We’re 11 days into April which means I’m 11 days into a monthly-meal plan.

How’s it going? Swimmingly! I keep wondering why I didn’t do this sooner!

The benefits have been significant:

• I know exactly what we’re eating each night which completely cancels out the daily what are we going to have for dinner? dilemma. As a result, there’s so much time, energy and brain space to spend elsewhere.
• I shop less because I know what ingredients I need well ahead of time and can buy in bulk when I’m at the grocery store.
• I can cook double-batches and know that the leftovers will get used later in the month.
• If circumstances change I just swap one weekday meal with another.
• I’m cooking a larger variety of meals because lots of repeated favourites get boring after a while (especially when you see them on paper!).

All in all, it’s well worth spending half-an-hour jotting down a meal plan for the month instead of cooking meals every night on a whim.

Last week I made bean nachos with corn salsa – a favourite that had somehow slipped off my radar. I had a few tins of kidney beans in the pantry and limes and corn are particularly cheap at the moment so it ticked a few boxes: vegetarian, budget-friendly and incredibly easy to make.

I found the recipe in a Bill Granger cookbook years ago (his recipes are fail-safe!) and I find it’s a great option for the whole family as there’s lot of different elements and flavours that the kids can try. Granted, Poet and Percy weren’t overly keen on the beans but they ate the rest of the tomato-based sauce as well as the salsa so I was happy. To add more vegies to the meal, slice avocado, capsicum, cucumber, carrots on the side and encourage your kids to dip them into the sauce.  

Bean Burritos 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 long red chilli, finely chopped (I omit)

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

2 x 400g tins kidney beans, rinsed

juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-7 minutes until the vegetables are slightly soft. Add the garlic, chilli and spices and cook for a few minutes until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes and stir well. Add the kidney beans and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to very low and simmer, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or until thick. Stir in the lime juice and coriander.

Heat tortillas, place bean mixture down the middle and wrap firmly or serve next to a generous handful of corn chips. Serve with sour cream or natural yoghurt and…

Corn Salsa

2 tbsp olive oil

2 corn cobs (cut the kernels off with a serrated knife)

1 celery stalk, diced

4 spring onions, finely chopped

handful chopped fresh coriander

1 tbsp lime juice

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add the corn and cook, stirring frequently for 3-4 minutes. Tip the corn into a large bowl and stir through the celery, spring onion, coriander, lime juice, chilli and remaining oil. Season with salt and black pepper.