Meal planning is a great way to budget, as it reduces the chance of impulse purchases and makes the most of the ingredients you have on hand. You can either follow the plan below as it is, or use it as a guide and adapt it to suit your family's food preferences.
Mondays are great for using up leftover meat from the weekend, and Fridays and Saturdays are great days to let the kids join in with the cooking and make fun meals. You will see from our weekly meal planner that cheap dinner recipes do not have to be boring, and cooking on a budget can still taste great.
Monday: Curried Leftovers
Do you find that you always do the same old thing with leftovers? How about stocking a variety of curry pastes to spice up leftover meat and vegetables? With jars of curry paste, there is no need for lots of chopping and grinding of spices. You can simply add a spoon of paste to jazz up your meal.
Everybody should have eggs in the fridge, as they are such a quick and easy ingredient to use. This cheese and mushroom frittata will give you a satisfying mid-week meal without denting your budget too much. If you don’t have mushrooms in, you can use peppers, tomatoes or whatever ingredients you have at hand.
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Tinned tomatoes are one of the handiest ingredients to have in your cupboard, and they are one of the cheapest. Ground beef is great if you want to buy meat on a budget, and it is perfect for making a big pan of spaghetti and meatballs.
We love this classic Italian meatball recipe. If you are anything like us, you will definitely make way too much sauce, which means you can have leftovers for your Thursday lunch.
A good fish pie doesn’t have to include expensive cuts of fish; cheaper fish such as pollock or haddock will do the trick. You can pad out your fish pie with peas and other vegetables, and the heavy layer of mashed potato on top will keep you feeling satisfied. Check out our favorite fantastic fish pie recipe.
Noodles are great for a quick lunch, but are also a great way to pad out your meals, using whatever meat and vegetables you have in. Most noodle varieties cook very quickly and kids love them, even though they are messy! If you are looking for inspiration, here are a few noodle recipes from Jamie Oliver.
Make your Friday a Bonus Night by serving up a starter, like these quick and easy spring rolls.
Canned beans are very cheap, if you are looking to make your shopping trips as frugal as possible, and they are packed full of fiber and all of the good stuff. Kidney beans and cannellini beans are popular varieties that can easily be made into these tasty bean burgers. This is another great dish for getting the kids involved in cooking, as long as they don’t mind getting their hands dirty!
Breast of chicken can be expensive, but there are cheaper cuts, like thighs and legs, that can be made into a delicious casserole. Casseroles, like the easiest chicken, rice and veggie casserole, are very easy to make, and can cook away in the oven while you get on with entertaining the kids.
Rice is a versatile ingredient that can be used to make whole dishes, like paella or risotto. It can also be served with curries and tagines to pad out a meal.
WILD CARD
It is not always fun having to stick to a plan, especially when you get home from work and are just too tired to cook. For days like these, you can use a ‘Weekly Wild Card,’ in which you can make a change to your original plan and cook up whatever takes your fancy.
One dish we recommend in these circumstances is homemade pizza. You can make up your dough in advance and store it in the freezer, ready for when you need it. All that you need to do is defrost the pizza bases and top them with anything that you have in your refrigerator, such as cheese, ham, peppers and mushrooms. Those handy tins of tomatoes will come in handy again! Here is a simple recipe for pizza dough that even the most amateur of bakers can produce.
If you prefer to have a paper copy of your weekly meal plan, take a look at these meal planning templates that you can print out and stick on your fridge, to keep you organized.
We hope you enjoy making these budget meal recipes and would love to hear your feedback in the comments below.
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