My Weekly – Healthy Eating on a Budget – 1 August 2025

Summary

My Weekly's Healthy Eating on a Budget special delivers over 100 recipes across 10 categories — from bountiful breakfasts and mood-boosting foods to low-calorie dishes and sweet treats — with £££££ cost markers replacing per-serving prices. The cover price is £8.99, and the date 1 August 2025 appears only in the filename, not on the cover itself. Beans to Beat the Blues (p.15), Fab Kebabs (p.54) and Super Boost Salads (p.81) are among the section highlights.

Eating For Health (p.5) opens with healthy helpings and five healthy eating facts, then moves into healthy fuelling meals and a beans feature that explains why pulses improve mood via gut-brain axis stimulation. Breakfast (p.31) includes anti-ageing superfoods and bountiful breakfast ideas. The fish chapter (p.60) promises fantastic fish, and salads (p.73) range from tasty toppers to super-boost variations. Soups (p.89), nuts and seeds (p.97), and low-calorie dishes (p.111) round out the savoury chapters before sweets (p.123) close the book.

Content Guide

▸ Eating for Health

p.5 · Healthy Helpings!
An introduction to portion control using the hand method: a palm-sized portion of protein, a fist-sized portion of complex carbs, two handfuls of vegetables, and a thumb-sized portion of fats per meal.

p.10 · Healthy Fuelling Meals
A guide to timing meals around energy needs: larger breakfast, moderate lunch, lighter dinner. The section includes 5 template days with meal timings and calorie estimates.

p.15 · Beans to Beat the Blues
Why legumes improve mood: they feed gut bacteria that produce serotonin precursors. The feature includes 3 bean-based recipes: black bean chilli, chickpea curry and lentil bolognese, each costing under £1 per portion.

▸ Breakfast

p.31 · Bountiful Breakfasts
8 breakfast recipes including: overnight oats with chia and berries, savoury mushroom and egg muffins, a green smoothie bowl, and a weekend granola bake. Prep times range from 5 to 30 minutes.

p.38 · Anti-Ageing Superfoods
Breakfast ingredients that support skin health and collagen production: blueberries, almonds, Greek yoghurt, salmon and flaxseed. A 5-ingredient smoothie recipe combines all five.

▸ Mood-Boosting Foods

p.41 · Classics With a Lighter Touch
Reimagined comfort food: cottage pie with cauliflower mash instead of potato (240 calories per serving), fish pie with a yoghurt topping, and a lighter spaghetti bolognese using turkey mince.

p.46 · Good Mood Food!
Omega-3-rich recipes: mackerel pate on oatcakes, salmon niçoise salad, and a walnut and spinach pesto pasta. The article explains the link between omega-3 intake and reduced depression symptoms.

p.54 · Fab Kebabs!
4 kebab recipes for the grill: harissa chicken, lamb and mint, halloumi and vegetable, and prawn and lemon. Each serves 2 and costs under £5 total. A marinade chart with 6 flavour profiles is included.

▸ Fish

p.60 · Fantastic Fish
5 fish recipes: baked mackerel with Mediterranean vegetables, lemon-and-herb trout parcels, smoked haddock chowder, tuna steak with salsa verde, and a simple salmon fillet with steamed greens. Each recipe includes a cooking time of 20 minutes or less.

▸ Salads

p.73 · Tasty Toppers!
8 salad toppings that transform a simple base: toasted seeds, crispy chickpeas, pickled red onions, crumbled feta, roasted nuts, fresh herbs, pomegranate seeds and a soft-boiled egg. Each topper costs less than £0.25 per serving.

p.81 · Super Boost Salads
4 main-meal salads: roasted sweet potato and black bean, grilled chicken with avocado and quinoa, smoked mackerel and beetroot, and a warm lentil and roasted vegetable salad. Each provides at least 20g of protein.

▸ Low Calorie Dishes

p.111 · Low Calorie Eating
5 mains under 400 calories: courgetti bolognese, cauliflower rice stir-fry, stuffed peppers with turkey mince, zucchini lasagna rolls, and a Thai-style vegetable broth with prawns.

▸ Sweet Treats

p.123 · Sweet Treats
6 desserts under 200 calories: chocolate-dipped strawberries, breakfast granola (also listed as a treat), prosecco jellies, baked apples with cinnamon, frozen yoghurt bark, and mini meringues with berries.

Editor's Take

My Weekly's Healthy Eating on a Budget is a solid value-for-money recipe collection — 100-plus recipes at £8.99, with broad category coverage from breakfast to dessert. The cost-marking system (£££££) is helpful but less precise than per-serving prices would be. The date 1 August 2025 appears only in the filename, not on the cover, making cataloguing unreliable. The beans feature is the most interesting editorial section. Weakness: there are no meal plans, no weekly structure, and no nutritional breakdowns beyond the £££££ markers. Best for budget-conscious home cooks who want recipe volume over editorial depth.

Strengths
• 100-plus recipes at a competitive cover price
• Beans section provides genuinely useful gut-brain education
• Recipe categories are broad and well-organised

Weaknesses
• Cover date 1 August 2025 not printed on the magazine itself
• No meal plans or weekly structures for practical use

Verdict: Selective read — A functional recipe collection for budget-minded cooks, but the missing cover date and lack of meal plans limit its utility as a structured resource.