I made 5 family meals for under £20 from Lidl—here’s what I made

With food prices remaining elevated, keeping to a budget needn't result in dull meals. On a recent visit to Lidl, I set myself a strict £20 limit, aiming to pick up ingredients for five evening meals to feed a family of four. Sometimes all it takes is a little forward planning to realise that cooking from scratch is frequently more economical, particularly if you already have seasonings in your cupboard.

When it comes to making your food budget go further, Lidl and Aldi are undoubtedly the best places to begin. Their prices are consistently lower than those at many larger supermarkets, yet the quality remains excellent.

Rather than purchasing ready-made meatballs, I crafted my own using minced meat, breadcrumbs and simple seasonings. I even produced the breadcrumbs myself from leftover white bread rather than buying them. If you don't have breadcrumbs or stale bread, an egg works equally well to bind the meatballs together. Paired with spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce—essentially a tin of chopped tomatoes and seasonings—this proved to be a comforting family favourite. The spaghetti cost roughly 80p, the mince approximately £3 and the chopped tomatoes about 50p.

For a speedier option, I prepared a Caesar salad dish by tossing cooked macaroni with lettuce, Caesar dressing and grated cheese. Adding a couple of rashers of bacon and homemade croutons made from stale bread created a satisfying meal. You can throw in whatever you have lurking in the fridge that needs using up—sweetcorn, cucumber and pepper all work wonderfully. This whole meal came to roughly £3.

Finally, jacket potatoes topped with baked beans and cheese made for a hearty, filling dinner. The simplest meals are often the most satisfying, and this required just two full-size tins of baked beans, four large potatoes and a bag of cheese, which stretched across several meals throughout the week. Purchasing cheese from budget supermarkets works out considerably cheaper than opting for major retailers and branded alternatives.