How to feed a group on a budget when food prices are high

Grocery prices have climbed for a few years running, and a week away with friends is where it bites hardest — a dozen people eating out three times a day gets expensive fast. The fix is not eating less; it is planning the food instead of improvising it. Here is how to keep a group well fed for a fraction of the cost.

Cooking in is where the real saving is

One restaurant dinner for a group of eight can cost more than two days of home-cooked meals for the same crew. You do not have to cook every meal — but shifting even breakfast and lunch to the kitchen, and half the dinners, roughly halves the week’s food bill. Decide up front which meals are “in” and which are treats out, so the budget is a choice, not a surprise.

Plan the meals, then shop once

The single biggest money leak on a group trip is the daily top-up shop — three people wandering a supermarket each day, buying duplicates and impulse snacks. Instead, agree the week’s meals first, turn that into one list, and do a single big shop (plus cheap fresh top-ups for bread and fruit). You buy only what the plan needs, and nothing twice.

Lean on cheap, filling staples

• •Carbs that stretch: pasta, rice, couscous, potatoes, bread — pennies per portion.
• •Cheap protein: eggs, tinned beans and chickpeas, lentils, chicken thighs (not breasts), tinned fish.
• •In-season vegetables — they are cheaper and better when they are in season locally.
• •Big-batch, one-pot meals: chilli, curry, pasta bake, traybakes — cheaper per head and less washing up.

Buy for the group size, not the recipe

Recipes serve four; you are feeding twelve. Buy the big bag of rice and the multipack, not three small ones — bulk is cheaper per unit and there is less packaging. The tricky part is scaling every ingredient to the real headcount without over- or under-buying, which is exactly where a plan pays off.

Split the bill so it actually feels fair

Nothing sours a cheap week like a fuzzy “we’ll sort it later”. Track who paid for the big shop, the top-ups and the odd meal out, then settle once at the end so everyone pays their real share. Transparent costs also keep the group honest about the eat-out treats.