Monday 30 September 2013

Meal Plan Monday

Meal Planning Monday

I used to link up with Mrs M for her Meal Planning Monday Blog Hop, but it fell by the wayside. I'm so very sorry Mrs M, please accept me back. I recently read City Girl Turned Suburban Mum and her quest to feed her family for £5 per day and was very inspired, not only by the budget but also by the great meals she serves her family.

So with that in mind, I came up with my own version, I have a £50 budget but this includes everything; breakfast, lunches, dinners, snacks and household goods but I wanted to include the many tips that I picked up from City Girl, buying only items that are needed, using leftovers and making good quality meals.

If it were just my daughter and I, this wouldn't be too much of a problem at all. But once we throw my son into the mix, it becomes a different story, this child is the fussiest eater ever, his food has to be dry i.e. no sauce, he doesn't like fresh meat, fresh vegetables or rice and pasta. He could quite happily live on a daily diet of nuggets and chips (just to be sure - I try to vary his diet so he gets plenty of vitamins and minerals) but it's very hard to get him to try new food - he doesn't discount food on the taste, it's purely on how it feels in his mouth.

For this week's meal plan, I'm planning for 9 days including today as this will be the next time I can go food shopping. The meals I have planned are:
  • Chicken Pasta Bake (Damian will have eggy bread and cocktail sausages)
  • Chicken Curry with rice & poppadums (Damian will have chips and HM nuggets)
  • Fantastic Fishcakes with potato wedges & Salad (recipe can be found on citygirlturnedsuburbanmum)
  • Chicken patties with cubed potato & spaghetti hoops
  • Meatballs & pasta/chips
  • Chicken wraps & salad
  • Burger & chips with corn on the cob
  • Tuna Pasta Bake (Damian will have left over meatballs with chips)
  • Spaghetti Bolognese with garlic doughballs (Damian will have chips and HM nuggets)
Breakfast will be either cereal or toast. The kids will have packed lunches and I'll have either something I already have in stock or leftovers for lunch.

Taking into account what I already have in stock, my shopping list is:
  • Whole Chicken
  • Rice
  • Poppadums
  • Fresh Fish
  • Bread
  • Potatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Lettuce
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Spaghetti Hoops
  • Meatballs
  • Tortilla Wraps
  • Burgers
  • Corn on the cob
  • Tuna
  • Cheese
  • Oil
  • Onions
  • Lemons
  • Chives
  • Parsley
  • Chilli Flakes
  • Garlic
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Tinned corn
  • Spring onions
  • Jelly
  • Ham
  • Apples
  • Carrots
  • Butter
  • Mini Marshmallows
  • Rice Krispies
  • Lean Mince
  • Tomato Puree
  • Tinned Tomatoes
  • Beef Stock
According to My Supermarket this will cost me £51.75 from Tesco, which is where I usually shop from. I also have the following vouchers to use:
  • £5 off when you spend £50 or more
  • £1.87 Price Promise voucher
  • 65p off tortilla wraps
That would make my total spend £44.23.

My ultimate goal would be to make sure myself and my children eat a healthy and varied home cooked diet using only fresh ingredients and cooking wholly from scratch, however if I was to suddenly change the way I serve dinner, I know my children will refuse to eat what is put in front of them, so over the next few months I will be bringing in new meals, new techniques and lots of flavour so for them, the changeover will be gradual. I know this way will work better without tears and tantrums.


4 comments:

  1. Good luck with making changes. I have a child with a selective diet too and it can be difficult, I understand completely! Great week planned, enjoy x

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    Replies
    1. He's becoming a lot more open to suggestions and will try new things, but with little success. But I will keep trying and hopefully we'll stumble across something that he really likes x

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  2. Ohh good luck!! Wish I could manage to do my shopping for under £50! I average about £100 a week! I need to sort that out x

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    Replies
    1. I used to spend £100 a week but most of it was snacks and treats, there was a time when I only had £30 a week to spend on food and I just about managed that, but £50 is about right for our needs x

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