Budget-friendly summer holiday meal ideas

Looking for healthy school holiday food that won’t break the bank? We’ve got you. From easy recipes to make with kids to the best-value ingredients to feed the family, read our pick of budget-friendly summer holiday meal ideas. Plus, make planning your family’s meals a breeze with our expert tips and meal prep hacks.

Senior Food Editor

Heather Taylor

Top budget-friendly summer holiday ideas

When six weeks of school holidays stretch out ahead of you, keeping everyone fed and watered (with your sanity intact) can be a challenge. We’re all looking for ways to save on the weekly shop, especially during the summer break, but that should never mean compromising on deliciousness. Get organised with our crowd-pleasing, wallet-friendly summer holiday recipe ideas and meal planning tips. Look out for our Remarksable Value range in store for top-quality essentials at everyday low prices.

More budget recipes

One-pan wonders

From trusty traybakes to crowd-pleasing pasta bakes, one-pan dinners promise layers of flavour with minimal ingredients, so they’re a thrifty choice.

Try our levelled-up version of tuna pasta bake for a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Up your veg with our broccoli-topped puff pastry traybake quiche.
Make a batch of one-tray peanut butter and jam flapjacks to keep on hand for those inevitable demands for snacks.

More one-pan recipes

Brilliant beans

Cheap, nutritious and seriously delicious, a tin of beans should be your friend when it comes to great value summer holiday meals. Throw chickpeas into Tom Kerridge’s veggie cauliflower and chickpea curry recipe or prep this slow-cooker meatball and chickpea curry in the morning ahead of a busy day. Whip up a summery cannellini bean and focaccia traybake or simmer trusty baked beans with eggs in this easy shakshuka.

Best bean recipes

Jacket potatoes

The humble baked spud is one of the nation’s favourite dinners for good reason. It's cheap, versatile and will fill everyone up.

Keep it interesting with flavour-packed toppings, from tuna nicoise to giant butter beans in tomato sauce and creamy mushrooms.
Try twice-baking your jacket potatoes with a loaded cheesy Marmite filling.
Add chorizo to your chilli to give it extra flavour before loading into baked spuds.
If you’re short on time, opt to let us do the hard work with a jar of family-sized Chilli Con Carne or Bolognese sauces.

Potato recipes

Tinned tuna

Tuna is a brilliant budget-friendly ingredient to keep on hand for speedy meals and satisfying lunches during the school holidays.

Mix with veggies then load onto high protein bagels or whip up an oozy, kid-friendly tuna melt baguette made with our Remarksable Value ingredients. Or try these summery Thai-inspired tuna lettuce cups that kids will love to customise themselves.

Value family essentials, M&S quality

DIY dinners

Keep kids entertained while feeding them something nutritious with a do-it-yourself dinner.

Pizza night

Load our sourdough pizza bases with tomato sauce then let everyone get creative with their own toppings, like sausage and broccoli, or try these easy and budget-friendly air fryer pitta bread pesto pizzas.

Taco Tuesday

Whether you fancy spicy beans or crispy cod, everyone loves a taco night. Save the pennies by bulking up your taco fillings with a tin of beans and making your own slaw with crunchy red cabbage, carrots and red onion.

Family bake off

Rainy day? Let kids help making a batch of cheesy corn muffins, easy cheddar biscuits, or peanut butter and banana muffins.

What to cook with kids

Love your leftovers

Reducing food waste and making the most of what’s in your fridge will help you save on the family food budget.

Try a fridge-raid frittata to use up veggies.
Roast a whole chicken (we love this fajita-spiced roast chicken recipe) then add the leftovers to sandwiches or wraps.
Use great-value British beef mince in a double batch of Bolognese or chilli, ready to be bulked up with beans or lentils and turned into cottage pie or enchiladas on another night.

Tips to reduce food waste

Budget lunches

Heading out for the day? Bringing a packed lunch will help you save costs. Try these perfectly portable egg muffins, veg-packed carrot and beetroot sandwiches, or Coronation egg baguettes.
Pack up a picnic with Tom Kerridge’s pesto pasta salad plus homemade houmous with crunchy crudités.
Staying home? Try a living room picnic with these easy kids’ snack plate ideas.

Picnic food ideas

Tips for sticking to a budget during the school holidays

Stock up on great-value basics, like our Remarksable Value staples such as Oakham Gold chicken, 100% traceable beef mince and frozen peas.
Buy in bulk – try our Bigger Pack, Better Value range of family-sized basics such as rice and pasta.
Embrace your freezer – batch-cook meals to make them go further and opt for frozen berries and vegetables to reduce waste and save money.
Pack lunches and snacks to save money while you’re out and about.
Swap dinners out for one of our great-value, family-fave Dine In deals – try our £12 Pizza Night Dine In.

Plan your meals with the M&S meal planner

A little forward planning and meal prep will help you cut down on waste and stick to your food budget. Try our handy recipe meal planner tool, which lets you enter your preferences and provides tailored recipe suggestions. Get the family involved with planning the weekly dinners and write the week’s menu up to stick on the fridge and help quell any arguments about what’s for dinner.

Make a meal plan

Published 5.23.2025

Budget-friendly summer holiday meal ideas

Top budget-friendly summer holiday ideas

One-pan wonders

Brilliant beans

Jacket potatoes

Tinned tuna

British Garden Peas

M&S Select Farms British Beef Mince

Italian Fusili

Pole-and line-caught tuna