7 Meals in 7 Days and a Spare

Posted by NanLT in Meal Planning, Special Features | 2 comments

With money getting tighter everywhere I decided to look at what meals I could cook this week on a tighter budget. Besides my own handwritten collection of recipes, I had a look through Delia Smith’s Frugal Food for some recipe ideas, and fell back on a few old reliable ones.

On the menu this week

Monday – Butternut Squash Risotto
I had a tub of mixed seafood in the freezer and un-dyed smoked haddock were on special at 50p/100gm, so I picked up two fillets to go into the risotto. Any meat could be used though. Some good options would be cooked ham or cooked chicken. Or, to keep it vegetarian, try adding a tin of chickpeas (garbonzo beans).

Handy hint:
When cooking smoked fish in the oven, place it in a casserole dish and cover it with milk. Add a few whole black peppercorns, a pinch of salt, and a small bay leaf. Loosely cover with foil and place in a medium-hot oven (gas mark 4) for 15 – 20 minutes.

Smoked fish should be poached in milk; non-smoked fish should be poached in water.

Tuesday – Chicken pie
This chicken pie is very tasty and filling. I’ll add in carrots and peas as I have those in the freezer. Then it’ll be topped off with either mashed potatoes, or thinly sliced potatoes which have been parboiled.

Handy hint:
To parboil potatoes, place them in cold water and place on the heat. Bring the pot up to the boil and let it boil for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain. Run cold water into the pot to cool the potatoes then thinly slice, either with a sharp knife or using a mandolin.

Wednesday – Beef burgers, salad, and chips
Kids start back to school on Thursday, so we’re doing something special for them. And something simple for mummy.

Thursday – Roghan goshth* (lamb curry), beetroot with onion*,dhal, and basmati rice. Many ethnic food dishes are remarkably inexpensive to make.

Friday – Sausage cassoulet
I found this particular recipe in Delia’s Frugal Food. I’ve made a few tweaks to it though and will be using chopped bacon instead of pancetta and I will leave the breadcrumbs off the top since I can’t eat them. I’ll also reserve a few sausages and cook them separately since my son with Asperger’s Syndrome doesn’t do well with new versions of old foods, especially when they are in a sauce or gravy. He loves sausages and he loves baked beans. But not mixed together.

Saturday – Spaghetti bolognaise
This is the sort of meal everybody loves. I use the leftover the next day to make mini “pizzas” using slices of bread. Just put a spoonful of heated bolognaise sauce on each slice, top with a bit of parmesan cheese, and pop them under the grill until the parmesan is melted.

Sunday – Roast Beef
Leftover beef will be used to make a cottage pie or a stew a few days later.

The Spare – Easy Salmon Loaf

Serve this with rice or pasta and a steamed green vegetable.

Handy Hint: To make your own marie rose sauce mix 2 heaped tablespoons of mayonnaise with a tablespoon of catsup. Add a dash of Tabasco sauce and a pinch of celery salt. Stir it all together. Give it a taste for seasoning and to check the heat level, and put a dollop on your plate next to the salmon loaf.

Recipes

*Roghan Goshth (Lamb curry)

[amazon-product align="right" small="1" tracking_id="wwwsquidocoml-20"]1850513996[/amazon-product]
Taken from Entertaining Indian Style by Shehzad Husain
Serves 6

1 kg (2 lb) lean lamb, cubed
105 ml (7 Tbsp) yoghurt
75 gm (3 oz) almonds
10 ml (2 tsp) garam masala
10 ml (2 tsp) fresh ginger, pulped
10 ml (2 tsp) fresh garlic, pulped
7.5 ml (1.5 tsp) chilli powder
7.5 ml (1.5 tsp) salt
300ml (1/2 pint) oil – I will most likely use less than half this amount but am copying directly from the recipe
3 medium onions, finely chopped
4 green cardamoms
2 bay leaves
3 green chillies, chopped
30ml (2 Tbsp) lemon juice
400 gm (14oz) tin tomatoes
300 ml (1/2 pint) water
Coriander leaves (cilantro), chopped

Combine the cubed lamb, yoghurt, almonds, garam masala, ginger, garlic, chilli powder and salt. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onions with the cardamoms and the bay leaves until golden brown. Add the meat and yoghurt mixture and stir-fry for 3 – 5 minutes. Add two green chillies, the lemon juice and the canned tomatoes. Stir-fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the water and leave to simmer over a low heat for 35 – 40 minutes. Add the remaining green chilli and the fresh coriander leaves and stir occasionally until the sauce has thickened. Remove the lid and turn the heat higher if the sauce is too watery.
Serve with rice and perhaps naan bread.

(Remember – this was “peasant food” Don’t fret if you don’t follow the recipe exactly)

*Beetroot with Onion

[amazon-product align="right" small="1" tracking_id="wwwsquidocoml-20"]0764156497[/amazon-product]This recipe comes from my mother-in-law who it turn found it in a cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey
Serves 4

350 gm raw beetroot
4 Tbsp oil
1tsp cumin seeds
1 garlic clove, peeled and very finely chopped
1 Tbsp plain flour (I’ll substitute GF rice flour)
1/8 – ½ tsp cayenne pepper (vary according to taste)
225 grams tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
300ml water

Peel the beetroot and cut into wedges. Put the oil in a medium-sized pan and set it over a medium heat. When hot, put in the cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for 5 seconds. Put in the garlic. Stir and fry until the garlic turns golden. Add in the onions. Stir and fry for 2 minutes. Add in the flour and cayenne. Stir-fry another minute. Now add in the beetroot, the tomatoes, salt, and water. Bring up to a simmer. Cover, and turn the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the beetroot is tender. Remove the lid, turn up the heat to medium, and cook uncovered for about 7 minutes, or until the sauce has slightly thickened.

Shopping list

Check your larder and fridge-freezer first

Meats
Leftover cooked chicken
Beef mince X 2
Lamb (or substitute chicken)
Pork sausages
Beef rump roast
Smoked haddock (optional)

Fruits and vegetables
Butternut squash
Onions
Garlic
Tomatoes
Beetroot
Green chiles X 6
Carrots
Potatoes
2 inch ginger piece
garlic bulb
2 large lemons
Fresh coriander (cilantro)
Fresh thyme
Fresh basil
Fresh oregano
Fresh parsley
Salad leaves

Dairy
Yoghurt
Parmesan cheese

Tinned and packaged goods
Red lentils
Yellow lentils
Tomatoes
Almonds
Vegetable oil
Chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
Flour, plain or gluten free
Vegetable and chicken stock cubes
Basmati rice
Tomato puree
Tomato paste
Dried cannellini beans (or navy beans)

Herbs and spices
Ground turmeric
Mustard seeds
Onion seeds
Cumin seeds
Dried red chillies
Cayenne pepper
Garam masala
Chilli powder
Green cardamom (do not substitute brown cardamom)
Bay leaves
Black peppercorns
Salt

Breads
Burger buns

Frozen
Peas
Chips (fries)

Alcohol (Optional)
Red wine

Ingredients for the Spare should be in your larder

Tinned salmon, onions, capers, anchovy fillets, bread crumbs, milk, dried dill, egg.

The majority of the items on this list should already be in your larder, fridge, or freezer. You should just need to grab the fresh produce and meat. If you purchase meat for the entire week, be sure to keep all but the meat you need for 1 – 2 days in the freezer.

NanLT is a home cook with over 2 decades experience cooking for her family. Over the years she has developed a wide range of recipes for family eating. At Cooking with NanLT she provides recipes, hints, and tips for other home cooks.