My 7 day meal plan using as little as I can

I am living out of the cupboards, fridge, freezer and garden at the moment.  I am buying some food like flour and oil, but it is not for use this month.  It is to replace my staples and so that I have plenty if there are any shortages due the weather this year.  Even if there are not shortages, both are predicted to go up in price due to poor crop yields.  I no longer have no food spend months as with prices constantly increasing, it does not save me money.  If I see something on offer that I use regularly, I buy it.

I am trying to use as little out of the freezer and cupboards as I can to feed us each week.  I only have a small annual food budget and so try to make the most of what I have by stretching it with other ingredients.  Two examples this month are that I made a pauper stew and a ratatouille and stretched them to  make other meals.  A paupers stew is basically a meal cooked in my slow cooker with what ever I have that needs eating up or can be thrown in.  This one had 4oz minced beef in it and then it was what ever vegetables that I had that needed using up, with a couple of handfuls of lentils thrown in.  I had no beef stock left and so I used tomato puree and tomato powder that I made from my tomato skins last year. I also seasoned it with my wild garlic salt.  I used wild garlic and cheese scone mixture to make a cobbler in the air fryer.  The stew was used later in the week to have with pasta and spices were added to change the taste.  The ratatouille was also made in the slow cooker using a mixture of fresh and frozen veg and this will be used with the savoury bread and butter pudding, over a baked potato (with spices added), and then the last bit will be watered down and small pasta and tomato puree will be added to make it into a soup.

There are no set days for the menu but meals made using the yoghurt were eaten at the beginning of the week as it was made last week (pizza dough and a breakfast).

From the freezer

Fish fingers x4

Bread

cake

various frozen home grown vegetables

mushrooms

2 thick sausages

4oz beef mince

A chicken breast

Sliced cooked ham (for sandwich and savoury bread and butter pud)

Hash browns

Homegrown fruit

From the garden

Rhubarb

Rocket

Spinach

Carrots

Fresh Herbs

Foraged

Wild garlic

Cleavers for drinks

From the cupboards

Everything else

Food Prep this week

Made wraps, pizza dough (using homemade yoghurt), cheese and wild garlic scone dough, blackcurrant and apple compote, pastry

Mains

Paupers stew with wild garlic and cheese cobbler

Home made pizza and salad

Chicken strips and salad, sweet chilli wraps

Spicy pauper stew with pasta and wild garlic bread

Savoury bread and butter pudding with ratatouille

Sweet potato and lentil curry with wraps

Baked potato, ratatouille and cheese

Lunches

Wild garlic hummus and crackers

Soup and bread

Omelette and salad

Ham salad sandwich

Spaghetti and wild garlic pesto

Fish finger sandwich

Potato cakes with spicy vegetables.

Breakfasts

Stretched beans on toast

Porridge and compote x2

Yoghurt, compote and homemade granola

Hash browns, sausage and egg with fruit smoothie

Peanut butter on toast with fruit smoothie

Sour dough crumpets and cheese with fruit smoothie

Desserts and snacks

rhubarb and custard pasties

Cheese and wild garlic scones

Biscuits from last week

Home made jam on toast

Popcorn

Bananas

Malt loaf

Cake

Replenishing the freezer

Rhubarb

Wraps

Cheese scones

Pastry

2 portions of lentil and sweet potato curry.

 

My freezer never empties as every week I will ensure that I put something back into the freezer.  This may be the remains of a meal, some baking, something home grown, something batch cooked like chick peas, or part of a tin of ingredients eg I have a part of a tin of peaches in the freezer which I will use some time to make chicken and peaches.

I always try to balance the nutrients in my meals through out the day. Usually there is only one meat dish a day.  I always try to have some fruit each day, and some salad or vegetables each day. This week I was feeling a bit lazy and so did not do much food preparation this week. It didn’t matter as I had some yoghurt from last week, plenty of hummus left, and plenty of bread frozen.

To see our meal plan for last week click here