Meal Planning

I thought I'd share my meal plans with you today....I've been meal planning for a while now so this isn't really a new thing I'm doing with the retro lifestyle, but I did work out ages ago that doing this does save us money. I meal plan for four weeks and I normally just rotate this on a monthly basis. I have an autumn/winter monthly meal plan and then a different one for spring/summer, as we normally want to be eating more meals like salads etc rather than the stews that we have in the colder months.

I have just made a new meal plan though as it's had to change to fit in with the war time rations that we are living off. There's lots of simple meals that are cheap to make but are yummy and nutritious. There's not loads of meat as obviously I have to feed my family from the meat rations. Every week my mum is so kind to make us a huge pot of bolognese when she makes it for herself and my dad, and so although I don't think that meals like spaghetti bolognese and such were popular back then, I'm not going to start to turn it down as it saves us money each week, and feeds my family of four for two evening meals per week! I dont think people back then would have looked a gift horse in the mouth as the saying goes, so I will still be using that.

So here's my autumn/winter meal plan ( I'll probably change to spring/summer meals from about april time).....

Week 1-

Sunday- Chicken roast dinner
Monday- Chicken hotpot with homemade yorkies (using the leftover chicken from day before)
Tuesday- Mum's spag bol and salad
Wednesday- Cottage pie and veg(using mince from mum's bolognese)
Thursday- Tuna fishcakes(homemade), homemade chips and mushy peas
Friday- Jacket potatoes, beans and cheese
Saturday- I'm going to play this by ear because we'll do something special on saturdays( maybe make a special meal if friends come over etc....this is where the rations might get tricky....although as long as i stick to it for the majority, I will be happy with that).

Week 2-
Sunday- Sausage casserole and yorkies
Monday- Sausage, mash potatoes and veg (will buy a big pack of sausages to do both evenings)
Tuesday- Mum's spag bol and salad
Wednesday- Bolognese and chips (using mum's bolognese)
Thursday- Macaroni cheese
Friday- Egg, chips and beans

Week 3-
Sunday- Pork roast dinner
Monday- Pork stew and mash potato(using leftover pork)
Tuesday- Mum's spag bol and salad
Wednesday- Pasta bake using bolognese sauce and roasted veg
Thursday- Turkey burgers, chips and peas
Friday- Tuna pasta bake

Week 4-
Sunday- Toad in the hole, mashed potato and veg
Monday- Minestrone soup with bread
Tuesday- Mum's spag bol and salad
Wednesday- Cottage pie and veg (using mum's bolognese)
Thursday- Spam fritters, egg, chips and peas ( very war time!)
Friday- Tuna pasta bake

I know alot of wartime menus included meals like corned beef hash and liver and bacon, but my hubby hates corned beef and i hate liver! Also tripe, yuck!!!! I've tried to keep it so that it's going to be easy to keep within the rations but also meals that i know the family will all enjoy. The children will have a piece of whatever cake i've made that week with custard after their evening meal.

So, hopefully over the next month this is going to keep my shopping down to £40 per week as it was this week....

Have a lovely evening:)
Retro Mummy x