Meal Planning: Changing the Routine

Today has been a wet and miserable sort of day!  I went for a long run this morning and got absolutely soaked.  (I still loved it!)  When the weather is like this we tend to turn to food to cheer us up.  Plus because we are stuck indoors more there tend to be more opportunities to raid the fridge.  This has led to a bit of a review of our snacking practices.  On top of this we have been changing the routine with regards to our food shop.

 

A review of last week

Last week was all about soup!  It was so good!  I made spiced parsnip soup and ate a huge bowl of it with gluten free crusty bread and about a kilo of (dairy free) butter.  It warmed my bones, I tell ya!  On top of this we have had some other gorgeous meals, such as satay chicken and bacon risotto.  Both of these are really easy to make and are big hits with the family.

 

Related posts:

Meal Planning:  The Normal Week

Meal Planning: Back to Work

 

The week ahead

Busy weeks continue with the usual array of activities in this house.  Plus added to it this week is that my husband is out of the house at dinner time three times.  This typically means that I try and quick simple dinners that I know the kids will like and don’t require a huge time commitment from me.

 

This week’s meals

 

Breakfast

My husband has been busy making his own granola this week.  He is trying to reduce his sugar intake and wants to eat more “fun stuff” which basically translates to nuts and dried fruit.  I might steal a bit of this in the week when he is not around.

 

Lunch

Bagels

Ham sandwiches

Cheese on toast

Carrot & coriander soup

Pizza potatoes

Tuna sandwiches

Leftover lasagne

 

Dinner

Cheese & tomato pasta salad

Spaghetti bolognese

Bacon, egg and chips

Jacket potatoes and pulled pork

Chicken curry with rice

Lasagne

Chilli and nachos

 

This week’s spend

This is one way changing the routine has had an impact.  We switched last week to a fortnightly Tesco shop with a weekly Aldi shop.  I’d been feeling like we had been stuck when it came to reducing the cost of our weekly shop and that we needed to make a change like this to really see a difference.  If it wasn’t for needing to get gluten and dairy free products from Tesco then I would probably do all my shopping at Aldi.  However this has led to a huge saving this week.  As always I am going to try and get more creative and find new ways to bring the costs down.  Any ideas are very much welcomed!

 

Plans for next week

I think I may spread this idea of change into other areas of my life and see what else I can achieve.  It would be good to save a few quid here and there and even make some more money.

 

What could you change when it comes to your food shop or meal planning?  What impact would you like to see?

This post is part of the Meal Planning Linky produced by Katykicker.

 

Disclaimer:  Remember the information you read here does not represent advice.  Any ideas or suggestions are just that and may not work for you.  Read the full disclaimer here.