Budget Friendly Easy Meals
To save us time in the kitchen and to look after our wallets, we can stretch meals alot further! Having a bit of a cooking plan for this can really help to save you time in the kitchen, and also help to reduce stress levels.
I'd love to share a few recipes with you. All of these recipes are flexible and can be swapped for ingredients that you have in your pantry. You can swap beans to chicken, tofu, lentils or vice versa!
Tips to stretch meals further:
Example:
Day 1: Roast Chicken
Bake a whole chicken. Serve with roast veggies and / or salad. (frozen vegetables are also great!)
Reserve carcass to make a stock.
Stock: Place the chicken carcass in water, until its covered, add a splash of apple cider vinegar, onions and garlic (optional) and boil on low for a few hours. Remove the carcass and you have beautiful chicken stock. This can then be used as a base for soups, which can stretch your chicken meal out for days!! This stock can be kept in the fridge or the freezer for later use.
Day 2:
Chicken For Lunches OR Chicken in Stirfry for Dinner
Day 2 or 3:
Add veggies, lentils (or left over chicken) and herbs of choice to stock for a soup. This soup can be frozen or kept in the fridge and used for lunches or dinners.
Example 2:
Day 1:
Bolognese or Lentil Bolognese
Cook a large batch batch of bolognese, bulk this meal out with frozen or mixed vegetables of choice
Day 2:
Ideas:
1. This can be used as fillings on wraps for lunch
2. You could add additional beans and spices and transform into a chilli con carne style dish
3. You could serve with lettuce leaves wraps as San Chou Bou
Finding creative ways to stretch our meals can be fun! Its like seeing how many different things you can build from lego!!
