Our Family Meal Plan for This Week

This is the Meal Plan that my family will be following this week.  It cost £63.05 from Asda online today, and I used My Supermarket to check which supermarket was the cheapest to purchase my trolley of groceries from.  The same trolley of groceries would've cost £78.14 at Tesco and £80.97 at Sainsburys.

Dinners

Easy Mince Bake - Monday

500g lean beef mince

1/3 cup porridge oats

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

125ml beef stock ( I use ½ a stock cube)

4 Tblsp tomato paste mixed with 4 Tblsp water

150g mushrooms, sliced

1 pepper, finely chopped

1 large handful grated tasty cheese

400g frozen mixed vegetables

Soak the rolled oats in the beef stock for 10 minutes. Mix together the mince, soaked rolled oats and beef stock, crushed garlic, dried herbs, paprika, salt and pepper with the stock. Press into a 20cm square baking dish or lined cake tin. Use a spoon to smooth down the mince, leaving a slightly raised rim.

Spread the tomato paste mixture over the mince then scatter over the mushrooms, pepper, and cheese. Bake at 190°C for 35-40 minutes. Serve with cooked mixed vegetables.


Vegetable Bake - Tuesday

3 cups seasonal vegetables (I used finely chopped onion, pepper and mushrooms, grated carrot and courgette)

1 handful grated tasty cheese

4 eggs

150ml milk

½ cup self raising flour

freshly ground black pepper

If you don’t have self raising flour, use standard flour with ½ tsp of baking powder added. Cut a selection of vegetables in to small chunks or grate them. Put them in a well greased or lined 20 x 25cm baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the vegetables.

Lightly beat the eggs and milk together then sprinkle in the self raising flour. Mix well to make sure there are no lumps. Pour the beaten egg over the vegetables. Bake at 200C for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the egg has set. Serve with your favourite chutney or relish and a side salad.


Sausage Hotpot - Wednesday (Adadpted from this recipe)

6 pork sausages

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, roughly chopped

2 sweet potatoes, roughly chopped

250g pack vegetable soup mix

1 vegetable stock cube

1 litre boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan 160°C/ gas 4.

In a large, flameproof casserole dish, heat the olive oil and fry the sausages, until browned. Remove the sausages from the dish and set aside.

Add the onion to the dish and fry until soft. Now add to the chopped root vegetables to the casserole dish. Stir well and add the vegetable soup mix and 1 litre of stock, made using the stock cube. Season well and cook over a high heat for 5 minutes.

Return the sausages to the casserole dish, transfer to the oven and cook for 1 hour, then serve with steamed cauliflower and broccoli.


Tuna Patties - Thursday

500g baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 courgette, grated

1 carrot, grated

425g can tuna in spring water, drained

olive oil spray

salt and pepper, to taste

Pre-heat oven to 220 C. Place potatoes in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Cook for 10 minutes or until soft then drain and mash.

Add grated courgette and carrot, drained tuna and salt and pepper to mashed potato and mix well.

Form into small patties, spray with oil and bake for 15 minutes or until golden.  Serve with salad.

Any leftover patties can be bagged up and frozen for later use.  They also taste great on sandwiches with tomato chutney.


Homemade Pizza - Friday

2 cups wholemeal flour

2 tsp baking powder

4 tablespoons butter

125ml milk

2 Tblsp tomato paste mixed with 4 Tblsp water

2 cups toppings

1 handful grated cheese

Sieve flour and baking powder.

Rub butter into the flour until the mixture is like coarse breadcrumbs.

Add the milk and mix until a stiff dough forms (add more flour or milk if necessary).

Turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly.

Roll out into a circle or rectangle. Put on a greased oven tray.

Scatter over your choice of toppings.

Sprinkle over some grated cheese.

Cook at 200ºC for 20 minutes.


Sausages, Potato Wedges and Mixed Vegetables - Saturday

1kg potatoes,cut into wedges

6 pork sausages

400g frozen mixed vegetables

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ fan 180°C/ gas 6. Spread the wedge out on a non-stick baking tray, in a single layer. Drizzle the potato wedges with some olive oil and season. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until brown and crisp.

Put the sausages in a baking dish and cook in the oven for last 20 minutes of wedges cooking time. Served with cooked mixed vegetables.


Chicken Casserole - Sunday (Adadpted from this recipe)

8 chicken drumsticks

2 onions, peeled & sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

250g vegetable soup mix

2 carrots, roughly chopped

2 sweet potatoes, roughly chopped

1 chicken stock cube

1 litre boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan 160°C/ gas 4. Remove the skin from the chicken drumsticks.

In a large, flameproof casserole dish, heat the olive oil and fry the drumsticks until browned. Scatter the onions and garlic over the drumsticks, and cook until they have also browned.

Add the chopped root vegetables, vegetable soup mix and 1 litre of stock, made using the stock cube. Season well and cook over a high heat for 5 minutes.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 45 minutes, then serve with steamed cauliflower and broccoli.

Breakfasts, Snacks and Treats

Breaktast on weekdays is either porridge or Weetabix with a chopped banana or sultanas.  However, on the weekend I either make pancakes or crumpets as a treat and the other weekend morning we have toast and soliders or homemade fruitbread toast with our favourite spread.

Pikelets/Pancakes - Sunday Breakfast

300g self raising flour, or plain flour with 4 tsp baking powder added

2 eggs

50g sugar

375ml milk

Mix all the ingredients together well and then cook ladlefuls of mixture in a greased fryingpan over a moderate heat. Serve with chopped bananas and drizzle with golden syrup, spread with jam or brushed with lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar.


Flapjacks

225g butter

170g sugar

340g porridge oats

pinch of salt

3 Tbsp golden syrup

100g sultanas or mixed dried fruit

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line a 28cm x 18cm x 3cm or 11in x 7in x 1.2in baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

Gently heat the butter and golden syrup in a large saucepan on the hob until the butter has melted, stir well to mix. Don't let it boil!

Once the butter has melted take the saucepan off the heat and add the oats, sugar, sultanas and pinch of salt. Thorough mix everything until well combined and the oats are completely covered by the butter mixture.

Put the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth evenly into the corners. Bake in the oven for approximatly 15minutes, turn the tin around and bake for another 5 minutes until golden brown.

Once cooked remove the baking tray from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. With a bread and butter knife lightly mark out about 16 pieces before the flapjack completely sets. Cut up into pieces when completely cold.

Fruit Bread

2 tsp mixed spice

3 1/4 cups plain flour

2 tsp instant dried yeast

1/4 cup sugar

375ml (1 1/2 cups) warm water

2 cups of mixed dried fruit

1 Tblsp milk

1 Tblsp each cinnamon and sugar mixed together

Sift mixed spice and 3 cups flour into a bowl. Stir in yeast and sugar. Make a well in the centre. Add water then mix to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Add remaining flour. Knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  I use my stand mixer to knead my bread if I'm not in the mood to knead it by hand.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. I leave my dough in the stand mixer, with the plastic shield on it the dough proves quite happily.  Grease a 6cm-deep, 9cm x 19cm loaf tin.

Using your fist, punch the dough down. Knead until smooth. I just knead a little in my stand mixer.  Turn out on to a lightly floured surface. Gradually knead in the dried fruit.  Again, I just use my stand mixer.  Shape then put in to the prepared loaf tin. Cover with lightly greased cling film and set aside in a warm place for 15 minutes or until the dough rises to the top of the tin.

Meanwhile, your preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Once the dough has risen, brush the top of it with milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 170°C/150°C fan-forced. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and hollow when tapped on top. Stand in tin for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve with butter and jam.

Lunches

The packed lunches this week will be Pizza Swirls or slices of Vegemite Pull Apart Loaf with crudites, yoghurt dip, cherry tomatoes, a satsuma, an apple and a piece of flapjack.  Adults will have leftovers from the previous nights dinner and some fruit or the same packed lunches as the children.  On Thursday adults will have Tuna Salad to use up the leftover tinned tuna that wasn't used in the Tuna Patties recipe. 

Yoghurt Dip with Herbs

100ml natural yoghurt

3 Tblsp mayonnaise

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 Tblsp chopped fresh herbs

Pinch of salt

Put the yoghurt, mayonnaise and lemon juice in a bowl and whisk together well with a fork. Add the garlic and chopped fresh herbs. Mix together well and, if you think it needs it, add a pinch of salt.

Cover the dip with clingfilm and leave in it the fridge for at least 1 hour to allow the flavours to mingle before you serve it.


Versatile Savoury Scone Swirls 

Cheesy Vegemite Pull-apart Loaf - Weekday Lunches

I sometimes make this with tomato paste sprinkled with 1 tsp of mixed herbs instead of Vegemite it's just as tasty. In fact you could probably use chutney and cheddar or pesto and parmesan if you wanted to. My girls love this as a weekend lunch or picnic snack. You could use marmite if you had to, we much prefer Vegemite in our house though.

Store Cupboard Soup - Saturday Lunch

This is a really useful recipe when your cupboards and fridge are nearly bare and money is tight. I can usually find all the ingredients to make it in my pantry or they can be bought really cheaply from the supermarket. It's a filling lunch or dinner that is really easy to prepare and can be on the table within 15 minutes.

½ Tbsp oil

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes

1 tin (425g) beans, drained (e.g. mixed beans, butter beans, haricot beans or chickpeas)

1 large tin (400g) sweetcorn, drained or 2 handfuls frozen mixed vegetables

4 large mushrooms, thinly sliced (optional)

1 pepper, diced (red, orange or yellow)

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and sweat the onions until soft and transparent. Add the diced pepper and mushrooms and cook gently until softened.

Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, drained tin of mixed beans and sweetcorn or a couple of handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables. Cook for another 5 - 10 minutes until everything is well heated through then serve.

I usually serve this with bread rolls or baked potatoes. You could also serve this over thick wholemeal toast, cooked rice, cooked pasta or baked sweet potatoes/potatoes.


Vegetable Frittata - Sunday Lunch

This meal is handy for using up any vegetables that you have left before the start of the new week.  Make sure you precook any root vegetables that you are adding to the frittata.

1 pepper, diced

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

8 eggs

300g frozen mixed vegetables

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ fan 180°C/ gas 6.

Simmer the potatoes in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain and leave to cool slightly before slicing thinly.

Meanwhile, put a 25cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan on the hob over a moderate heat. Saute the onion, pepper and garlic in a little oil for about 5 minutes until the onion and pepper has softened.

Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and the softened onion, pepper and garlic. Carefully fold in the potatoes, pumpkin and frozen mixed vegetables. Pour the frittata mixture back into the frying pan and cook over a low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until it has cooked through and is set.

Shopping List

40 items. £63.05

Packets and Cereals
1x ASDA Smartprice Porridge Oats (1Kg) 75p
1x ASDA Wholemeal Plain Flour (1.5Kg) £1.10
1x ASDA Smartprice Plain White Flour (1.5Kg) 52p
2x ASDA Smartprice Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 52p
1x Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (500g) 61p
1x ASDA Smartprice Golden Syrup (680g) 77p
1x Great Scot Vegetable Broth Mix (500g) 68p
1x ASDA East Bake Yeast (42g) 58p
1x Sunnybisk Wheat Biscuits (48 per pack - 864g) £1.59

Dairy and Eggs
1x Onken Biopot Natural Set Yogurt (500g) £1.10
6x ASDA British Semi Skimmed Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) £1.18 any 2 FOR £2.00
2x ASDA Smartprice Salted Butter (250g) £1.19
1x ASDA Free Range Mixed Weight Eggs (15) £2.00
2x ASDA English Medium Cheddar (400g) £2.00 was £2.48

Frozen
2x ASDA Freshly Frozen Mixed Vegetables (1Kg) £1.00

Tins, Jars and Cooking
1x Napolina Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g) 50p was £1.00
1x ASDA Good for you! Mayonnaise (250ml) 48p
2x ASDA Double Concentrated Tomato Puree (200g) 48p
1x ASDA Mexican Style Bean Mix in Water (400g) 53p
1x The Reel Fish Co Pole & Line Tuna Chunks in Spring Water (3x185g) £4.29

Fruit and Vegetables
1x ASDA Smartprice Mixed Fruit (500g) 64p
2x ASDA Broccoli & Cauliflower Florets (400g) £1.25 2 FOR £2.00
20 ASDA Smartprice Apples by Weight (100g) 10p
20 ASDA Bananas by Weight (100g) 6.8p
15 ASDA Carrots by Weight (100g) 8p
7 ASDA Courgettes by Weight (100g) 16p
1x ASDA Smartprice Mushrooms (750g) £1.35
10 ASDA Onions by Weight (100g) 7.6p
5 ASDA Tomatoes by Weight (100g) 19.9p
10 ASDA Sweet Potatoes by Weight (100g) 11.1p
2x ASDA Whole Cucumber 80p
2x ASDA Round Lettuce 57p
1x ASDA Cherry Tomatoes (400g) £1.00
2x ASDA Baking Potatoes (2.5Kg) £1.00
2x ASDA Garlic Loose 22p
1x ASDA Smartprice Peppers (700g) £1.47
2x ASDA Easy Peel Satsumas (700g) £1.16 any 2 FOR £2.00

Meat and Poultry
2x ASDA Extra Special Pork Sausages (6 per pack - 454g) £2.00 was £2.38
1x ASDA British Beef Mince (500g) £2.00
1x Banham Poultry Chicken Drumsticks (1Kg) £2.98

12 comments Beef, Bread, Breakfast, Budgeting Tips, Chicken, Dinners, Fish, Lunches, Meal Plan, Salad, Snacks, Vegetarian