MyFamilyClub - Money Saving Made Easy

It’s funny how traditions change over the generations, when I was a child, we ate together as a family every night and we celebrated Sunday with a Sunday roast every week.

Occasionally the roast comprised of delicious beef sausages and onion gravy served with all the trimmings. We didn’t care, it was the sense of the occasion, the sense of family mealtimes that mattered. As children we didn’t realise the importance of this time together and for our parents, there was no alternative, thank goodness.

Now parents have alternatives and many children don’t get the sense of family meals. Whilst we still love the roast dinners, family meals have changed dramatically over the years. With time on our hands now it’s holiday time, why not revisit these traditions a little more often, with this week’s meal plan.

About our family meal planner
This week's family meal planner
Shopping list

About our family meal planner

The meals included in our child friendly meal planners for the week all form part of a daily diet that is balanced, and will give you plenty of nutrients from each of the food groups (proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals), says Sian.

The recipes include plant and animal protein such as white meat, fish, red meat and eggs. On the meatless day there is chickpeas, cheese, seeds and nuts. Sian says the secret to low-cost, healthy meals that are stress-free is to plan ahead to make sure you have the correct ingredients in the right amount in your kitchen ready cook.

Each week, Sian gives you five easy recipes for the week's family meal plan. You can decide when to make them, on whichever day suits you best. There is also a shopping list (below) that can be printed ready to take with you to the supermarket.

This week's meal planner

• Slow roast beef with yorkshire puddings and chocolate steam pudding to finish
• Asian beef salad
• Salmon fish cakes
• Budget chicken Normandy
• Baked bean and cheese omelette

Shopping list

Dairy and eggs

Eggs - 18
Milk - 200mls
Crème Fraiche, cream or natural yogurt - 250mls
Cream - 200mls

Fats and oil

Butter or Flora green - 375grms
Lard  (optional) - 25grms
Olive oil - 3 tblsp.

Meat, poultry, fish

Salmon or tuna – can  (fresh) - 200grms (400grms)
Chicken pieces - 10
Beef for roasting - 2kg

Fruit and fruit juices

Lemon - 1
Orange juice - 250 mls
Eating apples - 2
Apple juice or cider - 500mls

Vegetables

Button mushrooms - 100grms
Potatoes - 2.5kg
Onions - 4
Thyme - 1 small bunch or dried
Red pepper - 1
Yellow pepper - 1
Scallions - 1 bunch
Mixed leaf lettuce selection - 1 fresh
Vegetables x 4 (of your choice) - 4  combination of fresh and frozen

Legumes

Baked Beans in tomato sauce - 1 tin

Store room

Baking powder - 0.5tsp
Plain flour - 120grms
Self raising flour - 170grms
Noodles - 400grms
Semolina - 1pk
Cocoa or drinking chocolate - 55grms        
Sweet chili sauce - 4 tblsp
Horseradish sauce - 4 tblsp
Caster sugar - 225grms

Sian is a home economist with over 25 years experience as a secondary school teacher and now running her own private cookery school with a focus on meal planning. After years of seeing people struggling to provide healthy meals everyday for their families, she created her own meal planning system at Siansplan.com.