How much should one person spend on food a week? A priced menu

The averages you read online vary a lot from one source to the next, and they do not tell you what you will actually eat. Here is another way to answer: a real one-week menu, with the estimated price of each meal.

Every dish comes from the MoodDish catalogue. Prices are estimates per serving, calculated on 13 November 2026 from prices recorded at French retailers, in euros. They vary with your shop and the season.

The week’s menu, meal by meal

Total: €21.11 for 14 meals, or about €1.50 a meal.

What this total includes, and what it leaves out

• Included: the ingredients of the 14 dishes, per serving.
• Left out: breakfasts, drinks, fruit and snacks.
• Worth knowing: a price per serving assumes you use the rest of the pack. A bag of lentils or a bottle of oil lasts several meals, but you pay for all of it on shopping day. The first week therefore costs more than the following ones.

Why this menu stays low

1. The same ingredients come back. Eggs, potatoes, carrots, rice and pasta appear in several dishes: fewer leftovers, less waste.
2. Pulses do the work. Red lentils and chickpeas are cheap and filling.
3. Meat is rare. It appears in only three dishes out of fourteen: the ham in the macaroni and the croque-monsieur, and the bacon in the Lyonnaise salad.
4. Dishes for four can be split. The curry, the chilli and the couscous make four servings: eat one, keep the rest for another day or freeze it.

Adapting the menu

• There are two of you: double the servings, the price per person stays the same.
• You dislike a dish: swap it for another at the same price. In the app, every recipe shows its estimated price.
• You want to go lower: keep the soups and the pulses, which are the cheapest dishes on the list.

For more quick dinners: What’s for dinner tonight? 15 dinners ready in 30 minutes.

Three dishes from the menu, in detail

The red lentil curry, the chilli sin carne and the croque-monsieur are detailed below, with quantities and steps.

Recipes from MoodDish

#1

Recipe 1: Red lentil and carrot curry

Soft lentils in a mild coconut sauce, served with rice.

• Prep 12 min
• Cook 30 min
• Servings 4
• Difficulty Easy

Ingredients 11

• 250 g Dried red lentils
• 350 g Carrot
• 120 g Onion
• 8 g Garlic
• 300 ml Coconut milk
• 200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes
• 5 g Mustard-free curry powder
• 240 g Dried long-grain rice
• 20 ml Olive oil
• 500 ml Water
• 4 g Salt

Steps 5

1. Prepare the ingredients

   Peel the onion, garlic and carrots. Chop the onion and garlic and dice the carrots into 1 cm pieces. Rinse the lentils in a fine sieve.

2. Soften the vegetables

   Heat the oil in a saucepan. Cook the onion and carrots for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and curry powder for 30 seconds.

   5 min
3. Simmer the lentils

   Add the lentils, tomatoes, coconut milk, measured water and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat, partly covered, for 20 minutes, stirring regularly.

   20 min
4. Cook the rice

   Meanwhile cook the rice in a separate pan of boiling water according to the packet, about 12 minutes. Drain.

   12 min
5. Check and serve

   Check that the carrots and lentils are tender. Add a little water if the curry catches, or cook for another 5 minutes if needed. Serve hot with the rice.

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#2

Recipe 2: Chilli sin carne with rice

Kidney beans, sweetcorn and pepper in a gently spiced tomato sauce.

• Prep 12 min
• Cook 30 min
• Servings 4
• Difficulty Easy

Ingredients 14

• 500 g Drained cooked kidney beans
• 150 g Drained sweetcorn
• 250 g Red pepper
• 150 g Onion
• 8 g Garlic
• 500 g Tinned chopped tomatoes
• 240 g Dried long-grain rice
• 4 g Ground cumin
• 4 g Sweet paprika
• 1 g Mild chilli powder
• 20 ml Olive oil
• 150 ml Water
• 4 g Salt
• 1 g Black pepper

Steps 5

1. Prepare the ingredients

   Rinse and drain the beans and sweetcorn. Deseed and dice the pepper. Peel and chop the onion and garlic.

2. Soften the vegetables

   Heat the oil in a casserole pan. Cook the onion and pepper for 7 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, paprika and chilli powder for 1 minute.

   8 min
3. Simmer the chilli

   Add the tomatoes, beans, sweetcorn, water, salt and pepper. Simmer partly covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

   20 min
4. Cook the rice

   Meanwhile cook the rice in a pan of boiling water according to the packet, then drain.

5. Thicken and serve

   Mash a few beans against the side of the pan to thicken the sauce. Taste and serve the chilli with the hot rice.

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#3

Recipe 3: Béchamel croque-monsieur

A bistro ham toastie with homemade béchamel and a golden cheese topping.

• Prep 15 min
• Cook 20 min
• Servings 4
• Difficulty Easy

Ingredients 9

• 320 g Dairy-free wheat sandwich bread
• 240 g Cooked ham
• 160 g Grated cheese made with microbial rennet
• 300 ml Semi-skimmed milk
• 25 g Unsalted butter
• 25 g Wheat flour
• 0.5 g Ground nutmeg
• 2 g Salt
• 1 g Black pepper

Steps 4

1. Make the roux

   Preheat the oven to 210°C. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and stir over low heat for 2 minutes.

2. Thicken the béchamel

   Gradually whisk in the milk. Simmer gently for 5 minutes until thick, then add the nutmeg, salt and pepper.

3. Assemble

   Divide the bread into eight similarly sized slices. Spread some béchamel over four slices, then add the ham and 80 g cheese. Cover with the remaining four slices.

4. Bake

   Put the sandwiches on a baking tray. Spread the remaining béchamel over them and add the remaining 80 g cheese. Bake for 10–12 minutes until golden on top and hot in the middle.

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