Gosh it’s been a while since I posted a meal plan! I’ve been doing them but haven’t posted them on my blog. I haven’t really posted much on my blog recently if I’m honest and I need to sort that out. So here’s this week’s super simple meal plan. As always I was shopping on a budget and I’ve had loads of questions about how I save money on our food shop so I’m going to share a few top tips in this post too!
My top money saving tips of the week are:
Plan meals that use the same ingredients.
This avoids waste and means you don’t have to buy as much. For example this week we’re having pesto pasta for lunch one day and pesto basa fishcakes for dinner another. The one jar of pesto cost about 65p in Aldi and will feature in 2 meals. We’re also going to have Spaghetti Bolognese, then add some cannelini beans and some spices later in the week to turn it in to a Chilli. I’ve bought a big bag of potatoes which feature in 3 of our meals too. This may sound like the meals would become repetitive but it’s amazing how you can use one ingredient in so many different ways. We then try to mix it up the next week and may have more pasta instead of potatoes or noodles instead of rice… you get the idea!
Shop in your cupboards and freezer before you shop at the supermarket!
Taking the time to go through your cupboards and see what you already have is well worth it and can save so much money! This week we had some chicken in the freezer which saved us having to buy much meat. You can often start to see meals coming together as you look through the ingredients you already have, meaning you don’t need to buy as much. Think of it as a Masterchef ‘use what’s in the box’ challenge and it’s actually quite fun! We also like to play the Masterchef relay race game. I start a meal off, go upstairs to put the kids to bed, Alistair gets home and finishes it off.. It’s always interesting seeing if it turns out how I had imagined!
Make your own snacks
Shop bought snacks can work out really expensive. You can make your own that are much healthier at a fraction of the price! Today we made flapjacks, tomorrow we will make smoothie ice lollies. It’s a fun activity to do with the kids too and so good for teaching them to be aware of what goes in their food and how they can make healthy swaps that actually taste better!
Meal Plan
So what are we eating?
I’ve planned our meals on my meal planner pad which has a space for each meal, each day, however, I’m not strict about which meal we eat on which day. The only meals that really have to go in the right order are bolognese and the chilli. I’ve cheated a little as I haven’t bought the chicken for our Sunday roast yet and will buy that from next week’s budget. My theory is that we will use the leftover meat to make 2 or 3 meals next week so it makes more sense for it to be budgeted as part of that week.
What do you think? Is it cheating?
My ‘big shop’ cost me £33 but did include nappies and toilet roll.
Breakfasts
- Porridge
- Egg on toast
- Cereal
- Eggy bread
- Pancakes
- Bacon, egg and toast
Lunches
- Tomato soup
- Cheese and crackers
- carrot and courgette savoury muffins
- Pesto pasta
- Tortilla wraps
- Houmous and dippers
Dinners
- Slow cooker peanut chicken (We had this tonight, it was like satay chicken, sooooo tasty!)
- Tortilla pizza and sweet potato chips
- Spaghetti bolognese
- Dirty fries
- Pesto basa fishcakes with salad
- Chilli tortilla bowls
- Roast chicken dinner
Snacks
- Fruit
- Homemade flapjacks
- Yoghurt
- Apple crisps
- Smoothie ice lollies
- Banana and peanut butter bites
I honestly think that meal planning has been a game changer for me. It saves us money, makes me feel more organised and in control, which in turn helps with my anxiety.
I’m thinking of including 3 top tips each week with my meal plans (which I will get better at sharing again I promise!) Let me know if that’s something you would like to see!
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