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You are here: Home / Archives for meal planning

Love Your Eggs

February 4, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 4 Comments

I didn’t used to like eggs much, I only really ever ate them in cakes and it was only when I was pregnant that I missed having them.. I know you can still eat them but having to cook them into submission didn’t really appeal.
In the last few months I have developed a real addiction to poached eggs and recently I have started trying eggs in new recipes..not just cakes!

One of my favourites is Frittata I was going to share this recipe soon as part of one of my eating on a budget blog posts but here it is sooner than planned.
The best thing about this dish is you can throw anything in, leftover boiled potatoes, peppers, meats,spinach, onions.. I could go on. Let me know if you have any special combos that you use.

This is what I used in my last frittata recipe so adapt however you like:

You will need:

1 large cazuela or pan you can use in hob or in oven
Olive oil
Chopped boiled potatoes
Chopped ham
Chopped peppers
Chopped onions
Chopped spinach
6-8 eggs beaten (dependant on size of pan)
3 or 4 tablespoons of cheese. I use pilgrims choice. Yum.

Preheat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.
Warm a little olive oil in a pan and add all ingredients apart from the eggs and cheese, sauté for 5 minutes then add your beaten eggs and cook until the mixture has set on bottom and is starting to set on top,sprinkle with your cheese and some cracked black pepper & herbs of choice and put in oven for 10-15 minutes until completely set.

When this has cooled slightly you can cut like you would a pizza or quiche and serve with a nice big salad for a healthy, budget friendly lunch. This is also great chilled and taken on picnics.

Another eggcelent (sorry I had to put it in somewhere) recipe I have recently made is spaghetti carbonara.

You will need:

1 large saucepan and 1 frying pan or cazuela
Olive oil
250g bacon, diced or roughly chopped ( I used lardons)
300mL single cream
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese ( I have substituted other cheeses and its just as good)
3 egg yolks
Salt and pepper, to taste
350g spaghetti or tagliatelle ( I used Lidl egg spaghetti last time and it was tremendous)
Seasoning

Start to cook your pasta by the packet instructions whilst frying your bacon in a little olive oil until golden, add your cream and cheese and remove from heat to stir through. Return to heat for 2 mins before adding your egg yolks and again removing from heat to stir through.
Remove from heat, drain pasta and combine. Serve immediately with fresh grated Parmesan and black pepper.

Its so good.. This serves 2 with leftovers.

After the carbonara recipe I had 3 egg whites leftover which I didn’t want to waste so I made a quick Baileys chocolate mousse which I’d never made before but it worked really well. I adapted this from a weight watchers recipe and simple to make but very tasty.

You will need:

1 microwaveable bowl and 1 mixing bowl
Electric whisk
100g of good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
3 egg whites
2 tsp of Baileys

Break your chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave I do in 30 second bursts to make sure it doesn’t burn. Leave your chocolate to cool slightly and whisk your eggs until stiff ( the peaks should stay up when you pull the whisk out). Put a tablespoon of the egg whites into the chocolate to loosen and mix well. Gradually mix the rest of the whites in, not too fast as you lose too much air. Once it’s all mixed in add your baileys, mix once more and spoon into 4 ramekins or glasses. Refrigerate until set, mine took an hour or so to set but I left them there until the following day.

These taste so scrumptiously naughty it’s hard to believe its a low fat recipe. One is more than enough to satisfy a sweet tooth and you don’t feel overly full afterwards.

If any of you have any more egg recipes to share please do!

This should go without saying but please only use free range 😀

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Filed Under: Recipes · Tagged: Budget, Eggs, healthy, meal planning, recipe, weight watchers

How to spend less

September 8, 2013 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

Last Winter I wrote 6 blog posts on how to spend less, they were really popular and have recently started receiving a lot of views again. I guess we are all trying to be more thrifty these days.

Coming up to Christmas we could all do with some extra pennies so here are the links to the 6 posts ..some maybe useful..some not so much but they definitely helped me and just re reading them today has inspired me to start being more frugal again.

How to spend less. Part 1

How to spend less. Part 2

How to spend less. Part 3

How to spend less. Part 4

How to spend less. Part 5

How to spend less. Part 6

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Recipes · Tagged: budgeting, Discount, food, frugal, meal planning, money saving expert, Shopping, thrifty, vouchers

Meal Plan Monday

February 11, 2013 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 3 Comments

I’ve been a bit rubbish at meal planning the past few weeks, firstly we had a week away then a few things got on top of me and I just had a bit of a break from planning and social media etc but it just made me feel worse. Meal planning saves time and stops you worrying about what you have left in the fridge to eat the next day as you only shop for what you need – thus it also stops overspending and ensure you use up everything. So with that in mind I’m back in track and without further ado ( waffle ) here is this weeks meal plan:

Monday : roast dinner – cant really take credit for this as was cooked for me by OH’s dad.
Tuesday : Comforting Chicken Casserole – recipe here
Wednesday : Red Lentil Thai curry – recipe here
Thursday : Beef stew and dumplings
Friday & Saturday : Off to London to visit friends so takeaways or restaurant food 🙂

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Parenting/baby, Recipes · Tagged: budgeting, meal planning, saving time, Slow cooker

How to spend less – Be prepared ( Part 6)

January 11, 2013 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

It’s been 2 weeks since I started these posts and I feel like I’ve made a subtle change in my spending habits. It may not be a huge change and it may not last forever but I’m learning.

I think this will be the last post on this topic for a little while as I don’t want to go over old ground!

Firstly I want to tell you how this month has been going for me:

* Eat in month – I am doing a lot better with this challenge than I imagined. I haven’t eaten out at all. I don’t buy any snacks or drinks in work and this is saving me at least £15 a week. We went to Bristol Zoo and we took a big picnic lunch so there was no need to indulge in the gift shop or cafe – I almost caved in when we saw the ice cream van but he was packing up to leave which was surely a sign. I have had 2 hot chocolates when we have taken Izzy to the soft play and we did buy some food in the hospital canteen when Izzy was admitted last week but that was totally unavoidable. Unfortunately I will have to cut the challenge a week early as we are going away for 5 days later this month but I’m thinking of doing an extra week in Feb instead and I’m hoping to continue with the no purchasing food at work for good! We also had a trip to the cinema and I even took my own popcorn – impressive yes? Thanks to Brittany from A healthy slice for writing about this challenge, I’m definitely going to do it again next year.

* Drastically lower shopping bills – I looked at my bank statement for November ( I avoided December as I knew it would be higher due to Christmas) and worked out I had spent approximately £289 in the various supermarkets ( Asda,Sainsburys, Tescos) this is without any possible times I may have shopped using cash. So possibly over £300 on food. Too much. Way too much. This month I have made 1 large shopping trip (£95 on NY eve) and I just did my second weekly shop. My first weekly shop was just under target at £19.80, today’s was £22.21 but this included washing powder and dishwasher tablets, if I manage to only spend £20 each week for the remaining 2 shops this month I will have saved over £100.

* Meal planning – this is still going well. I am flexible in that if something comes up which stops me from cooking something one night I’ll swap it over but most days we eat what’s on the planner.

Such as chicken and coconut curry. Yum.

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Being prepared

This has been the key to my money saving this month and will be going forward.

1. I prepare meals the night before if possible. I use my slow cooker a lot and if not I still try to chop vegetables when Izzy is in bed, get the meat out of the freezer etc. Anything which makes cooking the next evening even easier. It also means I get more time to spend as a family when I get home from work – bonus,

2. I make larger portions. Most meals can be bulked up purely by adding vegetables, I do this whenever I can and it leaves me with food for Izzy to eat the next day or a lunch to take to work.

3. Making large batches of breadcrumbs mixed with herbs or garlic and freezing them means you can use up excess stale bread and they can be used straight from the freezer. Such an easy way to add an extra dimension to a vegetable bake or to top gnocchi or pasta instead of cheese. Saves you money and time as well as calories when replacing cheese.

4. Use your freezer – if you know next week is going to be hard. Precook some meals. Lasagne, curries and pies are just some of the dishes which freeze well. If you prefer to cook it fresh just chop and freeze your veg or meat. It may mean an extra half hour with your family and stops those extra vegetables going off saving you pennies.

5. Buy the basic ranges – I have always bought one or two items from the supermarkets basic range but lately I am trying more and more and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The difference between a carton of Asda chosen by you Passata and the smart price pasatta is around 15pence and a plainer box. I have found no difference in quality. Having stock cupboard items such as Passata, mixed herbs and dried spaghetti or pasta means you will always have a meal on hand even if your fridge is bare.

6. Write lists. My trusty notebook has been by my side every day since New Years Eve and I’ve used it to stock take my cupboards, meal plan and write recipes which I have made up on the go. I’ve even been slightly obsessive and written down prices in the supermarket of what I’m buying to ensure I don’t go too far over budget. This one is obvious but taking a shopping list and really sticking to it will save you lots of money and time too.

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7. This isn’t anything to do with being prepared but eat less meat. I’ve blogged about this before but it really helps. If you can cut your meat intake down to 3 or 4 days a week then you will save a lot. There are so much delicious vegetables available these days take full advantage. Sweet potato in particular is just as good as chicken in a curry and its bright and colourful making your dish look so appealing.

I think that’s about it for now. I’d still like to hear about how January is going for you and how you save money. Perhaps if I get enough tips I’ll use them in a follow up post.

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Parenting/baby, Recipes · Tagged: breadcrumbs, budgeting, cupboards, eat in month, freezer, meal planning, saving money

How to spend less – part 2

January 1, 2013 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

Today has been another day of preparation and decluttering. It makes you feel good doesn’t it? I still don’t feel well but instead of moping around on the settee I pulled out my kitchen drawers and started to sort through them. Over the past two years I have accumulated so many food magazines and recipe cards that I have no idea where anything is. So I threw a lot out ( well recycled) and looked through the ones I’d kept and wow I found lots of cheap, family friendly recipes that I had forgotten about so I’m looking forward to sharing them all with you.

First of all I thought I’d share a new slow cooker recipe with you which I kind of made up on the go and it seems to work well:

Slow cooker Thai curry

You will need:

2 boneless skinless chicken thighs £1.50
2 tbsp green curry paste (£0.65)
3/4 tin of coconut milk (£0.79)
2 cups of chicken stock ( from store cupboard )
1/2 sweet potato diced ( £0.40 )
1/2 onion diced ( £0.15 )
A handful of mushrooms chopped roughly (£0.60 )
2 spring onions diced (£0.30)
1 handful of frozen broccoli (£0.40 )
Seasoning ( from store cupboard)

Lightly brown your chicken thighs in a hot pan with a little olive oil and your onion. Place in your slow cooker and add all of the remaining ingredients mixing together thoroughly. Turn your slow cooker onto low and cook for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. If your curry is thinner than you would like add some cornflour mixed with water toward the end of your cooking time. Thai curries are traditionally thinner than say an Indian curry bit it’s all about personal preference.

This would feed 3-4 people quite easily and is extremely budget friendly at just £4.79 – based on my most recent shop at Asda. You could add more meat if you wanted or different vegetables depending on what you have to use up.

As this recipe came out at under a fiver I thought it would be fun to share one or two of my Sainsburys feed your family for a fiver curry favourites. Do you remember the campaign? The adverts were with Jamie Oliver and I loved the recipe cards you could pick up instore. Now I say favourites as I love the recipes but due to my cluttered drawer I haven’t used them in some time!

Chickpea & Spinach curry

You will need:

1kg pack new potatoes ( £1.50 )
1 onion (£0.20) chopped
410g tin of chickpeas (£0.69)
500g jar of tikka masala (£1.00)
300g of frozen spinach (chopped) (£0.75)
Olive oil ( from cupboard)
1 tsp chilli powder
Pepper
Naan breads x 4 (£1.20)

Slice potatoes in half and boil until tender. Drain and set aside. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan and onion and chilli powder, cook until soft. Add your spinach and heat through until it breaks up. Add your drained chickpeas and potatoes and stir through until warm. Pour in your sauce, heat through and season. Serve with warmed naans.

I did a quick price check on sainsburys website and now it comes out at £5.34 ( well inflation after 3yrs is to be expected) but you do get a lot of curry and its tasty and easy even if you aren’t a huge fan of the kitchen.

And finally..

Red Lentil Curry

You will need:

1 x 390g carton of chopped toms with basil & oregano ( £0.69)
2 tbsp red curry paste ( £1.75 for a whole jar, approx £0.75 for this serving)
1 x 28g pk of coriander ( chopped with a little reserved for garnish) ( £0.80)
1 x pk of 4 pitta breads ( £0.40)
200g dried red lentils (£1.09)
1 onion, finely chopped (£0.20)
2tbsp olive oil ( from store cupboard)
1 pinch of curry powder ( from store cupboard)

Preheat oven to 200 degs C/ gas mark 6.
Heat 1 tbsp of Olive oil in deep frying pan. Add your onion and coriander, sauté for a few mins and stir through your curry paste. Add lentils and 500ml of water. Simmer for 5 minutes and stir in chopped tomatoes. Simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Meanwhile brush your pittas with olive oil, sprinkle with curry powder and bake for 5 minutes. Just before serving sprinkle with coriander and serve with hot pittas.

A perfectly simple vegetarian curry. Delicious and again very cheap. Everytime we have eaten this we have always had leftovers for lunch the next day. A bargain at £4.93 or £3.93 if you consider that you can use the rest of the curry paste on a different meal.

Some money saving tips for you when buying ingredients for curries:

* check out Indian supermarkets for bulk buying rice/spices
*buy lentils from the world foods section of your supermarket
*buy coconut milk and chickpeas from bargain shops such as home bargains or again in the world foods section of supermarket.

I bought 2kg of red lentils some time ago for a fraction of the price above by shopping in the world foods section. I store mine in a jar and I think it looks quite attractive.

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I hope you try these recipes out and I’d love to hear your food budgeting ideas.

Happy new year.

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Recipes · Tagged: budgeting, feed your family for a fiver, meal planning, recipes, sainsburys

How to spend less – part 1

December 30, 2012 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 3 Comments

I tried to think of a witty name for this blog post but nada came to mind so here it is the first in a series of posts about how I’m going to spend less on everything. This is not a New Years resolution, it started a month or so back with trying to meal plan and the idea is evolving each day.

Today we did the weekly food shop and it came to £95.33, for some of you this may seem to be not too high and for others it will seem extortionate. I think that I didn’t actually overindulge but I wasn’t exactly careful. Far too much money is slipping out of my bank and into Asda, Sainsburys or Tesco and I am still wasting too much food.

Time to change. Drastically ( for me anyway).
I went into my kitchen and did a job I’ve been dreading for weeks – I sorted my cupboards. Forgive me for sounding obsessive here but I wrote down every item in my cupboard and the amount of said item. For example:

2 tins of coconut milk
4 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 pack of arborio rice
3 packs of dried spaghetti

And so on.

Then I did the fridge.. Then the freezer. Sad? Maybe.. Necessary? Totally.

I found items I’d forgotten, items almost or already past their sell by date and well just a lot of STUFF.

An apt notebook ?

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Whilst having a difficult evening with Izzy ( 4 nappy explosions in 30 mins? ) I sat down, worked my way through my many lists and meal planned using only items I already had – for the next 20 days! That’s right I have enough food in my house for the next 20 days between my cupboards, fridge and freezer.

Sooo instead of doing my weekly shop next weekend and spending another £90 I am setting myself a challenge of spending just £20 per week on essential fresh goods ( milk etc) and not doing another large shop for 3 weeks.

Ill give you a quick idea of some of the meals we have in store for us over the next few weeks:

* Thai green curry
* Lasagne
* Vegetable Balti
* Butterbean crisp
* Beef stew with dumplings
* Jerk chicken with coconut rice
* Spaghetti and meatballs
* Sweet potato risotto

Sounds good to me. I’ve broken each meal down to each ingredient and made sure I have it at home so overspending on the weekly budget should not happen.

Reading this back I sound a little obsessive but I want spare money to be used for family fun or meals out to somewhere special.. Or bills on occasion and not on food being thrown in my bin 2 weeks after purchase. As Christmas is now more or less over my weekly meal planner will be back on the weekend and I’d love it if some of you joined in.

There are lots of areas in my spending that I need to start to gain control so any help or tips you may have I would appreciate. We all waste money and I don’t imagine I will stop completely but if I save an extra £20 a week then that’s a day/night out!

Budget friendly recipes will follow over the next few days.

Hope you have all enjoyed the festivities and thank you for reading this year. It’s been fun.

Happy new year 😉

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Recipes · Tagged: budgeting, counting pennies, food, less waste, meal planning, saving

Meal planning week 2

December 9, 2012 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

A few blogs that I follow in America post a weekly meal plan, I always find it interesting to see what others are eating and I pick up a lot of good ideas as well as the idea for having a meal planning blackboard. I’ve decided to try posting mine weekly and hope some of you will join in perhaps commenting or even writing your own post. If you can link to any favourite recipes even better!

So here is this weeks plan:

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Monday Spaghetti aglio olio ( recipe here )
Tuesday Thai green curry ( this is a new creation including peanut butter – recipe to follow)
Wednesday Pulled pork ( recipe here )
Thursday Fishcakes with sweet chilli sauce
Friday Beef stew ( slowcooker stew – recipe to follow)
Saturday Fajitas ( Jamie Oliver style)
Sunday we are at a food festival so whatever treasures I find I will cook!

I’d love to hear what you are all eating this week or your thoughts/tips on meal planning.

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Recipes · Tagged: Budget, meal planning, recipes

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