This is it! The very first one!!!! I'm so excited for you to see what I've got in store. This was my first official run to see if shopping under $85 for 5 dinners was possible, so forgive me if this one isn't perfect. I learnt so much from it, so things will only get better. But I hope it inspires you to make something you've never made before, all while shopping on a budget!
There's a bean chilli with coriander sour cream, a roast chicken tray bake, a green pearl barley risotto, some banging noodles and a creamy sausage orzo. If you've never tried a pearl barley risotto, it's just delicious, and that veggie green sauce is SO tasty! All of it out of one shop.
Five proper dinners for 2 to 3 people, with leftovers built in. Nothing sitting sad or leftover in the fridge by Sunday.
One whole chicken does two dinners here, roasted with the tray veg on the night, then shredded through the noodles later in the week. One bag of coriander does three, with the stalks blitzed into the roast marinade and the leaves through the chilli cream and over the noodles. The carrots turn up in four of the five. That's what keeps it under $85, not buying less food.
Download this week's full PDF here
Get all your shopping lists and recipes for the week in one place.
But if you just want each recipe, you can click on the title of each one, and there is a separate shopping list at the end too!
This week's dinners
Bean Chilli & Coriander Sour Cream
Beans and chickpeas in a deep, spiced tomato sauce over rice, with a cool coriander sour cream on top.
Chef's tip: Keep your coriander stalk ends in a container in the freezer. Next time you make a ramen or a stock, throw them in.
Swaps
- Sour cream: swap for plain yoghurt
- Four bean mix: swap for any tin of beans you've got
- Stock cube: leave it out and use water, or if you make your own use that!
Roast Chicken Tray Bake with Chickpeas & Cauliflower
This easy roast that even does a little prep for another meal! Win. A whole chicken sat on top of new potatoes, carrots and chickpeas, all tossed in a green marinade made from coriander stalks and garlic.
Chef's tip: keep the carcass. Simmered with veg peelings and cold water for 45 to 60 minutes, it's a great way to make stock if you don't want to buy cubes. I mean, I know a little hard work, but it does help you save, and then there is no waste!
Swaps
- Whole chicken: swap for thighs or drumsticks. It means a little less time in the oven.
- Cauliflower: swap for broccoli, or whatever's cheap that week
- Chilli flakes: leave them out entirely if you'd rather
Pearl Barley Green Risotto & Roasted Carrots
An incredible way to turn one of the cheapest grains in the supermarket into a bowl that looks like it came out of a restaurant. The green comes almost entirely from freezer staples.
Chef's tip: cook the barley in stock rather than water, and it seasons itself from the inside; that one change does most of the work here.
Want to see how to make it? Watch here.
Swaps
- Parmesan: swap for the last dry end of any hard cheese, even a scrap of blue
- Chicken stock: swap for vegetable stock and the whole dish is vegetarian
- Yoghurt on the carrots: leave it out, just use the spices
Leftover Chicken & Veg Noodles
The dinner that finishes off roast chicken and takes about fifteen minutes from cold pan to bowl. Charred broccoli and mushrooms in a glossy oyster and five spice sauce.
Chef's tip: cook it in batches on a properly hot pan. A crowded pan steams instead of charring, and the char is the whole point.
Swaps
- Leftover chicken: swap for firm tofu or even just a fried egg!
- Thin noodles: swap for egg noodles or whatever's in the cupboard
- Oyster sauce: swap for extra soy and a little honey
Sausage & Leek Orzo
The dinner that is simple for a Friday, but tastes absolutely great! Orzo cooked right in the stock so it turns creamy on its own.
Chef's tip: orzo keeps drinking the stock as it sits, so loosen leftovers with a splash of water when you reheat, and it comes right back.
Swaps
- Sausages: swap for a tin of drained butter beans for a vegetarian version
- Orzo: swap for any small pasta shape
- Sour cream: swap for a splash of cream or a knob of butter
This Week's Shopping List
Written in the order you'd actually walk around the shop, so no doubling back.
Fruit & Veg
- 1kg carrots
- 2 onions
- 1 leek
- 1 broccoli
- 1/2 cauliflower
- 500g potatoes
- 185g mushrooms
- 1 bag coriander (100g)
- 1 pack garlic
Meat
- 1 whole chicken, about 1.4kg
- 1 pack of 6 sausages
Chilled & Frozen
- 1 pot sour cream (250g)
- 750g frozen baby peas
- 1kg frozen chopped spinach
Dry Goods & Tins
- 500g pearl barley
- 500g risoni
- 1 x 375g pack thin noodles
- Jasmine rice (1kg)
- 2 x 400g chickpeas
- 1 x 400g whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 x 400g four bean mix
- Sunflower seeds (70g)
22 items.
Download the shopping list
If you didn't already download the full PDF!
Budget Tip of the Week
Buy the bird whole, and have a proper look before you pick one up, because whole chickens go on special constantly. Mine was $12.99 for 1.4kg of free-range, and that one bird gave me the tray roast and Thursday's noodles. Buy the same weight in pieces and it will cost you more.
Pantry Staples Reminder
The same handful of staples come up week to week. If your pantry's stocked with these, you're always halfway there.
- Olive oil, sesame oil
- Salt and pepper
- Smoked paprika, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, fennel seeds, chilli flakes, Chinese five spice
- Stock cubes
- Dijon mustard, oyster sauce, soy sauce
- Honey, cornflour
- Sesame seeds
Do your MEP
Mise en place, every single time. Before you start cooking, read the recipe all the way through and get your chopping done first. Have everything measured out and sitting ready to go so that when it's time to actually cook, you're not stopping halfway through to peel an onion. It makes the whole thing calmer and quicker.
A few ways to make this week even easier
Save time: make the coriander marinade and the coriander sour cream in one go, they use the same bunch, stalks in one and leaves in the other.
Save money: take the yellow sticker if you're cooking it today or freezing it tonight, and buy the brand that's on special rather than the one you always buy. Check the price per 100g on the shelf label.
Save energy: get the chicken stock on while the tray bake is still in the oven, then it's done and cooling before you've washed up.
Total spend: $73.01 NZD (under $85)
Enjoy! Del x
A note on the price: this is the shop I do every week here at Dishes with Del HQ, at New World Supermarket, here on the South Island, September 2026. Depending on where you live and shop, you'll probably have a good chance of getting it in even cheaper, especially if you've got a choice of shops or markets. So you can either save the rest, or splash out on an extra ingredient. And if you're doing the shop in store, it's always worth a quick look to see if what you need comes another way that's a bit cheaper, maybe something's on special, or the brand you were eyeing up is actually cheaper in another one.
