Something has triggered my ongoing neck and shoulder issue and it is killing me! I am rubbing on the ibuprofen gel and stuffing painkillers at regular intervals. This week’s shoestring meal plan needs to be straightforward in case it continues. Otherwise it will be egg on toast made by Mr Shoestring or the chippy. This is where I really wish he could cook!

It’s a good job he does lots of other stuff. He never stops. The garden is looking incredibly tidy at the moment and he has been cutting back great swathes of greenery at his mum’s too. He will have biceps like Desperate Dan at this rate!

This week’s shoestring meal plan

Saturday

Chicken or mushroom chasseur with rice. I tend to use Jack Monroe’s recipes for both from A Girl Called Jack: 100 delicious budget recipes. The plan was to give you a link to these on the Cooking on a Bootstrap website, but alas – they don’t appear to be there. This book is so worth buying if you don’t have it already. Darling Daughter no 3 is home this weekend so she will lend a hand.

I am intrigued by this peanut butter and jam crumble from Jack. We have lots of apples so if I have time this weekend I shall adapt it slightly to use these. Sounds delicious! We all love pretty much anything with custard. I will make this the old fashioned way with custard powder so that 1) it’s lactose free and 2) I don’t have any packaging to throw away.

Sunday

Mr S will have a pork fillet and I will use the last slice of the cashew and mushroom roast from last weekend – both from the freezer. I will serve this with roast potatoes and vegetables.

Monday

Sweet potato, chick pea and spinach curry from Jamie Oliver. I have the day off work so will have time to make this, although it looks pretty straightforward. We have leftover chapatis in the freezer, which were lovely, so we can use those up with this.

Tuesday

Cheese and onion burgers with air fried chips and peas. If there are sweet potatoes left from the curry I will use those for the chips rather than ordinary spuds.

Wednesday

Sardine spaghetti. Cheap, healthy and easy.  I tend to use the sardines in tomato sauce for this, rather than in olive oil, as this recipe suggests. If there are salad leaves left we will use these as an accompaniment. If not, I will just make a quick salad of tinned sweetcorn and grated carrot.

Thursday

Pho. We still love this Vietnamese noodle soup dish and it is very quick to make. We replaced the bean sprouts with pak choi last time we made it and it was nicer, so shall do this again. Darling daughter no 1 will be over for dinner and this is her speciality so I will leave her to it.

Friday

End of week omelette, chips and salad. I can never be bothered to mess around on a Friday night!

So, this is my shoestring meal plan for the week. Here’s hoping the neck pain abates and I can get on with things. It is hard to sleep and then even harder to concentrate at the moment. Still, no point moaning. Onward and upwards.

This week I am linking up with Katy Kicker. If you want more ideas on meal planning and saving money, take a look at her blog. For more of my frugal recipe ideas, see here.

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