Happy Monday! Another week where we get to stay safe at home 😉 in all seriousness, although I do believe that it is starting to get a bit stir crazy having the same four walls around. I know I shouldn’t complain but it is not relaxing in the slightest. I am hopeful that we might get to see some positive news in terms of flattening the curve, but who really knows. I can’t imagine just popping to the shops or going out for the day; how strange is that? I do think it will be some time before things seem to be back to normal. I hope you’re all staying safe at home!
Monday means another meal plan post 
 which just goes through what we are eating this week so keep our food spends under budget. I have definitely honed my skills in this area for a long time now – and have even written a course about it here – so we have very little food waste and our meal plans are cheap and tasty  I spent just under £60 this week for a family of four. I am not doing the food shop at the moment; my husband is as I’m staying at home. He tends to buy more than me, plus there are more branded things in there at the moment just because we can’t get the own brand alternatives.
One of the only things I am missing on my No Spend Year so far is my takeaway coffee. I have been making it at home – I love having oat milk in my coffee – but it’s not quite the same. Having said that, the longer it goes without it, the easier it becomes. I might not say this when I get to month six, but so far, so good. Although, there have been bigger things to worry about this week so maybe it’s not a problem in the grand scheme of things.
This week’s meal plan looks like this:
Monday – spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday – chicken burgers, chips and beans
Wednesday – spaghetti puttanesca
Thursday – creamy garlic chicken and pasta
Friday – pizza + salad
Saturday – lasagne and salad
I do our food shop on a Sunday so I haven’t thought about what we will eat on Sunday.  But I’m looking forward to the meals this week. Both boys will eat the same as us all week as well which helps. I love it when we can all eat the same meals together  plus it makes it a lot easier as I only have to think about one meal rather than different things. We do tend to eat similar things week in week out. Do you do that? Guess I’m a creature of habit! If you have any favourite budget recipes you can suggest, I’d be grateful!
Being at home means we are definitely eating more; we’re all home at lunchtime for a start so that’s more. Plus both boys seem to be asking for snacks almost constantly! So I need to ration the snacks 
I have upped our grocery budget to take into account the fact that we’re eating ore and buying more branded stuff in the short term. Breakfasts are straightforward as we tend to eat the same, but lunches might need to be more varied. We shall see. It depends on what I can get in the shops, to be honest. I can see lots of baking in the future – our favourite being lemon drizzle cake.
Related posts:Â
- Healthy Eating On A Budget
- 3 Healthy Breakfast Recipes On A Budget
- 3 Healthy Lunch Recipes On A Budget
Part of our planning and budget for food means that some items are used from our stockpile every week. This is so the food we already have in the cupboards is used regularly and rotated so nothing goes to waste, but it’s also a good habit to get in to so that if we cannot get to the shops for whatever reason, I can make meals from what we already have in the cupboards. I’m using quite a few things from the freezer this week, which also keeps costs down. Plus pizza night is always a cheap one – I just get a big frozen one from the supermarket and it does all four of us. The lasagne will be made from a batch of bolognese sauce I made a couple of weeks ago 🙂
Related posts:
What are you eating this week? Trying anything new? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!Â
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Four pasta meals in a week and virtually no fresh vegetables .. let us know how you get on with scurvy 😂
BTW it’s really easy to make your own oat milk, and as a bonus it’s far cheaper than the pre-made ones!
Haha, we get plenty of fruit and veg a day, don’t you worry 🙂
I actually managed to get the BBQ out this week! Was rather lovely to made at least some use out of the sun that we (had) been having. Of course being the weekend, its back to rain now. Gas BBQ’s are just so convenient, I must do it more this summer- especially once all this is over (assuming there is any of the summer left…..)