Budget Meal plan -

[QforCucumber]

Done that age old thing of getting stuck with the same old meals on repeat week in week out and feel like we need a major overhaul, usually when I do this I go all out and have a splurge month. But as we are really feeling the pinch atm can anyone help with some budget meal ideas which may give us some variation? (In brackets I've put our usual meals, it all just feels very samey) No major allergies or food aversions, kids are 2 and 6 - 2 year old eats at nursery so joins us with a small portion of whatever the meal is but really only cooking for 3.

Our usual weeks looks like this -
Monday - a Pasta night (meatballs, lasagne, Bolognese)
Tuesday - a Curry night (either Thai or a masala usually as kids guaranteed to eat this)
Wednesday - Chicken (usually wraps or pittas - corn cob, nandos-esque)
Thursday - busy night so something light like omelettes or cheese and beans on toast
Friday - Freezer (pizza, fish and chips, kiev and wedges)
Saturday - wing it and see where we are.
Some kind of roast (toad in the hole or chicken mostly)

meat free options
the bbc website has plenty of recipes for beans and lentils
lentil shepherds pie a big hit in my household, actually made with black eye beans.

Chicken risotto using leftovers from the roast
Sausages, mash and veg
Chilli
Cottage pie
Jacket potatoes

Some faves here...

• Tuna pasta bake
• Sausage casserole
• Pork tenderloin with black pud (actually only costs about £5 for family of 4, plus some veg)
• Dip Sum (pork mince in soy sauce with beansprouts, wrapped in lettuce leaves)
• stir fry
• mild chilli con carne with rice

I’d add in a Mexican type meal (chilli, tacos, nachos with lots of veggies), I do a roast chicken on Sunday and use the leftover chicken to make a chicken, leek and mushroom pie for Monday. For quick meals I do pasta and pesto or noodles with shredded chicken or ham.

I also do a gammon for roast on Sunday and use the left over ham for ham, egg and chips another day. If I do meatballs one day, I’ll make a leftover pasta bake with the remaining sauce and meatballs. A sausage and lentil casserole goes a long way too if you use decent sausages and do crusty bread one day and potato wedges the next.

I also make a veggie curry, usually a korma and have the leftovers on baked potatoes.

Most meals in my house do two nights on a variation of the theme.

You already have special nights which is lovely as the DC can build a level of anticipation and gives you two ways to go to mix it up: add more days and/or have more options for those days.
Pasta day: you have three classics there but they are all mince based, so how about Mac and cheese, a carbonara, a pomodoro, pesto, seafood, chicken?
Curry day: tikka masala is the nations favourite for a reason but why not mix it up with veggie side dishes so there's a smaller portion of the main event served with Bombay potatoes or aloo saag, for example? They don't need to be more spicy but open up some different flavours. Then swap out the meaty curry for all veggie some days or even kedgeree if they like fish, as although fish is expensive you don't need much to make it tasty.
Days you can add in:
Greek day (marinated chicken kebabs, spiced vegetables, crumbled feta)
Mexican day( so many options)
Salad day (with a hearty veg chopped salad with toppings)
Rice day (risotto or pilaff or biryani as the main element)
Baked potato day: so many toppings!
Pie day (anything from a steak and gravy through spanakopita, pork pie, apple pie to cowboy pie (bacon snd beans with a mash topping).
Add a pile of seasonal veg to everything to keep the cost down.
A cooked pudding ( something inexpensive like a rice pudding with a sprinkle of nutmeg or a baked apple with custard or a scoop of ice cream) can make a very inexpensive mid week meal seem more special ( or that might be because I made pudding so rarely my DC always thought it was a huge treat!)
The broader their tastes the more scope you have to swap expensive ingredients for cheaper ones.

You dont have a soup or stew night. Great for the cold weather and you can alter the proportions depending on what you have in the fridge.

You should try some meatfree days, better for budget and health.

Lentil bolognaise
Black bean burritos
baked potatoes with cheese and baked beans
your normal curries with chickpeas instead
breakfast for dinner! scrambled eggs, toast, cooked tomatoes, hash browns

Thanks all these are perfect! Pre kids my cooking repertoire was vast - now I seem to have settled into this routine and imagination gone out of the window 🤦🏽‍♀️ those expansion ideas are exactly what I needed @ODFOx

Thursday is always veggie based, and the curries too - usually cauli, courgette carrot and aubergine in either a Thai green or a masala sauce.

I get that too, I used to try at least one new recipe a week, now I'm lucky if I can get the desire to try a new one every couple of months!

Your week sounds a lot like ours.

this week we’ve had/are having

Fri - curry for the adults, pizza for the kids
Sat - pulled pork in brioche rolls, corn on the cob, wedges, salad and coleslaw
Sun - Beef stew and dumplings
Mon - Turkey meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta
Tue - southwest chicken and rice (basically chicken, onions, pepper, courgette, black beans and taco seasoning cooked in one pot with rice - there’s a few more ingredients, but that’s the general jist)
Wed - chicken Kiev, chips and salad
thur - honey garlic chicken, rice and steamed veg

That's exactly it @WeirdPookah the meals we are having I feel like I could do in my sleep, and with a busy FT job and a Toddler who hates sleep it's just 1 think I don't have to 'think' about when doing the grocery shop, DH feels the same.

SimplyCook is your friend here.Recipes to use whenever fits in with your schedule,menus that can be tailored to suit your tastes and requirements,plus the food is great quality and feels like a treat without being expensive.
www.simplycook.com/invite/N6FYNV?t=cp&pg=ref&via=dt
If anyone fancies a completely free box,no p&p or obligation to order more.
Loads of different recipes plus budget options too.So much cheaper than a takeaway,but really livens up midweek/weekend meals.

I often use this site. It has simple recipes that children will eat too (mostly!). It's good for tight months as there's some variety, although I do find the portion sizes can vary quite a bit eatnotspend.com/

Just done online Tesco for family of 6- £98 (£85 food and £13 toiletries)is scary, but will probably stretch to 12 evening meals:
Spag Bol(1 meaty + 1 watered down with tomatoes + left overs to bulk up with lentils and baked beans to make a cottage pie
Creamy Fish Pie
Beef & Red Wine Casserole (x2 or 1 casserole and 1 pie)
Colcannon with sausages and onion gravy
Aubergine & Sweet Potato Curry with Okra
Vegetable & Mushroom Creamy Pie (x 2 pies or 1 pie + 1 pasta meal)
Butternut Squash Veg Dhansak
Chicken thighs in creme fraiche, mustard and tarragon sauce with baked potatoes
Packed lunches and breakfast stuff will be whatever is cheapest at local shop, same with fruit and cereal/oats.

..the other 2 evening meals for the fortnight will be something on toast and weekend lunches will be soup/sandwich or brunch/omelette etc.
Cheap healthy packed lunches is the next challenge 🙃

You might try keeping to those categories but slight variations. We often have

souvlaki (chicken or pork cubed and marinaded in lemon juice, garlic, oregano, bit of oil then grilled on skewers with peppers, onions etc) - you can add other mediterranean stuff like rice, tinned dolmades, olives, flatbread, tahini sauce etc. Halloumi skewers also good

chickpea curry

burgers (can be veggie, lots of ways to make adult ones interesting with different sauce etc)

stir fry and noodles - can be meat free, add cashews or tofu to make it interesting. You can make easy sauce with peanut butter mixed with soy sauce and ketchup (sounds horrible but it works)

I think to avoid splurging it helps if you keep to a particular cuisine so you're not buying all kinds of different ingredients and only using 1/3 of them before having to throw them out. Or else buy stuff that lasts a long time. Ethnic type smaller supermarkets can also be much cheaper for things like spice paste etc.

I also have an instant pot, it's good for doing meat joints as a pot roast, doing beans from dried etc.

Libraries have loads of cookbooks usually, could you have a look in your local one and try out some new recipes?