Meal planning, sharing recipes and ideas to make the weekly budget go further.

[Seaside3]

Ok, snappy title, I know.

Having recently loved a thread where the op bemoaning the price of minced beef, (i didn't love that) and seeing how helpful people were, I decided to start my own thread.

We are a large family, but currently just 4 of us live at home. 2 adults, 2 teens who eat adult portions.

I aim to spend around £70 on average a week, we do eat out a couple of times a week, but £70 should roughly cover it.

New shop arriving tomorrow, hoping it will cover the week.

To start though, tonight we had Asian style pork, rice and garlic broccoli.

Asian pork - minced pork, onion, grated garlic and ginger, Chinese five spice, carrot, courgette broccoli stem, sweetcorn, peas, dark soy, chilli flakes Fry, add a little water if required.

Garlic and ginger broccoli... fried sliced garlic and root ginger, red onion, broccoli florets. Added a couple of splashes of water, soy and a sprinkle of sugar. Would have used honey, but didn't have any. Fresh coriander leaves.

Basmati rice

Added a fried egg.

Served 4 for dinner, 2 extra servings for lunches.

Would love to hear others go to family meals.

Cooked a Sunday roast for under £12 for 5 and some spare.

All from aldi...chicken, carrots, cauliflower cheese, cabbage, potatoes, broccoli, gravy, peas.

@Realworld10 roasts are my favourite meal. I think they're affordable, and can be simple if you want. I will soon be making roasts most weeks.

I love your posts @Seaside3, they are inspiring me to stop wasting the food I’ve bought and get cooking. At least I’ve been reading them, even if I haven’t started cooking more.
I used to be very good at doing that but I’ve 2 autistic teens who have got incredibly fussy about the food they eat the older they’ve got (in totally different ways) and it’s taken the joy out of cooking for me. So thanks for adding a little bit of joy back in for me.

Thats actually really lovely to hear, thank you.
I don't envy you at all, having fussy eaters. Luckily for me I can work around any dislikes fairly easily.
I did find cooking a chore, but more recently I have found it soothing, knowing that I may not have loads of money, but I do have the power to feed my family well.

I think a lot of it stems from the fact that my parents had pretty much given up parenting by the time I was about 11. So to me, providing good food is important. I also associate good family times with food -.gatherings, birthdays etc, which so many of us do i guess.

Anyway, true to style, a stressful weekend (health scare) has passed and now I'm refilling my cup in the kitchen.

A much needed day in the kitchen today.

This morning I made bbq baked beans with scrambled eggs for my daughter and I. 1 onion, garlic, grated carrots, oregano, Paprika, cumin, tin of tomatoes, borlotti beans, bbq sauce.

Then I made -

Courgette and butter bean soup
Sweetcorn, miso and lime soup
Curried Sweet potato, roast carrot and lentil soup
A green goddess type of sauce (coriander, an over ripe avocado, lime juice, yogurt, chilli flakes)
Roast potatoes
Roast chicken
Honey roasted carrots
Cauliflower cheese
Peas
Gravy

We had Roast for tea, the left over potatoes are for lunch tomorrow with the green sauce, salad and feta.

The left over cauliflower will get mixed with some pasta and other veg for a mac n cheese type of tea

Soups are in the freezer for whilst we are away

There's a portion of beans and a portion of broccoli soupmfrom yesterday in the fridge too

After an emotionally draining weekend I feel better

Today has been a delicious day, despite feeling utterly awful!

Brunch was the bbq beans on toast with cheese from yesterday.

Tea was a flipping delight. I used the left over roast potatoes from yesterday, served with the grown goddess sauce, feta and crispy onions. Served with - pork mince with nasi goreng paste and mixes beans, in a wrap with a smear of mayo, some fig chutney, salad leaves and somw cucumbers i put in some left over pickle juice. It was all really tasty!

Friday is curry, tomorrow undecided.