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.

Thanks!
For me, I mean a gammon joint, yes. I cooked a small gammon, it cost around £6 from Tesco.

@Seaside3

Glad you are getting out and about!
Today in the Breadcat house we are having a roast pork joint because my husband like crackling- I'm rolling it up with some sage and rosemary and garlic- sort of porcetta lite. Large joint from Aldi was £5.50
Then the left over cooked meat (and there will be a lot) I am splitting and putting half in the pressure cooker with spice and teriyaki and bit of chilli to make pulled pork which I will shred and freeze. The rest I will mince up on Monday and cook with chopped mushrooms, cashews, spring onions, carrot, celery, soy sauce, sesame oil and a splash of dry sherry to make a version of yuk sung lettuce wraps with some crispy rice noodle on top.
At which point we will be fed up of pork so any left over bits will be offered to the cat

@Breadcat24 that all sounds very, very delicious. I may have tk pop into aldi to buy some pork!

Hello!

It's been a week, and it's only wednesday.

I have managed to document a couple of dishes in my insta, first beef, prunes and black bean casserole.

And then a bean, tomato, eggs and feta brunch.

Today i finished the beans for brunch and then made roast dinner for tea. It was so good. Flowed by coconut rice pudding topped with a nectarine and peach jam from earlier in the summer.

Roast dinner - chicken (lentil bake from freezer in the freezer), roast new potatoes with carrot, broccoli and cauliflower cheese and oven roast cabbage with garlic.

@Seaside3 hope someone will make lovely food for you when you are getting treatment
Cheats bouillabaisse here tonight- fry onion garlic and fennel, add tin baxter lobster bisque, pack of mussels in garlic, some frozen raw prawns and a basa fillet- boil and serve

That rice pudding looks delicious

I hope so too! If I were a fan of fish, I would love that soup.

Dahl and rice feom the freezer here, added some halloumi, some mini starters and a bit of naan from.earliwr in the week.

Surgery scheduled for the end of the month, so plenty of.time to stock my freezer.

It was! Rice pudding is my go to easy pudding when using the oven. I literally stick any milk.im.with pudding rice and shove in the oven. Make sure it doesnt dry out and add something sweet. It's so comforting.

@Seaside3 I just returned to this thread and saw your update. Sending good wishes your way! 💐I'm continuing to try to follow your example of using up food and decreasing waste - also I'm throwing another party next month and will again get inspiration from your party post from last year!

Thank you! I have until the 26th, when I'm in for my operation, so hoping to fill my freezer between now and then.

And I will be referring back to my party canapés at Christmas too. Let me know what you make!

Yesterday's food was simple. Pancakes for brunch, the first filled with cheese and fig chutney, the 2nd with nectarine and peach jam and Greek yogurt, the 3rd butter and sugar.

Then in the evening I used the left over dahl, added extra water, some spicy paste from the fridge, half a pack of cherry tomatoes and made jt more of a soup. Topped with crispy kale, some roast chicken (for me, bread on side for husband), yogurt and mango chutney. It was delicious and very filling.

Today, lunch with my brother, and something from the freezer for tea.

Yesterday's 'Something from the freezer' turned into a stop at the co-op to get steak, frozen chips and ready made veg. I figured i can't be perfect every day.

Today - green soup.from the freezer, which i added some cottage cheese for protein, chilli flakes, crispy onions and pine nuts. Served with a cheese and red onion quesadilla.

We went shopping today - we only needed a few bits, so decided to give me and s a try, as I keep seeing people talking about them being good value for money. In all fairness, the prices compared favourably to other places I shop.

We.spent £58, but that included washing up liquid, soap, some quiche (never usually buy).and some fancy onion soup my husband fancied. Tea tonight (no pic, sorry) was quiche, new potatoes and salad. I'm finding anything with too much fiber is aggravating my.stomacj currently, so having a simpler diet.

Food planned for the week -
Lunches:
leek and potato soup, Beans on toast, omelette or egg something, pearl barley and veg soup
Tea:
Pork and rice With cabbage salad
Cheese and veg macaroni
Beef chilli
Bolognese
Baked potatoes

Hope everyone has a lovely week.

I've been following for a while and absolutely love your recipes and ideas for the week. I popped back on here due to having a cancer diagnosis and having a bit more time on my hands, to find you have recently received a diagnosis too. I wish you well and hope that you are able to continue posting and making your lovely recipes.

Oh gosh, I hope all goes well for you. Feel free to message me any time.

My intention is to keep going as much as I can, I firmly believe food is a important as any other part of my treatment.

With that in mind - today I made somw leek and potato soup (used some left over potatoes from another meal), which i added cottage cheese and milk to, before whizzing up. I'm thinking soups are easy for anyone to grab and heat up for a nutritious meal.

Today I also made a banana, sultana, walnut and dark chocolate bread. My husband buys bananas, no one eats them.

And for tea our older 2 boys came home, so I made Asian pork mince, brown rice, a.cabbage, carrot and pear salad with lime and peanut dressing and boiled eggs finished with soy. Pudding was the crumble I made a couokw of weeks ago from the freezer and some posh m and s custard.

Today's lunch was the French onion soup from m and s, along with cheese croutons.

Thank you. I also believe good food is important on this journey. I have been craving soup, particularly strong flavours due to the chemo numbing my mouth, so French onion soup is a good shout. Other strong flavours such as Asian food are good too. We are fans of banana bread here and I try to hide dates and nuts in it but the kids always spot the difference:)

I am making lots of soup at the moment. Had 5 heads of broccoli in my Riverford box today (3 were in the zero waste bag that I love to get), so I have a broccoli & stilton in my soup maker right now. Lidl had big bags of sweet potato on offer so I picked up one of those and half of those are roasting whilst I have the oven on to make another soup.

Was the French Onion soup the one in the posh glass jar? I have one of those in my cupboard.

Currently following a recipe to make fish pie topped baked potatoes, so have made the fish pie element. There will be at least one portion of that leftover, so that can be stashed in the freezer for another day.

Ah, yes, then onion soup would be lovely for you. Maybe muligatawny soup too?

@DiggoryVenn you sound industrious as ever! My son is a fan of sweet potato and peanut butter soup, I think ot had coconut milk in - i can find the recipe if you want.

Yes, it was the posh glass jar m and s soup. Not as nice as homemade, but a good substitute.

Today my daughter is treating us to a takeaway for tea, so I had over night oats with grated pear, apple, sultanas , prunes and cinnamon for breakfast and a cheese and pickle sarnie for lunch.

That soup recipe sounds fantastic. If not too much trouble, I would love that, thanks.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRC1Sa-DSQd/?stkn=MWZ4cmo4bDY4ajg5Ng==

Here you go. I think i just shoved the potatoes, garlic, spices, tomatoes and onion in the oven and then added the liquids once cooked before blending.

The sweet potato and peanut butter soup looks amazing. I'm definitely making that one!

I was thinking the same myself. I spend more than that for one- I don't eat out though. Food is my biggest bill

Last week I threw some lentils in my mince concoction- made it for much further- I'll do this again.

I think I would rather eat out a bit less and have the freedom to spend more on food at home

@TheFunSponge it is good. My son will be home from uni at the beginning of November, I plan on having some of his games in the freezer, this will be one.

@BCBird welcome! I find it hard to spend more tbh, especially if doing an online shop. We.are.down to 3 people. At home now and if I order on line I just order the same as before and it.lasts longer. I generally buy similar stuff most shops and then somehow come up with different meals. We have a real variety of meals and even the same meal is never made the same.

Feel free to hang around and find out, there are a few others who join in.

Looks a great recipe, thank you. I have some coconut milk in the freezer.

Anyone got any ideas for a lot of cabbage? I have 1/2 sweetheart one and a whole white cabbage. Will probably do a coleslaw with some of it.