Meal Plan 4 – butter beans, oats and parsnips

Aug 27, 2025 | 0 comments

Meal Plan 4

As at the time of writing, August 2025 you will need £23.73 in your purse at the checkout, but the amount of food actually consumed (if you follow the plan fully) comes to £18.74, so £1.34 a day per person, and you still have some supplies to start you off for next weeks shopping

Carrot and raisin sparkling water loaf

It would probably be useful to make the Herb Bread and Carrot & Raisin Loaf in advance at a convenient time to you, portion them and freeze them, or wrap them well so they don’t dry out during the week.

Get raisins if you can, otherwise any dried fruit at this price level. Raisins give you a purple portion

priced at Asda August 2025	You will need	left at the end of the week	Aug-25
a lemon			£0.30
500g dried butter beans
4 tins butter beans			£1.96
500g parsnips			£0.74
1kg onions, red or white	800g	200g, 14p	£0.69
1 bulb garlic			£0.39
1kg carrots			£0.69
10 stock cubes	4	6, 59p	£1.18
SP self raising flour, 1.5kg		89g, 4p	£0.78
6 value pitta			£0.50
curry powder		most of it, £1.10	£1.35
1 tin value tomatoes			£0.45
200g tube tomato puree	freeze leftovers		£0.72
SP potatoes, 2kg	we need 2.5kg, so have added a pk of baking potatoes		£1.35
pack of 4 baking potatoes			£0.79
frozen peas, 1kg	845g	155g, 24p	£1.54
vegetable oil, 1 litre		38g, 7p	£1.99
granulated sugar, 1kg	340g	660g, 72p	£1.09
2 tins value sweetcorn, or 1kg frozen			£1.16
2 litres UHT milk or 4 pints fresh			£1.65
value oats, 1 kg			£0.89
value raisins, 500g			£1.68
vanilla extract, 35ml	extract is beyind the budget this time, so I’ve reverted to essence	most of it, can be omitted, 50p	£0.79
value mixed herbs		most of them, 50p	£0.60
2 x 7g sachets yeast			£0.45


Total	£18.74	£4.99	£23.73
	£1.34 pppd

Nutrition
2000 plus 2500 calories per day
9% protein, 37% fat, 54% carbs, 26g fibre, pppd
Govt. recommendations 10-35% protein, 20-35% fat, 45-65% carb, 25g fibre pppd
Current recommendations have moved from 5 a Day for fruit & veg, to 7 a Day.
This plan has a total of 7 red, 22 orange, 50 green and 64 white, 25 purple portions. This provides, per person, a total of 11 portions of fruit and veg per person, per day

Spicy Red Lentil Soup in a white bowl

	breakfast	lunch	dinner
day 1	Granola	Butter beans with sauted mixed veg	Vegetable casserole and dumplings
day 2	Carrot & raisin loaf	Pea Soup with Tomato scone or Herb bread	Butter bean and vegetable curry
day 3	Granola	Butter bean pate with pitta	Vegetable casserole and dumplings
day 4	Carrot & raisin loaf	Spiced parsnip soup with Tomato scone or Herb bread	Sweetcorn fritters, peas and oven wedges
day 5	Granola	Pea Soup with Tomato scone or Herb bread	Butter bean and vegetable curry
day 6	Granola	Butter bean pate with pitta	Sweetcorn fritters, peas and oven wedges
day 7	rosti (pots, onions) with sweetcorn	Spiced parsnip soup with Tomato scone or Herb bread	Gigantes plaki and pitta

	Cakes & Bakes	Tomato scones, use with soup Flapjacks, Herb bread, use with soup,Pancakes with lemon and sugar

Prep for the week

The granola makes 1.7kg of mix. You can be as generous as you like with the portions, the limiting factor will be any milk available. I like it just spooned up dry as a snack. If you and the 2nd person need 2000 and 2500 calories, you may well need to use all of the mix during the week. If you want to make the 12 portions mentioned in the recipe, so keeping it for next week as well, or spreading it over more people, 1.7kg/12 is just over 140g per portion, 340 calories including milk

You could just mix the oats and raisins together and use as a muesli, maybe making half as granola, half as muesli

What will freeze this week

If you want to get ahead and make any of the recipes and freeze ready for another day:-

The pea or parsnip soup freeze well, all soups tend to freeze well.
The scones, once made, whenever that is, should also be frozen as scones stale very quickly
The butter bean pate will freeze well, wrap in individual portions for convenience
The herb bread and carrot and raisin bread freeze beautifully. Wait until you can portion them and wrap separately
Any of the main meals can be made in advance and frozen if you wish
Don’t make the pancakes in advance if you are making the eggless version. They are delicious eaten straight away, but go flabby if left.