Today's Picks Live

Recipe: random each visit · Tip: daily

Recipes are sourced from TheMealDB — a free community recipe database. A different suggestion is loaded every time you visit. The healthy eating tip rotates daily.

Today's Kitchen Tip

Food News Live

The Guardian Food

Eating Seasonally in the UK

🌱
Spring
Asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli, Jersey Royals, spring onions, watercress, rhubarb.
☀️
Summer
Strawberries, courgettes, broad beans, peas, tomatoes, runner beans, sweetcorn, gooseberries.
🍂
Autumn
Squash, apples, pears, wild mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, kale, celeriac.
❄️
Winter
Leeks, cauliflower, swede, turnip, stored root veg, forced rhubarb, blood oranges.

Budget Cooking Guides

Feeding a Family for Under £50 a Week

With smart planning, a family of four can eat well on £50 a week. The key is building meals around cheap proteins and batch cooking at the weekend.

Your Weekly Protein Rotation

  • Tinned chickpeas, lentils and beans — usually under 50p per tin
  • Eggs — one of the best-value proteins you can buy
  • Frozen chicken thighs — far cheaper than breasts and just as good
  • Frozen fish fillets — cod, pollock and haddock are budget-friendly
  • Frozen mince — buy in bulk and portion into bags

Meal Planning Tips

  • Plan 5 dinners before you shop — impulse buys are the enemy of a budget
  • Write your list by supermarket aisle to avoid doubling back
  • Buy supermarket own-brand for staples: pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, flour
  • Freeze bread before it goes stale — toast it straight from the freezer

Batch Cooking: 2 Hours, 5 Meals

Spending two hours cooking on Sunday evening can set you up with lunches and dinners for the whole week. Here's how to make it work.

The Sunday Reset Method

  • Cook a big pot of rice or pasta — the base for four other dishes
  • Roast a whole tray of vegetables — use them in salads, wraps and pasta
  • Make a large batch of lentil soup — freezes perfectly in portions
  • Cook a double batch of whatever you're having tonight — tomorrow's lunch sorted
  • Hard-boil 6 eggs — snacks and salad toppers for the whole week

What to Batch Freeze

  • Chilli, bolognese, curry sauces — freeze in individual portions
  • Sliced bread and rolls — toast from frozen
  • Grated cheese — use straight from the bag
  • Chopped herbs — freeze in ice cube trays with olive oil