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Despite the rain that hit us late last week, we had some lovely days together as a family. My husband had four out of seven days off so we had so much time together. We had an impromptu day at the beach on Saturday and this derailed the meal plan a bit. But I am glad that we embraced our time together.
A review of last week
Generally everything went to plan. We enjoyed lots of delicious meals and we ate most of the food. However, as my husband was off and the weather was decent, on Saturday we decided to spend the whole day at the beach. This included chips on the seafront and ice creams and cakes. Yes, it was off the plan but it was such a lovely day out so was worth every penny. And, as we had planned to have roast chicken that night but arrived home too late to cook it, we treated ourselves to a Thai food takeaway. We haven’t had one for months and months. Partly for money reasons but mostly due to my food requirements. But we are very lucky to have a Thai restaurant that caters well for dietary requirements and they were very obliging. The food was delicious! This meant that roast chicken was delayed until Monday, and the leftover pasta was saved for Sunday. Sunday’s parsnip soup was made but frozen so that it is ready to go at a later date.
The week ahead
My husband is working a lot this week and is on a few late shifts and a night out. I always find his late shifts hard work as it means feeding, bathing and getting both kids off to bed by myself. I know lots of people do this every day and hats off to them. It is hard! On days when I know he is working late, I try to plan easier meals to take the pressure off a bit, but it can make things a bit dull.
We have also got an exciting day on Sunday. I am participating in another race in the morning, then husband is going on a bike ride with a family friend then we are all meeting up for a BBQ in the evening. I am very much looking forward to socialising but am aware that this means some forward planning on the food front. It is all included in the budget though.
This week’s meals
Breakfast
Yet again we will be sticking to our usuals. We had pancakes and chocolate sauce as a treat at the weekend so I am expecting my eldest to start asking for that more, so we may have pancakes every day for a month now. Other than that it will be cereal, yoghurt, fruit and toast.
Lunch
Houmous & vegetable dippers with toast
Leftover pasta bake
Bagels & soft cheese
Cheese sandwiches
Jacket potatoes with beans & cheese
Leftover chicken sandwiches
Leftover BBQ
Dinner
Tuna pasta bake
Pork meatballs
Chilli & nachos
Sticky beef
Roast chicken & new potatoes
Fry up & chips
This week’s spend
Another week firmly in budget. This has got me wondering whether it is time to rethink the weekly budget. It could be that sub £70 a week is our new normal and that I should work harder to make it even less than that. I will give it a couple more weeks to see if we get a spike and it goes up again.
Plans for next week
Next week is a “normal” week for us. No plans, husband is working and it will be me and the kids at home. It sounds boring but at least it will make for some easy meal planning.
How does your meal planning change depending on what is going on? If you are just cooking for you do you go for easy meals or go gourmet?
This post is part of the Meal Planning Linky produced by Katykicker and The Organised Life Project.
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.
