Leftovers are your friend when it comes to making sure nobody starves while you’re working through any kind of challenging or stressful experience. Actually, leftovers are your friend full stop. Who has the time to cook every single meal from scratch every single day?
I’ve always been a big fan of cooking extra for the next day so that dinner is taken care of. And, yes we often eat the same thing three times in a row. But, it saves me time and head space, both of which are very welcome right now. Plus with some added veg or whatever to bulk it up or slightly change the dish, I find that while we are eating the same, we’re not quite eating the same.
As you saw in my previous post, these past two weeks have been filled with appointments, it’s been so hot and I’ve struggled a bit so please forgive me as I lump two weeks’ worth of meals together.
But first, big news! You can sign up for my newsletter and be notified when I post a new blog – exciting, no?!
2nd – 8th July
Saturday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with apricots and almonds and honey
- Lunch – From the kind of ratatouille thing with lentils on Friday night I made a kind of sloppy Joe’s in a bun with cucumber and onion. It was the messiest, most delicious thing we’ve eaten in ages! You know it’s a great meal when the juices are running down your arms and dripping off your chin.
- Dinner – Herby roast chicken and salad
Sunday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with banana and honey
- Lunch – Leftover chicken and salad
- Dinner – Leftover chicken with green beans, black beans, potatoes and onion salad
Monday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with black cherries and extra fruit (we were taking more photos)
- Lunch –Leftover mixed bean salad – this wasn’t good at all and everyone had extra bread.
- Dinner –Sautéed cabbage with carrots, onions, garlic, leek and white beans. Now, this was lovely. But there were only enough leftovers for teeny lunch portions
Tuesday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with leftover flapjack
- Lunch – Leftovers from last night with salad
- Dinner – Spicy roast chicken with rice and salad
Wednesday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with banana, peanut butter and honey
- Lunch – Gazpacho. The first one of the summer and I used this recipe but I substituted the green pepper for red and of course, no salt.
- Dinner – Leftover chicken and rice with salad
Thursday
- Breakfast – Banana and nuts this morning (forgot to soak the oats)
- Lunch – Goats Cheese salad sandwich.
- Dinner – Lentil chilli with cabbage spaghetti
Friday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with cranberries and hazelnuts
- Lunch – Goats cheese salad sandwich
- Dinner – Leftover lentil chilli this time with rice
9th – 15th July
Saturday
- Breakfast – Poached egg on toast with garlicy spinach and tomato (fancy and delicious!)
- Lunch – Goats cheese salad with tomatoes & lots of seeds
- Dinner – Herby roast chicken and salad
Sunday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with cranberries & hazelnuts
- Lunch – Mixed salad (of what I can’t quite remember but there were seeds and tomatoes)
- Dinner – Leftover chicken with stir fry veggies
Monday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with honey and banana
- Lunch –Omelette with salad and fruit.
- Dinner –Lentil curry with green veggies and cabbage spaghetti
Tuesday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with nectarine and honey
- Lunch – chickpea salad with seeds + lettuce, tomato, cucumber (the usual suspects)
- Dinner – leftover curry and cabbage
Wednesday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with banana, hazelnuts and honey
- Lunch – Same as yesterday but with red kidney beans
- Dinner – Lentil chilli with rice (we melted!)
Thursday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with plums and hazelnuts
- Lunch – Salad again like yesterday but with added red pepper
- Dinner – Lentil chilli with bread
Friday
- Breakfast – Overnight oats with honey & chopped-up fruit on the side
- Lunch – Chickpea and tomato salad
- Dinner – Spicy chicken and salad (Nico & I had ours in a bun, mac bread on the side)
Things to note
I hope you can see why I believe that leftovers are your friend from what we’ve eaten over the past two weeks. It honestly saves so much time and effort.
Goat’s cheese is awful! Mac doesn’t mind it but Nico and I had a normal semi-cured mixed cheese in our salad sandwiches.
Desserts and snacks have been yoghurt and fruit or flapjack or just fruit. It’s funny how you get used to something. For the longest time, we never, ever, ever had anything to eat after dinner but when I quit drinking, I felt I ‘needed a treat’ at the end of the day (usually cake) and it’s a habit I’ve not been able to get out of. Now, of course, the treat is much healthier but it still feels weird if we don’t have anything after dinner.
Here is the flapjack recipe my friend Kate sent me. I used cranberries instead of strawberries and never bother with the yoghurt topping. Oh and I use olive oil instead of coconut oil. Also, I chuck in whatever nuts and seeds I have (so not the same recipe at all really ha ha!)
I remembered to soak all the beans, lentils and chickpeas this week – whoop, whoop! It really helped with lunches.
My 70 Euro weekly budget is way too optimistic! We went to the big supermarket after our visit to the dentist so stocked up on a few things we don’t usually get. Plus my bill at the market was 35 Euros for fruit and veg alone! And, the nut lady was there this week but I only spent 9 Euros which is not too bad. I think it will take a little while to get into the swing of things. As I’m still tending to buy first, plan later when really it should be the other way around!
Next week I will buy more tomatoes and extra lettuce. Maybe I’ll not bother with courgette and aubergine as I’m not really keen and just use them to bulk out the chilli or curry.
Less spicy curries and hot chillies next week. We’re looking at highs of 40 degrees which is not nice!
What did you eat this week? I’d be interested in hearing your experiences with sticking to a food budget especially given the current state of affairs.
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