So, on a particularly bad week, I would feed five (including a toddler) of us on £35 a week. Looking back, I wonder how on earth I did it, but as a future reminder (with student days approaching) and to those who may find it useful, this is what a general week of meals looked like:
Monday
Breakfast- toast and yoghurt
Lunch- pasta salad (I'd make a big batch of pasta and mix with passata, herbs and onion and then store in the fridge)
Dinner: roast chicken, roast potatoes and veggies (if chicken thighs were cheaper I'd roast those instead of a whole chicken)
Tuesday
Breakfast - cereal and bananas
Lunch- ham salad sandwiches and crudités
Dinner- chicken curry (using leftovers from Monday) and rice with naan bread.
Wednesday
Breakfast- porridge with cinnamon sprinkled on top
Lunch- salad with ham and eggs
Dinner- spaghetti bolognaise
Thursday
Breakfast - toast with jam or butter
Lunch- pasta (that I made earlier in the week) and green salad
Dinner- chilli con carne (I'd add red beans and baked beans to the left over bolognaise and some chilli flakes and then serve with rice or tacos)
Friday-
Breakfast- cereals and yoghurt
Lunch- ham salad sandwiches (with mustard if you're a grown up) and apple slices
Dinner- stir fried vegetables with noodles and sweet n sour sauce.
Weekends were usually laid back planning wise as back then I didn't work Sunday's, so we would often go to lunch at my parents or grandparent's house. If desserts were made throughout the week, it would have been simple things such as jelly with fruit pieces or a quick microwave syrup pudding that my Grandma taught me to make (it's incredible and takes around 10minuted from start to finish!) Also, if there were ever any leftovers, I would take them to work for lunch the next day.
