portions for lunches. ⭐️ Serve with extra rice from the bag. ⭐️ You can use curry powder instead of curry paste depending on what you have. Just use about 1tsp per person or more or less depending on your spice tastes. ⭐️ You could adjust this recipe to make one portion OR the extra portions freeze brilliantly if you have freezer space. ⭐️ If you can’t find the cheaper dried red lentils, a can of green lentils also works well. Just drain and rinse them and add as normal (like I did in the video). Dinner 4 ⭐️ If you’re only cooking one portion of this, you could omit the chicken or use a smaller amount of bacon (leftover from the cream cheese pasta) instead. OR freeze the rest of the leftover uncooked chicken. ⭐️ Frozen or fresh broccoli works well here. Frozen may take a little extra time to cook. ⭐️ You can make smaller portions of this in a smaller dish but leftovers keep well for 3 days in the fridge and make a brilliant high protein lunch. ⭐️ If you’d like some extra carbs with this, I would suggest buying a pack of baking potatoes and having a jacket potato with it. If you’ve found this useful, let’s be friends on Instagram @tamingtwins
