Meal Plan week 1 £15 per person.

 OK so this is the outline sketch of the meal plan for week 1 of the £15 menu - if you do not remember then what I bought is in the post here.  I need 21 meals for one person in total.  3 cups of tea a day within budget otherwise if I get thirsty there is always water!  The days here are interchangeable and I have assumed that you have access to one freezer drawer as most people have a fridge freezer nowadays.

Day 1

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - Slice of eggy bread made with one slice of bread and 1 egg (use margarine to cook)

Dinner - Lentil Dahl with homemade flatbreads

Day 2

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - Minestrone soup made from 1/4 of the tomato sauce plus small handful mixed veg and a small handful of pasta, use 1 slice of bread to make croutons

Dinner - 2 sausages with 2 scrambled eggs and 1/3 tin baked beans with 1 slice toast - OK it's a cooked breakfast but why can't I have this for dinner?

Day 3

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - 50-75g pasta in cheese sauce - make enough cheese sauce for 4 - freeze the remainder

Dinner - Lentil Dahl with homemade flatbreads

Day 4

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - cauliflower cheese using about 100 g of the cauliflower/broccoli and 1/4 of the cheese sauce

Dinner - Homemade pizza - top with 1/4 tomato sauce and 1 sliced sausage plus cheese

Day 5

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - baked bean "meatballs" in 1/4 tomato sauce with pasta - the 2/3 tin of baked beans left over from earlier in the week

Dinner - Lentil Dahl with homemade flatbreads

Day 6

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - Quesadilla with beans and cheese filling

Dinner -Pasta bake - 75 g pasta, 1/4 of the tomato sauce, 1 sausage sliced, handful of frozen veg, top with one slice of bread crumbled and some cheese.

Day 7

Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread

Lunch - Cauliflower cheese with more of the leftover cheese sauce with 2 sausages on the side.

Dinner - Lentil Dahl with homemade flatbreads

I also have 3 eggs and some flour left over so I can make myself a batch of cupcakes for sweet snacks during the week!

I could also have made onion fritters (read bhajis but shallow fried) to go with my dahl.

At the end I have almost half the lentils left, some onions, some veggies, half of the pasta, half of the flour, 2 sausages, half of the garlic and most of the mixed herbs and curry powder to carry over into week 2. 

and I did not resort to beans on toast or a cheese sandwich which was my worst fear at the beginning...

Post Furlough/Student food - Quesadilla with beans and cheese.

 For my £15 a week menu I ended up using flour and beans to make a meal for one of the lunches.  Not a good combo you might feel but it turned out quite tasty.

Nothing in the cupboard quesadilla - serves 1

2 flatbreads

1/2 a tin of baked beans in tomato sauce

1/4 onion

1 clove garlic, crushed

grated cheese

oil, butter or in the case of the £15 menu margarine to cook.

Chop the onion really fine and soften in the oil, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. 

Add to the baked beans and mash together well.  At this point if you have it add a pinch of cumin or chilli powder, alas I did not without cheating!

Take one of your flatbreads and spread with the beany mixture, top with grated cheese and put the other flatbread on top.

Heat up the frying pan, at this point you may be able to get away with no oil.  Put the bean sandwich you have created in the pan and allow to heat through for a couple of minutes on each side - the aim is to get it hot all the way through and allow the cheese to melt without the wraps burning, depending on how thin your wraps are it will be quicker or slower.

Post Furlough/Student Food - wraps/tortilla/flatbread/chapatis recipe

 I always seem to crave a wrap for lunch when I do not have one available, however you can make your own if you have plain flour, water and oil.  For the £15 a week challenge week 1 I used melted margarine as I have yet to buy any oil- it still worked although the taste was rather different.  These tasted great with the red lentil dhal.

Flatbread Recipe - makes 4-6 flatbreads

200 g plain flour

100 ml warm water

2 tbsp oil or  butter/margarine

Bung the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre.  Gradually add the water mixing as you go with your fingers, depending on the brand of flour you may need to add some extra flour or extra water, you are aiming for a soft dough.

Knead the dough for 5 minutes - this helps the dough to be strong enough to be rolled out thin.

Divide the dough into 4 or 5 pieces and roll out using a floured rolling pin, try to get it as thin as possible.

Heat a frying pan and put a small amount of oil or margarine into the hot pan, tilt so it spreads over the surface.  Cook each flatbread for 2 minutes on each side - don't worry if it puffs up slightly.  Cooked flatbreads can be used like wraps or warmed before serving.  They even freeze, put some greaseproof paper between each layer.

Variations:

You get a different flavour depending on whether you cook these with oil or butter.  You can also use flavoured butter to cook it in to add a slight flavour.

If you want a more definite flavour to your flatbread add herbs or spices to the flour before adding the water.  Try chopped coriander, garlic powder, nigella seeds, chilli powder etc depending on what you want to serve them with.

Post Furlough/Student food - simple cheese sauce

 For years my mum used to buy cheese sauce as a packet mix.  It was bright orange, tasted of chemicals and used to set solid if left on a plate!   She was brought up by her mum (someone who could burn water) to think that cooking was difficult and sauces the most difficult of all.

This is my super simple cheese sauce - use it on it's own with broccoli and cauliflower, add it to just pasta for a homemade (cheap) version of mac and cheese, use it in a lasagne, add it to chicken and mushrooms for a great baked potato filling - the list is endless.

Cheese sauce - enough for mac and cheese for 4

25 g butter

25 g flour

250ml milk

120 g cheddar cheese, grated

Melt the butter in  a saucepan and add the flour.  Stir to a smooth paste and continue stirring and cooking for 1-2 minutes, it should go slightly yellow if it goes completely brown start again!  Do not miss this stage as it "cooks" the flour and gets rid of the gluey taste.  Add the milk a dribble at a time, stirring all the time to avoid lumps; I use a balloon whisk but you can also use a wooden spoon.

Once all the milk has been added keep stirring but allow to come to the boil, this will let the sauce thicken.  Stir in the grated cheese and allow to melt into the sauce.  

That's it - about 5 min in total.

Post furlough/student food - homemade tomato pasta/pizza sauce

 When I was a student many many years ago I used to get together with a bunch of friends for beer and homemade pizza on a Friday night.  It did not take us long to realise that it cost us less (and therefore we had more to spend on beer) if we made our own bases and also from reading the labels that pizza sauce in a jar has the primary ingredient of water!  If you must use a jar then use a jar of pasta sauce - most supermarkets sell their own nowadays, but it is really easy (and cheap) to make you own and it can be used for pizza topping, pasta sauces and even freezes well.

Homemade pasta/pizza sauce - serves 4

1 onion finely, chopped 

oil 

1 carton value passata

1-2 tsp mixed herbs

1-2 cloves garlic

2 -3 tbsp water

Fry the onion in the oil  (in the case of my £15 per person a week menu then margarine) until soft.  Add the crushed garlic and fry for 1 minute more (do not be tempted to add the garlic at the beginning as it is liable to burn and be bitter).

Add the mixed herbs and the passata.  Use the water (just a splash really) to get the last dregs out of the carton - after all you paid for it!

Bring to the boil - that's it ready to use - if you overdid it with the water then simmer for a few minutes to reduce down.

How to use

Pizza topping

Stir in meatballs and serve with pasta

Stir in mince and veggies and serve with pasta as spag bol

Stir in mince and veggies and serve with mashed potato on top for cottage/shepherds pie

Stir in mince and veggies and use to make lasagne

Stir into pasta and top with breadcrumbs and cheese to make pasta bake

Cooked rice, veggies and leftover meat if you have any - add cajun spices or chilli powder

Stir in beans/lentils for veggie version of spag bol.

Water down with stock and use as a base for minestrone soup or as a soup in it's own right.

Nine Cards - one sketch #SUYSFeb2021

 Card making alongside trying out my new camera mount for the ceiling.  I came across a channel called Call me {crafty} Al whilst thumbing through YouTube during a  break from homeschooling last week.  The lovely lady who runs the channel designs a (free!) card sketch and instructions once a month to allow you to make a batch of between 6 and 12 cards using 12 x 12 pattern paper.  In an attempt to regain some of the storage in my house I pulled out this to use this month so the find was serendipitous to say the least.  Of course homemade cards are a fraction of the cost of  those in the shops - but only once you have bought the basic gear and also only so long as you do not disappear down that particular craft rabbit hole (guilty!).  Anyway these are destined to be sold off when the COVID situation allows.

Wear a hat indoors....Free knitting patterns

 I was passed these words of wisdom from someone this week "I wear a hat indoors so I don't have to have the heating on".  Given that I am on unpaid leave AGAIN - thanks to COVID, I am looking for ways to keep the costs down   The number of frugal/super frugal tips and sites that have mushroomed in the wake of the biggest dip in the economy in a decade give or take is enormous, personally with Raynaulds Syndrome in the family turning down the heat too much is not an option and some of the tips may save money but we don't want complete misery in life do we?

This collided in my brain with a homework that was set by my youngest's DT teacher (he is in the middle of a Year 8 textiles module) - "Knit something".  Now my SEN son does not have the patience to knit - or the interest- so we did about 8 inches of French Knitting which took about half an hour and did not drive us both to distraction; as a reward he got the half term award for the year group for this subject.

Knitting is something that is undergoing a revival thanks to YouTube teaching people how to do it - personally I learnt from my great gran followed by my mum, my grandmother being another one who did not have the patience. Those people that are in the middle in terms of generations are less likely to have had someone to learn from. These days I have the desire but not the time and none of my children are really interested...

However if you would like to knit a hat either to wear indoors or out - the choice is yours, I won't judge! - then here are a round up of FREE knitting patterns as far as I am aware.

All Free Knitting

The Spruce Crafts

Lets Knit

Knitting Bee

LoveCrafts

Knitting Help

Fave Crafts

Handy Little Me

Woolywormhead

Nixneedles

Free Vintage Knitting