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Stretching grocery budgets and being smart with the weekly food shop can be tricky at the best of times. It becomes particularly challenging if you are cooking for one, when bulk buying and batch cooking might not be an option. Following a vegan diet adds another layer of complexity too: while basic ingredients can be inexpensive, it takes careful thought to achieve great flavour and texture.

With this is mind, we asked one of our favourite food writers to put together a plant-based budget meal plan to serve one person. It promise a week's worth of dinners that are varied, use easy-to-find ingredients and don't require any specialist kit or techniques.

7 meals for under £1.60 per portion

This plan includes recipes for seven main meals which cost less than £12 in total (it was under £10 when first published, but prices have continued to rise). It was developed by Saskia Sidey, a budget vegan cookbook author who understands how to create great flavours from basic ingredients. She has focused on recipes that make the most of naturally vegan produce as meat substitutes are often expensive.

To make sure your grocery shop for the week stays under budget, the costing of these recipes has been done very carefully. For more information read our article to see how we are costing our new budget recipes and view the full store cupboard.

The recipes

Day 1: Okonomiyaki

This Japanese-style cabbage pancake is a doddle to make and very moreish – you won’t believe how rich and complex the sauce tastes with just two ingredients.

Day 2: Spicy baked beans on toast

These easy homemade beans have so much more depth of flavour than tinned versions. The recipe makes more than you need for this meal, but extras are used to bulk out the chilli no carne later in the week.

Day 3: Courgette and sweetcorn fritters

The combination of crisp, salty fritters with a crunchy slaw and a creamy dip is hard to beat. It makes three fritters for a generous meal.

Day 4: Chilli no carne

Repurposing leftovers from earlier in the week and adding extra beans and a few herbs and spices makes this chilli so easy to rustle up. The recipe makes enough for one really big meal or two slightly smaller portions (so consider tomorrow's lunch sorted!).

Day 5: Tofu fried rice

A 10-minute meal that's filling and packed with tasty veg. Using the leftover rice from yesterday's chilli is a handy trick that really speeds things up.

Day 6: Courgette chilli pasta

Creamy, mild courgettes contrast perfectly with the garlicky, spicy flavours in this easy vegan pasta dish.

Day 7: Risi e bisi

This classic Italian rice and pea dish is similar to a risotto and so creamy you won’t believe there’s no dairy in it.

Shopping list

Tins, packets and jars
□ 400g tin black beans
□ 400g tin borlotti beans
□ 3 tbsp linseeds (also known as flaxseed)
□ 150g/5½oz long-grain rice
□ 100g/3½oz dried penne

Fruit and vegetables
□ 1 sweetheart cabbage
□ 7 spring onions
□ 2 courgettes
□ 1 lime, juice only
□ small bunch fresh coriander (2 small handfuls)
□ small bunch fresh flatleaf parsley (2 small handfuls)
□ 2 onions
□ 1 large bulb of garlic (11 garlic cloves required)

Cooking ingredients
□ 4 tbsp olive oil
□ 4 tbsp vegetable oil
□ 2½–3 tsp dried chilli flakes
□ 2 tsp paprika
□ 2 tsp ground cumin
□ 400g tin chopped tomatoes
□ 1 vegetable stock cube
□ 2 tsp white wine vinegar
□ 2 tsp yeast extract
□ 2–2½ tbsp nutritional yeast
□ 145g/5oz plain flour
□ salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chilled
□ 349g pack silken tofu

Frozen
□ 150g/5½oz frozen sweetcorn
□ 175g/6oz frozen peas

Condiments
□ 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
□ 4 tbsp soy sauce

Other
□ 1 slice wholemeal bread

Our meal plans for one were created on a strict ingredient budget of £10 for the week, which is on average just under £1.50 per dinner. And, as we wanted to make your food shop as practical as possible, we’ve costed these recipes slightly differently. Standard practice is to divide the cost of every ingredient by the number of potential servings, and then add all of those costs together.

Instead, we’ve based most of our costs on the smallest available pack size, meaning even if you don’t use a whole jar or packet, the entire cost is still included in the budget.

These costs are added to a store cupboard of common items like oil, salt, pasta and rice that you may buy regularly and use for several meals. These basics are costed according to the quantity you use. The items in this limited store cupboard tend to have long shelf lives, or are regularly purchased (bread, milk and potatoes).

We’ve also made sure each plan uses as much of each ingredient you buy as possible, not only to keep costs down but also avoid waste. So, while you can easily pick and choose which recipes you want to make from across all three, the plans work best when you follow a specific one for a whole week.

First published September 2022. Prices updated March 2023.