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Budget friendly summer family dinners - week 3

Week 3 of our summer meal plan that make shopping and cooking easy and affordable. Zero food waste and nutritionally balanced.

It’s never been easier to feed the whānau!
This week three 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!

Print or save shopping list and recipes

Week 3 meal plan

Week three features a tender sweet chilli chicken with a side of cheesy corn, a Chinese-style mince and noodle salad, easy enchiladas, a quick and easy laksa, and Bahn-mi inspired pizza. Download and print the planner and shopping list here. 
Tips for this meal plan
  • You can cook the dishes in this week’s meal plan in any order you like. Cooking the pizza at the end is a great way to add any remaining veggies that haven’t been used up earlier in the week. 
  • Spaghetti is a shared ingredient used in the creamy coconut laksa and spicy noodle salad. If preferred, use rice noodles or egg noodles instead.
  • Bok choy is another shared ingredient. This can be substituted with broccoli, peas, snow peas, or green beans if desired. 
  • For a richer flavour and extra spice add some red curry paste after sautéing the onions. 

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.