A week of dinners made simple (and cheap)
 
Do you struggle to decide what to cook for dinner each night? Do you end up reaching for the freezer or just chucking spuds in the oven and having them with baked beans from the can? We’re going to bring you a week’s worth of meals on a budget. The only thing you have to promise us is that you’ll go and find yourself a fresh market to get your veggies from. Not only will they be fresher and last longer in your fridge (saving you precious shopping time), they’ll be heaps cheaper too.
 
We shop once a week. A quick fly around Coles/Woolies/IGA for the essentials such as bread, rice milk, school lunches, cans of beans and frozen peas, on to the Asian deli for tofu of varying kinds and some spices and then to the fresh market for a trolley full of veggies. It’s about 15 mins further to drive to the fresh market rather than just going to our local Coles/Woolies/IGA but the fact that we can shop just once a week and have everything we need (plus the amazingly cheaper prices) makes that extra time totally worth it and still a massive saving when it comes to time AND those precious dollars that we all work so hard to earn.

This is the most simple, tasty comfort food recipe and it’s pretty damn healthy too! It’s quick to put together, and then you can get on with life while it cooks away in the oven.
 
You’ll need:

• A few leeks (2-4 depending on how big you’re making your dish)
• A handful of sweet potatoes
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• About a cup and a half to two cups of breadcrumbs
• A small handful of rosemary, chopped
• And a dash of oil

Salad dressing is pretty basic. You want a bit of acidity, a bit of sweetness and a little saltiness. Then add any other flavours you want to go with the salad you’re dressing (like herbs of varying kinds etc.).
 
If you use a screw top jar, you can just add your ingredients and shake. Easy. If you want to use fancy ingredients like herbs you can use a blender or small food processor to grind it all up. Otherwise it’s elbow grease and a mortar and pestle (or just a knife and a chopping board!). Chopped or crushed herbs make a great addition, though they will go a bit manky so you'll have to eat it a bit faster. No hardship there.
 
Here are some ideas for each of the elements you need…

There are a few tricks to eking 7 days out of your shopping but if you use these clever tips you'll save yourself time and money. There are also some tips on how to hide those 'oops' moments when cooking so your family and friends still love what you produce, even when it's actually gone completely pear-shaped!

Firstly, be clever about what meals you plan for when. We don’t have a strict meal plan for the week, but we always have the salads early on, when they are fresh from the market. Don’t leave your salad eating till the day before you shop again because chances are the salad will have begun to smell rather like the bottom of a manky river bed and some of it will be trying to become what I like to refer to as ‘liquid salad’. Seriously, it’s gross.

If you’re trying to make life easy and produce quick, simple meals that are healthy and tasty, you’ll want to stock your cupboard up with some of these essentials that will get you out of trouble every time.