If I budgeted for 20 quid in a shop, I’d get:
Basic potatoes
Lots of carrots as they are quite bulky
Some frozen sweet corn and peas
Broccoli and /or cauliflower
Chicken
Sausages (own brand finest/taste the difference etc, because higher pork content)
Some frozen fruit (I prefer frozen berries and pineapple rather than oranges etc)
Bread
Pasta
Chopped tomatoes
Flour
Jam
Butter
Beans
Plus some snacks.
I normally have a good stock of herbs, spices and condiments, baking supplies etc. I think the key is to keep ingredients simple - especially where potatoes and veg are concerned you can have multiple meals with those. Jack seems to mix a lot of random ingredients in a pot and stirs, but cost wise that adds up. Sometimes “meat and two veg plus potatoes and gravy” is a filling nutritious meal and actually quite cheap. So many puddings can be so cheap too - I make apple crumble once a week. Basic sponge cakes also fairly cheap if you ready have flours and sugars in stock. Heck, I’m still working though the 16kg bag of flour I panic bought at the start of lockdown (I know, I know. I won’t do that again this time!). I’ve made cheap pizzas, bread rolls, cinnamon whirls etc for a fraction of the price of buying from the bakery section. The baking is more of a necessity for me though as allergic to nuts I can rarely find baked items that are suitable. People on a very tight budget in poverty would surely much rather have potato, chicken and veg, plus a slice of homemade sponge cake than some strange bastardisation of a cultural dish that used 20 ingredients in one hit?!
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