From Tom Kerridge to Jack Monroe, the chefs to follow for budget-friendly meals

Jack started as a £10-a-week food blogger, anti-poverty campaigner and de-bunker of the myth that delicious food is only affordable to the wealthy.

Now an award-winning cookery writer, TV presenter and campaigner against hunger in the UK, she’s penned six best-selling cookbooks, including Cooking On A Bootstrap, helping people on a budget create delicious dishes from basic store cupboard ingredients.

She has worked at the forefront of national food poverty, informed by her own experiences of living on the breadline and her campaigning work with food banks.

Her new book Thrifty Kitchen – out in January – pulls together all her low-cost recipes, cooking advice and household lifestyle hacks to help readers eat well and live better for less.

Probably the UK’s best-loved expert on budget cooking, Jack proves no one needs to sacrifice flavour when they’re skint – and that anyone can create tasty, wallet-friendly meals.

Miguel created the #onepoundmeals phenomenon – knocking up fuss-free dishes in the kitchen of his London home that all cost less than £1 per person.

The chef, TV presenter and best-selling author amassed 300,000 followers overnight after mounting his campaign to get the nation cooking inventive but affordable, mouth-watering meals on a budget. With seven best-selling cookbooks under his belt, and appearances on all the top TV cooking shows, Miguel has cemented his name as one of the top budget chefs in the UK.

With savvy supermarket shopping swaps and time-saving tips, his meals focus on making cooking quicker and easier using a core of ingredients, which is the key to eliminating waste and saving money. The aim is to start with one recipe, and depending on what you have left over, choose your next recipe accordingly.

Baby-faced social media sensation Max La Manna delivers weekly recipe videos on Instagram and TikTok – and his fun-filled posts have been seen by more than a billion people worldwide.

While the chef is vegan, all his recipes are written to be easily adapted for dairy, fish and meat so people can make use of whatever is in the fridge to ensure less food waste.

With more than 1.2million followers across his social media accounts, his innovative cooking inspires people to rethink their approach to food consumption.

The award-winning author’s debut was named Most Sustainable Cookbook in 2020 at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

He also helmed BBC Earth’s 2020 Regeneration Food series which showcased how businesses, organisations and leaders are wasting less to reduce their carbon footprint.

Tik Tok sustainability star Martyn – AKA The Waste Disruptor – is a London-based developmental chef whose fun, infectious online videos teach wannabe cooks how to create less food waste, reduce impact on the planet and save pennies in the process.

The chef of 15 years offers tutorials on making the most out of humble, everyday ingredients including carrot tops, potato peelings and fresh herbs on the turn – as well as tips on how to use up leftovers so that nothing goes to landfill.

Martyn believes the answer to food waste is about having the confidence to riff on ideas, pull recipes apart and improvise to use what you already have in the house. His mantra is to buy less, be less greedy, be more mindful about food and most importantly to eat the food you buy.

Instagram: @FullTimeMeals Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge and England footballer Marcus Rashford joined forces in April last year to launch Full Time – a nationwide initiative to call an end to child food poverty.

Both men come from disadvantaged backgrounds themselves, and the aim is to equip the 4.2million UK kids living on the breadline with vital cooking and life skills.

There are 52 delicious and simple recipes, with emphasis on limited equipment and inclusion of affordable store cupboard ingredients.