A beginning of June meal plan

It is the weekend tomorrow and this is when I do my meal plans and preparation. Every week I make a loose meal plan by looking at what I have in the cupboards, what is growing in the garden, what I have to use up in the fridge, and what I have stocked up in the freezer.  I do not have set days for certain meals but will use the easier and quicker meals on the days that we are busy. I try to balance the meal plan by having some really nice meals to look forward to, with some every day meals.  Therefore some meals cost more than other meals. By sharing out the most luxurious or costly of our ingredients like meat, ice cream, raspberries, butter etc, I do not use up all the best ingredients and we will eat well all month rather than having to eat lots of rubbish meals at the end of the month when the money has run out.

My meal plan for the beginning of June is different from a meal plan that I would write in May as we eat seasonally and eat lighter meals as we are not trying to keep warm.  I have crops growing in my garden, but even if you do not grow any food, it is possible to save money by eating seasonally.  Things like radishes, rhubarb, lettuce, gooseberries, spring onions, and rocket should all be cheaper in the shops as compared to items that are not in season. I also make use of what is free to forage that will enhance our food and drink.  This week I am using Elderflower to add different tastes.  Here is our meal plan for next week.

Items from the freezer

A chicken breast

Handful of prawns

A smoked mackerel (for fish pate)

Chorizo and potato cakes (home made and previously frozen)

2 sausages (home made)

Home made lemon meringue tart (Mr S made 6 lemon meringue tarts and froze them last week).

Items from the garden

Salad leaves and rocket

Spinach

Radish

Pak choi

Peas

Rhubarb

Spring onions

Strawberries (maybe)

Baking and meal prep items to make this weekend

Slow cooker yoghurt (recipe here)

Rhubarb, nut and cinnamon loaf (recipe here)

Scones (recipe)

Waffles (recipe)

Granola

Wraps (recipe)

Rhubarb and ginger compote

Raspberry bounty bars (will put recipe on this week if they work!)

Elderflower and lemon curd (recipe)

Elderflower cordial (recipe)

Items bought from the waste food project (20p each and bought today)

2 x stir fry mixes

2 loaves of bread

Bag of bananas

French stick

Items to buy from the shops

white vinegar for preserving later in the year

Plain flour

Milk

Plain chocolate

Items from the cupboards

Everything else

MEAL PLAN FOR 7 DAYS

Mains

Prawn stir fry with noodles

Spicy chicken and vegetable Orzo

Chorizo, potato cakes (home made), salad, and home made savoury rice

Pizza, salad and radish crisps

Spinach, shallot and cheese pasta bake with salad

Sausage and vegetable skewers, pasta salad, salad leaves

Vegetable tart and salad

 

Light meals

Pickie lunch (home made dips, crackers, crudities, wild garlic flat bread, salad and smoked cheese)

Fish pate on toast x 2 (recipe)

French stick pizza, salad and radish crisps

Garden omelette (spinach, peas and spring onions in it)

Fridge gravel lemon cous cous

Spicy beans and vegetables on toast

Breakfasts

Over night oats x 2

Banana pancakes, yoghurt, and granola

Egg wraps x 2

Waffle, yoghurt, rhubarb compote

Breakfast pizza

Desserts and snacks

Home made pop corn

Compote and ice cream

Rhubarb, nut and cinnamon cake

Fruit scones and jam or Elderflower and lemon curd

Home made jam or Elderflower and lemon curd on toast

Lemon Meringue Pie

Fruit salad and ice cream

Bananas

Oranges

Raspberry bounty bars

Items going into the freezer

Sliced rhubarb

Slices of rhubarb, nut and cinnamon cake

Scones

Loaf of bread

Raspberry bounty bars

Spinach

Elderflower cordial

Waffles

Banana pancakes

Nice food is important if you are not to feel deprived when living frugally.  Sometimes it is the only thing that is different in the day when you are retired.  Although often we make similar food prep items each week like yoghurt and compote, I like to be creative and make different things I have not tried before, too.  This week I am making some raspberry coconut bars to use up some of my raspberries in my freezer as my fresh ones will be out in a few weeks and the bushes are looking abundant this year.

Salads feature heavily in our meals now.  Tomatoes and cucumbers are not ready yet and so we adapt and have lots of different salad leaves growing, and I add things like radishes, onions, grated carrot, chopped apple, chick peas, beans, nuts, peas, spinach and defrosted sweet corn.  We also find that cous cous becomes a staple as it is so quick to make and fridge gravel and salad can be used up easily in it.  We eat a lot of wraps at this time of year as well instead of bread.

Usually I only use the waste food project in winter as our garden provides a lot of food in the spring and summer.  This year, however, we have decided to use the waste food project throughout the year as prices are rising and it is getting harder to stick to my tight food budget.  We only go when we are passing in the car, and do not buy a lot, but we are baking less this year to save electricity and reducing the times we put the oven on (I some times bake in my air fryer) and so the bread comes in handy.  We are choosy which bread we chose and try to get ones with the least UPF but beggars can’t always be choosers as the saying goes.

Every week I buy something for later use in the pantry.  This week it is vinegar to make  future pickles. At this time of year I spend very little in the supermarkets on food for use now. We eat some vegetarian meals to save money and use up what we have in the garden or freezer. Any meat or fish that we do eat is in very small quantities. One thing that helps me keep my costs down and retain variety in my meals is to replenish the freezer each week with baking or home made items, or garden produce.  That way we have a constant supply of food even if we have not been near the shops.

I love this time of year when I can just step into the garden and start picking fresh produce.  It gives me such a buzz to make a meal mainly out of home grown produce.  Does the menu in your home change with the seasons?