As the cost of living continues to rise many families are looking for ways to save money. From reducing the food bill to trying new recipes there are ways to help look after the pennies.
Supermarkets such as Marks and Spencer and Sainsburys have introduced initiatives to help families, with M&S offering £2 meal deals for children and Sainsbury's launching their 'feed your family for a fiver' campaign you may also find inspiration for cheap meals from a surprising source. The fun viral app TikTok, which is known for comedy videos and dance routines, also has many content creators that offer fab finical and budgeting advice.
From meals for the whole family for just a pound to a weekly shop for £25, there are plenty of tips, tricks, and people to follow to help you make tasty and cheap meals. Here is who to follow and some of the best hacks.
READ MORE: Children can eat for £1 at pubs and restaurants with new deal
If you are looking for activity inspiration as well as cooking ideas, read our guide to the best free summer activities for kids in Wales here. You can keep up to date with the latest What's On news by signing up to the newsletter here.
Sarah-Taming Twins
Mum of twins Sarah is a TikTok star who creates easy-to-follow and cheap meals. Her username is @tamingtwins and she also has her own Taming Twins blog.
Her meals include 10-minute tortellini lasagne for just £1.25 per portion, her cream cheese pasta which costs £1, and her loaded veggie nachos for £1.52 per portion. Sarah's hacks include meals you can make in just 10 minutes and naan bread pizzas for £1.08.
Kathleen Ashmore
Not only is American TikToker Kathleen Ashmore, username @katcancook, cost-conscious she also creates great healthy recipes. Throughout her videos Kathleen stresses that it doesn't matter where you shop or how much your ingredients cost, you can still create great dishes.
She is the queen of salads with her videos showing you how to make a huge variety of salads that are interesting, tasty, and filling to eat. Her recipes include chicken taco salad, meatball salad, and turkey club salad.
Mitch
One of the best TikTokkers for creating budget recipes is Mitch, username @mealsbymitch. This Wolverhampton-based creator proves time and time again that you can make meals for four people for under five pounds and meals for one for less than a pound.
Showing his receipt at the start of each video, to prove how cheap the meals are, Mitch cooks everything from vegetarian curry to spicy lemon pasta to chunky chorizo soup. Mitch also makes desserts on a budget and has his own cookbook called Bon Appetit.
Roly May
Another family TikTokker who creates great, cheap family meals for his children is Roly May, username @daddymaycooks. Utilising his air fryer Roly creates some fab meals and is also the king of a Sunday roast.
Some of his own recipes include the popular Porkshire Piedding, where he creates pies out of Yorkshire puddings, beer can chicken, and smoked bacon onion rings.
Ashleigh
Welsh TikTokker Ashleigh, who also runs a very successful Instagram account, shares how she keeps her family shop low cost. Her username on TikTok and Instagram is @cardiff.mum
Some of Ashleigh's hacks include five family traybake meals from Aldi for £25 and an amazing grazing board for 10 people for £25, which you can read more about here.
Kitty Jones
Although Kitty Jones, username @kittyjonesfit, aims a lot of her dishes at students they also work as great family meals. Her meals include a Greek-style pasta salad for 385 calories a portion, Hawaiian pizza pasta for 578 calories a portion and chicken katsu curry for 437 calories a dish.
Fraz
Creating healthy and cheap meals is Fraz, username @fraz_invsoutnutrition, with his series of 12 meals for £20. Showing how he cooks and meal preps cheap and easy meals some of his 12 meals for £20 includes chicken and mushroom pie, creamy meatballs with mash potato, and teriyaki beef noodles.
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