Monthly Meal Planner

EllieA_3

ooh blueberry muffins ... anyone got a recipe?? i'd need to buy flour but thats not a biggy because i was planning on buying some anyway so i could make some cakes for lunch boxes.

patchwork_cat

Looks good - assume you have allowed for other staples like milk, tea, coffee, toilet rolls? Have a look at Weezl's thread she fed her family on 50p a day and made lentil pate etc. which maybe would also be good for lunches. Do you like pulses as they can be added in to stretch meat or maybe make a couple of days a week vege. This is good and also this challenge might suit you

Reverbe

How about savoury pancakes? do these with grated cheese, mushrooms and onions fried, a selection of veg stirfried inside.I like Staffordshire oatcakes. Used to bring thse home when I visited my OH in Stoke and have them with a mushroom and onion filling. (Craving them now havent had one for almost 2 years ) but the basic idea and variations should work well with pancakes too.

Personally and this might be controversial but I would try to get out of the habit of cakes and biscuits esp in lunchboxes at least for this month.When I was young we only had these for treats. If the kids want something sweet try fruit - a portion of dried fruits can cost little - there are value ranges for example.

Reverbe

Ellie re the soups you dont really need a recipe unless you want to follow one. I started out with those but now tend to concoct my own - any chopped veg and a stock base and extras like herbs spices rice pasta pulses etc..i mainly do veggy ones so flatmate can have some too but can also use prawns, ham , chicken etc

EllieA_3

I have a caveman for an OH, soup is not a meal nor is anything without meat.

i've got lentils and beans to pad out a few of the meat dishes and loads of veg, but he complains like a big baby about how it makes everything bland and mushy, even though i don't think it does. he's much of a veg person, i think if he was to cook for himself he'd live off burger and chips, and sausage buttys his 5 a day would become 0 a day. if you give him something like beans on toast a meal, he'll ask where dinner is as to him thats just a snack.

I've tried bullying him and telling him tough we can't afford better, but he just raid's the cuboards like half staved wolf devouring everything in sight instead and that ends up costing me more. Kids are just like him as well, all 3 have HUGE appitites and if i don't fill them up at meals they snack like crazy and it's never on cheap things, he'll sit there making sausage butty's which is very annoying if i planned to use them for something later in the month.

silkstrut

Ellie,
I'd pad out some of the meals with beans and pulses. As patchwork cat mentioned
Chinese & Indian supermarkets are fab for pulses, rice, spices, you can buy in bulk.

patchwork_cat

If your family raid the cupboards can you pad out the meals with low cost carbs. etc. Also whilst I am a fan of cooking from scratch IMO you couldn't bake ginger nuts for 30p a pack! Also Sainsbury's basics range is very good. If you include puddings would they feel more satisfied? I am also a fan of milk puddings like Rice Pudding particularly for growing teens needing lots of dairy.

laurasavon

Ellie your husband sounds just like mine - every meal must have meat, soup isn't food and lentils make stew inedable

calleyw

EllieA wrote: »

I've tried bullying him and telling him tough we can't afford better, but he just raid's the cuboards like half staved wolf devouring everything in sight instead and that ends up costing me more. Kids are just like him as well, all 3 have HUGE appitites and if i don't fill them up at meals they snack like crazy and it's never on cheap things, he'll sit there making sausage butty's which is very annoying if i planned to use them for something later in the month.

I am lucky it is just me and hubby and bowl of soup and bap are meal for him.

I know you have said you have bullied him. A better approach is to show him and the children (if they are old enough to understand) what the figures are. Show them that you can't carry on the way you are going.

And that you have to cut back as other wise you are sinking further and further in the mire.

I would also hide anything that they can hoover up such as biscuits etc. Put them somewhere they would never go even if means hiding it your knicker drawer :rotfl:And only keep stocks of pasta, tinned goods etc in the larder and cupboards.

Freeze everything. If the sausages are frozen you husband can't eat them as it means he will have to defrost them. Yes it does means you have to be a bit more organised and get them out to defrost for a meal. But saves your sanity. And make it very clear that once something is gone it does not get replaced until the next shop.

Again with the children if old enough get them to help make treats such as flapjacks so they don't feel they are missing out on things.

It is really hard when everyone else in the household is not on the same wave length as you.

All the best.

Yours

Calley

Trinny

Hi there

I dont meal plan although i know it works for many on here who do

This is what i do

Sunday - some kind of roast or casserole
Monday - use some of left over meat to make stirfry
Tuesday - HM soup night - cheap ones are french onion or leek and potato, or mixed veg
Wednesday - pie out of remnants of roast meat, or curry
Thursday - fish - whatever is whoopsed and stashed in the freezer with Hm chips
Friday - Jacket potato with cheesy beans
Saturday - Vege day - cheese and potato pie, mac and cheese, HM pizzas etc

Its a rough plan - sometimes we can get three meals + out of the roast, othertimes the casserole turns into a pie, and then topping for jacket potato

We also have snack night - eggs on toast, noodles - that kind of thing

I took ages to "convert" OH, He did an inventory of the cupboard and realised we had too much. I also tend to leave him at home when i shop - so that he cant buy too much Cr$p. I bake to keep his sweet tooth covered - but otherwise - its being a little stricter and hiding leftovers is what worked for me.

A good look at the balance sheet in the bank might be the wake up call the OH needs