Meal Plan Monday #1

I thought I would do a new series about food and meal planning, which really helps us stick to our budget month after month. Am I the only one who loves looking at and reading about what other people buy at the grocery store and what they eat each week? I sometimes even watch grocery hauls on YouTube, which is a bit geeky I realise. But, I then thought about sharing our meal plans each week; we manage to eat well on around £40 a week for everything, so I want to share that with you. It’ll also help me keep track of what we eat week in, week out!

 

I do our grocery shopping on Sunday morning whilst Mr FC has some quality daddy-baby time with our little one, so I can take my time in the supermarket. I actually enjoy food shopping and browsing round the store, though I make sure that I stick to the list that I make before I go. Making a list means that I don’t buy things we don’t need, plus ensures that nothing gets thrown away.

 

So, our meal plan for this week is as follows:

Sunday (yesterday) – out at the in-laws for Sunday dinner.

Monday – summer-in-winter chicken with rice

Tuesday – lasagne with garlic bread

Wednesday – sausages, cheesy mash and beans

Thursday – spaghetti Bolognese

Friday – quiche, potato waffles and beans

Now, this is a typical week for us; we eat meat at most meals, though I am trying to have one night a week at least where we eat vegetarian. One thing that I am working on is to make sure we get more fruit and vegetables into our diet. I find this slightly trickier, but am working on it! Breakfast and lunches are included in the £40 as well; breakfast is normally a banana for Mr FC and cereal or toast for me. Lunches can be a variety of things; sandwiches, soup, salads, vegetables and dip, just depends on the week and the mood we’re in. Now that I’m at home during the day, I can take longer over my lunch so try to have something hot and filling; as the weather is getting cooler I am loving soups at the moment. I need to try and make some more homemade soups, rather than relying on tinned soup. I’m sure that’ll reduce spends even more!

 

Related posts: 

• Healthy Eating On A Budget
• 3 Healthy Breakfast Recipes On A Budget
• 3 Healthy Lunch Recipes On A Budget

 

Part of our planning and budget for food means that some items are used from our stockpile every week. This is so the food we already have in the cupboards is used regularly and rotated so nothing goes to waste, but it’s also a good habit to get in to so that if we cannot get to the shops for whatever reason, I can make meals from what we already have in the cupboards. Out of the meal plan for this week the lasagne, garlic bread, sausages, bolognese sauce, quiche and waffles are all from the freezer, so that has reduced spends as well. The lasagne and bolognese sauce are homemade; I made extra portions at the time and froze them so we’re working our way through the stocks.

 

Related posts:

• How To Start A Stockpile
• How To Organise Your Stockpile

 

As the weather gets colder, I intend to use our slow cooker more and more, as it’s perfect for cheaper cuts of meat and cooking all day on a low heat (I can’t find ours to link to, but this is the one my parents have and it’s great!). I’m always searching for new recipes to try in the slow cooker, so if you have any favourites, please share them in the comments below!

 

So, a new post series all about food! What could be better? 🙂

 

What are you eating this week? Trying anything new? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!