OUR FAMILY MEAL PLAN FOR WEEK OF 09/07/18 - £71

The heatwave is finally showing signs of letting up, but only for a couple of days midweek.  I'm really not enjoying endless days of 28C and over.  This week is the second to last week of school for the year which means there's lots of events and activities to remember, the calendar looks rather full.  

We're doing our best to keep cool and hydrated, resting as much as possible when we can as the heat tends to sap all of our energy.  Cooking will be as minimal as I can get away with this week, it's just been too hot to want to spend much time in our kitchen.  It's been over 30C in there without even turning on the oven.

I'll be baking our burger buns, and making the wraps for lunches despite the heat.  We've got an abundance of lettuces, fresh herbs, and assorted greens ready to be harvested from our garden along with loads of strawberries and raspberries so I've not included those in the grocery list.

Breakfasts this week will be cereal with milk and fruit again.  On the weekend we'll probably have pancakes and crumpets.

Packed lunches will be falafel wraps with crudites, a baked treat, and fresh fruit salad.  Weekend lunches will be Weekend lunches will be Homemade Pizzas with coleslaw on Saturday and Traffic Light Rice and Beans on Sunday.

Dinners

Rice and Vegetable Bake with salad greens - Meatfree Monday


 Fish Wraps with Asian Coleslaw

200g vermicelli noodles
1/2 white cabbage, finely shredded
1/3 red cabbage, finely shredded
3 carrots, cut into thin matchsticks (optional)
6 spring onions, finely sliced
large handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and very finely diced
handful of roasted nuts (optional)

Dressing:
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tblsp soy sauce
1 Tblsp sugar
3 - 4 Tblsp lime juice

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until completely combined.  Set aside for the flavours to develop whilst you make the salad.  Put the noodles into a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Leave for 3 - 5 minutes or until tender.  Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water. 

Put the prepared vegetables in a bowl, add the noodles and toss to combine.  Pour over the dressing then gently mix through the salad.  Serve immediately.  We're having ours in wraps with grilled white fish.

Gnocchi and Mixed Vegetable Bake

1kg gnocchi

500g frozen mixed vegetables

2 cloves garlic, minced

handful of fresh mint or parsley, finely chopped

600ml full fat creme fraiche

100g Parmesan or hard cheese, finely grated

Put a large pot of water on to boil.  Add the gnocchi and frozen mixed vegetables then boil for 3 minutes or so until all the gnocchi have floated to the surface.  Drain well then mix through the garlic, herbs, and creme fraiche.  Pour into an oven proof dish, ours is 2.5 litre capacity, and top with the grated cheese.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes then serve with a side salad.

Really Easy Vegan Chilli

Quinoa and Vegetable Curry

Leftover Quinoa Curry Pasties

Burgers and Chips

Shopping List

45 items: £70.89

Packets and Cereals

2x     ASDA Smartprice Wheat Bisks (24x18g)         £1.48

1x     ASDA Wholemeal Bread Flour (1.5Kg)         69p

1x     ASDA Lime Juice (250ml)         39p

1x     ASDA Easy Cook Long Grain Brown Rice (1Kg)         £1.17

1x     ASDA Easy Bake Yeast (6 per pack - 42g)         59p

1x     KTC Vermicelli (200g)         50p

1x     ASDA Quinoa (300g)         £1.29

1x     ASDA Corn Flakes (790g)         £1.34

1x     ASDA Ready to Roll Puff Pastry (500g)         £1.00

Frozen

2x     ASDA Smartprice Mixed Vegetables (1Kg)         £1.64

1x     ASDA White Fish Fillets (540g)         £2.50

1x     Birds Eye Original Beef Burgers with Onion (10 per pack - 567g)         £2.50

Tins, Jars and Cooking

2x     ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g)         58p

1x     Amoy Soy Sauce Reduced Salt (150ml)         £1.00

1x     ASDA Smartprice Mayonnaise (500g)         41p

6x     ASDA Chick Peas in Water (400g)         £1.98

2x     Caribbean Choice Coconut Milk (400ml)         £1.26

1x     ASDA Curry Paste - Balti (200g)         £1.19

1x     ASDA Borlotti Beans in Water (400g)         55p

2x     ASDA Chilli Beans in Chilli Sauce (390g)         £1.30

Dairy and Eggs

2x     ASDA Crème Fraîche (300ml)         £2.36

3x     ASDA Semi Skimmed Milk 6 Pints (3.41L)         £4.44

1x     ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g)         45p

1x     ASDA Free Range Mixed Weight Eggs (15)         £2.00

1x     ASDA Smartprice Hard Cheese Wedge (170g)         £1.60

1x     ASDA Mature Cheddar Cheese - Light (750g)         £3.65

Fruit and Vegetables

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Salad Tomatoes (750g)         £1.15

25     ASDA Grower's Selection Bananas         £3.00

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Seedless Red Grapes (500g)         £1.50

25     ASDA Grower's Selection Royal Gala Apples         £4.56

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

4x     ASDA Grower's Selection Whole Cucumber         £2.00

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Celery         55p

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic Loose         20p

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Courgettes (3)         £1.90

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Spring Onions         £1.10

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Giant Watermelon         £5.00

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Black Seedless Grapes (500g)         £1.50

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Sweetclem (600g)         £2.00

1x     ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions (1Kg)         55p

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

3x     ASDA Farm Stores Mixed Peppers (3)         £2.97

1       ASDA Grower's Selection Red Cabbage          72p

1       ASDA Grower's Selection White Cabbage          78p

Ready Meals

1x     ASDA Italian Gnocchi (500g)         £1.40

We purchased our shopping list from Asda via My Supermarket on 07/07/2018, and our groceries cost £70.89.  Had we shopped elsewhere our groceries would've cost:

£81.57 from Sainsbury's

£81.88 from Morrisons

£85.25 from Tesco

£91.39 from Ocado

£91.77 from Waitrose

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 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.