I have tendonitis in my wrist and forearm which is making life very painful at the moment. Typing, cooking, baking, and washing dishes are all agonising. To top off the week, due to a meagre increase in household income, our tax credits were slashed to almost nothing. A loss of £170 a month, just like that. We're working on a solution, but of course that will take a little while so we are trying to cut costs wherever we can. Not great when we have 3 birthdays in our household within the next 6 weeks. We've planned and budgeted for the expense of the birthday presents but other luxuries will be put on hold until our income has stabilised and been sorted out.
Our Meal Plan this week is a very easy one, because I am in a lot of pain and need to rest my right arm and hand. Not a simple task when I am right handed and bake rather a lot.
Breakfasts will be overnight oats or toast with spread, and a piece of fruit for afters. We'll have pancakes one morning on the weekend as a treat.
Lunches
Cooked pasta and mixed vegetables combined with homemade pasta sauce and topped with grated cheese, with a piece of fruit and a baked treat.
Marmite/Vegemite and Cheese Swirls with vegetable sticks and herbed yoghurt dip, with a piece of fruit and baked treat.
Weekend lunches will be Vegetable and Pearl Barley Soup with homemade bread rolls.
Snacks will be rice pudding and pikelets or scones using store cupboard ingredients.
Dinners
Really Easy Vegan Chilli
1 tsp olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 peppers, diced
2 carrots, grated
2 courgettes, grated
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons paprika
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 x 400g tins chilli beans
200g frozen peas
300g frozen corn
Heat oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3-5 minutes or until browned. Add garlic, peppers, carrot, courgette and spices. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until the spices are fragrant. Add the tinned tomatoes and chilli beans, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the peas and corn then cook for a further 5 minutes until heated through. Serve with flatbreads and/or rice.
Homemade Fish and Chips - my 2nd daughter turns 14yo today so has requested this for her birthday dinner.
Shepherdess Pie
2 x 400g tins lentils, drained
1 onion, finely diced
2 peppers, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tblsp oil
3 Tblsp plain flour
300ml vegetable stock
1 Tblsp Marmite/Vegemite
4 Tblsp tomato paste/puree
1 heaped teaspoon dried mixed herbs
400g frozen mixed vegetables
salt and pepper to taste
For the topping
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Tblsp spread or a knob of butter
80ml milk
Put the prepared sweet potatoes in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender, then drain and mash with milk and butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.
While sweet potatoes are cooking, sauté the onion, peppers, and garlic in the oil. Once they have softened, stir in flour and cook for a minute or two. Add the Marmite/Vegemite to the vegetable stock and stir until dissolved. Gradually add this mixture to the pan, whisking all the time, until a smooth sauce forms.
Stir the tomato paste, dried mixed herbs, drained lentils, and frozen mixed vegetables. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the frozen vegetables have cooked through.
Pour the lentil and vegetable mixture into an ovenproof dish and top with the prepared mashed sweet potato. Bake in an oven preheated to 200C/180C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6 for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and crispy.
Super Speedy Lentil Curry
1 Tblsp oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1kg butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch/2.5cm dice
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 x 400g tins brown lentils, drained
300g frozen peas
Cooked rice, to serve
Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add cumin, turmeric and garlic and cook for a minute or so until the spices are fragrant. Stir in butternut squash and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the drained lentils and frozen peas then cook for a further 5 minutes or until the butternut squash pieces are tender and cooked through. Serve over cooked rice.
300g - 500g cooking bacon
8 large free range eggs
200g frozen peas
Preheat oven to 200C/180C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6. Lightly grease a 24 x 20cm (10 inches x 8 inches) oven-proof dish. Cut the pastry block in half and roll out each half to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use one half of the pastry to line the bottom of the dish.
Layer the dish with half the bacon and break the eggs on top. Season well with freshly ground pepper then sprinkling over the peas and the remaining bacon.
Brush the edges where the pastry will join with milk. Lay the remaining pastry over the top and press well to seal the edges. Brush the pie top with extra milk and cut a few small slits in the pastry to allow steam to escape. Bake tin the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.until golden and cooked through.
Shopping List
45
items: £67.00
Packets and Cereals
1x Mornflake Superfast Oats (2Kg) £2.18
1x Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg) 64p
1x ASDA Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg) 95p
1x ASDA Smartprice Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 45p
1x Jus Rol Puff Pastry Block (500g) £1.25
1x ASDA Chosen by You Arborio Risotto Rice (500g) £1.05
2x ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 80p
1x ASDA Home Baking Easy Bake Yeast (6 per pack - 42g) 65p
2x ASDA Good and Balanced Wholewheat Penne (500g) £1.00
1x ASDA Good and Balanced Pearl Barley (500g) 50p
Frozen
2x ASDA Smartprice Mixed Vegetables (1Kg) £1.54
1x ASDA Smartprice Sweetcorn (1Kg) 99p
1x ASDA Smartprice Peas (1Kg) 76p
1x ASDA Cook from Frozen Pollock Fillets (1Kg) £4.00
Tins, Jars and Cooking
7x ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes £2.03
2x ASDA Chilli Beans in Chilli Sauce (290g) 80p
1x ASDA Smartprice Dried Mixed Herbs (18g) 25p
1x Kraft Vegemite (220g) £1.97
4x ASDA Green Lentils in Water (400g) £2.20
1x ASDA Double Concentrated Tomato Puree (142g) 35p
1x ASDA Stock Cubes - Vegetable (12x10g) 50p
Dairy and Eggs
4x ASDA British Semi Skimmed Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) £3.96
1x ASDA British Whole Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) 99p
1x Stork Original Spread (500g) £1.20
2x ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g) 90p
1x ASDA Free Range Mixed Weight Eggs (15) £2.00
2x ASDA Smartprice Mature White Cheddar (385g) £3.78
Meat, Fish and Poultry
2x ASDA Smartprice Cooking Bacon (500g) £1.14
Fruit and Vegetables
15 ASDA Grower's Selection Bananas by Weight (200g) £2.10
3x ASDA Grower's Selection Carrots (1Kg) £1.50
1x ASDA Grower's Selection White Potatoes (2.5Kg) £1.25
2 ASDA Grower's Selection Butternut Squash £2.16
4x ASDA Grower's Selection Whole Cucumber £2.20
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Celery 55p
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic Loose 54p
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Courgettes (3) £2.56
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Spring Onions 49p
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet Potatoes (1Kg) 95p
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Brown Onions (1Kg) 74p
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Apples (1.2Kg) £4.00
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Sweetclem (600g) £2.00
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Mixed Peppers (700g) £2.18
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Plums (750g) £2.00
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Extra Trimmed Leeks (550g) 95p
Drinks
1x ASDA Italian Roast and Ground Coffee (227g) £2.00
Prices and special offers reflect those of the online grocery website My Supermarket, and are correct as of 18th March 2017. Prices may vary in different in-store locations.
We purchased our shopping online on 18/03/2017 via Asda, had we shopped elsewhere our groceries would've cost:
£73.81 Lidl
£74.08 Tesco
£76.65 Sainsbury's
£77.59 Morrisons
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