I spent £25.81 on my ASDA food shop and managed to turn it into 20 meals, working out at around £1.29 per meal.

The trick was to choose affordable, everyday ingredients that could be used across several recipes, rather than buying completely different ingredients for every meal. This meant I could stretch my shopping list further, keep costs down and still create plenty of variety.

And this definitely isn’t about eating boring food or living on beans on toast. The 20 meals include air fryer fruit crumble for breakfast, comforting soup, a family-friendly slow cooker dinner and an easy weekend brunch.

It shows that with a bit of planning, a budget food shop can still give you varied, filling and genuinely tasty meals without needing a huge shopping list.

I spent £25.81 in total, using a mixture of fresh ingredients and a few cupboard staples I already had at home.

What I bought:

Frozen mixed berries – £2.96

Oats – £0.85

Mixed nuts – £1.98

Fat-free Greek yoghurt – £1.15

Chicken breasts – £4.52

Bacon rashers – £1.64

Reduced-fat mature cheddar – £2.87

Baby potatoes and fresh salad – £0.93

Potatoes – £2.00

Leeks – £1.37

Half-fat butter – £1.03

Bread roll – £0.78

Croissants – £1.84

Thick-cut ham – £1.89

Milk – £1.03

Total spent: £25.81

Cupboard essentials:

I already had these ingredients at home, so they weren’t included in the £25.81 shop:

Lemon

Sugar (or sweetener)

Cinnamon

Honey

Smoked paprika

Tomato purée

BBQ sauce

Garlic

Worcestershire sauce

Chicken stock

Vegetable stock

Salt and black pepper

Onion

Eggs

Chives

Butter for greasing

The biggest lesson from this ASDA challenge is that planning matters just as much as price. Rather than choosing four completely unrelated recipes and buying everything needed for each one, I looked for recipes that shared ingredients and used inexpensive supermarket staples.

That meant I could stretch the same ingredients across multiple meals, reduce waste and get much more from my £25 budget. I also checked what I already had in my cupboards, fridge and freezer before doing the shop. You don’t necessarily need to buy every single ingredient from scratch, particularly when you’re trying to keep your weekly food shop down.

Here are the four recipes I made as part of the challenge:

The biggest lesson from this challenge is that budget shopping starts before you get to the supermarket. Instead of deciding what to buy once you’re in the shop, plan your meals first and then work backwards to create your shopping list. This makes it much easier to spot ingredients that can be used across multiple meals.

Choose Ingredients That Work Across Multiple Meals

One of the easiest ways to reduce your food bill is to avoid buying a completely different ingredient for every recipe. If you’re buying mature cheddar for one dinner, look for another recipe that uses the same cheese. The same applies to yogurt, milk, vegetables, herbs and sauces. This means one supermarket purchase can contribute towards several meals rather than being used once and forgotten about.

Use Cheap Store Cupboard Staples

Ingredients such as oats, potatoes, rice, pasta, beans and stock can form the base of lots of cheap and easy meals. Before you go shopping, check your cupboards and freezer. You might already have ingredients that can turn a basic meal into something much more substantial. There’s no need to buy another jar of BBQ sauce or mustard if you already have one at home.

Buy Frozen Fruit and Vegetables

Frozen food can be incredibly useful when you’re trying to stick to a budget. Frozen berries are particularly handy because they last much longer than fresh fruit and you can use exactly the amount you need. They’re ideal for breakfasts, smoothies, desserts and baking. Frozen vegetables can also help reduce food waste because you don’t have to use the entire packet within a few days.

Make Big-Batch Meals

One of the best ways to get more value from your food shop is to make meals that create several portions. Soup is perfect for this, as are slow cooker recipes, curries, chilli and pasta dishes. Make a larger batch, eat some straight away and save the rest for lunches or another dinner. This can also save money by reducing the temptation to buy lunch or takeaway food when you don’t have anything ready at home.

With some planning, a £25 food shop can go surprisingly far. The important thing is to think about the cost of the whole shop rather than the cost of individual recipes. Buying one ingredient for one meal can quickly make a food shop expensive, whereas choosing versatile ingredients that can be used across several meals helps you get much more value from your money.

This ASDA challenge shows that you can create a mix of cheap breakfasts, easy lunches, family dinners and tasty weekend meals without needing a huge shopping list. With a little planning, you can make your food shop stretch further while still having plenty of variety throughout the week. It’s worth remembering that supermarket prices can change, so the exact cost of your shop may vary depending on when and where you shop.

Want to see how other supermarkets compare? I’ve also done the same £25 food shop challenge at:

Tesco £25 Food Shop

LIDL £25 Food Shop

The biggest thing I’ve taken from this challenge is that budget cooking doesn’t have to mean boring food. With a bit of planning, you can make filling, family-friendly meals using affordable supermarket ingredients while also reducing food waste.

The trick is to think about what you’re going to make before you shop, look for ingredients that can be used in several meals and make the most of what you already have at home. For this challenge, £25 turned into 20 meals, proving that you don’t always need a huge food shop to make plenty of good food. If you’re trying to cut your grocery bill, start small. Plan a few meals, build your shopping list around overlapping ingredients and see how far you can make your budget stretch.

Happy cooking!

Nathan 🙂