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Every week I breakdown the exact cost of one of the meals I’ve cooked for either breakfast, lunch or dinner. This is to prove once and for all that eating delicious, nutritious, well-balanced meals doesn’t need to break the bank with your food choices – in fact, the opposite!
By planning my meals each week and using whole food such as vegetables, eggs, and ethically-sourced meat, I create delicious meals that fit my health and fitness goals, on a completely achievable budget – if you haven’t set your budget yet, check out my simple tips to easy, every day budgeting here!
This week’s Cheap Food Tuesday meal breakdown:
Meatball Pasta Bake
Hurray, it’s not a chicken-based meal! I noticed my last three Cheap Food Tuesday posts had been chicken, so wanted to mix things up a little with this tasty meatball pasta bake with a side salad.
It’s hearty, it’s filling, and it’s so, so delicious. I’m definitely not one of the fitness warriors who avoids pasta, cheese and fatty foods – all in moderation, but when I say all, I mean all! Check out exactly how little it costs to make this big hearty meal:
Meatball Pasta Bake (with a side salad)
Meatballs
Sainsbury’s Beef Meatballs £8.14/kg
Meal Cost: 3 Meatballs ~ 90g = 0.72p
Tinned Tomatoes
Tesco Italian Chopped Tomatoes £0.88/kg
Meal Cost: ¼ can 100g = 0.08p
Brown Onion
£0.75/kg
Meal Cost: 20g = 0.01p
Fusilli Pasta
Tesco Fusilli Pasta Twists
£0.99/kg
Meal Cost: 75g = ~0.06p
Cheese
Cathedral City Mature Cheddar Cheese
£10/kg
Meal cost: 20g = 20p
Side Salad
Tesco Fresh and Naked Just Lambs Lettuce
£1.58/100g
Meal Cost: 20g = 0.02p
Total Meal Cost: £1.09
This meatball pasta bake meal costs just over £1 to make, and is a delicious, filling comforting meal to make any night of the week – better than any expensive ready meal you’ll find at the supermarket!
If you’ve been following my ‘Cheap Food Tuesdays’ recently, you may have noticed a theme for big, wholesome meals. This is partly because I love a big, comforting dinner in the Winter, but we’re also making the most of having an oven and a proper kitchen before our travels begin.
Once we’re on the road, I’ll be uploading home-cooked meals when I can, but also showcasing some of the tastiest, cheapest street food we can find in Asia (and proving it’s some of the safest food to eat out there, too!)
