Eating well on a budget
It can feel hard to eat well when you’re on a budget. Check out these ideas on how to be thrifty and still eat well.
- Plan your meals each week, write a shopping list and stick to it. This way you will buy only what you need.
- Cook extra and freeze or refrigerate the leftovers for another day.
- Buy fruit and vegetables that are in season, these will be cheaper. Frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables can often be cheaper than fresh.
- Use cheaper protein foods like eggs, lentils, three bean mix or tinned fish.
- Soups and stews are a great way to use up vegetables, pasta, rice or meat.
- Use cheaper cuts of meat, and add legumes (eg lentils, kidney beans or chickpeas) to meat dishes to make them go further.
For more ideas read Eating on a budget and Quick and easy meals.
Spaghetti Bolognese
Try this tasty recipe
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 large carrot, grated or chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1L tomato passata (tomato pasta sauce)
- 400g can diced tomatoes
- 400g can lentils, drained, rinsed
- 250g beef mince
- 2 teaspoons dried herbs (eg Italian mix, oregano, thyme)
- 300g cooked pasta
- Grated cheese to serve
Method
- In a large pot, fry onion, celery, carrot and garlic in oil for 5 minutes over medium heat until softened.
- Add beef mince and stir to break up lumps. Cook until browned.
- Stir in passata and tomatoes and bring to the boil.
- Add lentils and herbs. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until slightly thickened.
- Serve with cooked pasta and sprinkle with grated cheese.