It's a proper back to routine week this week, our 11yo is back from her week long residential and we've all the usual after school and evening activities. I'm battling a cold, as is 3yo so I want low fuss meals, with plenty of vegetables to see us through the week.
It's Healthy Eating week at the primary school that our youngest two attend so we've been talking about how we can eat even more vegetables and whole grains. I try and make sure that we have reached our 5 a day by lunchtime each day. We have one or two servings of fruit with breakfast, with a serving of whole grains, then at lunchtime there's 2 - 3 servings of vegetables in the form of crudites and a piece of fresh fruit, along with more whole grains. Dinner also includes 2 - 3 servings of vegetables and quite often some pulses or lentils too.
Our 11yo would like us to eat 4 meatfree meals a week so I'm going to try and aim for that in our meal plans from now on. Some of the rest of the family aren't as keen, but if I make the meals tasty enough I'm sure they'll not be bothered by the lack of meat.
Breakfasts this week will be wheat biscuits with milk and sliced fruit, with pancakes on one weekend day and wholemeal soda bread on the other.
Packed lunches will be Quick Vegetable Tagine with pearl barley instead of couscous topped with a little herbed yoghurt, with a baked treat and piece of fruit for afters. Cook the pearl barley by rinsing thoroughly until the water runs clear. Put into a saucepan with cold water or vegetable stock. I use a ratio of one part pearl barley to three parts water or stock. Bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 30 minutes or so until tender. Drain if necessary, then use or freeze in batches for later use. One cup of pearl barley will yield 2 - 3 cups of cooked pearl barley.
Weekend Lunches will be Twice Baked Potatoes and Homemade Pizzas, both served with salads.
Dinners
500g minced beef, or vegetarian mince
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 peppers, diced
330g dried orzo pasta
500ml pasta sauce, homemade or store bought
600ml vegetable stock
300g frozen peas
300g frozen corn
100g cheddar cheese, grated
Put a large frying pan on to a medium-high heat and cook the mince until it is no longer pink, breaking up clumps as you do so.
Add the diced onion, minced garlic, and diced peppers to the pan then cook for a few minutes until the onion and peppers soften.
Add the orzo, pasta sauce and stock to the pan then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked and all of the stock has been absorbed. Stir through the frozen peas and corn, cook until these have heated through. Stir through the grated cheese then serve.
Roast Chicken with roast vegetables, steamed greens, and Yorkshire puddings
Roast Vegetable Frittata
Add 300g frozen peas and 300g frozen sweetcorn to leftover roasted vegetables in an ovenproof dish. Add enough beaten egg to coat the vegetables and sprinkle over some grated cheese. Bake at 180°C for around 45 minutes or until the egg has totally set. I'll be serving the frittata with wilted greens.
Chicken and Orzo Bake
2 onions, diced
2 peppers, diced (any colour will do)
1 clove garlic, minced
170g dried orzo pasta
500ml chicken stock
300g leftover cooked chicken
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Mix together all of the ingredients in a large baking dish until well combined. My Pyrex baking dish measures 9 x 12 inches (23 x 33cm). Put the casserole dish in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve with steamed greens or mixed vegetables.
Quick Bean Chilli with sweet potato wedges
Saag Aloo served with mango chutney and homemade flatbreads
Shopping List
41 items: £71.15
Packets
and Cereals
3x ASDA Smartprice Wheat Bisks
(24x18g) £2.22
1x ASDA Orzo (500g) 65p
1x ASDA Good and Balanced Pearl
Barley (500g) 55p
1x ASDA Ready Rolled Light Puff
Pastry (375g) £1.00
Tins,
Jars and Cooking
1x ASDA Smartprice Bolognese
Sauce (440g) 42p
1x ASDA Smartprice Red Kidney
Beans in Water (400g) 30p
3x ASDA Chick Peas in Water
(400g) 99p
1x ASDA Mango Chutney (240g) £1.00
6x KTC Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato
Juice (400g) £1.60
2x Merchant Gourmet Ready to Eat
Puy Lentils (250g) £4.00
1x ASDA Vegetable Bouillon Mix
(150g) £1.40
1x ASDA Haricot Beans in Water
(400g) 55p
Frozen
1x ASDA Frozen for Freshness
Mixed Vegetables (1Kg) 85p
1x ASDA Smartprice Peas (1Kg) 76p
1x ASDA Frozen for Freshness
Sweetcorn (1Kg) 85p
Dairy and
Eggs
3x ASDA Semi Skimmed Milk 6 Pints
(3.41L) £4.44
3x ASDA Smartprice Low Fat
Natural Yogurt (500g) £1.35
1x ASDA Free Range Mixed Weight
Eggs (15) £2.00
1x ASDA Mature Cheddar Cheese -
Light (750g) £3.65
Fruit and
Vegetables
3x ASDA Grower's Selection
British Spring Greens (500g) £2.04
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Salad
Tomatoes (750g) £2.30
25 ASDA Grower's Selection
Bananas £3.00
30 ASDA Grower's Selection Royal
Gala Apples £6.00
2x ASDA Grower's Selection
Carrots (1Kg) £1.00
1 ASDA Grower's Selection
Butternut Squash by Weight (1.3Kg) 97p
3x ASDA Grower's Selection Whole
Cucumber £1.50
1x ASDA Grower's Selection
Iceberg Lettuce 50p
2x ASDA Grower's Selection
Courgettes (3) £2.40
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic
(3) 55p
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet
Potatoes (1Kg) £1.00
3x ASDA Grower's Selection
Satsumas (600g) £3.00
4x ASDA Farm Stores Pears (500g) £3.20
1x ASDA Grower's Selection
British Parsnips (500g) 65p
1x ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions
(1Kg) 55p
2x ASDA Farm Stores White
Potatoes (2.5Kg) £2.30
2x ASDA Farm Stores Round Lettuce 80p
1x ASDA Farm Stores White
Mushrooms (300g) 68p
2x ASDA Grower's Selection Washed
Baby Spinach (300g) £1.60
3x ASDA Farm Stores Mixed Peppers
(3) £2.97
Meat,
Fish and Poultry
1x ASDA Butcher's Selection Beef
Mince - 12% Fat (500g) £2.28
1x ASDA Butcher's Selection Whole
Chicken (1.6Kg) £3.28
Prices and special offers reflect those of the online grocery website My Supermarket, and are correct as of 10th June 2018. Prices may vary in different in-store locations.
We purchased our groceries online via Asda on My Supermarket, spending £71.15, had we chosen to shop elsewhere our items would've cost:
£79.17 from Morrisons
£81.40 from Sainsbury's
£84.52 Tesco
£93.20 from Waitrose
£96.42 from Ocado
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, I have a copy and it is fab. You can order a copy for yourself 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.
We haven't had chili for a while - I tend to only think of it in the winter. May have to put that on next weeks meal plan.
ReplyDeleteI'm really happy to see you'll have more meat-free dishes as I'm always looking for inspiration these days!
ReplyDelete