The kids have been back at school for almost two weeks now and we’re settling down into a bit of a routine. As the kids get older, there’s more activities that they want to join in with which means that some nights, I’m just a glorified taxi driver 😉 I’m not complaining really as they have chosen the clubs they want to go to and they really enjoy going to them, it just makes it a bit difficult for us to have a ‘proper’ meal some nights – I’ll be making a lot of this weeks meals in the slow cooker so I can prepare it all in before I go to work in the morning.
This is next week’s menu plan along with the activities we’ve got scheduled in so you can see what I’m up against….
Saturday – Home made pizza and potato wedges.
Sunday – Sunday Dinner – Roast chicken, Yorkshire puddings, roasties and veg.
Monday – Homemade oven baked chicken risotto (using yesterdays leftover chicken). Miss Frugal has Orchestra from 5-6 with her individual guitar lesson straight after. Master Frugal has football from 6-7.
Tuesday – Risotto cakes with mini roasties
Wednesday – Minced beef and dumplings. Master Frugal has Beavers 5-6.
Thursday – Spaghetti and meatballs. Miss Frugal has cheerleading straight after school until 4.
Friday – Chilli and Rice (and wine).
I managed to get a large chicken from the shop last night reduced to £1.29 so that’s going to be roasted for dinner tomorrow with the leftovers going into a big pot of oven baked risotto (Thanks to English Mum for her suggestion on Twitter of using leftover chicken in risotto). I’m then going to use the leftovers of the risotto the next day by making risotto cakes to have with roasties and veg on Wednesday. So my one bargain chicken is going to stretch into three meals for us, hence the name rubber chicken 😉
Chicken is so versatile that you can use it in so many meals, these are the ones that I use it in but I’d love some more ideas:
- chicken pie or chicken pasta bake – both of which I make with a bit of white or cheese sauce and some brocolli.
- chicken quesadillas – I use homemade wraps, some salsa and some cheese.
- chicken curry.
- home made chicken pizza.
- chicken sandwiches for lunches.
- egg fried rice.
- stir fry.
- if I was feeling particularly hardcore frugal, I’d make chicken stock in the slow cooker with the chicken carcass and turn that into a lovely soup to make an extra meal for us all but I don’t think I’ll be doing that this week I’m afraid.
There must be loads of other things I could make with my rubber chicken though, any ideas?