I NEVER spend more than £1 on a meal, use my freezer and organising tips and you can cut your food budget too

A SAVVY home cook as revealed how she never spends more than a single pound on any one meal – and reveals how you can do it too.

Chelsie Angeles, 21, moved to London last year as a student and was forced to make some budget cuts to get by.

Aside from making smart supermarket choices, Chelsie has made a few significant changes to her diet, too, which has helps her cut down the cost of her weekly food bill by a significant amount.

She said: "One of the easiest ways I’ve cut down my costs is by introducing vegetarian and vegan recipes in to my diet.

"I don’t follow either diet strictly, but by having a veggie or vegan meal a few times a week; I save a fair amount of money on meat, which is normally the biggest expense on a food shop.

"Plus if you’re anything like me, someone who easily gets bored with meals, it’s a great way to try new recipes."

A sure way to keep the cost of her meals down is to use staple carbohydrates like pasta, rice and potatoes.

Chelsie explained that these foods are agood way to ensure meals are filling whilst reducing the cost.

Another top tip is to swap fresh fruit and veg for frozen, and told Metro: "They can cost less whilst offering a greater quantity with a long-lasting use-by date.

She also said to avoid supermarket multi-buy offers as it's often a way to get shoppers to purchase more products, even if you don't actually need them.

This has allowed Chelsie to avoid overspending, and it means less food waste too.

Being organised is another way Chelsie has managed to stay on track with her budget.

She maps out her meals for each day at the start of the week, and she says that makes a huge difference.

"Making a meal plan for the week that utilises the use-by dates on foods is a good way to reduce food waste," she told Metro.

"You can go a step further and create a plan that features diss that all use the same, small group of ingredients to cut down on the items you need to purchase, saving you money."

Making a meal plan for the week that utilises the use-by dates on foods is a good way to reduce food waste.

She shared her favourite budget recipes with money-saving community Vogo, and they all cost less than £1 per meal.

"My favourite recipes are quick, easy and only include a few ingredients that you can use for multiple dishes – saving money, cupboard space and waste," she explained.

"All of these recipes feature supermarket own brands, but to make the meals even cheaper, you can substitute the ingredients for a value range.

"Visiting supermarkets that sell wonky veg (unattractive, but perfectly edible vegetables at a fraction of the price) or bulk buying will also reduce the cost per meal.

"Whether these recipes take your fancy or if you want to flip some of your well loved dishes to make them vegetarian or vegan, I challenge you to do so!

"It’s great fun, a creative challenge and an effective way to eat less meat – saving on your food shop and helping the environment."

Soya risotto – £0.75 per serving

Ingredients:

Half a red onion – 8p (16p each – Asda)
Handful of soya pieces – 30p (£1.75 – Tesco)
85g of Arborio or Carnaroli rice – 23p (£1.40 – Asda)
180ml of hot vegetable stock– 3p (£0.35 – Aldi)
70ml of passata – 5p (£0.33 – Asda)
2 tea spoons of butter – 1p (£0.75 – Asda)
10g of cheese – 5p (£2 – Asda)

Method:

Pan fry the onion until brown and add the soya pieces until golden
Fry the rice for 2 minutes, then add the passata and slowly pour in the stock until completely absorbed
This should take 12-15 minutes. Stir continuously. Once finished, stir in the butter and cheese

Chelsie said: "I love to use the remaining passata and cheese as a spaghetti sauce. Heat it through on the hob until warmed, before pouring over your cooked spaghetti.

"It’s a delicious lunch or light dinner that takes less than five minutes to make. Best of all, it only costs 18p per serving! (Spaghetti 8p £0.45 – Asda, portion of cheese and passata 10p)….”

Sweet peppers and rice – £0.64 per serving

Ingredients:

70g of basmati or long grain rice – 11p (£8 for 5kg – Asda)
80g of mixed peppers – 12p (£0.87 – Asda)
Half an onion – 8p (16p each – Asda)
Squirt of tomato ketchup – 23p (£2.80 – Tesco)
Hot sauce (optional) – 10p (£3 – Tesco)

Method:

Boil the rice until cooked
Whilst boiling, pan-fry the peppers and onion until brown
Stir in the ketchup and hot sauce, fry for another minute until complete.

Chelsie said: "My best friend’s go-to takeaway order was always sweet and sour peppers. A few years ago she made the plunge to go vegan, so this recipe was born!

"It’s super easy, requiring less than 10 minutes cooking time and I love that it’s a healthier way to enjoy a classic takeaway."

Mushroom pizzas – £0.79 per serving

Ingredients:

2 large flat or portobello mushrooms – 50p (£1 – Asda)
Tomato puree – 14p (27p – Asda)
10g of cheese – 5p (£2 – Asda)
Handful of mixed peppers – 10p (£0.87 – Asda)

Method:

Spread the tomato puree over the inside of the mushrooms, add the cheese and peppers
Cook in the oven for 10 minutes

Chelsie said: "I love a good pizza, but I couldn’t find a good, less calorific alternative.

"This is such a brilliantly cheap way to still satisfy my pizza cravings whilst consuming way less calories (each mushroom is approx. 150 calories).

"Plus you can make it vegan by using vegan cheese or swap out the toppings to suit what you fancy.

"Whether you want to shake up your diet or if you’re just looking for a new, light snack or lunch to try, this is a great place to start"

We also shared how this mum creates 15 different meals for just £14.70 using Aldi chicken.

For more food tips, this organised mum prepped a week’s worth of school lunches for her family-of-five & reveals trick to keeping food fresh.

And this woman who lives on just £5 a week shared a £2.20 per person Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.

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