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.