Having done no food shopping last week, apart from milk and cat food, I am going to continue to save money with a super cheap food plan for the coming week.
For my latest meal plan, I will continue to use food from the stores as much as possible, go for healthy but cheap ingredients and keep it simple and unfussy.
I didn’t publish my meal plan last week, as I was using up a lot of fresh stuff and improvising day by day. This week I will need to hit Lidl or Aldi, so need to be organised. Otherwise there is always the danger that I will go off piste and buy things we don’t need!
This post explains why I love meal planning. It saves time, money and food waste. I also find that it tends to make us eat more healthily and reduce the temptation to order a takeaway when we are tired and uninspired.
I really can’t recommend meal planning enough when you are on a tight budget.
Super cheap food plan
Saturday
Tuna pasta bake, made with one of the sauce mixes I bought with my recent Approved Food* order. I will add some mushrooms and peppers to this, as I have some to use up.
If you haven’t come across Approved Food yet, they sell groceries and household items at a huge discount, after or near their best before dates. You can save lots of money, even with the delivery charge.
We will have frozen peas and sweetcorn to accompany it.
Sunday
Salmon from the freezer. This is the last pack of yellow stickered fish that I picked up a while back in Asda. We will have potatoes, frozen green beans, carrots and potatoes with this.
Monday
As it’s just me for dinner tonight, I will make sure there is some pasta left from Saturday and have that.
I tend to do the food shop on Monday morning, as it’s quieter in the supermarket. It’s almost impossible to socially distance in a busy shop!
I will also hit Home Bargains for the pet food, probably before Aldi as there is often a queue.
Tuesday
Good old sausages and mash, with peas and gravy. Can’t go wrong with this dinner.
Wednesday
I am going to use one of my Simply Cook mixes today with is made with chicken thighs and peanut butter, West African peanut stew. I will use chopped peppers instead of okra, as that is what we have. Boiled rice with this.
You can get a free box by using my referral code here* (this is a time limited offer and may change).
Thursday
A nice easy tea tonight. I will make some of my mum’s easy peasy pea soup, followed by a jacket potato with beans and cheese. Super cheap food for a cold winter’s night.
Friday
Spinach and cheese frittata, another quick and easy meal using up what we have. I will make sweet potato fries in the air fryer as it cooks them so fast with hardly any oil. This*
So, there you have it. My week of super cheap food. What are you eating this week, and are you sticking to a budget?
I am joining in with Katy Kicker’s meal planning linky. Check out her meal plan this week too. You can see more of my favourite food ideas and recipes here.
This post contains affiliate and referral links, marked *. If you click through and make a purchase I will earn a small commission.
Katy Stevens says
You’ve got me wishing I had a tuna pasta bake now!
Hope you’ve had a great week and are keeping well.
Sarah - Mud Cakes and Wine says
Wonderful and tasty food saving money I love your meal plans x
Kim Carberry says
Ohh! I do love a week where there is a low shopping bill.
I haven’t used Approved Food for years, I did used to use it quite a lot but forgot all about it. I’ll have to take a look.
You can’t beat sausages and mash. Such a simple but delicious meal. x
karen reekie says
I need to go check out the Approved foods deal as that sounds really handy and useful for meal planning and money saving. I haven’t had pea soup for ages. A childhood favourite
Ruby says
We had a small amount of chicken and some pork chops in the freezer that were very well-wrapped but were approaching a year in residence, so I pulled them out on Sunday. The chicken pieces were poached until done. I deboned them and chopped the meat, dropped the bones back in the pot and cooked the broth down a bit longer, and gave the little bit of cooked chicken skin to the dogs as a treat. When the broth looked rich enough, I took out the bones and cooked some diced potatoes in it to make delicious mashed potatoes. Made some creamed spinach from a package of chopped spinach that had been in the freezer a while, and peeled and cubed an acorn squash (the vegetable) leftover from Christmas and roasted it. The chicken was dressed with some barbecue sauce and everything portioned out to make five nice lunches for my work week.
The pork chops were dredged in seasoned flour and pan-fried, and served with some of the squash, canned peas and cranberry sauce (also excess purchases from the holidays) and some frozen ready-to-bake buttermilk rolls. The rolls had been frozen too long and did not rise well, but the rest was delicious. Those two meals used up so many items that had been hanging around for a while and were so tasty.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I find that so satisfying! Using up and enjoying what you have in your stores