Skinny meals on a budget?

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The past couple of weeks I've been trying to meal plan, liquidising some small portions of what i make for 6 month old DS. I'm not veggie but I do try to have 3-4 meals a week meat free (surprised that carniverous other half went for this) as meat/fish is expensive and we were eating a lot of fatty (cheap) meat before we started our diet-thats-not-a-diet. Vegetable soups and curries are always a hit with everyone.

Just wondering if anyone has any good budget recipes or tips? I seem to be spending a lot more money than I was because I top up the fridge with fresh veg and stuff, and have a really tiny countertop freezer so can't really freeze batches of stuff :(

Also, semi-related, any good healthy-ish snacks (or ways to avoid temptation)?

I find chain cooking is quite handy (have no idea whether it is actually called this, but it's what I know it as!) particularly if you're short on freezer space. Not veggie though......

Monday - cook a big roast chicken. Have chicken and veg that night with mash and veg. Make loads of mash and veg for use later in the week. Strip the chicken that night so you know how much meat you have left. If you're feeling particularly frugal make a stock with the carcass.
Tuesday - chicken stir fry with cheap stir fry pack and a little left over chicken. No need to buy a stir fry sauce, just use some five spice and soy sauce for a great flavour. Maybe add some broccoli in if to have any left.
Wednesday - with some cheap root veg, combine with the rest of the leftover chicken and make a casserole. You cold serve this with rice or potatoes.
Thursday - mash from Monday's meal and left over veg (just mash it all together) and make little potato cakes. Fry them and then Serve with something like baked beans and there's a nice veggie meal
Friday & Saturday - maybe a little treat!

We do this pretty frequently at the end of the month. The principle works with lots of different things I.e. make a mince beet stew on Monday, Tuesday add mushrooms and tomatoes for spag Bol, Wednesday use the rest to make calzone

There a fab website that has loads of ideas, I'll try and find the link. They also publish weekly meal plans so to can get some great ideas each week!

utterlyscrummy.blogspot.co.uk/p/weight-to-cup-measure-converstion-table.html?m=1

Here you go - hope it works!

Budget tip dried beans. Things like kidney beans, chickpeas, canellini beans, pinto beans typically cost about £1 for 500g. If you soak and cook the entire packet you end up with about 1.4kgs fat-free, high fibre protein. After cooking allow to drain thoroughly and go completely cold, freeze in a thin layer in a very large freezer bag, then give everything a shake so that they separate like peas.

Once you have your cooked, frozen, free-flow beans/chickpeas you can measure out the amount you need & turn them into all kinds of lovely cheap & healthy meals... chillis, burgers, soups, stews, curries, salads etc.