Viral budgeter gets her weekly food shop down to just £22 by cutting one thing from her diet

A woman has revealed how she reduced the cost of her weekly food shop to just £22.

Molly Spencer, @feedmewhenim64Bradford, decided to tighten her belt after moving in with her partner Jake in September 2024.

She explained how cutting meat from her diet has helped her to reduce the amount she spends on food shopping, saying that on one supermarket trip her mum got the exact same meals as her but meat versions and it came to £65 in comparison to her £22.

Molly, a learning support assistant, said: “I’ve always hated meat, and I became a vegetarian in 2020, and then a vegan. People are generally curious about it. They think being vegan would be so expensive but it’s so much cheaper.

“[People] are commenting asking for advice [and] recipes. There’s people in my comments saying they’re spending £400 per month on food and asking ‘what am I doing wrong’.”

Molly advises planning ahead to help cut spending.

She said: “I usually look at the things I already have in my cupboards that are fresh to use for the next week. Then I think about protein and base my meals off of that, and think about cheap ingredients.”

In a recent video, Molly ran through her £22.80 food shop, with enough to make six lunches and dinners for the week ahead.

Molly’s favourite meals to make are Gochujang tofu and chickpea and spinach curry, using leftover spinach in a different meal.

She said: “I focus on cheap protein, so a can of chickpeas from Aldi are 49p and I’d usually do two meals with that. Aldi’s tofu is really cheap too.

“I budget so I can afford to live, but it’s so important that I enjoy nice things, so I save up and spend money on going out to eat at restaurants.”

Two tubs of hummus

Oat milk

Fruit - easy peelers and grapes

Bread

Pasta

Spinach

Five blocks of tofu

Courgette

Rice noodles

Carrots

Red cabbage

Cucumber

Spring onions

Butter beans

Tinned tomatoes

Kale

Chickpeas