A Tenner, Four Friends: The Greek Meze Spread That Proves Sharing Can Be Cheap

Meze is often presented as a generous, almost overflowing way to eat — and it is. But generosity is not the same as expense. The best taverna tables are not always the ones with the most dishes; they are the ones where someone has taken a bag of humble ingredients and turned them into a spread that invites everyone to linger. So when we set ourselves the £10 challenge for four people, we were not trying to be clever with coupons. We were trying to prove a point: Greek-style sharing can still work on a British supermarket budget.

Prices vary by shop and region, and they have a habit of moving. The list below is a realistic guide, not a promise. It assumes you have a little olive oil, dried oregano, salt, pepper and maybe a clove of garlic in the cupboard. If you do not, add a pound or two and the spirit of the challenge remains.

Shop the seasons, not the deli counter

November is a good month for this kind of cooking. Squash, leeks, carrots and cabbage are at their best and their cheapest, and they take to Greek flavours beautifully. A tray of squash with oregano and lemon is every bit as much a meze dish as a plate of olives. Greek food is not a museum piece; it is a way of cooking that adapts to what is good, local and affordable.

The other trick is to treat the supermarket own-brand aisle with respect. Greek-style yoghurt, Greek-style salad cheese, tinned chickpeas and plain pitta bread are not compromises here. They are the backbone of a table that feels abundant without trying too hard.

The £10 basket

These are approximate prices from UK supermarkets in 2026. Shop around, use value ranges where you can, and adjust as needed.

• 1kg potatoes — about 75p
• 2 x 400g tins chickpeas — about 90p
• 500g Greek-style yoghurt — about £1.15
• 1 cucumber — about 55p
• 4 tomatoes — about 75p
• 1 red onion — about 15p
• 1 lemon — about 20p
• 1 garlic bulb — about 20p
• 4 pitta breads — about 65p
• 200g Greek-style salad cheese — about £1.40
• 1 small butternut squash — about £1
• 2 leeks — about 70p
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes — about 35p
• A small handful of black olives, if budget allows — about 75p

That comes to roughly £9.50, leaving a little room for a second lemon or a bag of carrots. The pantry basics — oil, oregano, salt and pepper — do the rest.

Five plates, one warm bread

The menu is simple, but it has the rhythm of a meze table: something cool and creamy, something crisp, something roasted, something saucy and a pile of warm bread to hold it all together.

1. Whipped chickpea dip

Drain one tin of chickpeas and blitz with a garlic clove, the juice of half a lemon, a good glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Add a splash of water until it is soft and spoonable rather than stiff. Spread it across a small plate and make a little well in the middle for more oil. If you have cumin, a pinch is lovely; if not, leave it out.

2. Cucumber and yoghurt dip

Grate the cucumber, squeeze out the excess water and stir it into the Greek-style yoghurt with grated garlic, lemon juice and salt. This is a tzatziki in spirit rather than in strict tradition, and it is all the better for being made a little ahead. It will keep for a couple of days in the fridge.

3. Squash and leek traybake

Cut the squash into chunks and slice the leeks into thick rounds. Toss with oil, oregano, salt and pepper and roast at 220C/200C fan/gas 7 until the edges are caramelised. Crumble a little of the salad cheese over the top while it is still hot.

4. Lemon potatoes

Cut the potatoes into wedges, toss with oil, lemon juice, oregano and sliced garlic, and roast alongside the squash. They need a good 35 to 40 minutes, so give them a head start if your oven runs cool. The lemon should taste bright, not shy.

5. Tomato, cucumber and onion salad

Slice the tomatoes, cucumber and red onion. Dress with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and a little oregano. Scatter over the olives and a few crumbles of salad cheese. If you have a second tin of chickpeas, drain and roast them until crisp and sprinkle them on top for crunch.

Warm the pitta breads in the oven for the last few minutes and cut them into strips. That is your table: five plates, one bread, and enough for four people to eat properly.

The 70-minute method

Heat the oven first. Get the potatoes and the squash tray in. While they roast, make the two dips and the salad. Warm the bread at the end. Serve the dips first with the bread, then bring out the hot trays as they are ready. Meze is not about everything arriving at once; it is about keeping the table alive.

Smart swaps and small saves

Use Greek-style yoghurt rather than expensive strained yoghurt. Use own-brand Greek-style salad cheese rather than PDO feta — it crumbles, it salts, it works. Tinned chickpeas are faster and often cheaper than dried. Pitta bread is better value than a fancy loaf and more useful for scooping. And tap water with lemon slices is a perfectly good taverna habit.

If you want to stretch the spread further, make a double batch of the chickpea dip and freeze half. Add a small pan of rice or bulgur wheat if the table needs more ballast. Toast leftover pitta into chips. None of this feels like a compromise when it is on a shared plate.

Why the tenner works

The point of the challenge is not to pretend that £10 is nothing. It is to show that hospitality is not measured by the cost of the shopping list. A bowl of chickpea dip, a warm pitta, a tray of squash and a noisy table of friends is a very Greek idea of a good evening — and it costs less than a round of drinks.