Healthy food on a budget: day 7

For the last day before my next shop the kids had buckwheat, almond meal and cacao pancakes spread with almond butter as their main lunch item and dinner was a leftovers fish pie.

For the fish pie I cut my 500g of frozen hoki into large chunks and put them in the bottom of an oven safe dish. Then I threw whatever I had in the vege bin that needed to be used up on top. It ended up being cherry tomatoes, capsicum, leftover roasted cauliflower and some grated carrot. I added the juice of a lemon and some salt too. For the topping I boiled some potatoes then just before draining I added 1C of frozen peas. After draining the water I added the zest of 1 lemon, 1/2C grated cheese and a pinch of salt. I mashed it roughly, spread it on top of the fish and vegetables and popped it into a 180 degree oven for 45 minutes. Easy :)

My shop today was $129 and I managed to get all of what I need. The rest will be used to replenish the fruit bowl later this week.

Allergy friendly food can be really expensive, but I hope I've shown you that it is possible to eat well on a modest budget. All it takes is some planning and a bit of creativity to get the protein part of the meal to go as far as it can.  Happy cooking everyone!

Healthy food on a budget: days 3 - 6

Day 3:

Lunch was chicken quesadillas with chicken (from roast chicken), cheese and home made ketchup.

Dinner was spaghetti bolognese using the 500g beef mince I had in the freezer with 2 sticks of celery, 2 carrots and 1 C of mushrooms minced up and added into the sauce.

Day 4:

Lunch was chicken quesadillas again with a fruit salad

For dinner we were invited to a friend's place for pizza, but if we were home I would have used the fish in the freezer to make a fish pie.


Day 5:

Lunch was leftover corned silverside sandwiches

Dinner was roast chicken, roast parsnip and potatoes, roast cauliflower and steamed broccoli

Day 6:

Lunch was a chicken sushi salad using one breast from last night's chicken, a GF vegan piece of date cake, a GF vegan chocolate chip and raisin cookie, some apple and some crackers,

Dinner is a vegetarian curry using sweet potato, pumpkin and coconut milk.

Tomorrow will be the last day before shopping day rolls around again so I will be making my menu plan and shopping list. So far we have added the following to my $150 shop using the remaining $50 I had in my budget:

Bulk box of soy milk $20

Two rolls of toilet paper $2

Cat food $4

Almond meal / Cacao powder at the co-op $15

Still under budget - just!

* As a real life mum and not a food blogger I have trouble taking photos of the for we're just about to eat given that a) it's usually night time and the light is bad and b) my kids are hungry and impatient. So these aren't my pics except for the lunch box one. I will endeavour to go back and add links soon :)

Healthy food on a budget: day 2

Remember that roast chicken I cooked and portioned up yesterday? Well today is when the magic of the pre cooked chicken happens!

Lunch for the kids was a quick job. They each had a drumstick and a chicken wing, a GF oat and raisin cookie (Freedom Foods GF oats), a small piece of GF brownie, some white corn chips and some strawberries.

For dinner we had a Mexcian quinoa bake. This is one of my favourite week day meals because it's quick and doesn't dirty up too many dishes. My ten year old daughter Jemima made this meal last night. It's a nice and easy one to get kids in the kitchen.

To a large bowl add:

1 jar of pasta sauce or salsa

2 drained tins of kidney beans

1 C frozen corn kernels

1 C grated cheese (optional)

1 diced capsicum

2 C cooked quinoa (or rice, or pasta)

1 pre cooked chicken breast and 2 thighs, chopped roughly

Mix it all up then pop it into an oven safe dish. Cook for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

We like this meal with guacamole and crushed corn chips on top. Like nachos, but a bit healthier.

* this makes enough for our family of four plus two decent lunches for the following day.

Healthy Food on a Budget: How to shop smarter

This week I thought I'd take you along on my weekly shopping trip. As you know we have three GF people, one egg free person and all of us are on limited dairy (cheese but no milk). This week I spent $150 for the four of us, which gives me $50 left in my $200 weekly budget for incidentals as the week goes on.

The first place we're going to stop is my favourite fruit and vegetable store - Todarellos in Katoomba. This place is fantastic. It's family run and even though it's a 20 minute drive I more than make up for the trip with the great value they offer. Stopping for your fruit and vegetables first is something I really want to impress upon you. If you go to the supermarket first you're likely to overspend and not have enough left over for produce. Fruit and vegetables shouldn't be an afterthought! Always, always seek out good value fruit and vegetables as your first port of call. I try not to buy mine at a supermarket because the value is better from an independent store or a farmers market. This week I spent $55 and I bought everything you can see below. 

This worked out to be: 1kg potatoes, 1 bag mushrooms, 1kg carrots, 3 parsnip, 4 brown onions, 2 red onions, 1 cauliflower, 3 broccoli, 2 kumara (or sweet potato), 2 bunches bananas, 5 pink lady apples, 10 oranges, 3 punnets of strawberries, 1 large bunch silver beet, 1/2 celery, 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, 2 avocado, 1 garlic and 1 bunch rhubarb!

Then I went over to Aldi to buy some things for the pantry. Here we have GF muesli, organic muesli, 2 jars pasta sauce, 3 packets of brown rice crackers, 1 packet GF spaghetti, organic coffee, organic chocolate, coconut, fruit and nut mix, organic raisins, GF flour blend 2 x rice milk and a GF chocolate cake mix. As you can see there are no muesli bars, chips, or loads of lunch box fillers here. I try to keep the pantry section of my shop to two supermarket bags. It's a good way for me to remember that the bulk of our food should be fresh produce and protein not packaged goods.

Then the cold stuff. Two free range whole chickens, about $10 each. 1 Corned Silverside, about $6. 1 packet of bacon $8. 1 block of cheese, about $5, and free range eggs, again about $5. I also had a packet of beef mince and 500g of frozen hoki fillets in the freezer and those will be part of this week's menu plan. They're worth about $5 each.

I also have this piece of pork roast left over from Saturday night. Last week I spent $17 on a pork shoulder and it will do three meals (roast pork, pork ragu lasagne and pork and vegetable pie). Buying a large piece of meat and dividing it into three meals is a great way to save money and it's always nice to know that the meat portion of your meal is already cooked for you.

Now I want to show you my pantry before I put any shopping away. You can see clearly that I didn't set off for the shops without anything left in the pantry. A huge part of eating well for less is planning and buying things when they're cheap. There are some things in here that I will always have, even if I'm not planning on using them right away. 

Up the top there you have tins which I buy every other week. Beans are 75c a tin at Aldi and I stock up once a fortnight. I get some of everything they have for 75c! I also stock up on the 55c tins of tomatoes while I'm there. You can also see coconut oil and coconut butter, pure maple syrup, popcorn kernels and some specialty flours.

In the white bins I keep nuts and seeds, pasta, grains and flours. On the top shelf to the right I have rice paper sheets, white corn tortillas and some nori for sushi salads. On the bottom shelf I have jars for different flours - looking a bit empty now because I'm due for a trip to the food co-op. I have chia seeds, dried beans and lentils and steel cut oats in here as well.

Right down the bottom I have herbs and spices and oils and vinegars. I restock this as things run out.

This week I thought I'd show you how I use the ingredients I bought for this week's meals so you can really see how it's all going to work. I know $150 a week isn't much these days, but I promise you that you can eat really well on a small budget like mine. Stay tuned!

One Week Allergy Meal Plan

Even if we had access to every ingredient under the sun I still think I would struggle with that all too familiar question - what should we have for dinner? Often it's coming up with ideas that's the hardest part, not the cooking. For the past two weeks I've been a bit more militant about my meal planning and it's really paid off. I've managed to spend less, eat better and feel way less stressed. That doesn't mean we're locked in to eating something we don't feel like however. I often swap meals around if I'm not in the mood for what I've got written down for the day. As long as you have all of the ingredients you're good to go.

Money money money!

I recently asked a few friends what they usually spend on food per week and was surprised that there was so much variation. Some thrifty friends got away with $150 pw and others spent upwards of $400. So other than family size - what makes one family spend so much more than others? I think a lot of it has to do with food choices - whether you have allergies in your family or prefer to buy organic or premium products. I know I would spend less if I could buy the 90c spaghetti instead of the $2.99 GF packet. That doesn't mean that allergy families are doomed to spend their every cent on food though. In this post I'll share with you how I manage to feed our family of four (plus cat) what I think is a pretty good diet on a budget of $200 pw.

The list

Ok. The shopping list. I know, yawn right? But it's essential. I like to make an occasion out of my weekly meal planning time. I get in bed, surround myself with cookbooks, make sure I have a cup of tea and something nice to eat - and I get to work. I give myself a time limit otherwise I'm likely to spend all day in there. I used to just plan dinners, but once I started planning breakfast and lunches it all really started to come together.

I write down what we'll be having for breakfast/lunch/dinner for each day of the week and then work out my shopping list from there. The lunches are for the kids and I only plan their main item for their lunch boxes as they always have fruit/crackers/home made muffins or biscuits etc.

Down to business

This week I hit the fruit and vegetable shop and spent $45 on produce. That bought me a huge box of good stuff. Markets are also great if you have one handy. I have trouble co-ordinating market days with when we run out of food, so they're not an every-week option for me.

For meat I bought:

2 whole free range chickens ($11 and $9)
1kg bag of frozen wild caught hoki fillets ($9.99)
1 large packet of GF bacon ($7.99)
2 x 500g grass fed and finished beef mince ($5.99 each)
Total meat spend: $49.96

My other groceries were staples like tea, cheese, butter, soy and rice milk, rice crackers, flours, Orgran buckwheat pancake mix, almond meal, cereal, coffee and lots of tins of pulses and tomatoes. If I spot a bag of old bananas going cheap at the supermarket I always buy them and freeze them for cakes and muffins.

Total spend for the week $180 I keep the extra $20 up my sleeve to replenish the fruit bowl during the week.

What we ate!

This week I mainly used a new book of mine "Save with Jamie" by Jamie Oliver. Most of the recipes can be found online and the pics are from the Jamie Oliver website.

Prep:

On shopping day I roast the largest whole chicken and then cut it up as follows: drumsticks, thighs, wings, two breasts - and popped it into the fridge.

Day 1:

Breakfast - Buckwheat and almond meal pancakes with banana and maple syrup
Lunch - Chicken drumsticks and wings
Dinner - Mexican chicken salad (using one breast and two thighs, chopped) with corn chips

Day 2:

I put the chicken carcass left over from roasting the bird the day before into a slow cooker and covered it with water. I let it cook all day and then used the stock that night.

Breakfast - Rice porridge with grated apple
Lunch - Sushi salad
Dinner - Chicken and pea risotto using one chicken breast from leftover roast and chicken stock. I roughly followed the recipe on Save with Jamie for this one.

Day 3 (a weekend day for us):

Breakfast - Bacon and eggs / hash browns for the non egg eaters
Lunch - Cauliflower crust pizza
Dinner - Nachos - using one of the mince packets and lots of beans and vegetables to bulk it out. Freeze leftovers.

Extra: I also made a sweet potato and BBQ beans dish during the day. I used a recipe I found in Save with Jamie and I portioned it into freezer bags for my husband's lunches, or if we need a quick dinner.

Day 4 (a weekend day for us):

Breakfast - Bacon, eggs and/or hash browns
Lunch - Roast vegetable salad
Dinner - Jamie Oliver's 'JFC' crispy chicken - using the other chicken I bought (cut into pieces) with sweet potato fries, corn and salad

Day 5:

Breakfast - GF weetbix, banana and rice milk
Lunch - Leftover nachos with corn chips (nacho meat in a thermos)
Dinner - Fried fish fillets using 500g frozen fillets with sweet potato fries

Pic from: The Nutritious Kitchen

Day 6:

Breakfast - Banana and peanut (or non nut butter) on GF toast and a smoothie
Lunch - White corn quesadillas using white corn tortillas
Dinner - Spaghetti bolognese using remaining 500g mince meat.

Day 7:

Breakfast - Buckwheat pancakes with banana and maple syrup
Lunch - GF mini pizzas
Dinner - Fish pie using 500g of frozen fillets. I used another Save with Jamie recipe but didn't use any seafood other than the 500g frozen fish I had.

So that's week one. Looking at it, it does look a little starchy in some places but overall it was a menu that everyone was happy with and used some good wholesome ingredients. Because I try to eat low starch as much as I can I will often have more salad and meat/less potato or pasta. Thanks for reading and I hope my menu plan is helpful for your family.

Oat and Quinoa Blender Pancakes

GF, VG

This week I tried out a new food on my Benny with great success. A friend with coeliac disease suggested Freedom Foods Oats and since she can tolerate them I thought - why not?

Freedom Oats are grown in fields separate from crops containing gluten and they're tested before being sold. Apparently 4 in 5 people with coeliac disease can eat them - I haven't been able to find any research to support this however.  I started with a humble bowl of porridge and that went well. Both my husband and Benny seem to be able to tolerate these oats just fine.  As far as additions to a restricted diet go, this one is pretty huge. Anzac cookies! Home made muesli bars! So many baking opportunities have opened up.

This morning I decided to try out an easy pancake recipe where everything is added to a blender or food processor. I've adapted it from a few recipes I've found online to make it GF and EF. These are light and fluffy and full of good things. There are no refined sugars in them either.

Ingredients

1 C rolled oats (gluten free if you need them to be)
1 C quinoa flakes
1 1/4 C rice or almond milk
1 large ripe banana or 2 small ones
1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder - I like Bob's Red Mill because it's GF and aluminium free
2 tsp chia seeds
1/4 C water

Method

Put the chia seeds in the 1/4 C water and leave to gel for a few minutes. This will be your "egg" and it's a nice way to get some chia into children without them realising it.

In a food processor or blender add all ingredients except the chia and water and blend until combined. Add the chia gel and pulse a few times until combined.

Cook in a hot pan with a little coconut oil or butter if you can eat it. I make these as little mini pikelets rather than big pancakes because they're easier for the kids to eat and fit nicely into their lunch boxes. I serve them without any toppings but they'd be lovely with maple syrup too.

If you can't find quinoa flakes you can use 2 C of rolled oats instead. These would also be yummy with some blueberries, sultanas or choc chips stirred through just before cooking.

Enjoy!

Not Peanut Butter

GF, VG.

Ben used to have a peanut allergy and we're still wary of giving him peanut butter. I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter anyway because peanuts are so acidic and the state of the guts in our family is tenuous at the best of times. That leaves me with almond butter, or sunflower seed butter, and both are pretty expensive.

The other day I was doing the supermarket shop and as I approached the spreads aisle I had a thought. How hard can it be to make a nut or seed butter? Super easy as it turns out.

This morning I made a jar of almond and sunflower seed butter while I was making the kids their breakfast. It takes no time at all and the taste is amazing - nutty, sweet, salty and none of that gluggy oily taste. And have you ever read the ingredients on the back of a peanut butter jar? Some of the things you may find listed are: icing sugar, sugar, mono-diglycerides, and hydrogenated vegetable oils. Making my own means I can use organic seeds and nuts if I choose to, for a fraction of the cost of a store bought organic spread. It also means I can control the amount of salt I use and I can keep it sugar free.

For this batch I used 200g of raw sunflower seeds and a handful of raw almonds with the skin on. When you're buying your nuts and seeds make sure they are unsalted, unroasted, and have no additives.

Place your nuts/seed mix on a tray and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until golden brown. You'll have to shake the tray every few minutes to stop them burning, and they do catch quite quickly.

Once they're nice and golden let them cool for a bit before blending them up. They'll turn to a powder first and then if you take it a step further the mix will start to form a paste as the oils in the nuts are released. I add a bit of oil to loosen it up, I like to use almond oil. Peanuts are naturally oily but almonds and seeds are less so, so I find it does need a bit of oil to turn it from a paste to a spread. I like mine a bit salty so I also add a small pinch of sea salt.

Once you're happy with the consistency and taste pop it into a jar and refrigerate. Yum!

I hope you'll give this one a try, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to make your own super yummy nut spread.

Coconut and Chia Breakfast Puddings

GF, VG.

Breakfast is a tough one in our house. My Ben just doesn't feel like eating when he gets up. Gone are the pre-school days when he could nibble for a couple of hours until his gut was ready to accept a meal. Now that he's at school it's my every-morning battle to get a decent breakfast into him. I needed something easy to eat, not too strong in flavour and really filling in small quantities. These Breakfast Puddings were a hit. They're fantastic to eat when you're in a rush or for soothing sensitive tummys.

These Coconut Chia Breakfast Puddings have the consistency of a rice pudding. They're sweet but not too sweet, and the chia seeds make them really filling. Here's how I make them:

400ml Coconut milk or other dairy free milk

1/2 C Chia seeds (white)

1/2 C Frozen berries

1 tsp Good quality vanilla extract

1 tsp agave or maple syrup (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and pour into glasses. Place in the fridge for at least 30 mins or overnight to set.