Meal Planning Monday - the last week of holidays edition

This is very late for me, as I usually have this post done and dusted by Sunday night at the latest, sometimes on Saturday but we were away at a wedding until yesterday afternoon and we unpacked and relaxed last night. We cobbled together a meal plan this morning and headed off to Asda, husband taking the kids to browse the toys whilst I shopped (works for me). I've picked some recipes from a speedy suppers booklet that came with BBC Good Food this month, and one of the recipes is from the Hairy Dieters series that I wanted to try. They're fairly cheap meals too - I have some stuff in the freezer, I managed to get some chicken reduced for the freezer today and even with buying extra stuff for lunches, I still only spent a few pennies over £40.

Here we go.

Monday - Tuna and sweetcorn burgers
Tuesday - Thai satay stir-fry
Wednesday - Barbeque chicken pieces with coleslaw and corn on the cob
Thursday - Chilli salad bowls
Friday - Broccoli baked potatoes
Saturday - Pesto crusted fish (olives removed because I'm the only one that likes them!)
Sunday - kept free

So that's us. What's on your menu this week? Don't forget that, even though she's on holiday, Mrs M has all the Meal Planning Monday entries over at her place.

Meal Planning Monday - with a difference!

This week, my meal plans are a bit different. This is because this week, my meal planning and shopping have been done for me! I'm taking part in the Sainsbury's Feed your family for £50 campaign which includes a week's meal plan to feed four people three meals a day for £50. On Friday, absolutely piles of food turned up  and I can verify that they indeed cost around £50. The total cost was actually around £57 but deduct the £5.50 delivery charge and the £2 odd extra cost for some substitutions, the cost was £50.55. My fridge is now packed to the rafters!

Another reason I've been sent the food is so we can film ourselves making one of the meals, and the footage might get used in their ads that are running during Britain's Got Talent. However, in order to meet the deadline, we've already done that on Sunday. I'm not going to stick to the meal plan religiously so that it works for us and our lifestyle. In addition, the rest of the family might be going camping for a couple of days so I might be making some of the dishes for me or postponing them for a day. So, here, based on Sainsbury's meal plan is my plan for this week:

Monday - Tuna, mushroom and mozzarella pasta bake
Tuesday - Roasted vegetables with chicken and rice
Wednesday - Tomato, spinach and red onion frittata
Thursday - Sweet and sour chicken
Friday - Spaghetti carbonara

Saturday - left free

Sunday - Roast pork, roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli

(If you haven't already guessed, we filmed ourselves making sausage, tomato and cannellini pot with mash)

I think that's not a bad mix. They have included enough to make a cooked breakfast at weekends, and sandwiches or pittas for lunch mostly. The £50 is a lot of food, mostly from their basics range but it's all good fresh and healthy food. Possibly a little too healthy - as there are no treats included, not even small ones. Also, it includes no drinks at all, nor any cleaning products or toiletries. As my approximately £50 weekly food bill  includes these things, I don't think I am doing bad at all! The site includes tips for small variations or for making some of the dishes veggie so it's worth a look, even if it's just to get some ideas.

Come back next week to see how we got on with it!

Why not pop over to Mrs M's blog for more meal planning entries?