Meals for the month - rejuvenation needed!

MrsSippi

We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 6 yo and 2 yo) and our monthly shopping budget is £260 which covers all food, toiletries - EVERYTHING basically. Up until recently that has been fine though I've noticed recently it's not been stretching as far as it used to and I am considering upping it to £300. (I do think that a lot of prices of things are increasing, but I suppose I may just be me!- equally it may just be that my lack of motivation recently is the cause of this!) My 6 yo seems to be having yet another growth spurt and is always hungry and now it's school hols I am having to include cost of food for her for lunches/snacks etc (she is entitled to free school meals so this cost doesn't apply when she is at school). DH takes packed lunches for work.

I do a big shop at Aldi or Lidl for everything except toiletries, which I get from the big green supermarket usually. Then I top up weekly at Lidl for fresh bits (and £260 covers this too).

Anyway, much as I prefer shopping monthly as opposed to weekly (I find it saves time and money) I've also found that every month we are eating the same meals (rubber chicken, baked pots, minced beef stretched over a few meals etc etc) - all very MSE I know but flippin' boring after a while!

Every single month we have the same things so I would love some ideas of cheap meals that are easy to prepare/ cook (I unfortunately don't have a working oven at the mo which doesn't help but I do have a Remoska, slow cooker and halogen oven) or any other help/advice/suggestions.

Please help - I am starting to dread meal planning every month.

SunnyGirl

Without knowing what you already have on your menu plan I'd say:
Mince Meals - spag bol, chilli, shepherd pie, savoury mince, keema, lasagne.

Pasta Meals - pasta bake, spaghetti with hm tomato sauce and cheese, macaroni cheese (I never use macaroni just pasta twists or whatever), pasta salad.

Rice and or Chicken Meals - curry, sweet and sour, egg fried rice, stir fry, rice salad, rice served with a ratatouille type sauce with poached eggs served in the middle, savoury rice stuffed into peppers or big tomatoes and baked in the oven.

Veg Meals - soup, bread and pudding night, vegetable bakes with pasta or potatoes, stuffed baked potatoes and beans, cheese beanos (toast one side of bread, put beans on the I toasted side and sprinkle cheese on top then grill - a Blue Peter recipe from about 35 years ago), omelettes, frittata, things on toast.

I used to feed 3 children and a husband on £60 a week for everything inc pet food 6 years ago so understand where you're coming from. HTH x

ETA I still menu plan, shop and sometimes cook monthly even though I'm only cooking for myself these days. It's a habit that works for me and I'm used to it

euronorris

Meatballs and pasta with a tomato sauce (or any sauce you choose). Can be done with beef, turkey, pork or lamb mince.

suki1964

Hmm knowing what you already cook will help with advice

I shake it up by cooking things differently. So bolognase one week, keema curry another , shepherd pie another. Sausage and mash one week, toad in the hole another, sausage casserole another. Quiche one week, cheese and onion pie another etc etc etc

Chris25

frittatas/spanish omelettes are cheap to make - good hot or cold, handy to slice up for a lunchbox.

Things like sausage plait are great to help kids getting involved too.

Do you check https://www.mysupermarket.co.uk and compare prices? I needed some melons recently and discovered they were much cheaper in tesco, Sainsbury & waitrose in comparison to Lidl!