Menu Planning Tips (merged)

funkymonkey

just bumping it up as this is an excellent thread for us students! its like having a thousand grandma's telling me how to cook! (no offence lol) just to give you a cheap student meal -

pasta
onion
tin of tomatoes
one of those large horse shoe shaped sausages in the chilled section of supermarket.

chop up sausage and add to saucepan with chopped onions. add tin of tomatoes and pasta.

and thats it. takes about 15 minutes.

total cost of meal is around 1.75 and it went down a treat with my three housemates.

sheng719

I didn't know that this tread exists...(just shows how often and how extensive I go in this website...) Anyway, its nice to know that there are loads of suggestions with egards to menu planning with money saving...I am one of those housewives that sometimes run out of easy, fast and in the budget meal plans in the middle of the week.So, I guess this would be one of my favorites now...

ladyofthehouse_2

Hi,

Only joined 2 days ago....not sure if I'm doing this right ! Can you email me your 4 week rota ?

many thanks

Penny-Wise wrote:

I do a ‘big’ shop once a month (about £100) and top up shops each week for milk, bread, eggs, veg, etc (£10) in total this works out at about £35 a week.

I have my meals on a 4-weeks rota, so eat and buy the same things once a month, I do change the meals for the seasons so less stews and more salads in summer, etc.

My busiest days are Tuesday and Wednesday as I work full time and have to come in, make tea, get ready to go out again in about an hour so Wednesday is left-over day where I cook any meals that I have stashed in the freezer and Tuesday is ‘tomato pasta’ day as I can have this ready in less than 15 minutes:

Tomato Pasta (this is my mum’s recipe)

Serves 2

1 tin tomatoes
glug olive oil
basil
pasta

Put tomatoes and olive oil in a microwave proof bowl with a lid (I use a glass casserole dish as plastic bowls can get discoloured from the tomato & oil) and cook on full power for 10 minutes.

Boil the pasta

When the 10mins is up turn the pasta off and drain. Blend the tomatoes with a hand blender and add the basil and the pasta and then serve.

You can put cheese on top if you want to

During the 10 minutes the pasta & tomatoes are cooking you could cook some veg in a little olive oil – mushrooms, courgette, peppers, aubergine, etc and then mix them in before you serve it.

If you want to know my full 4 week menu list I will post it.

thriftlady_2

I found a good menu plan in an old cookbook I picked up in Oxfam called How to Survive in the Kitchen,by Katharine Whitehorn.

Here it is-some of it may sound a bit expensive,but I reckon it can be adapted by clever old stylers.

Sun- Swank - ie a piece of meat like a roast or steak

Mon- Joe's Caff - ie sausages and chips,egg and chips,beans on toast etc

Tue-Leftover day

Wed-Something cold -with soup in winter,eg corned beef and coleslaw,ham salad that sort of thing.

Thur-Gunge - ie something mixed up in a pot like macaroni cheese or a vegetable curry or an egg dish

Fri-Something different - here she suggests a takeaway,but failing that something exotic like HM pizza,chinese food,curry

Sat-Family favourite - good old cottage pie,spag bol, chicken casserole or whatever your family likes.

The book was published in 1979 so it's a bit old-fashioned,but I thought it was quite a good framework for meal-planning

julybride

Someone earlier mentioned that meal plans can become a bit routine i.e. get to know that you've got sausages every tuesday. So a little tip my mum gave me when i told her about all the meal planning i was doing.

If you are on a short routine (7/14 days) increase your plan by 1 day! that way you stop getting the same food on the same day! Little tip but may help someone

EMPTY_PURSE_5

Can someone offer a recipe for curry, for leftover Sunday Roasts, chicken, lamb, Beef ect. Something cheap and cheerful.

Mum used to make the best curry but unfortunately I did not pay attention in the kitchen and she no longer with us. we couldn't wait for a sunday roast just to get the curry on a monday.

squeaky

Hiya

If you look in the Cooking section of the MEGA Index sticky you'll find all sorts of ideas in threads listed under "leftovers".

HTH

jenk_3

This is a fantastic thread please keep the ideas coming Im hopeless in the kitchen but with all this help Im sure I will soon be a domestic godess LOL

xlt_hunter

EMPTY_PURSE wrote:

Can someone offer a recipe for curry, for leftover Sunday Roasts, chicken, lamb, Beef ect. Something cheap and cheerful.

Mum used to make the best curry but unfortunately I did not pay attention in the kitchen and she no longer with us. we couldn't wait for a sunday roast just to get the curry on a monday.

Here you go - mine one

Chop and fry an onion with bit of oil/butter in pan for 3-4 min
Add meat from leftovers - continue to fry for 2 min (as meat is already cooked.)
Add spices/curry powder - add to suit (trial and error)
Add 1 tin of Chopped toms
Add some warm water to give it a bit more liquid - bring to the boil and simmer for 30 min on low heat.
To thicken the curry up at the end add cornflour or normal plain flour (not too much) - cook for few more min than enjoy with chips or rice

Lara

What a superb thread! Given it to my son to pass on to his friends, all students, as they seem to eat the same things. This should give them some ideas.