OUR FAMILY MEAL PLAN FOR WEEK OF 04/02/18 - £70

I almost fell of the Meal Plan blogging wagon this week.  Our 3yo is poorly again, for the third time in 5 weeks, such is the joy of starting morning Nursery.  I know that he'll build his immunity and get sick less often as the year goes on but it's heartbreaking to see him poorly, not to mention knackering for all of us.  

There's been rather a lot of coffee consumed this weekend.
Cafe style coffee at home to save pennies.

This week is the last week before the half term holiday, thank goodness! We've got our usual busyness, and a couple of play dates this week so I'm feeding more mouths than usual.  I've planned Homemade Pizzas for one play date dinner, easy to adapt to different tastes, and very thrifty. They can make their own pizzas which provides entertainment as well as dinner. 

The other play date night we'll be having Toad in the Hole with mash and mixed vegetables, a favourite in our guests house for dinner so they'll be happy with having it here too.  

Meal Plan 

Breakfasts will be porridge or overnight oats with homemade fruit compote.  I'll probably make pancakes or waffles one day over the weekend. 

Packed lunches will be homemade vegetable sushi for some of the week, then pasta salad the rest of the week. Pasta Salad is cooked wholewheat pasta with mixed vegetables, tossed in a creamy yoghurt and herb dressing.  Both options will be accompanied by a piece or two of fruit and a small baked treat.

I'll be making a double batch of Vegetable and Pearl Barley Soup for weekend lunches.

 

Easy Bean Burritos with sweet potato wedges

8 tortillas/flat breads
3 tins chilli beans
5 fresh tomatoes, sliced
diced cucumber
lettuce leaves
small pot of soured cream
2 cups grated strong cheddar cheese

Heat chilli beans in a pot whilst tortillas are warming in the oven. Put chilli beans onto tortillas and top with tomato, cucumber, lettuce, a little sour cream and a sprinkling of cheese. Fold up and serve with sweet potato wedges.
Homemade Pizzas

Toad in the Hole with mash and vegetables

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

1 kg casserole beef
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 peppers, diced
2 Tblsp plain flour
2 Tblsp tomato paste
250ml beef stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 Tblsp dried oregano
400g can cannellini beans, well drained

Cut beef into 2.5cm-3cm pieces and season the beef with salt and pepper. Brown the meat in a frying pan over a high heat and transfer to a slow cooker.

Scatter in the onion, garlic and capsicums. Stir the flour, tomato paste and beef stock together to make a smooth paste and pour over the beef. Add the tomatoes, scatter in the oregano and cover.

Slow Cooker: Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-5 hours. Add the cannellini beans, stir to mix and allow to heat through before serving.

Oven Cook: Prepare the casserole as above, adding an extra 250ml of beef stock. Cook in a lidded ovenproof dish at 180ºC for 120 minutes.

Hob Cooking: Put the browned beef and other ingredients into a heavy-based pot. Partially cover, and keeping the heat low, simmer until the meat is very tender. Stir occasionally, adding water if needed during the cooking time to keep ingredients just covered. In the last 30 minutes of cooking time, add the tomatoes and cannellini beans.

Beef Stew Pasties - leftover Beef Stew made into pasties and served with mash and vegetables.

Bean and Sweet Potato Chilli with Cheesy Garlic Toasts

a few sprays of cooking oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, finely diced
2 peppers, deseeded and diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp smokey paprika
1/2 - 1 tsp chilli powder, to taste
1 Tblsp dried oregano
500g carton tomato passata
500ml vegetable stock
2 Tblsp tomato paste
2 x 400g tins kidney beans, drained and rinsed
500g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut to 1.5cm dice

Put a large pot over a moderate heat, spray in a little oil then add the onion, carrot, pepper, and celery.  Cook for a few minutes or until starting to soften.  Add the garlic, herbs and spices, cooking for a couple of minutes until the spices are fragrant.  Pour in the passata, tomato paste and stock then stir to combine.  Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the beans and sweet potatoes to the pot, bring to a boil and simmer uncovered until the sweet potatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened.  Cut bread rolls in half, or slice a baguette, and spread with garlic butter then sprinkle over grated cheese.  Put under the grill until the cheese has melted and is bubbling, and the rolls are lightly toasted.

Vegetable Pie

Shopping List

41 items: £69.54

Frozen

3x   ASDA Smartprice Mixed Vegetables (1Kg)                           £2.46

1x   ASDA Frozen for Freshness Berry Medley (1Kg)                   £2.75

2x   ASDA Beef Diced (450g)                                                      £5.00

Tins, Jars and Cooking

1x   ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes (400g)                        29p

1x   ASDA Cannellini Beans in Water (300g)                                35p

3x   ASDA Chilli Beans in Chilli Sauce (290g)                              £1.20

2x   ASDA Smartprice Red Kidney Beans in Water (400g)            60p

1x   ASDA Smartprice Sweetcorn in Water (326g)                       35p

1x   Yutaka Japanese Rice Vinegar (150ml)                                £1.89

1x   ASDA Passata (500g)                                                          35p

2x   Petti Double Concentrated Tomato Paste (200g)                   £1.40

Dairy and Eggs

1x   ASDA Soured Cream (300ml)                                               £1.15

5x   ASDA British Whole Milk 4 Pints (2.27L)                               £5.45

2x   ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g)                  90p

1x   ASDA Smartprice Mature White Cheddar (830g)                   £3.69

1x   ASDA Free Range Medium British Eggs (6)                          89p

Packets and Cereals

1x   ASDA Smartprice Plain White Flour (1.5Kg)                          45p

1x   ASDA Smartprice Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg)                         45p

1x   Jus Rol Shortcrust Pastry Block (500g)                                £1.25

1x   Yutaka Sushi Rice (500g)                                                     £1.99

1x   ASDA Wholewheat Penne (500g)                                          55p

1x   ASDA Good andBalanced Pearl Barley (500g)                       50p

2x   ASDA Scottish Porridge Oats (1Kg)                                     £1.98

1x   Yutaka Sushi Nori (11g)                                                       £1.70

Fruit and Vegetables

30   ASDA Grower's Selection Bananas by Weight (200g)            £3.00

2x   ASDA Grower's Selection Carrots (1Kg)                               £1.00

1     ASDA Grower's Selection Butternut Squash (1.2Kg)              90p

1x   ASDA Grower's Selection Whole Cucumber                          55p

1x   ASDA Grower's Selection Celery                                          55p

1x   ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic (3)                                      60p

3x   ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet Potatoes (1Kg)                   £3.00

2x   ASDA Grower's Selection Apples (1.2Kg)                             £3.00

3x   ASDA Farm Stores Pears (500g)                                          £2.10

2x   ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions (1Kg)                               £1.18

1x   ASDA Farm Stores White Potatoes (2.5Kg)                          £1.15

4x   ASDA Farm Stores Plums (400g)                                         £2.00

1x   ASDA Farm Stores Round Lettuce                                        40p

1x   ASDA Farm Stores Salad Tomatoes (6)                                69p

1x   ASDA Farm Stores Mixed Peppers (3)                                  99p

1x   ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet Peppers (3)                        £1.29

2x   ASDA Grower's Selection Sweetclems (1.2Kg)                     £3.80

Meat, Fish and Poultry

2x   ASDA Extra Special Cumberland Sausages (400g)               £4.00

1x   ASDA Danish Pepperoni (150g)                                            £1.00

Bakery

1x   ASDA Mexican Style Wholemeal Tortillas (8)                        75p

Prices and special offers reflect those of the online grocery website My Supermarket, and are correct as of 4th February 2018.  Prices may vary in different in-store locations.

We purchased our shopping online with Asda, had we purchased our groceries elsewhere they would've cost:

£74.47 from Morrisons

£80.60 from Tesco

£81.21 from Sainsbury's 

My lovely blogging buddy Ciara from My Fussy Eater has created a fab Meal Planning Facebook Group so we can inspire each other.

And Katykicker, and Naomi from The Organised Life Project have a Meal Planning Linky full of fabulous Meal Planning posts with lots of tasty ideas.