This is a close approximation of a week's worth of meals for me, though here all the dishes serve two, so the ingredients came to roughly £40 from one of the big four supermarkets. Even more careful shopping could bring down the costs still further.

Breakfast

I find warm food easier than sugary cereal. Eggs keep me going for ever and work well with carbs to give energy and enjoyment.

Potato farls

A farl is a flat piece of bread, cooked on a griddle but this is also known as potato bread or scones. It's the breakfast that built the Titanic, powered George Best and makes me less homesick for Belfast.

mashed potatoes 500g, no milk added, just
a knob of butter
plain flour 100g, with an extra handful spare
salt and pepper to taste
Mix the butter and seasoning through the mashed potato and leave to cool. Once you can handle the potato, add the flour, half at a time, mixing well. You want a dough that isn't sticky, but not too stiff. Flour the work surface and then roll the dough out until it is about 5mm thick. Cut into farls. You should get 8-10 from this. Make a batch and freeze by layering with greaseproof paper so you can cook them as needed. They're best fried in oil until golden or you can use a dry pan or grill until crisp on either side. Serve with fried eggs.

Banana pancakes

Pancakes are a surprisingly economical breakfast. I like mine American-style and puffed up with baking powder. You can mash leftover bananas that are too ripe to snack on into these for a sweet start to the day.

plain flour 200g
baking powder 1 tsp
ground ginger 1 tsp
salt a pinch
egg 2 large
butter 30g, melted
milk 250ml
bananas 2, mashed

To make the pancakes, put the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another and then mix together, adding in the mashed banana at the end. The batter should be just loose enough to spoon easily, but will look a bit lumpy. Don't beat until smooth. Set the batter aside for 20 minutes if you can as this makes it rise better when cooking.

Cook the pancakes in a hot pan. The added butter in the batter means you don't need to grease the pan each time, but don't be surprised if you have to sacrifice the first one to the pancake gods. Keep them warm until needed. I don't need to serve these with anything else, but golden syrup is rather lovely.