Our Family Meal Plan Week Of 14/05 - £62

I’m using the rest of the Budget Box meat from Keevil and Keevil this week. The meat is superb quality and has stretched over 2 weeks so is well worth the £30 cost. I could stretch it even further if I wanted to as the meat is so flavoursome and such good quality that you don’t need much to flavour each meal and make it taste delicious. I would highly recommend giving a Budget Box a go, it is superb quality meat for a decent price.  I have included the equivalent meat from the supermarket in the Meal Plan and Shopping List to ensure the costing of the Meal Plan is correct.

Our Meal Plan this week also includes loads of fruit which we really missed last week, along with loads of vegetables – both fresh and frozen. There is even a midweek roast which is a real treat.  I will be out at a really posh event on Thursday so have planned a dinner that I can prepare and put in the fridge ready for my husband to cook when he gets home with our 3 girls.  It is a really busy week work-wise this week for both myself and my husband,  along with loads of other things that need sorting out, so I've gone for tasty but fairly low faff recipes and lunches.

As always I will bake all our own bread, tortillas, rolls, etc throughout the week when I have time. I made a couple of loaves of bread and some tortillas tonight (Sunday) ready for the week ahead. Our Meal Plan doesn’t include drinks or household items. Also, if you want a calorie controlled, perfectly balanced, suitable for specific dietary needs Meal Plan, then see a nutritionist or dietitian.

The cost of our Meal Plan grocery shop this week was £62.50 at Asda on 13/05/12.  I checked out how much the basket would've cost elsewhere using My Supermarket and it would've cost £72.54 at Sainsbury's and £77.32 at Tesco.

Breakfasts

During the week breakfasts will be cereal and milk or toast and spread, both with a piece of fruit. Perhaps some Fruit Bread or English Muffins to toast if I get time to bake some but it’s a full on busy week so I may deprive my family of those to save my sanity. On the weekend we will probably have pancakes one morning and crumpets the other.

Lunches

Packed Lunches this week will use recipes from this post.

We’ll be having the following recipes for our lunches this week: Falafels with Crudités and Dip, Couscous and Chickpea Salad, Calzone and weekend lunches will be Scone Swirls one day and Baked Potatoes with Grated Cheese and Salad the other. All lunches will have a piece of fruit or two and a small baked treat.  Our baked treat this week will be Sponge Traybake which will probably have some mixed dried fruit added to it for extra flavour.

Dinners

Vegetarian Enchiladas - Meatfree Monday

1 tsp olive oil
2 onions, diced
2 carrots, grated
2 celery sticks, grated
2 tsp mild chilli powder
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 x 400g tins mixed beans
6 small tortillas
1 small pot crème fraiche
100g extra-mature cheddar cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Cook the onions, celery and carrots for 7 - 10 minutes until they’re soft. If the vegetables start to stick to the pan, add 1 Tblsp of water.  Sprinkle in the chilli powder and cook for another minute. Pour in the tomatoes and tinned beans.  Bring everything to the boil. Once it's boiling, turn down the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture starts to thicken. Take the pan off the heat and season the mixture to taste.

Heat the grill in your oven to high.  Spread a spoonful of the bean chilli over the base of a large ovenproof dish. Lay each tortilla onto a board, fill with a few tablespoons of bean chilli mixture, fold over the ends and roll up to seal. Repeat for all 6 tortillas.  Put them into the ovenproof dish and then spoon the rest of the bean chilli over the top.  

Mix the creme fraiche and grated cheese together spoon it over the enchiladas.  Grill for a few minutes until the topping is golden and bubbling.  I'll serve mine with peas and corn.

Roast Pork Loin With Roast Vegetables.- Tuesday

Roasted pork loin with roast potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots served with peas and corn.


Bacon and Vegetable (Sort of) Risotto - Wednesday

1 onion, diced
1 pepper, diced (any colour will do)
350g bacon rashers , rind removed and chopped in to chunks
350g risotto rice
1 Litre of hot vegetable stock
1 large handful each of frozen peas and frozen corn

Finely chop the onion and pepper. Heat 2 Tblsp of oil in a pan, add the onions and pepper and sauté them until softened. Add the bacon and fry for 5 minutes, until it starts to get crisp.

Add the rice and stock, bring to the boil, then stir well. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes until the rice is almost tender.

Stir in the peas and corn then season to taste. Cook for a further 5 minute until the peas and corn are cooked then serve.

Vegetarian Shepherdless Pie – Thursday

1 Tblsp oil
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
2 peppers, diced (any colour)
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
200ml red wine
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tsp vegetable bouillon
410g tin green lentils
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
100g cheddar cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a frying pan, then sauté the carrot, celery, onion and pepper until the carrot and celery softens slightly. Add the dried mixed herbs and the wine along with the tomatoes and half a tomato tin of water. Sprinkle over the stock cube, stir everything to mix thoroughly and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the tin of lentils, don’t bother to drain them, then cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the sweet potatoes until they’re tender. Drain them well and mash them, adding butter and seasoning to taste. Put the lentil and vegetable mixture into an ovenproof dish, then spoon the sweet potato mash over the top. Sprinkle on the cheese and then either chill in the fridge to cook later or bake for 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 190C/170C fan/Gas Mark 5. If you are cooking this dinner straight from the fridge, cook for about 40 minutes until it is piping hot all the way through and the cheese is bubbling and golden.

Mince and Lentil One Pot – Friday and Saturday


End of the Week Frittata – Sunday

Frittata using 9 eggs and whatever vegetables we have left from the week, baked in the oven at 200C for 25 - 30 minutes until set.

Shopping List

45 items: £62.50

Packets and Cereals
1x ASDA Smartprice Cornflakes (750g) 46p
1x ASDA Smartprice Crispy Rice Cereal (440g) 70p
1x Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg) 98p
1x Asda Wholefoods Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg) 60p
1x ASDA Wholemeal Bread Flour (1.5Kg) £1.28
1x ASDA Smartprice Plain White Flour (1.5Kg) 52p
1x ASDA Smartprice Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 52p
1x ASDA Arborio Risotto Rice (500g) 99p
1x ASDA Wholefoods Cous Cous (500g) 68p
1x Asda Home Baking Easy Bake Yeast (6 per pack - 42g) 64p

Tins, Jars and Cooking
5x ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes (400g) £1.55
1x ASDA Smartprice Mayonnaise (500ml) 48p
4x ASDA Chick Peas in Water (400g) £2.80
2x ASDA Chosen by You Green Lentils in Water (400g) 94p
2x ASDA Mexican Style Bean Mix in Water (400g) £1.06

Dairy and Eggs
1x ASDA Crème Fraîche (300ml) £1.00
6x ASDA British Semi Skimmed Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) £6.00 any 2 FOR £2.00
1x Stork (500g) £1.00
1x ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g) 55p
1x ASDA Free Range Mixed Weight Eggs (15) £3.09
1x ASDA Chosen by You English Mild Cheddar (400g) £2.00

Fruit and Vegetables
1x ASDA Smartprice Mixed Fruit (500g) 64p
1x ASDA Smartprice Pears 73p
20 ASDA Smartprice Apples by Weight (100g) £2.00
20 ASDA Bananas by Weight (100g) £1.36
20 ASDA Carrots by Weight (100g) £1.56
1x ASDA Smartprice Mushrooms (750g) £1.18
10 ASDA Onions by Weight (100g) 76p
2x ASDA White Potatoes (2.5Kg) £2.00 2 FOR £2.00
10 ASDA Butternut Squash by Weight (100g) 97p
2x ASDA Whole Cucumber £1.00
3x ASDA British Iceberg Lettuce Loose £1.50
2x ASDA Celery £1.00
2x ASDA Garlic Loose 52p
1x ASDA Smartprice Peppers (700g) £1.50
1x ASDA Spring Onions 67p
1x ASDA Sweet Potatoes (1Kg) £1.20
1x ASDA Spinach (350g) £1.00
2x ASDA Mandarins (700g) £2.00 any 2 FOR £2.00

Meat, Fish and Poultry
1x ASDA British Beef Mince (500g) £2.28
1x ASDA Smartprice Smoked Back Bacon (312g) £1.50
3 ASDA Chosen by You Carver Ham by Weight (100g) £2.55
1x ASDA Pork Boneless Loin Joint (1Kg) £5.00

Frozen
1x ASDA Smartprice Sweetcorn (1Kg) £1.00
1x ASDA Smartprice Peas (1Kg) £1.00