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.

Fantastic thread OP …. Thank you so much for all the ideas

You're welcome @Ak732087D let me know if you make anything!

Sunday i made roast chicken, no left overs, forgot how hungry 4 men would be! Plus myself and 2 girlfriends!

Last night i made the sticky pork from Instagram. It was delicious and easy. Served with rice and a side of 🥦.

Also made some scones, after my husband mentioned getting one whilst out. There are few greater pleasures than a warm shine, if you ask me.

Tonight my daughter is having a party, she bought a load if pizzas and frozen chips from aldi. We have been asked to vacate the property...

Tomorrow one son and his gf coming over, I've got lots of veg to use up, so may make a veg crumble/bake. Or a veg curry, got some lentil dahl in the freezer, so that's half a meal done.... decisions, decisions.

The veg curry didnt happen, but i did use up some dahl. I made a one pot chicken curry and rice, served with dahl as a side.

As ever, it was simple...

In a cast iron pot, (or one you can use on both hob and in the oven), I fried 2 x onions with curry spices, chopped garlic. Added 4 x chicken breasts, sliced peppers from the freezer. Add a tin of tomatoes and 2 x tins of water. Add stock if you have. Add rice for 4. Put in the oven and cook. Half way through I decided to add a tin of coconut milk. I baked for around 40 minutes. Remove chicken and shred, return to dish. Serve.

For pudding I peeled 3 x apples, stewed with a little water, sugar, cinnamon and sultanas. Served it on top of meringues and ice cream. Weird, but apparently it hit the spot. I had the left over apples in my porridge today.
You could add yogurt, naans, pickles etc if you have them. It served 5 adults, with2 large portions left for lunches.

Lunches today were the left overs, some green soup from the freezer and coronation chickpeas, which are so good.

Tonight it was just me and my husband for tea. I made this. I didnt have presliced leeks and cabbage, so sliced my own. And I used the 3 veg mash from a couple of weeks ago that's been sat in my freezer. The only other change I made was to add feta to the sauce as I didnt have sour cream. It was ugly, but delicious.
And plenty left to add to the freezer for another day.

I my freezer I have 4 pork chops left, some soups and other bits. Time to place an order.

For next week I am thinking...

This corn soup with nice bread for a weekend lunch

This shwarma chicken

This sweet potato salad, but with a different cheese, goats cheese can be a bit goaty for my liking!

I'm craving cheese this week, and i happen to have yorkies still in the freezer. This random meal appeals...

And my husband requested salad, so this looks good.

I'll make another soup, I still have beets to use, so potentially that. And a gammon, bake potatoes and boil eggs to fill the fridge.

Tonight I showed my 12 year old how to make spaghetti and meatballs. I don’t do anything special, but he was impressed. We added finely grated carrot, breadcrumbs (grated end of the bread), oxo and some mixed herbs to 5% beef mince and mixed it really well. Made it into balls and then left them to sit while we made the sauce. Browned them off in a pan and then finished off for 20 minutes in the sauce. My kids don’t like huge amounts of onion, otherwise I’d add some blitzed onion to the meatballs too.

@FurForksSake I love meatballs, but for some weird reason I struggle with them alongside spaghetti! Something to do with texture. Im a freak. But I can manage them with short pasta, rice, or in a pitta. Honestly, I'm odd.

I do love that you're teaching the next generation. Mine can all cook, to varying degrees. And they're definitely foodies, which is no surprise!

Placing my tesco order. We have decided we have to atop spending ao much eating out, so really trying to get my head around a bigger shop budget = better spending over all. We tend to eat out twice a week, once for dinner, once for lunch. And I'm trying to add more diversity via seeds and nuts. My husband and I feel like we've been ill for weeks, plus a recent Dr's visit revealed I'm low in iron, folate and a few other vitamins could do with a boost. Not a massive fan of tablets, however, we do eat a varied diet and yet I'm struggling to raise them, so vitamin tablets are on the order.

Also attempting to lose more weight, ao really trying to stick to 3 meals. I have a tendency to skip breakfast, which just makes me pick later in the day. So, breakfasts are now an every day occurrence.

Lastly im trying to make sweet treats/puddings to avoid my family dashing to the shop and spending a fortune. It actually works if I make a cake and a pudding, or some thing like biscuits/scones. It takes time, but i have more of that than spare money at the moment.

We had a good conversation this evening (my boys are 10 and 12) about over the next 6-8 years we’ll be building up to them leaving with a repertoire of dishes they can make for themselves easily.

Great planning @FurForksSake . I have 4 kids age 26 - 17. I've never forced them in to the kitchen, but they all started baking as soon as they could read. I found it was a good way to get them.to read, learn numbers, tell the time, learn about ingredients etc.
And over the years they have picked stuff up. They tend to wander in yo the kitchen and chat, so I might task them with chopping, or making a sauce, or the salad , stirring the pot or checking something in the oven. It's amazing what they earn from just being in the kitchen and allowed to participate.

If you cook (and cool) onions before putting them in meatballs they taste much better. If you use raw onion then it is quite a strong taste.

@sashh that's a great tip, thanks!

That’s a great tip!

If you put a small amount of olive oil in the mix, say half a tablespoon, it keeps them more moist. I'd not seen it before but it was suggested in a kofta recipe I tried and they were really good and didn't dry out.

In the past I’ve soaked the breadcrumbs in milk or added ketchup for moisture, too. My kids don’t mind a drier meatball as they are used to very low fat mince, not the 20% stuff I grew up on! Definitely it’s better for burgers and meatballs.

Thanks @murasaki another great tip. My meatballs tend to disintegrate, so I'm taking all these tips on board, including letting them sit for a bit.
Now I just want ikea style meatballs.

Shopping coming tomorrow. I was working on a stall at a winter fair yesterday (with no voice, not helpful), so had eggs on toast for breakfast, followed by green soup for lunch. By tea time I was utterly exhausted - every single person commented on my lack of voice, meaning I had to so twice as much talking (whispering) as usual. So we had take away curry from co-op. Kids were out, so juat two of us.

Shopping coming tomorrow, will have to find something from the freezer tonight. Or I did buy a nice piece of cheese yesterday, so maybe an easy tea based around that.

Shopping for tomorrow came to £94!! Way higher than usual, but for reasons mentioned in previous posts. Fingers crossed this reduces our 'eating out' spending.

Tonight I turned a one portion homemade chicken, 'nduja & butter bean stew into two portions by making it into a pasta dish with a side helping of kale. It actually worked really well. Something I need to bear in mind with the various bits I have squirreled away in the freezer.

@DiggoryVenn that stew sounds good. And yes to making meals go further by a few additions. The easiest way to so this is by making it into wraps, its surprising how little filling is required to make a wrapa

Today - breakfast was an avocado and coronation chickpeas wrap.

I then made beetroot soup, which was so tasty. Fry one onion with garlic, 2 celery stalks, smoked Paprika and chilli seeds. Add 2 precooked packs of beetroot and some water. Season. Blend, serve with cheese. (Mrs Kirkham's lancashire)

Dinner was another made up dishnf pork, potaties and cabbage
.4 pork chops with half a can of cider, chicken stock, mustard, onion and garlic. Potatoes - thinly sliced layered with onions, garlic and dried mixed herbs. Season, chicken stock.
Cabbage, thinly sliced with onion, garlic a bit of butter and a bit of water. Cover with foil.
All in oven around 220c for 45 minutes.

I also put some grapes in to roast with a bit of oil and salt. Forgot they were there, so they became sultana like. Served them alongside the pork for a sweet kick. It was all surprisingly delicious.

Totally agree about making things into wraps or pasta to stretch them.

I might do half a freezer audit today. We’ve got two and they are both quite full. And then I can meal plan based on that!

Living the dream with two freezers @furforkssake! We only have a tiny built in freezer.
Let us know what you com up with.

My shopping is due any minute, guess I should head downstairs in preparation.

I'm going to do a vat of leek and potato soup today, there will be plenty for the freezer. We currently have 3 chicken, one mushroom and tarragon and one pea and ham in there so it needs topping up.

Usually had with ham and cheese toasties.

@murasaki sounds like a plan.

I made beetroot soup yesterday, and an amazing corn one today. Will share recipe when I have more time.

Today a quick batch cooking of a ham, a beef curry, soup, a cake, a salad, prepped some chicken shwarma. Also porridge for breakfast.

Oh please do for the corn one! I can't get on with beetroot

This is a great thread- thanks. Dh just made redundant and we're definitely tightening our belts!

I'm going to do a chatgpt cupboard night this week, tell it some items from there and the freezer, and get it to suggest some things. It's very useful for that.

i had half a butter nut squash
so roasted it
make blackeyed bean shepherds pie and mixed squash with mash potato as well as a couple of cauliflower florets
made a lovely light topping