Easy, cheap and healthy family meals..

[Meltinthemiddle]

I really struggling with the increase in food prices to think of healthy but tasty meals. I need to meal plan and plan better to stop spending so much and causing waste.

What kinds of things do you like? Any DC, their ages and are they fussy? To be honest I think it works best to plan around what you like best as that will give you the motivation to stick with it, rather than going OTT on what's healthy - of course maybe try and make sure there's variety (e.g. pizza might not be the healthiest, fine once or twice in a week, maybe not 5 nights in a row) and make sure there's always at least one vegetable element and fruit for afters? Anything you make at home is likely to be cheaper and healthier than a ready meal or takeaway version so you're already winning!

To give an idea, this in a fairly standard sort of meal plan for us, we're a mixed meat eater and veggie household so we will tend to batch cook meals that can be either meat or veggie (e.g. chilli which can be made with beef mince or three bean chilli), freeze extra portions then the next time we have it we can make a batch of meat-y version and get the veggie portion out of the freezer so we can all have the same thing. Then next time we'll make a batch of veggie version and get the meat ones out of the freezer. If you all eat the same you might not need to do this but it can also work if you have allergies or fussiness to contend with, e.g. one of my DC didn't really like spice, the rest of the family love it, so e.g. when doing curries we'd often make a batch of mild korma style curry and he'd have that when the rest of us had our madras or rogan josh style extra-spicy ones!

Monday: Lamb Kofta/Halloumi Pittas, oven chips and roasted Mediterranean veg (peppers, onion, courgette, aubergine, tomatos - we often make up big trays of this at the start of week, it keeps well in the fridge so can be reused through the week, including for lunches, is very nice with some hummus and bread or stirred through couscous with a blob of yoghurt or in an omelette. You can also buy the same veg pre-prepared and frozen in the supermarket so even easier).

Tuesday: Fishcakes/Veggie bubble and squeak with leftover Mediterranean veg.

Wednesday: Chilli with rice and green veg

Thursday: Curry with naan breads and carrot salad

Friday: pizza night, might buy ready made from supermarket or if we have the energy will buy ready done bases and top with our own toppings, with salad and garlic bread.

Saturday: home made burgers (veggie/meat) done on the BBQ, buns, bread, salad, chips

Sunday: roast dinner (leftovers will go into a shepherds pie or pilaf or stir fry or similar next week)

Tuna fishcakes
Egg fried rice
Fish finger tacos
Cauliflower macaroni cheese with wholemeal pasta
Shakshuka
Chickpea burgers

Made a lentil Dahl from the latest pinch of nom cook book last week that was lovely- really surprised me as I'm a big meat eater. Will see if it's on their website to find a link. It was really cheap to make and we had it with naan

lentil curry:
cook a couple of onions and chopped carrots in olive oil, add curry powder and dried chilli flakes, then tin of lentils (or chickpeas), tin of coconut milk, salt and pepper and leave to bubble until liquid reduced. I sometimes just eat it by itself with a spoon or can have it with rice or naan bread.

Sunday roast:
roast a tray of chicken thighs or legs with some quartered onions, make some form of potato (roast or mashed), a packet of stuffing, frozen peas and some bisto. Yorkshire pudding very cheap to make too if you’ve got the energy.

My mum used to make us pancakes and the first course would be with tinned ratatouille and grated cheese on and the second course with lemon and sugar.

I often chop up whatever veg I have hanging around and roast on a tray with sausages. Minimal washing up.

jacket potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise, with some salad. or with cheese and beans.

often I buy a big rump joint (seems expensive at first glance but stretches a long way). I slow cook it in a big casserole dish with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, wine and stock then I shred the meat up when tender and we have some with mash the first day, then I put pastry over some of it to make a pie, and then any spare after that I freeze in individual portions for the future. It makes loads of meals.

Lentil, tomato and coconut curry. Cook onions and spices, add tin of tomatoes, tin of coconut milk and red lentils.

Homemade pizza is also very cheap to make. Flour, yeast and water for the base, passata for the sauce, mozzarella or cheddar to finish. We add olives, pepperoni and any other bits we have. Having these two meals every week has cut our food bill by quite a bit.

Spaghetti ariabetta

Thank you.

This is great! Mujadara Fast, simple, tasty, and really nutritious and cheap.

cookieandkate.com/mujaddara-recipe/

Do you have a pressure cooker? Try and pick one up from a charity shop, or ask friends if they have one you can borrow.

Cowboy beans are a favourite here. Basically home made baked beans. Dried Beans are very cheap. Cook them up with garlic, tomatoes, and a bit of bacon or gammon or bacon stock. Great.

Old fashioned ideas about using every last scrap are good, too.
Keep veg scraps/peelings and bones to make stock.
Cook a gammon/bacon joint in water, and use the water for pea soup so you get an extra meal from the bacon. Ditto chicken. Cook it in water, then cook the bones in water again with veg scraps, to make a base for soup. Add noodles and sweetcorn to the stock. It's really nice.

Pasta Amatriciana (I buy cooking bacon from Morrisons for £1.20- if you pick your pack well you've pretty much got lardons and it does a good few meals!) Bacon, tomatoes, garlic, pasta

Lentil dhal (add in any leftover veg like squash or sweet potatoes, peas, spinach. Or don't.) Freeze the coconut milk in ice cube trays so you can get another couple of meals out of it)

Chilli with less meat and more beans - kidney & baked beans or mixed beans. If turkey mince is cheaper that day, I use that.

Chicken fried rice - 2 chicken breasts do for 4 of us. Add in broccoli and/or green beans

Soup with whatever veg is left, some of the bacon & a tin of tomatoes & a handful of small pasta bits.

On Toast night

Souvlaki Skewers & wedges. Can be pork or chicken or turkey. Quick marinade of lemon zest (keep whole lemons in freezer so you can zest a bit then put back. When it's all been zested, slice and use in gin!), oil, oregano, salt & pepper and a smashed clove of garlic. Shove in fridge before work and it just needs grilling / griddling when you're ready for dinner. With veg or salad.

Brisket - often on offer in Morrisons- I chop it into thick big chunks and use in casseroles. Cheaper & tastier than buying ready chopped casserole beef.

Anything with pulses & beans - curries, chillies etc is cheap and can go in the slow cooker.

Jacket potatoes in the slow cooker.

I found this really useful -

whisk.com

You can use it to save any recipes from anywhere online, there are also lots of Communites/Groups sharing recipes, it also has a meal planning section and you can use it for creating shopping lists (you can link to specific supermarkets of you want). As it’s all on my phone I find I use it, and stick to the food planning side better that using a book, or scraps of paper.