Freezer meals

In an attempt to budget our food money a little better I have been making "freezer meals".  Basically these are meals that can go straight into the slow cooker from frozen in the morning, and be served for dinner with rice, pasta or potatoes, with little to no fuss.  I trialled it last month, and it worked well. If I forgot to put it in the slow cooker, it went into the pressure cooker.  We ate less takeaways and, all in all, it was a success.  So the decision has been taken to do it again this month.

The downside to "freezer meals" is the amount of planning that needs to take place.  Followed by the amount of shopping.  Followed by the amount of chopping.

So this month
Breakfast
Bread (15 bread mixes)
Jam (homemade, shed)
Cheerios (3 boxes)
Eggs (to be bought week on week)

Lunch
Hummous (1 pot, 12 portions in freezer)
2 x Mushroom soup
2 x curried parsnip soup
Chicken salad (chicken bought)
Baked potato

Dinner
2 x chicken chilli
2x honey mustard chicken
2 x chicken and vegetable curry
2x spanish pork
2 x honey mustard pork
2 x BBQ pork
4 x beef stew
2 x lentil dahl
2 x vegetable chilli
2 x pork loin (Sunday Lunches)
2 x Roast chicken (Sunday Lunches)

Plus fish fingers and chips, pizzas etc.  All of the main meals are 1/4 meat to 3/4 vegetables and are prepared and in the freezer.

We spent £117 in Costco (although £17 of that was Christmas presents) and £70 in Aldi.  If I spend £25 a week on extras like milk and fruit (plus whatever I have forgotten)  I should come in under my £300 budget for food and home.  Not bad for a family of 4, and we will be eating very well.

I am exhausted now though.  All afternoon shopping and all evening chopping.  The bonus to this is that Costco do  the nicest mince pies in the world.  As soon as husband has finished cleaning the kitchen (it looked like the food processor had exploded in there by the time I was done) we shall sit down and with our treat and watch something nonsensical on the telly.  I am so getting a lie in tomorrow!!!!