OUR FAMILY MEAL PLAN FOR WEEK OF 24/09/18 - £45

We're still in super frugal mode this week leading up to payday. Hopefully things with our tax credits will be sorted out soon so our meal plans can be slightly more adventurous and varied again.  I'm trying to get our groceries as cheaply as I can this week whilst still having tasty, filling and nutritionally sound meals.

Breakfasts will be porridge with foraged blackberries from the freezer, there's leftover plum and apple compote from last week that we can use too.

Lunches will either be egg and mayo/homemade hummus, with grated carrot and sliced cucumber.  There will be a piece of fruit and baked treat for afters.  Weekend lunches will be Twice Baked Potatoes and End of the Week Frittata.

Snacks will be popcorn, scones, and a cup of soup with a homemade bread roll.  I've made two batches of Tomato Soup and Basic Vegetable Soup and frozen them in portions for after school snacks.

Dinners

Slow Cooker Red Lentil Bolognese, with pasta one night and on baked potatoes later in week

Slow Cooker Hoppin' John with rice and steamed greens

Pearl Barley Risotto (two nights)

Slow Cooker Black Eye Bean Chilli with rice and mixed vegetables

2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli powder (use more or less to taste)
200g black eyed beans
1 bay leaf
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tblsp marmite/vegemite
1 Tblsp tomatoe paste
400g tin chopped tomatoes
500ml water

Put all the ingredients in your slow cooker, stir well to combine.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  We serve ours with a dollop of natural yoghurt or soured cream, cooked rice, and mixed vegetables.

Vegetable Stew with Dumplings

Shopping List

33 items: £45.27

Packets and Cereals

2x     ASDA Smartprice Porridge Oats (1Kg)         £1.50

1x     ASDA Wholewheat Spaghetti (500g)         45p

2x     ASDA Wholemeal Bread Flour (1.5Kg)         £1.38

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

1x     ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg)         45p

1x     TRS Black Eye Beans (500g)         £1.19

1x     ASDA Baking Powder (170g)         69p

1x     ASDA Good and Balanced Chickpeas (500g)         £1.15

1x     ASDA Good and Balanced Pearl Barley (500g)         55p

1x     ASDA Dried Red Lentils (500g)         £1.15

Frozen

2x     ASDA Frozen for Freshness Mixed Vegetables (1Kg)         £1.90

Tins, Jars and Cooking

4x     ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g)         £1.16

1x     ASDA Smartprice Mayonnaise (500g)         41p

1x     ASDA Double Concentrated Tomato Puree (200g)         37p

Dairy and Eggs

3x     ASDA British Whole Milk 6 Pints (3.41L)         £4.44

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

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

Meat, Fish and Poultry

2x     ASDA Farm Stores Cooking Bacon (500g)         £1.14

Fruit and Vegetables

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

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Carrots (1Kg)         £1.30

3x     ASDA Grower's Selection Whole Cucumber         £1.65

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Celery         52p

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Trimmed Leeks (500g)         £1.00

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic (3)         50p

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet Potatoes (1Kg)         £1.00

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Apples (1.2Kg)         £3.30

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Pears (1.2Kg)         £3.30

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection British Parsnips (500g)         65p

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Swede         £1.00

1x     ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions (1Kg)         65p

1x     ASDA Farm Stores White Potatoes (2.5Kg)         £1.30

1x     ASDA Farm Stores White Mushrooms (300g)         68p

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Cooking Peppers (700g)         £1.35

We purchased our shopping online from Asda, via My Supermarket and the cost of our groceries was £45.27. Had we shopped elsewhere our shopping list would've cost:

£46.51 from Tesco

£52.55 from Sainsburys

£60.45 from Waitrose

£65.85 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 out which you can order here. 

And Katykicker has a Meal Planning Linky full of fabulous Meal Planning posts with lots of tasty ideas.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

It's now autumn and there's a proper crispness to the air, the leaves are starting to turn, and it's officially time for everything pumpkin spice. I'll share my pumpkin spice mix recipe later this week,  which I add to coffees and hot chocolates, but for now you'll have to make do with this Pumpkin Spice Granola. 

I had some roast butternut squash/pumpkin leftovers and pureed them thinking I would use it in baking, but I was due to make a batch of granola and thought why not add the puree along with some syrup/sugar and oil to make a kind of sweet pumpkin pie flavour granola?

I quick look on Pinterest told me that this idea had definitely been tried before so I took a look at several different methods and recipes before I experimented with a few small batches, and finally came up with our version.

This recipe makes enough for our family of 6 to have it for breakfast for 5 days. If you have 1/3 cup servings then it makes about 27 of them. We usually have the granola with milk or yoghurt. Depending on how much time we have in the morning I sometimes make the granola into parfaits with fresh/tinned fruit or homemade fruit compote and yoghurt. 

Pumpkin Spice Granola

575g/6 cups rolled oats (can use gluten free oats, if necessary)

110g/1 cup whole or roughly chopped almonds 

100g/1 cup mixed seeds 

250ml/1 cup pumpkin puree 

250ml/1 cup oil 

250ml/1 cup golden/maple syrup 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp ground mixed spice 

1 cup dried cranberries or raisins/sultanas 

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark4. Line one or two oven trays with non stick baking paper or foil. Mix the oats and seeds together. Whisk the pumpkin puree, oil, syrup and spices together until completely combined. 

Pour the lovely spiced syrup over the oats, nuts and seeds then stir until evenly coated. Spread the granola mixture in a thin layer over your lined tray/s and bake for 15 minutes in your preheated oven.  

Take the trays out of the oven, give everything a good stir, spread the granoa into a thin layer and bake for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. The granola will crisp up as it cools. Mix through the dried fruit once the granola has cooled completely. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Slow Cooker Hoppin' John

I'm always on the look out for delicious, frugal and easy recipes to feed our family.  I discovered Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina Rice and Peas, in a Facebook group about frugal cooking.  It's traditionally served at New Year, with collared greens.  

There were various methods and quantities given in the Facebook group, each family has their own take on the basic recipe.  I wondered if I could make a slow cooker version that was really low faff and tasty.  After a little experimentation I managed to develop a recipe that is easy, tasty, and very thrifty indeed. 

The dish cost £2.61 to feed 6 generously for dinner, and two for lunch the next day.  That's around 33p per serving.  

Black eyed beans (300g) 72p

Cooking Bacon 57p

2 Onions 12p 

4 cloves Garlic 10p

250g White Rice 23p

3 x Spring Onions 25p

Spring Greens, free from our garden, or 62p

Hoppin' John

300g dried black eyed beans

500g cooking bacon, diced

2 onions, roughly diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

900ml water or weak vegetable stock

3 spring onions, chopped

500g wilted greens

500g cooked rice

Put the beans, onions, garlic and bacon into the slow cooker then pour over the water/stock.  Give everything a stir to combine then set to low heat and cook for 8 hours.  We served ours over rice, garnished with chopped spring onions, and accompanied by wilted greens.

Leftovers reheat well the next day and I'm told they are called Skippin' Jenny when eaten as leftovers.  I've not tried freezing the leftovers, we've been too keen to eat them, so if you do let me know how you get on.

OUR FAMILY MEAL PLAN FOR WEEK OF 17/09/18 - £42

We're facing another couple of Mother Hubbard weeks.  A (hopefully) temporary issue with our tax credits means we have had significantly less money coming in the last couple of weeks, and it could take another couple of weeks to sort it out.  One of the few expenses we can control, that isn't a fixed amount, is our grocery spend and we'll need to really be frugal for at least a fortnight or more.

We'll be using up any provisions in the cupboards and have been foraging again.  We picked 3kg of blackberries 2.5kg of plums and 3kg of apples from our local parkland and common.  About a third of the apples will keep OK in the fruit bowl this week, the other two thirds I've made a couple of crumbles and some compote with the plums to have with yoghurt as a snack or pudding.

Our garden is still providing fresh herbs, lots of chard, and small amounts of salad greens so of course I'll be using those in our meals this week.

Breakfasts will be porridge with foraged blackberries on weekdays, weekend breakfasts will be pancakes and maybe English muffins.

Packed lunches will be Wholemeal Vegemite and Cheese Bread Swirls with crudites and homemade hummus, a piece of fruit and a baked treat for afters.  Weekend lunches will be Twice Baked Potatoes and Basic Vegetable Soup with homemade wholemeal bread rolls.

Dinners

Meatfree Monday Spicy Rice and Chickpeas with Spinach

Roast Chicken (slow cooker) with roast vegetables and steamed greens

Roast Vegetable Frittata

Oven Baked Risotto

Chicken Noodle Bowls

Slow Cooker Butternut and Red Lentil Dhal

Slow Cooker Vegetable Bolognese

Shopping List

28 items: £42.13

Packets and Cereals

1x     Mornflake Superfast Oats (2Kg)         £2.22

1x     ASDA Smartprice Spaghetti (500g)         20p

1x     Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg)         65p

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

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

2x     ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg)         90p

1x     ASDA Egg Noodles Medium (250g)         59p

1x     Cypressa Red Split Lentils (500g)         £1.15

Frozen

2x     ASDA Frozen for Freshness Mixed Vegetables (1Kg)         £1.90

Tins, Jars and Cooking

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

5x     ASDA Chick Peas in Water (400g)         £1.65

Dairy and Eggs

3x     ASDA British Whole Milk 6 Pints (3.41L)         £4.44

4x     ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g)         £1.80

1x     ASDA Best for Baking (250g)         55p

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

1x     Wood Farm Free Range Eggs Medium (12)         £1.60

Meat, Fish and Poultry

1x     ASDA Farm Stores Cooking Bacon (500g)         57p

1x     ASDA Butcher's Selection Whole Chicken (1.6Kg)         £3.28

Fruit and Vegetables

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

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Carrots (1Kg)         £1.30

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         £1.04

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet Potatoes (1Kg)         £1.00

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Pears (1.2Kg)         £3.30

1x     ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions (1Kg)         65p

1x     ASDA Farm Stores White Potatoes (2.5Kg)         £1.25

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Cooking Peppers (700g)         £1.35

We purchased our shopping online from Asda, via My Supermarket and the cost of our groceries was £42.13. Had we shopped elsewhere our shopping list would've cost:

£46.88 from Tesco

£48.29 from Sainsburys

£59.95 from Ocado

£63.90 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 out which you can order here. 

And Katykicker has a Meal Planning Linky full of fabulous Meal Planning posts with lots of tasty ideas.

OUR FAMILY MEAL PLAN FOR WEEK OF 10/09/18 - £60

Everyone is properly back to school and Nursery so it will be the first full week in routine.  I'm sure we'll all be completely knackered by Friday.  Back to our usual schedule means that on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at least one of our children will need an early dinner or one that can be easily reheated later on.  

The weather is cool enough now for the older ones to have a cup of soup, with homemade bread, after school as a snack.  This stops them from being quite so 'hangry' and gives them an extra potion of vegetables which is never a bad thing.  I've made Vegetable and Pearl Barley Soup and Tomato Soup then frozen portions in silicone muffin cases ready to defrost and serve in a mug for each person.

Breakfasts on weekdays will be porridge with homemade compote, a good hearty start to the day which will hopefully keep them going until morning break.  Weekend breakfasts will be pancakes and scrambled eggs on toast.

Packed lunches will be Pull Apart Picnic Bread with crudites/homemade vegetable crisps, a piece of fruit, and a baked treat. 

Weekend lunches will be Versatile and Thrifty Flatbreads and 10 Minute Spicy Bean Burgers.

Dinners

Vegetable Fried Rice (using brown rice)

Sausage and Roast Vegetable Traybake with steamed greens

Spicy Slow Cooker Lentil and Chickpea Soup

1 ½ cups green lentils

1 onion, finely diced

1 inch knob of fresh ginger, finely grated

2 cloves garlic, minced or finely grated

3 carrots, roughly diced

2 peppers, roughly diced

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 litre vegetable stock

1 Tblsp chilli powder, use more or less to your taste

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tblsp fresh lemon juice

400g tin chickpeas, drained

Put all of the ingredients, apart from the chickpeas and lemon juice, into your slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.  Add the lemon juice and chickpeas, stir well and cook for a further 30 minutes until the chickpeas have heated through.  Season to taste then serve in bowls, garnish with fresh herbs if you like, and have some flatbreads on the side.

One Pot Pepper and Chorizo Spaghetti

Lentil and Vegetable Curry

Leftover Curry Pasties

Potato and Vegetable Bake

Shopping List

36 items: £60.19

Packets and Cereals

1x     ASDA Wholewheat Spaghetti (500g)         45p

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

1x     ASDA Good and Balanced Green Lentils (500g)         £1.15

1x     ASDA Good and Balanced Pearl Barley (500g)         55p

2x     ASDA Scottish Porridge Oats (1Kg)         £1.78

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

Frozen

2x     ASDA Frozen for Freshness Mixed Vegetables (1Kg)         £1.90

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

Tins, Jars and Cooking

3x     ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g)         87p

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

1x     ASDA Chick Peas in Water (400g)         33p

1x     ASDA Double Concentrated Tomato Puree (200g)         37p

1x     ASDA Black Beans in Water (400g)         65p

Dairy and Eggs

3x     ASDA British Whole Milk 6 Pints (3.41L)         £4.44

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

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

Fruit and Vegetables

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

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Carrots (1Kg)         £1.30

2       ASDA Grower's Selection Butternut Squash by Weight (1.3Kg)         £1.95

4x     ASDA Grower's Selection Whole Cucumber         £2.20

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Celery         52p

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Courgettes (3)         95p

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Beetroot Bunched (500g)         £1.60

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Sweet Potatoes (1Kg)         £1.00

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

4x     ASDA Farm Stores Pears (500g)         £3.00

2x     ASDA Chosen by Kids Easy Peasy Peelers (500g)         £2.30

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Broccoli (360g)         £1.16

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Swede         50p

1x     ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions (1Kg)         65p

1x     ASDA Farm Stores White Potatoes (2.5Kg)         £1.25

2x     ASDA Farm Stores Seedless Grapes (500g)         £2.50

2x     ASDA Farm Stores Plums (400g)         £1.58

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Cooking Peppers (700g)         £2.70

Meat, Fish and Poultry

1x     ASDA Extra Special Chorizo Casero Sausage (225g)         £1.85

1x     ASDA Extra Special Pork Sausages (10 per pack - 750g)         £4.00

We purchased our shopping online from Asda, via My Supermarket and the cost of our groceries was £60.19. Had we shopped elsewhere our shopping list would've cost:

£65.64 from Tesco

£66.16 from Sainsburys

£73.58 from Ocado

£73.89 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 out which you can order here. 

And Katykicker has a Meal Planning Linky full of fabulous Meal Planning posts with lots of tasty ideas.

Our Family Meal Plan for week of 03/09/2018 - £60

We got through out Mother Hubbard week last week, and I took advantage of the empty fridge and freezer to thoroughly clean both and defrost the freezer.  I also cleaned our oven, because of a spillage, and it's still gleaming.  I loathe cleaning the oven, it's one of my least favourite jobs so a the suggestion of many friends I've purchased an oven liner to put on the bottom of our oven which should make spillage clean up much easier.

We're staying with the frugal theme with the Meal Plan this week as I'm bracing myself for the inevitable school trip letters the first couple of weeks back, and other unforeseen expenses that crop up once school starts.

It's back to routine for us towards the middle of this week, although 3yo doesn't start back at Nursery until next Monday.  The holidays have seemed rather long and all of my children are welcoming the prospect of getting back to routine and starting the new school and college year.

Our apple tree still has enough fruit to keep us going this week, and we've been blackberry picking again too.  We've rhubarb, fresh herbs, chard and rocket from the back garden. The weather is still fairly warn so the garden is still giving us plenty of produce, the apple tree will probably not have fruit left by next week though.

Breakfasts will be overnight oats, granola with yoghurt and fruit, or porridge and weekend breakfasts will be pancakes and bacon butties.

Packed lunches will be Quinoa and Pearl Barley Salad, cooked pearl barley and quinoa mixed with diced celery, peppers, cucumber, grated carrots, and chopped fresh herbs with a garlic yoghurt drizzle.  There'll of course be a piece of fruit and baked treat for afters.  Weekend lunches will be Bean and Rice Burritos and Homemade Pizzas.

Snacks will be popcorn, homemade biscuits, homemade toasted teacakes and English Muffins. 

Dinners

Chana Masala

Mejadra (Middle Eastern Lentils and Rice) with wilted greens, pita breads (homemade), and yoghurt sauce.

Macaroni Cheese

Chilli Con Carne

Salmon and Rice Bake

Spaghetti Bolognese

Bacon and Egg Pie

Shopping List

40 items: £59.91

Packets and Cereals

1x     ASDA Wholewheat Spaghetti (500g)         45p

1x     Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg)         65p

1x     ASDA Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg)         69p

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

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

1x     ASDA Smartprice Sultanas (500g)         £1.00

1x     ASDA Easy Cook Long Grain Brown Rice (1Kg)         £1.09

1x     ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg)         45p

1x     ASDA Wholewheat Penne (500g)         45p

1x     Allinson Easy Bake Yeast (100g)         98p

1x     ASDA Good and Balanced Green Lentils (500g)         £1.15

1x     ASDA Good and Balanced Pearl Barley (500g)         55p

1x     ASDA Quinoa (300g)         £1.19

1x     Tropical Sun Popcorn (500g)         79p

2x     ASDA Scottish Porridge Oats (1Kg)         £1.78

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

Tins, Jars and Cooking

1x     ASDA Wild Pacific Pink Salmon (418g)         £2.19

7x     ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g)         £2.03

2x     ASDA Chick Peas in Water (400g)         66p

1x     ASDA Stock Cubes - Beef (12x10g)         43p

1x     ASDA Black Beans in Water (400g)         65p

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

Frozen

2x     ASDA Frozen for Freshness Mixed Vegetables (1Kg)         £1.90

2x     ASDA Beef Mince (800g)         £5.00

Dairy and Eggs

3x     ASDA British Whole Milk 6 Pints (3.41L)         £4.44

4x     ASDA Smartprice Low Fat Natural Yogurt (500g)         £1.80

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

1x     ASDA Condensed Milk (397g)         £1.05

1x     Wood Farm Free Range Eggs Medium (12)         £1.60

1x     ASDA Best for Baking Cakes Spread (1Kg)         £1.70

Meat, Fish and Poultry

2x     ASDA Farm Stores Cooking Bacon (500g)         £1.14

Fruit and Vegetables

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

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Carrots (1Kg)         £1.30

4x     ASDA Grower's Selection Whole Cucumber         £2.00

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Celery         £1.04

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Garlic Loose         20p

2x     ASDA Grower's Selection Pears (1.2Kg)         £4.40

1x     ASDA Farm Stores Brown Onions (1Kg)         65p

1x     ASDA Farm Stores White Potatoes (2.5Kg)         £1.25

1x     ASDA Grower's Selection Cooking Peppers (700g)         £1.35

Bakery

2x     ASDA Wholemeal Tortilla Wraps (8)         £1.78

We purchased our shopping online from Asda, via My Supermarket and the cost of our groceries was £59.91. Had we shopped elsewhere our shopping list would've cost:

£65.04 from Tesco

£69.75 from Sainsburys

£89.67 from Ocado

£89.88 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 out which you can order here. 

And Katykicker has a Meal Planning Linky full of fabulous Meal Planning posts with lots of tasty ideas.