How to Manage a Week’s Meal Planning Without Shopping

So for the second week in a row, we have managed to do without buying any groceries at all. And yes we continue to plan our meals. Here’s how we do it:

• We had a big freezer clearout which allowed us to see what food we had in. To be honest, some of it we didn’t even remember that we had.
• We also checked the kitchen cupboards for what store cupboard items we already had in
• We put together some really ‘interesting’ recipes ( we now have a great courgette recipe)
• A lot of quick package foods came in handy
• For fruits and vegetables, we used frozen or canned ones that we already had in
• We have been away from home for filming for some of the time which means we have had to use fewer ingredients
• It may seem negligible but we have been able to reap and use courgettes and tomatoes since August!

Here are some of the meals we had during this week’s meal planning without shopping (some were leftovers that had been frozen)

Fish pie (with haddock and basa fillets)

Steamed fish (hake) with sweetcorn and peas

Stewed peas and beef with dumplings

Chickpea curry with rice

Vegetable stir-fry with salted cod and noodles

Chicken soup

Convenient pasta and broccoli (using packets of dry mix)

 

All of these meals were absolutely delicious but my favourite was the courgette dish I concocted.

This gives you an idea of how overgrown this courgette is. I have used about a third of it.

I’ve always loved steamed cabbage with other vegetables and we often have them even for breakfast since we started cutting down on the number of carbs we consume. Well, one day when I went outside to reap a few tomatoes and courgettes for a vegetable stir-fry, I discovered that we had two rather large, overgrown courgettes.

I had an aha moment and decided to peel and grate a piece of the overgrown courgette and use it instead of shredded cabbage! Guess what? It tasted the same to me and helped us to cut down on food waste. Instead of binning the overgrown courgette, we’ve used some of it in a stir fry and some were used as chunks in our tasty chicken soup.

The chicken soup was made using frozen vegetables, a ‘sexy’ carrot that was in the fridge, and the frozen bony bits left over from a chicken we had butchered.

 

 

Ever since we learned about all the benefits of meal planning, we decided that this was definitely for us. We have learned a lot too, from linking up with Katy Kicker each week and seeing other peoples’ meal plans.

Why don’t you share with us how you save money on groceries and some of your ideas for meal plans. We are always on the lookout for other ideas.

Looking out for your ideas in the comment box below.