Features
The best books for cooking on a budget
by Lottie Huckle
published on 3 January 2024, last updated on 23 September 2025
Want to streamline your weekly food shop spend? We’ve rounded up our favourite budget cookbooks to help you mastermind your midweek meals on a budget, straighten up your freezer, and eat well every day without breaking the bank.
80 easy, healthy slow cooker recipes.
Calorie-counted recipes to assist with diet programmes.
From pastas to curries, fakeaways and family favourites.
Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book
Slow cooking is a brilliant method for keeping costs low. Not only will it tenderise cheaper cuts of meat, it also uses significantly less energy than oven cooking. In this best-selling cookbook from TikTok and Instagram sensation Bored of Lunch, you’ll find dozens of delicious ideas for what to make in a slow cooker, complete with calorie counts on every recipe and slow cooking tips.
Budget-friendly midweek meals
All the recipes from the TV series
Simple sweet treats
Eat Well for Less: Quick & Easy Meals
What’s better than budget-friendly recipes? Budget-friendly recipes that are also quick and easy to throw together, even when you’re feeding a hungry crowd. With all of the recipes from the hit BBC series, this is the cookbook to transform the way you cook, saving you money in the supermarket and time in the kitchen.
It only takes 5 ingredients and less than 30 minutes
All the recipes from the TV series
Simple, step-by-step recipes
5 Ingredients – Quick & Easy Food
Fewer ingredients means shorter shopping lists and less money to part with at the till, so Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook, with over 130 recipes each using only 5 ingredients is a total game changer. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by what can be made out of just a handful of hard-working ingredients, and your bank account will be pretty happy about it too.
The perfect companion for any student learning to cook
Quick meals for dining solo or sharing with friends
Genius tips for cooking on a budget
Student Eats
Delicious recipes for budget-friendly cooking
Classic family favourite recipes
Easy and nutritious weeknight dinners
The Savvy Shopper’s Cookbook
Armed with The Savvy Shopper’s Cookbook you’ll be able to navigate your supermarket with ease and transform budget ingredients into hearty family meals.
A Year in 120 Recipes
Featuring 120 thrify recipes, anti-poverty campaigner and writer Jack Monroe’s second cookbook shares resourceful and creative budget ideas for every month of the year. From low-cost Christmas recipes to fresh ideas for summer, the emphasis is on accessible ingredients and easy-to-follow guidance.
Tasty recipes to cook using store cupboard staples and cornershop bits.
With quick midweek meals, effortless dishes for entertaining friends, and inventive desserts.
The perfect book for time-pressed cooks and thrifty food lovers.
The Cornershop Cookbook
Full of ideas for what to make with the ingredients you’ll find in your local cornershop, this cookbook is a thrify cook’s dream. Added bonus: no travel costs to factor into your budget.
Good Food: Budget Dishes: Triple-tested Recipes
With recipes that have been tried and tested by the Good Food team, each simple recipe comes with a nutritional breakdown, full colour photo and step-by-step instructions.
Economy Gastronomy
Cook smarter with creative ideas and tips from the Economy Gastronomy cookbook. Created to help you save money whilst cooking flavourful, comforting meals, Economy Gastronomy will influence the way you spend, cook and eat, for the better.
80 nutritious and flavourful recipes for everyday cooking.
Find recipes and meal planners, as well as money and time-saving tips.
Filling breakfasts, low-effort lunches and plenty of dinner ideas for the whole family.
Eat Well for Less: Happy & Healthy
Crammed full of practical tips and comforting recipes, Eat Well for Less: Happy & Healthy will have you creating low-cost, satisfying meals in no time. You’ll find meal planners and money saving tips as well as 80 unique recipes that the whole family will love.
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