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Meal Planning and Weather Watching

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You know we love a BBQ, right? Well, this week we’ve been watching the weather reports and trying to decide when we will have a few safe hours to put on a barbecue. The short answer is that it hasn’t yet given us the opportunity! IT might well do, over the weekend, so that the young ones can say they had at least one Barbecue before they go back for the long 7 weeks left before school breaks up for the summer.

Here are some of the things we made as part of our meal planning this week.

Jacket Potato with Quorn mince and cole slaw

Chicken Katsu curry with rice

Egg fried rice

Homemade pasta with cheese sauce (and tomato sauce)

Spaghetti Bolognese

Ackee and Saltfish with fried dumplings

 

 

The reasoning behind some of these and how we saved money

The jerk marinade we made is still sitting in the fridge waiting for its moment to shine outside if the weather permits. Luckily it lasts for a good time in a jar in the fridge. I should try freezing it and seeing how well it does.

We also used rice twice this week as it’s easy to use leftover rice to make egg fried rice using bits of leftover veg such as sweetcorn, mushroom and peas. It’s one of those dishes that you can make your own by adding your own twist to it. By using a little soy sauce, you get that Chinese flavour too.

Did you notice that I used the Quorn mince twice this week too? You can always bulk it up with mushrooms, make a batch of it and freeze or refrigerate some for later use. Make sure it is properly cooled down before you refrigerate. This way, you don’t put hot foods in the fridge which can cause other foods to go off.

Do you know the dish Ackee and Saltfish? It is Jamaica’s national dish and we love it. It does take an acquired taste, but let’s just say we acquired the taste as babies. It’s hard to describe the taste. I suppose, because of the colour, some people after tasting it for the first time, say it tastes like scrambled eggs. I don’t really agree. I quite like the slightly salty taste. I would say that you have to try it for yourself and see.

Warning: Ackees can be poisonous if not properly ripened and some people are allergic.

We are really looking for barbecue weather but the sunny days have been evading us. So what do we do? We carry on with our meal planning because it helps us to save money and helps us to avoid takeaways. So until the good weather comes, we are meal planning and weather watching.

Each half-term break we try to teach the kids some new skills and this week was the week to learn how to make fresh pasta.

See how we made ice cream here.

We are really looking for barbecue weather but the sunny days have been evading us. So what do we do? We carry on with our meal planning because it helps us to save money and helps us to avoid takeaways. So until the good weather comes, we are meal planning and weather watching.

The girls also learnt how to use the pasta machine and also how to make a tomato sauce as well as a white sauce from scratch. They added their own twists such as cheese, sweetcorn, thyme etc. They had fun and these little lessons will stay with them for a long time, I’m sure.

We are really looking for barbecue weather but the sunny days have been evading us. So what do we do? We carry on with our meal planning because it helps us to save money and helps us to avoid takeaways. So until the good weather comes, we are meal planning and weather watching.

I guess we need to get one of those little things that you can hang the pasta on to air or dry until we are ready to use it.

We are really looking for barbecue weather but the sunny days have been evading us. So what do we do? We carry on with our meal planning because it helps us to save money and helps us to avoid takeaways. So until the good weather comes, we are meal planning and weather watching.  We are really looking for barbecue weather but the sunny days have been evading us. So what do we do? We carry on with our meal planning because it helps us to save money and helps us to avoid takeaways. So until the good weather comes, we are meal planning and weather watching. We are really looking for barbecue weather but the sunny days have been evading us. So what do we do? We carry on with our meal planning because it helps us to save money and helps us to avoid takeaways. So until the good weather comes, we are meal planning and weather watching.

One great benefit of meal planning is that much less food is wasted. When we have food leftover, it is refrigerated and usually features later in the week for lunch or the odd dinner. Sometimes we have all our meals for the week by shopping from our freezer!

 

It does help us to stay within our budget and this is our biggest win. We also have fewer takeaways although we do make our own takeaway style meals.

We are, again linking up with Katy Kicker and Naomi of The Organised Life Project to share how we do our meal planning each week. Do check them out for their amazing ideas too.

Do you do any form of meal planning? What’s your favourite meal that you’d like us to try out? Do let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

 

 

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Filed Under: Frugal

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« Frugal Things We have done this Whitsun Week
Meal Planning This Week (and the Chicken Thighs Story) »

Comments

  1. Jennifer Williams says

    June 1, 2018 at 4:51 pm

    I’ve been considering getting a pasta roller, but I’m not sure how often I’d use it. I want to try doing some funky herb inclusions! I think it’s a fabulous skill for kids to have.

    Reply
  2. Jessica Saldana says

    June 2, 2018 at 2:03 am

    I could always use a new meal prep recipe. Thank you!! Your noodles look sooo delicious.

    Reply
  3. Heather says

    June 2, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    I’m a big fan of meal planing. I make batches of shredded chicken and freeze it. I also like to prep my fruit and veg as soon as I get it so it’s ready when I need it.

    Reply
    • Joleisa says

      June 6, 2018 at 5:44 pm

      Such great ideas! I will adopt the idea of the fruit and veg.

      Reply
  4. Katy Stevens says

    June 2, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    That pasta looks amazing and it is so important to teach our children how to cook wholesome food from scratch – I love it!

    Also, katsu curry is one of my favourite meals EVER!

    Thanks for linking up x

    Reply
  5. Mane says

    June 3, 2018 at 8:32 am

    Wow! Incredible pasta machine. Yes it’s always a great idea to prepare food at home at save money 🙂

    Reply
    • Joleisa says

      June 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm

      We make almost everything from scratch and we love it! We have saved thousands since we started meal planning. You should try it too.

      Reply
  6. Renata says

    June 3, 2018 at 10:15 am

    Making your own pasta is a great idea – and it looks great too 🙂

    Reply
    • Joleisa says

      June 6, 2018 at 5:41 pm

      The kids loved the learning experience and they loved the taste of making their own dinner too!

      Reply
  7. Kim Carberry says

    June 4, 2018 at 8:58 am

    I hope you manage to get your BBQ soon. We had one last week but it doesn’t look like we will be having another soon. It’s so grey & cold here.
    Great meal plan. I keep meaning to make Chicken Katsu curry but never get around to it x

    Reply
  8. Mag says

    June 4, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    Ya’ll do such a great job sharing information in a postive manner. Keep it up!

    Reply
    • Joleisa says

      June 6, 2018 at 5:33 pm

      Well, thanks so much! Once we find something that will help others, we will share it.

      Reply
  9. Naomi says

    June 7, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    That pasta machine looks great! Hope we have the weather for a barbecue this week – it’s been dry all week up here!

    Reply

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Hi, we're Jo and Leisa, twin sisters and authors of Joleisa.com. Originally from the sandy beaches of Jamaica we now reside in England where we followed our calling to teach. But sometimes that call changes and our new passion is writing. We're here to give the ups and downs of it all with our lifestyle tips and tricks to help you avoid the sour lemons that can get in our way of frugal budgeting, intentional living and happiness. Join us and learn more about how we found the simplest ways to achieve easy living. Read More…

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