Living On a Budget
If you are trying to live on a restricted budget, it is good to find some great meals that don’t cost a lot. This is the first in an occasional series of meal plans for family evening meals. Each meal serves four people. Every recipe has been tried and tested. I hope by following the meal plans, in whole or in part, you will find you can eat really tasty meals, while still sticking to a budget.
Some of the recipes are for vegetarian meals as meatless meals are often lower cost than those containing meat.
Costs for each meal are approximate as prices vary and will also depend on the quality you buy. The prices are based on good quality ingredients, such as lean mince beef and free range chicken. I buy organic or locally grown vegetables where possible from greengrocers and markets which are usually cheaper than the supermarkets. I also think they taste much better and when you are on a restricted budget it is important that your food tastes as good as it can.
Mix And Match
Obviously you can mix and match the menu to suit your taste, schedule and budget. There a few links in the recipes – such as using some of the leftover stock from the Sausage and Leek Casserole for gravy for the roast chicken. You can use leftover roast chicken in a chicken risotto.
Do use the comments below to express your views and give feedback, particularly as to how useful this meal planner is to you. Going forward I will be doing some packed lunch recipes, price comparisons and frugal shopping tip along with many, many more recipes.
If you have any favourite frugal recipes you would like to share, I would love to hear from you.
*Monday*
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Vegetable Pie
Use up any vegetables from the weekend in this delicious pie – or use butternut squash, roast potato and carrots.
Total Cost £2-£4 – depending on veg you use
*Tuesday*
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Chilli con Carne
Traditional, warming and delicious! Served with rice.
Total Cost £5
*Wednesday*
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Sweetcorn Soufflé Quiche
Impressive and surprisingly filling. Serve with potatoes and a vegetable
Total Cost £3
*Thursday*
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Chickpea and Potato Curry
A long standing family favourite in our house!. Serve with rice
Total Cost £3.50
*Friday*
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Easy Lentil Bake
Really delicious and low cost. Serve with your favourite vegetables
Total Cost £2 + vegetables
*Saturday*
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Sausage and Leek Casserole
Easy, warming and delicious. Save any remaining stock for gravy for tomorrow’s chicken
Total cost £5
*Sunday*
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Roast Chicken
Traditional Sunday lunch
Use the leftovers for Chicken Risotto on Monday
Total cost £8-£10
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Great idea, I’ll be trying some of your recipes. I think planning meals before you shop saves money & waste. Would love to see a post on that. Looking forward to packed lunches post, constant challenge!
Thank you for your suggestion – more meal plans and packed lunch ideas coming soon!
Hi Penny,
This is a good list, but what I would LOVE to see is a list of non-sandwich lunch ideas. I’ve done a lot of reading about bento boxes, but most of them (even the non-decorative ones) take too much time. I have a pasta salad recipe that makes a couple of days’ worth of lunches, but need lots more ideas. I don’t like taking sandwiches for lunch so I sometimes take leftovers but we don’t always have leftovers!
ConnieOI
p.s. Hubby made another batch of mincemeat (to finish off the veg suet) — he loves it. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for suggestion. It is actually something I have been thinking about – especially if people want to take lunches with them to work rather than buying ready made sandwiches or salads. I will be working on this soon!