Mum’s 14-day quarantine meal prep – it’s cheap and very creative

One mum has come up with a Sh9,000 (£70), 14-day meal prep plan in a bid to stop the public panic-buying.

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Lorna Rich, started her Instagram account @athriftymum in January to share her cost-cutting lifestyle as a new mum.

Whilst on maternity leave Lorna gave her followers an insight into what she eats with her husband and her five-month old baby Casper.

The trick to Lorna’s thrifty meal prep is root veg, the occasional stew and optimising the freezer.

She said: “This isn’t a super scrimpy meal plan – it’s buying sensibly and making higher priced ingredients, such as chicken, go a long way by padding out with veg and healthy grains – it’s a fresh, healthy, wholesome set of meals that are going to keep your immune system up.

“It’s all about clever batch cooking to enable healthy, fresh where possible, nutritious food.

“It’s not 500 ways with a tin of Spam – but it’s thrifty and it’s cheap.”

She also reminds her followers that whilst she is in no way a nutritionist, she has tried her best to keep her meals as healthy as possible.

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Even though a few items on Lorna’s shopping list are difficult to pick up in the shops right now – like pasta and frozen vegetables – she says you can easily swap out ingredients to whatever you have in your cupboards.

She recommends always having frozen vegetables, some kind of dried carbs or pulses, tinned tomatoes, stock cubes and porridge oats in the cupboards as you can easily cook a number of different meals with them.

And in regards to coping with the lockdown Lorna said: “People need to give themselves a bit of a break – just relax and do what you can.

“Try and get the kids involved in cooking if you’re happy to do that, – but if they end up eating pasta with tomato sauce on for five nights a week, it’s not going to kill them!”

Here’s a look at what Lorna used for her meal prep.

Ingredients

Fruit and veg:

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• Bananas – buy green so they can ripen at home!
• Apples – last for ages in the fridge
• Butternut squash
• Carrots
• Celery
• Garlic
• Onions
• Potatoes – baking potatoes are helpful!
• Sweet potatoes
• Peppers
• Fruit juice

Herbs and spices:

• Mint
• Coriander
• Dill
• Basil
• Thyme – fresh or dried, both work!
• Cumin
• Chilli
• Paprika

Dairy:

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• Cheese
• Butter or spread
• Milk

Meat:

• Chicken – whole or pieces
• Beef – braising steak or veggie sausages work instead
• Mince 

Frozen:

• Peas
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Fruit for smoothies

Cupboard:

• Eggs
• Crumpets
• Bread – two loaves so one can go in the freezer
• Burger buns – freeze these
• Long-life rye bread
• Wraps
• Naan bread
• Crackers
• Pasta – one pack will do
• Rice
• Poppadoms
• Risotto rice
• Cereal – two boxes
• Porridge oats
• Stock cubes – chicken, beef, or veggie
• Chicken gravy granules
• Chickpeas
• Black beans
• Kidney beans
• Baked beans
• Tinned tomatoes
• Tinned sweetcorn
• Tinned salmon or tuna
• Red lentils
• Pesto
• Coconut milk
• UHT milk or any alternative you like
• Tinned fruit
• Honey
• Vegetable oil

Week 1 Meals

Sunday

Breakfast: Crumpets and fruit juice

Lunch: Root veg soup – make a big batch for the freezer too

Dinner: Pot roast chicken stew, roast potatoes, green beans

Monday

Breakfast: Eggs on toast with tinned tomatoes (or fresh)

Lunch: Cheesy beans on toast

Dinner: Chicken or fajitas with black beans

Tuesday

Breakfast: Bananas on toast with fruit juice

Lunch: Quesadillas – butternut squash, chickpeas, cheese, wraps

Dinner: Chicken noodle soup and homemade soda bread

Wednesday

Breakfast: Porridge with frozen fruit, fruit juice

Lunch: Jacket potatoes, tuna and sweetcorn

Dinner: Dahl, rice, poppadoms

Thursday

Breakfast: Beans on toast, fruit juice

Lunch: Dahl soup (blend up last night’s leftovers), naan bread

Dinner: Tuna pasta bake

Friday

Breakfast: Cereal, frozen banana smoothie

Lunch: Pasta with broccoli and pesto

Dinner: Veggie chilli, sweet potato wedges

Saturday

Breakfast: Banana pancakes, frozen fruit, fruit juice

Lunch: Black bean quesadillas, cheese, sweet potato wedges

Dinner: Tinned salmon, frozen pea and mint risotto

Week 2 Meals

Sunday

Breakfast: Eggs on toasted rye bread with frozen spinach

Lunch: Beef or veggie sausage stew with root veg mash

Dinner: Dahl soup

Monday

Breakfast: Porridge with frozen fruit and honey

Lunch: Omelette, frozen spinach, cheese

Dinner: Beef or Quorn sausage stew, root veg mash, frozen broccoli

Tuesday

Breakfast: Cereal with frozen banana smoothie

Lunch: Jacket potato with baked beans

Dinner: Veggie curry (frozen from week before) with rice

Wednesday

Breakfast: Porridge with tinned fruit

Lunch: Soup, crackers, cheese

Dinner: Pasta with tinned tomatoes, tinned sweetcorn, frozen peas, and cheese

Thursday

Breakfast: Beans on toast – use your frozen loaf

Lunch: Jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn

Dinner: Homemade salmon fishcakes, frozen broccoli, frozen spinach

Friday

Breakfast: Cereal with a frozen fruit smoothie

Lunch: Soup, crackers, cheese

Dinner: Shepherd’s pie with root veg

Saturday

Breakfast: Banana pancakes with frozen fruit

Lunch: Leftover shepherd’s pie with baked beans

Dinner: Homemade spiced bean burgers with sweet potato wedges

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