Bored of overspending? The meal-planning rules to save money and eat better in 2026

If saving money and eating better are top of your to-do list for 2026, Nathan Anthony has you covered. The Northern Irish recipe writer and social media sensation is back with a new book, Bored Of Lunch: Meal Planner.

Inspired by Nadia Hussain, Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Irish chef Donal Skehan, Anthony grew up around “some amazing home cooks”, including his granny and auntie, who was a chef in New York.

After “falling in love” with the air fryer and slow cooker at university, he started his Bored Of Lunch account during lockdown and has gone on to amass 2.7 million Instagram followers and six Sunday Times best-selling cookbooks.

His latest is designed to help you organise your life, your menu and your bank balance.

“A lot of people are finding the pinch at the moment with the cost of living crisis. Ingredients in Northern Ireland, the cost of them is absolutely insane at the minute,” says Anthony.

His meal planner will, he hopes, give “people control over their weekly spend, in a journal format, where they can look at the recipes in the book, they can write how much they’re spending, budget accordingly [and] plan their meals to save money”.

Here are his top tips for planning your way to better meals, and a healthier bank balance too.

“When you don’t plan your food shop, you come home, like, ‘I bought peas.’ And there are already peas in the freezer. You think, ‘No, I have not been organised at all here’,” says Anthony, knowing exactly how it feels. “It really does make a difference when you spend five minutes planning your food.”

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Even small amounts of forward planning can help keep you on track. “If there are five days and I’m organised for two or three of them, then I’ve made some type of win that week,” says Anthony. “Whereas if I don’t make any plans, the week’s just a bit of a free-for-all, and you end up spending so much money.”

“The worst thing to do is shopping when you’re hungry because you’ll add so many things you don’t need,” says Anthony, especially unhealthy foods. “You’re like, ‘Oh, look at those cookies, let’s get them.’”

“Sitting down and saying, ‘Let’s do a spag bol on Monday, and then on Tuesday let’s do a vindaloo’, gives you so much variety. My mum probably won’t mind me saying this, but she made bolognese every week. ‘Thursday night, she’s gonna make a bolognese again!’” remembers Anthony. The book includes a 12-week meal planner, though, and if you plan well, “your weeks should never look the same”.

Only using three chicken breasts but bought four? Freeze the fourth. “I use resealable freezer bags you can put in the dishwasher [after use]. We’re very big on recycling and not adding any waste, so adding your meat into little fridge and freezer bags is a massive, massive money saver.”

No one wants to eat the same meal night after night. “I would make a bolognese and batch cook it in a way that the next day, I can turn it into chilli con carne, or maybe use it in sliders or fajitas. I try to use one dish, but give it a second life the next day to make it something a bit more special.”

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Even scraps of leftovers can help zhuzh up another meal. “Yesterday I made a turkey and ham pie, and I’ve used a bit of the turkey and ham for a risotto tonight,” says Anthony. “I just want to put in a bit of rice and a bit of lemon and make something different.”

“I love a rustle up,” says Anthony, who is a big Celebrity MasterChef fan and particularly enjoys the “Under the cloche” mystery ingredient challenge. “You lift that dish and see what’s underneath it. You have a banana or a bit of salmon [to make something with]. I love a fridge raid; it’s how I get inspired to write new recipes.” He adds: “Ready Steady Cook was one of my favourite shows as a child. I used to watch it with my granny.”

It’s Anthony’s personal mission in 2026 to be “as strict as possible when it comes to planning and trying to stick to the food budget that I set every month. Sometimes you can say, ‘Oh, we’ll go out for one or two meals this month,’ but sometimes it ends up being maybe three or four.” He’s hoping to reduce those unexpected, often expensive, dinners out.

“I love seeing when people tag me in recipes they’ve used where there’s sauce splattered all over the pages, there’s corners folded, it just shows a sign of love that the book is really being used,” says Anthony. “If it’s sitting pristine on a shelf, not touched, it doesn’t have the same character. Like, when I look at all of my granny’s cookbooks, they’re covered. There’s flour on the inside, she’s spilled jam on it, there’s little notes where she’s changed maybe brown sugar to caster sugar. And I love that.”

You don’t have to see a recipe as a set of unbreakable rules. “The recipes are how I cook, but they’re very much up to your interpretation,” says Anthony. “If you don’t want to use double cream, use crème fraîche or a bit of soft cheese.”

“It’s great to have new goals, but we should never beat ourselves up,” muses Anthony. “It’s a mechanism to get people into the zone again, because from probably November onwards, people are like, ‘Hell, it’s Christmas, I’ll just have the whole box of Ferrero Rocher’, and we lose a bit of normality.”

He continues: “I don’t think it’s a new year, new me, because it’s not a new me. It’s going back to the old me from before Christmas.”

‘Bored Of Lunch: Meal Planner’ by Nathan Anthony (Ebury Press, £18.99).

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“If this was served to me at lunchtime, I’d be a very happy man,” says Anthony. “This dish is a delightful twist on the classic chicken satay, offering the perfect balance of creamy and tangy flavours. If udon noodles aren’t your thing you can replace them with any other noodle you like.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

225g udon noodles

3 tbsp smooth peanut butter

3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

Juice of 2 limes

2 chicken breasts, sliced into strips

1 pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Handful of peanuts, chopped

Lime wedges

Method:

1. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil over a medium heat and cook the udon noodles until al dente, according to the packet instructions.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and some salt and pepper with a few tablespoons of water to adjust the consistency.

3. Add the chicken strips, pepper and onion to a bowl and stir in the olive oil, garlic, ginger and some salt and pepper.

4. Remove the tray from your air fryer basket, then pop the chicken and vegetables into the air fryer and cook for 12-14 minutes at 190C. Once cooked, add the drained noodles and peanut sauce mixture to the basket and give it a good stir.

5. Divide the noodle mixture into bowls or meal prep containers.

6. When ready to eat, top each bowl with some coriander and chopped peanuts and serve with a wedge of lime.

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“I love to make these quick quesadillas. You can have a number of dips with them, from guacamole to soured cream,” says Anthony. “Serve with some nachos and you’re onto a winner. You can use taco seasoning from a packet here, or make your own.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

½ onion, finely diced

500g lean beef mince

30g taco seasoning (use a sachet or see below to make your own)

1 tbsp tomato purée

4 medium flour tortillas

120g reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, grated

For the salsa:

60g cherry tomatoes, chopped

Handful of fresh coriander

Juice of 1 lime

To serve (optional):

Guacamole

Soured cream

Taco seasoning (optional):

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp ground cumin

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. If you are making your own taco seasoning, combine all the ingredients listed.

2. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.

3. Add the onion, then add the mince, taco seasoning and tomato purée. Cook for eight to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is fully cooked through.

4. While the meat cooks, prepare a quick salsa; mix the chopped tomatoes, coriander and a squeeze of lime.

5. Spread one half of each tortilla with the taco mince, cheese and salsa. Fold over to close. Place the quesadillas in the air fryer basket and cook at 180C for five minutes, or until golden and crispy. Flip and cook for another five minutes.

6. Serve with your favourite dips – I love guacamole and soured cream.

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“After many trips to London and countless hours spent at the airport, I found myself relying on Joe & The Juice for a quick yet healthy bite to eat,” says Anthony. “Their iconic Tunacado sandwich became a favourite of mine, so I’ve had to recreate it for when I crave this sandwich.”

Makes: 2

Ingredients:

300g tinned tuna, drained

80g light mayo

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tbsp yellow mustard

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

3 jalapeños, diced

Dash of hot sauce

2 wholemeal pittas

Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:

4 tsp green pesto

1 tomato, sliced

½ avocado, sliced

Fresh dill (optional)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine the tuna, mayo, lemon juice, mustard, coriander, jalapeños, hot sauce, salt and pepper, giving it a good mix with a fork.

2. Cut the corners from your pitta to recreate the iconic Joe & The Juice Tunacado look and air-fry for five minutes at 200C.

3. Once cooked, slice the pitta in half and add one teaspoon of pesto to each side of the pitta. On one side add your tuna mixture, then top with tomato and avocado slices and some fresh dill, if you like. Pop the other half of the pitta on top to make a sandwich, then wrap it in some greaseproof paper for the full effect.