Delicious Homemade Lasagne - Easy Lasagna Recipe - Only £1.21 Per Serving.

Lasagne feels like one of those meals that must be expensive, fiddly, and saved for the weekend. This one isn't. It's a cosy, filling Budget Recipe that comes in at £4.86 total for a proper dish that feeds four, so £1.21 per serving.

Better still, it's made in clear stages: a simple beef and tomato sauce, a quick cheesy béchamel, then layers. Nothing fancy, no weird ingredients, just solid comfort food.

Ingredients and cost breakdown (the full tray for £4.86)

This easy lasagne serves 4 for just £4.86 total, that's £1.21 per generous serving. Yes, there's a decent list of ingredients, but most are pantry basics, and the amounts are sensible. You're not buying five different cheeses or a pile of fresh herbs you'll use once and forget in the fridge.

A few things make this feel especially good value:

The veg (onion, garlic, carrot) stretches the meat without making the sauce feel "thin". The carrot also adds a gentle sweetness, so the tomato doesn't taste sharp. Then you've got a splash of red wine (optional), which adds a deeper flavour in a way that feels a bit like cheating, in a good way. Finally, the béchamel gets boosted with cheddar, so you end up with that creamy, savoury layer that makes lasagne taste like lasagne.

If you like comparing methods, it's interesting to see how close this is to other "simple lasagne" approaches, like Allrecipes' easy lasagna method where convenience matters, but you still want that classic result. This version stays very doable while keeping a tight grip on cost.

One quick note before you shop: prices vary by store, location, and brand. Still, the structure of the recipe holds up even if your totals shift a bit.

Full ingredients list

Here's the complete shopping list with the costs shown:

1. 1 onion, 9p
2. 2 cloves garlic, 8p
3. 1 carrot, 7p
4. 250 g minced beef (ground beef), £2.10
5. 1 tbsp tomato purée, 7p
6. 1 tin tomatoes, 47p
7. About 40 ml red wine, 39p (optional, for flavour)
8. 1 beef stock cube, 12p
9. 1 tsp basil, 4p
10. 1 tsp oregano, 4p
11. 2 tbsp butter, 19p
12. 2 tbsp plain flour, 2p
13. 250 ml whole milk, 21p
14. 50 g cheddar cheese, 25p
15. 4 lasagne sheets, 28p
16. 80 g mozzarella, 44p

Total cost calculation

To show the numbers clearly, here's the full cost summary in one place.

Item	Cost
Total recipe cost	£4.86
Servings	4
Cost per serving	£1.21

Prices are based on budget shopping and will vary a bit depending on where you live and what you buy.

With simple sides like garlic bread and a green veg, it still lands as a high-quality meal for under £2 per person.

Step-by-step: how to make this easy homemade lasagne

This recipe moves in three calm stages: prep veg and cook the meat sauce, whisk the cheesy white sauce, then layer everything and bake. No pre-cooking the lasagne sheets, which honestly makes life easier.

For the dish, a 24 cm by 14 cm baking dish about 4 cm deep works well for these quantities. Glass is handy because you can see the layers forming, but any similar-sized dish is fine.

Prepare the vegetables (small effort, big payoff)

Start with the veg, because once it's ready you can just get cooking without stopping.

1. Trim the onion (top and tail), cut it in half, then chop it fairly fine.
2. Mince the garlic cloves.
3. Top and tail the carrot, peel it, then grate it.

Grating the carrot matters here. It melts into the sauce, so you're not biting into chunks, and it quietly makes everything taste richer and a bit sweeter. If your carrots are small, using two is fine, it's not the kind of recipe that falls apart over 10 g either way.

Also Read: No-Knead Baguettes on a Budget (Two Loaves for 15p Each)

Cook the beef and tomato sauce (simple bolognese-style)

Set a pot or deep pan over a low heat with a small amount of oil. Add the onion, garlic, and grated carrot, then let them soften for a couple of minutes. You're not trying to brown them hard. You just want them relaxed and glossy.

Next, add 250 g minced beef. Break it up with your spoon and let it brown. After about five minutes it should look properly cooked and smell, well, pretty great.

Now for the flavour builders:

1. Pour in about 40 ml red wine (optional). It's a small splash, just enough to lift the sauce.
2. Add 1 tin of tomatoes.
3. Stir in 1 tbsp tomato purée (roughly).
4. Crumble in 1 beef stock cube straight into the pan (no need to dissolve it separately).
5. Add 1 tsp oregano and 1 tsp basil.
6. Finish with a good crack of black pepper.

Give it all a thorough stir, then leave it to gently bubble away while you make the white sauce. It doesn't need aggressive boiling. A steady simmer helps everything come together and taste like one sauce, not separate ingredients.

If you want to see how other budget-focused versions structure the meat sauce, Budget Bytes' easy homemade lasagna is another good reference point, especially for keeping costs sensible without making the dish feel "small".

Make the cheesy béchamel (white sauce without lumps)

While the meat sauce simmers, grab a small saucepan and keep the heat low. Add 2 tbsp butter (around 30 g to 35 g) and let it melt.

Once melted, stir in 2 tbsp plain flour. Mix until it becomes a smooth paste. This is your roux, and it's the base of the sauce.

Now add 250 ml whole milk, a little at a time, whisking as you go. This part is worth doing slowly. If you dump all the milk in at once, it can go lumpy, and then you spend the next five minutes annoyed at a saucepan.

When the milk is fully mixed in, add 50 g grated cheddar and keep stirring until it melts. The sauce will thicken fairly quickly. You're looking for a consistency where the whisk leaves a light trace when you drag it across the surface.

Take it off the heat once it hits that point. If it goes too thick, it won't spread as nicely between layers.

Assemble the layers (no pre-cooking lasagne sheets)

With the sauces ready, it's time to build the lasagne. This is the satisfying part, because it starts looking like dinner very fast.

1. Spoon a thin layer of white sauce onto the bottom of the baking dish. This helps stop the pasta sticking.
2. Add a layer of lasagne sheets (dry is fine). If a sheet doesn't fit, break it to size.
3. Spread a layer of white sauce.
4. Add a layer of the meat sauce.
5. Add another layer of lasagne sheets.
6. Add more white sauce, then the remaining meat sauce.
7. Finish with a final layer of lasagne sheets, then top with the last of the sauce.
8. Sprinkle 80 g mozzarella over the top.

Don't stress about making every layer perfectly even. As long as you spread things out reasonably, it bakes into proper slices. The mozzarella on top is what gives you that bubbly, golden finish.

Baking and serving (that bubbling, browned top)

Once assembled, bake the lasagne until the top is browned and the edges are bubbling. Your kitchen will smell like you've been cooking all day, even though you haven't, which is always a win.

When it comes out, give it a short rest before slicing. If you cut it immediately, the layers can slip and look messy on the plate. After a little cooling time, it holds together better and you get those clean, stacked layers.

Baking instructions

Bake at 180°C (356°F), gas mark 4 for about 30 minutes, until browned and bubbling on top. Let it cool a little before cutting.

Taste, texture, and what to serve with it

The best bite is usually the first corner piece, because you get a little extra crispness on top. The finished lasagne has that slightly crispy, browned cheese layer, plus soft pasta and rich sauce underneath.

It's the kind of meal that doesn't need much on the side, but a couple of simple add-ons make it feel like a full dinner:

Garlic bread is the obvious choice, because it mops up sauce and makes the plate feel generous. A green veg works well too, something like broccoli or green beans, because the freshness balances the richness. Keep the sides simple, and you keep the whole meal comfortably under that £2-per-person idea.

If you're curious how other cooks keep lasagne cheap without losing the comfort-food feel, Skint Dad's budget lasagne per-portion breakdown is another interesting comparison, especially for portion-cost thinking.

A few small moves that keep this Budget Recipe feeling "proper"

Lasagne can be cheap and still taste like something you'd happily serve to guests. This version does that by focusing on flavour where it counts, not by adding loads of extra ingredients.

First, the sauce gets depth from simple things: softened onion and garlic, a bit of stock cube, herbs, and pepper. Then, the optional red wine adds a little extra richness, but you can skip it and still get a great result.

Next, the béchamel gets cheddar mixed in, which means the white sauce isn't just creamy, it's also savoury and satisfying. That's the difference between "it's fine" lasagne and "hang on, that's really good" lasagne.

Finally, the method stays practical. No pre-cooking sheets, no complicated timing, and no fancy equipment beyond a saucepan and a whisk. If you've got a spoon and a bit of patience, you've got this.

What I learned making it (and what I'd do again)

The first thing I noticed is how much grated carrot disappears into the meat sauce. I expected to see bits of it, but it just melts in and rounds everything out. Next time, I'd grate it a little finer still, just because I liked how smooth the sauce turned out.

I also re-learned the hard way that adding milk slowly to the roux saves you hassle. When I rush that step, I always get little lumps and then I'm stood there whisking like mad, thinking, why did I do that again? Taking an extra minute makes the sauce calm and glossy, and it thickens exactly when you want it to.

Layering was easier than I thought, too. I didn't obsess over perfect edges, I just broke a sheet where it needed breaking and moved on. Once it baked and rested for a few minutes, it sliced into proper portions anyway. Slightly messy edges still taste amazing, so I'm fine with that.

Conclusion

This homemade lasagne keeps things simple, tastes rich, and still lands as a true Budget Recipe at £1.21 per serving. Cook the meat sauce gently, whisk the béchamel with a bit of patience, then layer it up and let the oven do the work. Add garlic bread and a green veg, and you've got a full meal that feels far more expensive than it is. If you make it, tweak one thing and see how it changes the whole tray, that's half the fun.