menu planning


Fabulous Meal Planner Apps for Families perfect for your Phone

Fabulous meal planner apps is a paid collaborative post with collaboration with O2, but all thoughts and experiences are my own One of our top priorities as a family is mealtimes, eating healthily and ensuring we have a balanced diet, but there are times when I find cooking and feeding my family really monotonous. Things took a turn last year when I developed an illness that meant I had to focus on my wellbeing and go on the FODMAP diet. I am not sure how I would have managed without my iPhone 12 and a number of Apps to help me with the menu planning and the grocery list.


Feeding a family of four on £50

Zooarchaeologist (being a mummy) did a great post recently about shaving £200 off her monthly budget and I commented that I had got our weekly food shopping bill down to £50 for the four of us and she asked to see our Menu Plan, so I thought I would post one for you all to see, with prices too.  I do a weekly shop at Aldi and if anything else is needed it tends to be the co-op in the village. Now I do have a good store cupboard and freezer with staples like gravy, frozen stock), herbs, spices, flour etc in. Sunday Lunch – mince (£1.99) and onions with veg from […]


Menu Plan Monday and shortbread recipe

It is half term for me and the minimads this week, so I have lunches to make for all and then MadDad will be on on Friday, so we are going for a day out Monday Lunch – Sandwiches Dinner – Curry and rice Tuesday Lunch – Pancakes Dinner -Spag bol Wednesday Lunch – leftovers Thursday – Jambalaya Friday Picnic and pot luck Saturday Home made chicken burgers and wedges Home made pizza Sunday – I am not sure what meat we will be going with this week, I will see what is on offer at the butchers I also wanted to give you the recipe for the almond shortbread biscuits, […]


Meal Plan Monday and More Frugal Food

Sunday Dinner was Mince, onions, dumplings and lots and lots of vegetables, one of my big tips for being frugal and following your meal plans is to make it as easy as possible, so today food will follow on and utilise yesterdays leftovers and additional amount that we cooked. Monday Lunch – Leftovers Dinner – Spaghetti Bolognese, utilising mince, onions and any left over veg with the tomato sauce we made over the summer Tuesday Lunch – Spaghetti on toast Dinner – Lasagna, bulked out with cottage cheese and vegetables Wednesday Lunch – Leftovers Dinner – Dahl and Naan Breads Thursday Lunch – Sandwiches and soup Dinner – Sausage casserole and […]


Menu Planning and Frugal Food Part Two

The Basics and MummyMads Rules I have a few golden rules that I always abide by and also make sure I have a larder with basic ingredients in. I don’t scrimp on chicken I always buy a good one or a happy one as I call them (free range), as they make better stock and just taste nicer with more meat in my humble opinion.  The same with eggs (our butcher sell local free range ones cheaper than the supermarkets).  I pop in to the local butchers and see what is on offer meat wise too. In the store cupboard and fridge I always have flour, eggs, caster sugar, lentils, beans, […]


Menu Planning and Frugal Food Part One

One thing that has come out of our lack of cash is my ability to feed us all well on less and less cash.  The two things that has enabled this to happen has been our menu planning and our garden. I thought I would give you an example of a weeks menu plan and how I feed us all. I do a main shop on a Thursday and base my weeks menu plan round our Sunday Dinner (chicken, Mince, Beef, or Ham).  This week it will be chicken. Friday Fish, oven chips and mussy peas.  I make sure I buy frozen cod or haddock fillets when they are on offer, […]


Evening Routines and plans for the week ahead

As you must know by now I am an avid follower of Fly and need to make sure that I do my evening routine to ensure that I start the week the correct way. So tonight being Sunday, it feels much more important to start the week on the right foot so to speak, so I have Got all our clothes out for tomorrow (after checking the weather forecast) Menu planned the rest of the week Checked calender for the rest of the week Confirmed any appointments etc with MadDad and got Mum to cover anything DW loaded and on Washing machine loaded and time set Cat fed 15 mins in […]