SHOPPING LIST
This meal plan is based on TESCO this week and is just over £40 so that you qualify for a £5 voucher off your next shop. These meal plans are designed for a couple where one person works in a heavy labouring job however this meal plan would work fine for 3 or 4 people with smaller appetites.

MENU
MAIN MEALS

• Spaghetti Bolognaise
• Chilli & Baked Potatoes
• Macaroni & Cauliflower Cheese
• Burgers & Mash
• Sausage & Bean Casserole
• Enchiladas (2 meals)

PACKED LUNCHES
PUDDINGS & CAKE

• Broken Biscuit Cake
• Scones
• Jam Sponge & Custard

SHOPPING LIST Cost: £41.09

MAIN MEALS
1x Tesco Everyday Value Spaghetti (500g) 30p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Pasta Penne Quills (500g) 30p
1x Tesco Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (6x420g) £2.00
1x Tesco Everyday Value Red Kidney Beans in Water (400g) 18p
2x Tesco Everyday Value Chopped Tomatoes (400g) 62p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Pasta Sauce (440g) 39p
1x Tesco Cauliflower Florets (1Kg) £1.00 was £1.20
1x Dalepak Grills (4 per pack – 400g) £1.00 was £1.48
1x Tesco Everyday Value Pork Sausages (8 per pack – 454g) 56p
2x Tesco Everyday Value Beef Mince (800g) £5.40
1x Tesco Everyday Value Tortilla Wraps (8) 89p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Sage & Onion Stuffing Mix (85g) 15p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Grated Cheddar (500g) £2.13

PUDDINGS
3x Tesco Everyday Value Creamed Rice Pudding (425g) 36p
2x Tesco Everyday Value Strawberry Flavour Whip (38g) 20p
2x Tesco Everyday Value Ready to Serve Custard (396g) 34p

PACKED LUNCHES
2x Tesco Everyday Value Chicken Paste (75g) 64p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Ham & Beef Paste (75g) 32p
3x Tesco Everyday Value White Rolls (12) £1.05
1x Walkers Salt & Vinegar Crisps (6x25g) £1.58 any 3 FOR £3.50
2x Tesco Everyday Value Pork Pies (4 per pack – 440g) £2.40

BAKING
1x Tesco Everyday Value Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 52p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Golden Syrup (680g) £1.08
1x Tesco Everyday Value Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder (250g) £1.29
1x Tesco Everyday Value Custard Creams (400g) 35p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Digestive Biscuits (400g) 35p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Sultanas (500g) 84p
1x Tate & Lyle granulated sugar (1kg) 88p

STORE CUPBOARD
1x Tesco Everyday Value Mayonnaise (500ml) 48p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Vegetable Oil (1L) £1.29
1x Tesco Everyday Value Mixed Herbs (30g) 99p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Gravy Granules (200g) 20p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Stock Cubes Beef (10 per pack – 100g) 10p
1x Tesco Semi Skimmed Milk 6 Pints (3.41L) £1.74
1x Tesco Everyday Value Mixed Eggs (15) £1.50
1x Tesco Everyday Value Medium Sliced Wholemeal Bread (800g) 47p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Soft Spread (1Kg) £1.35
1x Tesco Everyday Value Tea Bags (80 per pack – 250g) 27p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Double Strength Apple & Blackcurrant Squash (750ml) 32p

FRUIT & VEG
1x Tesco Gala Apples £1.00 was £1.75
1x Tesco Everyday Value Round Lettuce 57p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Tomatoes (500g) 75p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Peppers 98p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Closed Cup Mushrooms (400g) 97p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Onions Pack 69p
1x garlic bulb 30p

£40 WEEK MEAL PLAN RECIPES

Assumes you have bought a sack of potatoes to last you many weeks. Plus it assumes you have dried chillies or chilli powder and mustard and homemade enchilada spice mix and mixed spice in the store cupboard.

MEALS 1 & 2

Spaghetti Bolognaise
800g mince
half the pack of peppers chopped
2-3 onions, chopped
half the mushrooms finely sliced
2 beef stock cubes
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 dsp of mixed herbs
200g spaghetti
100g of grated cheddar
Salad bowl of lettuce and tomato

Fry the mince and onion for 5 minutes, add the mushrooms, peppers, crumbled stock cubes, garlic, mixed herbs and tins of tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Meanwhile cook and drain the spaghetti. Share the spaghetti between the bowls and top with 2/3 of the sauce and serve with grated cheese on top and a bowl of salad. Put the remaining 1/3 of the meat sauce in the fridge for chilli tomorrow.

Chilli and Baked Potatoes
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin or baked beans
1-2 dried chillis
remainder of the bolognaise sauce
2 large baking potatoes
Salad bowl of lettuce and tomato

Bake the potatoes in the microwave. Heat up the remainder of the bolognaise and add a drained tin of kidney beans and a tin of baked beans. Add one chopped dried chilli, heat the mixture for 5 minutes and taste to see whether more chilli is needed. Serve the chilli with the baked potatoes and a salad bowl.

MEAL 3

Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheese
1 onion chopped
2 tbsp oil
2 dsp flour
1.5 pints milk
200g grated cheese
mustard (optional)
200g penne pasta
6-8 florets of frozen cauliflower (about half the bag)

Cook the cauliflower as per the instructions and drain, cook the pasta and drain. Gently fry the onion in the oil for about 5 minutes until softened but not brown. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute, remove the pan from the heat and gradually add a pint of the milk incorporating the flour into the milk. Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil stirring all the time until the sauce has thickened, if you have mustard put a good teaspoonful in and mix well. Once the sauce is thick, turn off the heat and add the cheese and mix in well and then add the remaining half pint of milk. Put the pasta and cauliflower into a casserole dish and pour the cheese sauce over. Sprinkle with mixed herbs. Bake in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes. (you can make this dish earlier and then put it in the oven half an hour before you want to eat).

There should be plenty of this left for lunch the next day.

MEAL 4

Dalepack Grills, with cauliflower and mashed potato or with leftover macaroni and cauliflower cheese.

MEAL 5

Sausage and Bean Casserole
1 pack of 8 pork sausages
1 onion chopped
2 tins of baked beans
2 beef stock cubes
packet of stuffing mix
2 large baking potatoes

Brown the sausages with the onions in a frying pan until the sausages are golden brown all over but not fully cooked. Put the sausages and onions into a deep casserole dish, pour in the 2 tins of beans and crumbled stock cubes, mix around and then sprinkle the stuffing mix evenly across the top of the sausage and bean mix. Cook in the oven at 180C for 1-1.5 hour. Serve with baked potatoes.

There should be plenty left for a lunch next day.

MEAL 6 & 7

Enchiladas
800g mince
pack of 8 tortillas
jar of tomato pasta sauce
half pack of peppers chopped
half pack of mushrooms chopped
2 onions chopped
2 heaped dsp of enchilada spice
1 beef stock cube
200g grated cheese
tin of tomatoes
Salad of lettuce and tomatoes

Fry the mince and onions for 5 minutes. add the mushrooms, peppers crumbled stock cube and enchilada spice and cook for 2 minutes. Add half of the tin of tomatoes and half the pasta sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Divide the mixture between the 8 tortillas, roll them and place them in a casserole dish. Mix the remainder of the pasta sauce with the remaining half tin of chopped tomatoes and pour over the rolled enchiladas, spreading it to cover them. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top, bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180C. Serve half of the enchiladas with salad and serve the remaining enchiladas next day.

PUDDINGS
Tinned rice pudding with homemade jam (3)
Strawberry whip (2)
Jam sponge with custard (2)
Broken biscuit cake
Scones with jam

PACKED LUNCHES

Fill 18 of the rolls with the 3 jars of paste and freeze these, 2 rolls to a bag to make sure there are always rolls for Alex to take for lunch.

Make Egg Mayonnaise using 6 hard boiled eggs, the mayo and a pinch of salt and some black pepper for fresh rolls, these won’t freeze as mayo doesn’t freeze well.

Each Day – 4 rolls, 1 pork pie, 1 packet of crisps and tea-bread should be sufficient for breakfast and lunch.

LUNCHES AT HOME
-either left-overs from the meal the day before or omelettes, egg mayo sandwiches etc plus apples, cake etc

BAKING FOR PACKED LUNCHES AND PUDDINGS

Tea Bread
1 mug hot tea
2 mugs of sultanas
1 mug of sugar
2 mugs of self raising flour
1 egg
2 heaped teaspoons of mixed spice

Soak the sultanas in the hot tea for a couple of hours or overnight. Beat the egg and add to the cool mixture then mix in all of the dry ingredients. Place the mixture into a lined loaf tin then bake at 150C for an hour, check whether the loaf is baked by inserting a skewer. If the skewer has raw mixture on it bake for another half hour and check again. When baked leave the loaf to cool in the tin. This loaf freezes well, ideally slice it and freeze the slices so that just one or 2 can be removed at a time.

Broken Biscuit Cake
100g butter spread
2 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 level tablespoons golden syrup
500g roughly broken biscuits

Line a baking tray with foil or greasproof paper.
Gently heat the butter, sugar, cocoa and syrup in a large pan. Mix in the biscuits and stir. Press the mixture firmly into the tray using a wooden spoon to smooth the top. Chill for 2 hours before cutting into slices. Keep in the fridge as it melts easily. This freezes well and can be eaten after only about 19 minutes defrosting at room temperature.

Scones
1.5lb SR Flour
8 oz sugar
7 oz butter
10 fl oz milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Put the oven at gas mark 6. Put all the dry ingredients into the mixer and mix until breadcrumbs, then add the milk and oil and mix until just combined, do not over mix.

Tip the dough out onto a floured board, pat flat until the dough is about 2 inches thick and then cut scones using a round cutter. Place on a baking tray and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden on top. Scones only last a day or so, therefore freeze them, they defrost well in a microwave.

Jam Sponge
8oz self raising flour
8oz sugar
8oz butter spread
4 eggs
Jam, syrup or marmalade

Beat all of the ingredients together for 2 minutes. Place 4 or 5 spoonfuls of jam, syrup or marmalade in the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch casserole dish then spread the cake batter on top. Bake at 160C for 30-40 minutes until the centre of the sponge springs back when lightly pressed down. Serve with custard.