I've largely recovered from they lurgy that I had last week, however our 3yo has picked up yet another illness from Nursery. He's got 'the cough' and a cold, thankfully he only had a fever for about 24 hours this time.
We're having a Mother Hubbard Week, because March is a 5 week month and we've had some unforeseen expenses. This means we're in super frugal mode spending as little as we can on groceries this week, and using up any leftover store cupboard provisions.
I usually do a stock take before I make up our Meal Plan each week, this week I was extra thorough. We've baking supplies, bread making ingredients, and porridge so that's breakfast and baked treats sorted. We've also got some tins of fruit and beans, various part packs of frozen vegetables, and some part packs of lentils that I've purchased for recipe development but not used up. I've also got a whole free range chicken (yellow sticker bargain £1.20) stashed in the freezer.
I've included all the items that I will be using in the shopping list at full cost because it's much easier for people to follow. Obviously it will be a cheaper week for us than the shopping list total as I already have some items in our freezer and store cupboard.
Meal Plan
Breakfasts will be porridge topped with tinned fruit or toast with spread, and a piece of fruit for afters. I'll make crumpets one morning over the weekend.
Packed lunches will be Wholemeal Savoury Swirls filled with Vegemite and cheese, crudites, herbed yoghurt dip, a small baked treat, and a piece of fruit for the first half of the week. The second half of the week I'll fill the swirls with leftover lentil bolognese as normal.
Weekend lunches will be Rice and Vegetable Bake and Spicy Roast Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup.
Dinners
Root Vegetable and Red Lentil Dhal - served with homemade Naan for Meatfree Monday
Quick Bean Chilli served with rice and mixed vegetables.
Red Lentil Bolognese - double batch 3/4 for dinner and rest to fill Wholemeal Savoury Swirls. Served with pasta and mixed vegetables.
Roast Chicken with all the trimmings
Chicken Fried Rice
4 spring onions, sliced
500g frozen mixed vegetables
4 cups cooked rice (or use microwaveable rice)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 Tblsp salt-reduced soy sauce
Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Spray with oil then fry spring onions for 1-2 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and fry for a couple more minutes until cooked through.
Add rice, chicken and soy sauce to pan and stir to combine. Heat for a few minutes more then serve immediately.
12 Muffin Tin Chicken Tarts - served with mash and mixed vegetables.
Macaroni Cheese with mixed vegetables.
Shopping List
35 items: £51.44
Frozen
3x ASDA Smartprice Mixed
Vegetables (1Kg) £2.46
Tins,
Jars and Cooking
6x ASDA Smartprice Chopped
Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g) £1.74
2x ASDA Smartprice Red Kidney
Beans in Water (400g) 60p
2x ASDA Smartprice Peach Slices
in Light Syrup (411g) 66p
1x ASDA Chick Peas in Water
(400g) 33p
2x ASDA Smartprice Pineapple
Pieces in Light Syrup (565g) £1.28
Dairy and
Eggs
3x ASDA British Whole Milk 6
Pints (3.41L) £4.44
1x ASDA Free Range Medium Eggs
(12) £1.65
1x Willow Block (250g) 80p
2x ASDA Smartprice Low Fat
Natural Yogurt (500g) 90p
1x ASDA Smartprice Mature White
Cheddar (830g) £3.69
Packets
and Cereals
1x ASDA Strong White Bread Flour
(1.5Kg) 69p
1x ASDA Wholemeal Bread Flour
(1.5Kg) 69p
1x ASDA Smartprice Long Grain
Rice (1Kg) 45p
1x ASDA Easy Bake Yeast (6 per
pack - 42g) 59p
1x ASDA Wholewheat Penne (500g) 45p
1x ASDA Dried Red Lentils (500g) 95p
1x ASDA Scottish Porridge Oats
(1Kg) 99p
Fruit and
Vegetables
20 ASDA Grower's Selection
Bananas by Weight (200g) £3.00
19 ASDA Grower's Selection Royal
Gala Apples by Weight (Approx 160g) £4.56
1 ASDA Grower's Selection Leeks
by Weight (315g) 55.1p
1 ASDA Grower's Selection
Butternut Squash by Weight (1.3Kg) 97.3p
3x ASDA Grower's Selection Whole
Cucumber £1.65
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Celery £1.10
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic
(3) 60p
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Spring
Onions 55p
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet
Potatoes (1Kg) £1.20
1x ASDA Grower's Selection
Oranges Extra Juicy (2Kg) £2.00
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Pears
(1.2Kg) £2.00
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Swede 50p
22 ASDA Grower's Selection Loose
Carrot by Weight (135g) £1.70
1x ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions
(1Kg) 59p
1x ASDA Farm Stores White
Potatoes (2.5Kg) £1.25
1x ASDA Farm Stores Mixed Peppers
(3) 99p
Meat,
Fish and Poultry
1 ASDA Butcher's Selection Free
Range Whole Chicken by Weight (1.5Kg) £4.87
I purchased our shopping online from Asda via My Supermarket and the cost of our 35 items was £51.44, had I opted for another supermarket our shopping list would've cost:
£53.77 from Morrisons
£56.62 from Sainsbury's
£57.27 from Lidl
£67.98 from Waitrose
£80.35 from Tesco
My lovely blogging buddy Ciara from My Fussy Eater has created a fab Meal Planning Facebook Group so we can inspire each other. She also has a book coming out in April which you can pre-order here.
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.
That chicken fried rice sounds delicious! Also, a nice frugal week this week - well done you! x
ReplyDeleteYour Mother Hubbard post is so helpful! That is a really frugal week - I was surprised it came to over £50 to be honest. And how much more expensive is Tesco?! Wow!
ReplyDelete