Once a Week (Budget) Cooking: and a £26 menu plan

If you’ve been here before you will know that I am a fan of Once a Month Cooking – at least for 29 days of the month. All those lovely stress free suppers are just brilliant!

My problem is Cooking Day. As I get nearer to the time that I have to fill the freezer, I can feel my enthusiasm waning and my meal planning feet beginning to drag…

And, of course, there is the problem of actually finding all that time to put aside to cook, which can be quite difficult.

But as I was trying to get myself to commit to another WHOLE day to fill the freezer for October, I realised – why do I need to cook everything at once? After all, not even my family of hungry gannets can eat 30 meals in one week!

So – I give you…

Once a Week Cooking

It’s simple really – here’s how it goes:

  • Plan two weeks meals and then repeat
  • Week 1: At the beginning of the first week prepare double quantities of all the meals you will need for that week only. Freeze those that you’re not going to use immediately
  • Week 2: At the start of week 2 do the same for that weeks meals
  • Week 3: check your freezer and heave a sigh of relief that you have all the meals for the week
  • Week 4: repeat actions for week 3!

Just to make things more interesting we’re back to budgeting. Summer has been lovely with holidays and lots of people staying, but not a lot of sticking-to-budget. Hopefully now we can get back on track.

Menu plan Week 2 – 5 meals for £26

So here is the menu plan for this month – last week was Week 1 and cost £27 for the five weekday meals (feeding 4 hungry people).

This week is the second week and costs just under £26 for the five meals.

(And please remember – I’m not a nutritionist and make absolutely no claims as to the nutritional content of these menus – it’s just what we eat!)

First Two Weeks

DAY WEEK 1 WEEK 2
Monday Chicken in Ginger and Lime* (Cook extra for stirfry) Homemade Lemon and Parsley Fishfingers* with Potato wedges*
Tuesday Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Tart Sausages with pasta and roast tomato and mascarpone sauce*
Wednesday Chicken Stir-fry (using extra chicken cooked on Monday) Smoked Mackerel with Orange and Ginger Stirfry veg
Thursday Meatballs in tomato sauce* Lemony Roast Chicken* (Make sure you have some leftovers for tomorrow)
Friday Tuna, tomato and mascarpone pasta bake* Frittata and salad
TO DO AHEAD
  1. Make double quantities of Roast Tomato and Red Pepper Sauce. Freeze in 4 portions (~600ml each)
  2. Meatballs – make double quantities and cook. Freeze each meal separately, well-wrapped in layers
  3. Make 2 portions marinade for chicken – one for monday, other to be frozen (without the chicken).
  1. Prepare and cook two lots of homemade fishfingers. Wrap and freeze both.
  2. Cook double portions of homemade potato wedges. Freeze on a tray and tip into a freezer bag when frozen.
  3. Make 2 portions marinade for chicken. Freeze both (without chicken).
OTHER THINGS that can be done ahead at some stage (depending on when you’re eating them)

  1. Chop veg for stir-fry (x1). Wrap and keep in fridge
  2. Wash and slice tomatoes for Tomato and Mozarella Tart
  1. Chop veg for stir-fry (x1). Wrap and put in fridge.
Time Taken Probably about 2 ½ hours – a lot was done whilst in the kitchen cooking other things or was fitted in when I had half an hour or so to spare I’ll let you know!
Total Cost for the 5 suppers £27 £26

Of course, the meal plan doesn’t have to be exactly the same for the next fortnight.

The freezer meals obviously stay the same, but there will be some quick meals planned to cook on the night that can be changed.
And where the menu plans to cook enough to have leftovers, what you do with them can be changed round. For example, leftover chicken in ginger and lime is great in stir frys or in Thai green chicken curry.

Second Two Weeks

Day WEEK 3 WEEK 4
Monday Meatballs in tomato sauce* Lemony Roast Chicken* (Make sure you have some leftovers for tomorrow)
Tuesday Chicken in Ginger and Lime* (Cook extra for Thai Chicken) Leftover chicken pasties
Wednesday Macaroni cheese with extra veg and salad Smoked Mackerel with Orange and Ginger Stirfry veg
Thursday Thai green chicken curry Sausages with pasta and roast tomato and mascarpone sauce*
Friday Baked eggs with spinach, roast tomato and mascarpone Homemade Lemon and Parsley Fishfingers* with Potato wedges*
MAKE AHEAD Umm…

  1. Check meals are in freezer
  2. Make and freeze cheese sauce for mac cheese (of course, I could make double?…)
Hmmm…

  1. Check freezer
OTHER THINGS that can be done ahead at some stage (depending on when you’re eating them)
  1. Chop veg for stir-fry (x1)
  2. Make pastry for pasties

So far, so good. The cooking certainly feels easier and less of a marathon as I can fit it in around the other things we’re cooking. It’s also good to have a list of other things that can be prepped ahead of time – having them written down, means that if I have a few minutes to spare I know exactly what needs to be done.

What are you cooking this week?

And what’s your favourite way of getting ahead??

As usual I’m linking up to Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday where you can find lots of other meal planners!

Have a good week!

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