[user104658]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

As MTVN said they only meal that would come anywhere near 30p a person would be pasta with a tin of cheap tomatoes or very cheap jar of past sauce - not balanced or really healthy. Even that will still probably cost more than 30p

Even batch cooking in large amounts will not come in anywhere close - you can't get ingredients that cheaply anymore - even the cheap ranges in supermarkets

Exactly, like I said it’s not possible to get cheap bulk ingredients like it used to be. You could make a basic pasta dish, basic rice dish, I guess maybe a baked potato… but with literally no toppings. Even the cheapest jar of sauce would bring it to more than 30p, and making sauce from scratch costs more than a cheap jar.

Realistically, the cheapest you can do a family main meal for 4 on, that wouldn’t end in nutritional deficiencies, is about £5 per meal (so £1.25 per person) and tbh even that’s going to be basic.

Meat is expensive and people say “go veggie then” but the main thing vegans use as a protein substitute (beans and pulses etc) are actually not cheap.