Budget friendly summer family dinners - week 1

It’s never been easier to feed the whānau!

This week one summer meal plan has five easy and tasty dinner recipes that can feed four people. Download the shopping list and recipes to enjoy in season veges, zero food waste and nutritionally balanced dinners!

Tips for this meal plan

• Cook the poké and souvlaki in order, so the seasonal salad leaves are used up over the two days. Other than that, you can cook the meals in any order you like. 
• You can use salad ingredients you already have at home instead of buying a bag of seasonal salad leaves.
• To stop your salad leaves going soggy, open the bag when you get home and pop a piece of paper towel on each side of the bag, then fold it closed. This will absorb excess moisture and keep the leaves fresh.  
• Skinless chicken breast can be substituted with skinless thigh fillets if preferred.
• Instead of fresh corn cob kernels you can use frozen corn kernels and defrost when needed.  
• Eggs are listed as a staple ingredient – you’ll need three for the summer fritters. 

Some ingredients will be used across more than one meal in a week. These ingredients are all marked with a * so you know not to use all of the ingredient in one meal.

* Each meal plan of 5 meals is designed to use in-season fruit and veges. Fruit and vege growing conditions and pricing vary throughout each season, so choose cheaper in season fresh, or frozen substitutes if  a particular item is unseasonably expensive.

About the budget friendly family meal plans 

Zero food waste

These meal plans have been developed with the team at Love Food Hate Waste and are designed to be zero food waste. All the shopping list ingredients you buy should be used by the end of the week. For some meals you may have leftovers and the recipe will tell you whether they’re suitable for freezing or are best eaten the next day.

If there is an ingredient you or your family doesn’t like, swap it with one you’ll all enjoy and avoid waste

Ready-to-go shopping list

The shopping list tells you the ingredients to buy for the week. The pantry staples lists other ingredients you will need but are likely to have in your fridge or pantry already. Before going shopping check you have the staple ingredients and check your fridge, freezer and pantry as you may already have some of the ingredients on the list. 

If you view these recipes online and click ‘shop for ingredients’ the products added to your cart will reflect what’s available at your local store at the time – this may vary from week to week.

Some ingredients will be used across more than one meal in a week. These ingredients are all marked with a * so you know not to use all of the ingredient in one meal. 

Protein balance based on nutrition guidelines recommendations

These recipes are based on current nutritional guidelines. Varying the type of protein in your evening meals can help you get a good balance of nutrients.  A good guide is to aim to have fish once or twice a week, chicken with the skin removed once or twice a week, lean red meat twice a week, one egg-based meal, and one vegetarian meal. The ‘adapt it’ tips show you how to change up the recipe to enhance the nutritional content or change ingredients to suit your dietary needs.