Our Family Meal Plan - Back to School Edition - £61

All 3 of my girls will be going back to school this week, hurrah! It has been fab having them home for 7 weeks but it will be nice for them to get back into the routine of school and for me to be able to get stuff done during the day when the house will be silent.

To make things easier this week, as not all 3 kids go back to school on the same day, they will all be having school dinners.  I will be in London at least one day this week and working a couple of times so we need a low faff week as far as dinners go.

However, I will of still be baking all our bread, bagels, rolls, wraps, etc as needed. I have included the cost of apples and greens in the Shopping List but we have an abundance of both from our back garden so I'll be using those.

The cost of our Meal Plan for this week was £61.31 from Asda online shopping delivered on 01/09/2012. I used Money Supermarket to check how much it would've cost elsewhere and the cost from Sainsbury's would've been £69.78 and from Tesco would've been £70.17.

Dinners

Roast Chicken with Roast Vegetables

I will cook extra roast vegetables to use in the Mini Chicken Lattice Pies later in the week.

Goulash

Any leftover Goulash will be made into calzone so that hubby and I can eat them for lunch.

2 Tblsp oil
1kg stewing/casserole steak
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tblsp paprika
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 peppers, diced (any colour will do)
1 tsp dried thyme or 1 Tblsp fresh thyme
Bay leaf
1 litre beef stock
cornflour, to thicken gravy

Heat the oil in large saucepan and brown the meat in and onion.  Add the paprika and stir to coat the meat with it, taking care not to burn the paprika.  Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, pepper, herbs and stock.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 1.5hrs.  Once the meat is tender, thicken the gravy with a little cornflour mixed with water and stirred through the stew.  I usually serve this with mash and steamed greens.

Mini Chicken Lattice Pies

1 large leek, finely sliced
handful of mushrooms, sliced
25g butter
2 Tblsp plain flour
250ml milk
300g leftover roast vegetables cut into cubes
1 Tblsp fresh thyme, or 1tsp dried thyme
300g leftover roast chicken, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
3 sheets/500g puff pastry

Preheat your oven to 200C.  Saute the leeks and mushrooms in the butter until they are soft.  Stir in the flour, cook for a couple of minutes, then gradually stir in the milk to make a thick sauce.  Add the cubed cooked vegetables, thyme and shredded cooked chicken.  Season to taste.  Allow this mixture too cool to room temperature.

Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin.  Use a cutter to cut circles from the pastry big enough to line the holes of a muffin tin.  Grease a muffin tray and line each muffin hole with pastry.  Using the pastry trimmings but strips to make a lattice for the top of each mini pie.  Seal the lattice strips to the pastry cases with a little water.

Brush the tops of the pies with a little beaten egg if you want, then bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden.

Bangers and Mash with Vegetables


Homemade Pizzas

2 cups self-raising flour
2 cups natural yoghurt
2 tsp dried oregano or mixed herbs

Preheat your oven to 200C.

Combine the ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.  Knead for about 5 - 7 minutes either by hand or using a stand mixer on low speed.

Roll out the dough, put on a lined baking tray then top with your toppings of choice and finish with some grated cheese.

Bake until the base is cooked and the cheese is melted and bubbling.


Sausage and Lentil Hotpot

This makes enough for 2 dinners which will save me having to cook on Sunday night.

1 Tblsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 cooked sausages, sliced into chunks
1 garlic clove, crushed
750g root vegetables, peeled and chopped into chunks of the same size
320g green lentils
500g tomato and herb sauce
750g vegetable stock, made with 1 stock cube

Lightly saute the onion and garlic, add all the chopped vegetables and saute for 5 minutes.

Add the green lentils, tomato and herb sauce and stock and sausages to the saucepan.

Cover and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes or until everything is tender and cooked through.  I usually serve this with some spring greens.

Lunches

All 3 girls will be having school dinners for lunch this week.  Hubby and I will have leftovers from dinner for lunch.  On the weekend our lunches will be:

Macaroni Cheese

Twice Baked Potatoes

Breakfasts

We will have boiled eggs and soldiers on the weekend and also pancakes or crumpets.  Weekday breakfasts will either be toast, porridge or cereal and milk with fruit for afters.

Baking and Treats

I'll probably make these at least once throughout the week, even though I am rather busy this week there will be a riot (mostly from hubby) if there's not a baked treat to snack on or a pudding at least once during the week. 

Sponge Pudding

Fruity Flapjack Slice

Shopping List

40 items: £61.31

Packets and Cereals
1x ASDA Smartprice Cornflakes (750g) 46p
1x ASDA Smartprice Porridge Oats (1Kg) 75p
1x Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg) 88p was 98p
1x Asda Wholefoods Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg) 60p
1x ASDA Wholemeal Bread Flour (1.5Kg) £1.28
1x ASDA Smartprice Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 52p
1x ASDA Chosen by You Wholewheat Fusilli (500g) 95p
1x ASDA Chosen by You Ready to Roll Puff Pastry (500g) £1.00
1x Asda Home Baking Easy Bake Yeast (6 per pack - 42g) 64p
1x Great Scot Green Lentils (500g) £1.29

Tins, Jars and Cooking
1x ASDA Pasta Sauce - Tomato and Chunky Vegetable (560g) £1.00
1x ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes (400g) 31p
1x ASDA Double Concentrated Tomato Puree (200g) 48p

Frozen
1x ASDA Smartprice Mixed Vegetables (1Kg) 75p

Dairy and Eggs
2x ASDA British Semi Skimmed Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) £2.00 was £1.18
2x ASDA British Whole Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) £2.00 was £1.18
1x ASDA Free Range Medium Eggs (12) £1.98
1x Stork (500g) £1.09
1x ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g) 55p
2x ASDA Chosen by You English Mature Cheddar (400g) £4.00

Fruit and Vegetables
1x ASDA Smartprice Mixed Fruit (500g) 64p
1x ASDA Spring Greens (500g) 97p
2x ASDA Tenderheart Cabbage £1.00
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
3 ASDA Leeks by Weight (100g) 60p
1x ASDA Smartprice Mushrooms (750g) £1.15
7 ASDA Red Onions by Weight (100g) 63p
5 ASDA Parsnips by Weight (100g) 75p
2x ASDA White Potatoes (2.5Kg) £2.50 2 FOR £2.50
20 ASDA Butternut Squash by Weight (100g) £2.14
10 ASDA Sweet Potatoes by Weight (100g) £1.28
1x ASDA Garlic Loose 27p was 30p
1x ASDA Smartprice Peppers (700g) £1.37
1x ASDA Spinach (350g) £1.50
1x ASDA Great Stuff Soft Citrus (500g) £1.00

Meat, Fish and Poultry
20 ASDA Free Range Whole Chicken by Weight (100g) £7.16
1x ASDA Extra Special Pork Sausages (10 per pack - 756g) £3.90 any 3 FOR £10.00
2x ASDA Butcher's Selection British Beef Stewing Steak (571g) £7.00 any 2 FOR £7.00

Prices and special offers reflect those of the online grocery websites, as detailed on MySupermrket.co.uk and are correct as of 1 September 2012.