Eating cheaply and eating well are not mutually exclusive. The most nutritious foods on earth — lentils, eggs, oats, cabbage, tinned fish — are also some of the cheapest. The problem is that nobody teaches you how to cook them well.
The Cheapest Nutritious Ingredients
These are the building blocks of budget cooking. Buy them regularly and your meal costs drop dramatically:
- Dried lentils (under €2/kg, makes 8+ portions)
- Eggs (around €0.25 each, complete protein)
- Oats (breakfast sorted for €1.50/week)
- Canned chickpeas and beans (€0.60–0.80 per can)
- Frozen vegetables (often more nutritious than fresh, and cheaper)
- Seasonal vegetables (cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes — all under €1/kg)
- Tinned sardines and mackerel (€1–1.50 per tin, high in omega-3)
- Pasta and rice (under €1/kg)
10 Meals Under €5
Each of these costs well under €5 per serving when made at home:
- Lentil soup with carrots and cumin — roughly €0.90 per bowl
- Egg fried rice with frozen vegetables — around €1.20
- Chickpea and spinach curry with rice — about €1.50
- Pasta with tinned sardines, garlic, and chilli — €1.80
- Bean chilli with rice and soured cream — €2.00
- Potato and leek soup with bread — €1.50
- Vegetable omelette with leftover roasted veg — €1.20
- Overnight oats with banana and peanut butter — €0.90
- Cabbage and pork stir-fry with noodles — €2.50
- Dal makhani (butter lentils) with naan — €1.80
The Real Budget Cooking Skill: Batch Cooking
The most effective way to eat cheaply is to cook in large quantities. A pot of lentil soup costs €5 to make and feeds you for three days. That's €1.70 a meal. If you cook twice a week and eat the same thing for two or three days, your weekly food bill drops by 40–60% without any sacrifice in quality.
Browse Culinse to find budget-friendly recipes filtered by ingredients you already have. The meal planner feature helps you plan the whole week in advance so nothing goes to waste.