Meal prep for $50 a week: a plan for two

Fifty dollars covers breakfast, lunch and dinner for two people from Monday to Friday, which is thirty meals, if most of the bulk comes from beans, lentils, oats, eggs and rice. The plan below uses six recipes from this site. Every cost comes from the recipe's own workings, so the figures update when our price list does. Your store will differ, so treat the total as a guide.

What is in the plan?

• Breakfast: baked berry oatmeal squares, one batch of six, about $6.06, and egg and veggie muffin cups, one batch of six, about $6.66.
• Lunch: black bean soup, six servings for about $8.64, and cold peanut noodle salad, four servings for about $4.08.
• Dinner: coconut chickpea curry, six servings for about $10.80, and lentil bolognese, six servings for about $8.94.

That is 34 servings for about $45.18 by our estimates, which leaves a few dollars for fruit, milk or coffee. The four spare servings go in the freezer.

Why these recipes?

They share ingredients. Onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, cumin and rice appear in several of them, so nothing is bought for a single use. Beans and lentils give protein for a fraction of what meat costs, and the eggs and oats keep breakfast cheap. The reasoning behind cheap staples is in cheap meal prep for about $2 a serving.

How do you shop for it?

Put the six recipes into the week planner. It adds the ingredients together into one shopping list, so you buy two onions once instead of an onion for each recipe. Buy rice, oats, lentils and spices in the largest bag you will use within a couple of months: the first week costs more, the weeks after cost less. A budget pantry lists what is worth keeping.

How do you cook it?

Over one weekend afternoon: start the soup and the bolognese sauce, bake the oatmeal and egg muffins together in the oven, then make the curry while those finish. The peanut noodles take fifteen minutes and can be made midweek. The order is explained in how to meal prep a week in one afternoon.

How long does it keep?

Four days in the fridge for most of it. Eat the noodles and muffins first, and freeze one or two portions of soup and curry for Thursday and Friday so nothing goes past four days. See how long meal prep lasts.

What if your prices are higher?

Swap rather than cut. Frozen vegetables cost less than fresh and keep longer, and dried beans cost less than canned. How meal prep cuts your grocery bill covers the habits that save the most.