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5 easy family dinners for £25 – Sweetcorn fritters, tortilla pizzas, chicken schnitzel...

From homemade pizzas ready in 15 minutes to comforting meatballs and garlic bread, enjoy five delicious midweek meals, all for less than £25*. We've done the hard work for you and prepared a shopping list, shown at the bottom of the page – you can either shop online, choose Click+Collect or screenshot the list before you head in-store.

  1. Monday: Middle Eastern broccoli and cauliflower couscous

    Monday: Middle Eastern broccoli and cauliflower couscous

    350g couscous
    ½ vegetable stock cube
    1 head of broccoli, cut into 4 thick slices
    1 cauliflower, cut into 4 thick slices
    1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
    2 garlic cloves, crushed
    1 lemon, ½ juiced, ½ cut into wedges
    200g houmous
    100g cherry tomatoes, quartered
    2 spring onions, thinly sliced

    1. Preheat the oven to gas 7, 220°C, fan 200°C. Place the couscous in a large, heatproof bowl and crumble in the stock cube. Mix to combine, then pour over 500ml boiling water. Season, then cover with clingfilm and set aside for 5 mins.

    2. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and spread over a baking tray. Top with the broccoli and cauliflower slices. Drizzle with half the olive oil and bake in the oven for 15 mins. Combine the garlic, lemon juice and houmous with 2 tbsp water. Brush the steaks generously with the houmous mixture and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season. Bake in the oven for a further 10 mins, until the cauliflower and broccoli are tender.

    3. Remove the tray from the oven and scatter over the tomatoes and spring onions. Divide the couscous and vegetables between 4 plates and serve with the lemon wedges on the side. Drizzle with a little more olive oil before serving.

  2. Tuesday: Sweetcorn fritters with crispy bacon

    Tuesday: Sweetcorn fritters with crispy bacon

    1 tbsp olive oil
    8 slices smoked streaky bacon
    100g plain flour
    1 x 325g tin sweetcorn, drained
    5 spring onions, finely sliced
    1 egg
    110g créme fraîche
    150g cherry tomatoes, quartered
    3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

    1. Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook for about 5-7 mins, turning once, until crisp on both sides. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon.

    2. Meanwhile, combine the flour, sweetcorn, 3 spring onions, egg, 50g creme fraiche and some seasoning in a mixing bowl.

    3. Heat the remaining olive oil in same frying pan on a medium heat. Add spoonfuls of the sweetcorn mixture to the pan, then smooth them out into a circle with the back of a spoon. Each fritter should be about 5-6cm in diameter and 1cm high. Cook in batches for about 4-5 mins per side until golden and cooked through.

    4. To serve, stack 3 fritters on a plate and dollop with the remaining creme fraiche. Top with tomatoes and spring onions, then drizzle with sweet chilli sauce. Serve the remaining chilli sauce on the side for dipping.

  3. Wednesday: Veggie tortilla pizzas

    Wednesday: Veggie tortilla pizzas

    8 tortilla wraps
    6 tbsp tomato purée
    6 salad tomatoes, sliced
    300g frozen sliced mixed peppers, defrosted
    2 x 240g packs mozzarella, torn
    4 eggs

    1. Preheat the oven to gas 7, 220°C, fan 200°C. For each pizza, layer two tortilla wraps on top of each other and spread the top of each with tomato purée, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Top with the salad tomatoes, mixed peppers and mozzarella.

    2. Carefully crack an egg onto each pizza and season. Place into the oven for around 10 mins until the white is set, the yolk is still runny and the cheese has melted. Enjoy immediately.

  4. Thursday: Couscous chicken schnitzel

    Thursday: Couscous chicken schnitzel

    For the sauce
    2 tbsp olive oil
    500g red cabbage, finely sliced
    ½ chicken stock cube, made up to 200ml
    300g chicken breasts, sliced in half and flattened
    1 tbsp plain flour
    1 egg, beaten
    For the couscous
    150g couscous
    60g wild rocket
    1 lemon, cut into wedges

    1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage and chicken stock. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 20 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

    2. Meanwhile, sprinkle the chicken breasts with the flour, shaking off any excess. Season. Place the beaten egg and couscous into two shallow bowls and coat each chicken breast in egg, followed by couscous.

    3. Heat the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until hot. Fry the chicken schnitzels in batches for about 4-5 mins per side until golden and cooked through.

    4. Serve the chicken schnitzels with the braised cabbage, rocket and lemon wedges.

  5. Friday: Meatballs and garlic bread bake

    Friday: Meatballs and garlic bread bake

    1 tbsp olive oil
    24 beef meatballs
    2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
    2 garlic cloves, crushed
    1 x 440g jar tomato and herb pasta sauce
    200g frozen sliced mixed peppers
    6 slices frozen garlic bread
    120g mixed leaf salad, to serve

    1. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. Heat the olive oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and fry for around 10 mins until browned on all sides, turning regularly. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the carrots to the pan and fry for 5-7 mins until starting to soften. Add the garlic for the final minute of cooking time.

    2. Add the meatballs back to the pan along with the tomato and herb pasta sauce, the sliced mixed peppers and 100ml water. Season.

    3. Top the meatballs with 6 slices of frozen garlic bread, then transfer to the oven and bake for around 20 mins until the garlic bread is golden and the meatballs are completely cooked through. Leave to stand for 5 mins before serving with salad.

  6. Shopping list

    Head to Tesco.com for a shopping list where you can buy everything you need for this week.

    Shopping list

    2 Tesco lemons
    1 Tesco garlic bulb
    2 Tesco loose carrots
    1 Tesco broccoli
    1 Tesco cauliflower
    1 Tesco red cabbage
    100g Tesco spring onions
    6-pack Tesco salad tomatoes
    250g bag Nightingale Farms cherry tomatoes
    60g bag Fresh & Naked wild rocket
    90g bag Fresh & Naked mixed leaf salad
    275g pack Woodside Farms streaky bacon
    672g pack Tesco 24 beef meatballs
    300g pack Tesco chicken breast fillets
    2 x 210g packs Creamfields mozzarella
    300ml pot Tesco crème fraiche
    6-pack Tesco medium free-range eggs
    200g pot Tesco hummus
    8-pack H.W. Nevill’s plain tortilla wraps
    325g tin Growers Harvest sweetcorn
    200g Growers Harvest tomato purée
    440g jar Hearty Food Co. tomato and herb pasta sauce
    220ml Encona Thai sweet chilli sauce
    500g pack Tesco couscous
    500g bag Tesco frozen sliced mixed peppers
    338g pack Hearty Food Co. frozen garlic baguettes

    From the storecupboard

    Plain flour, olive oil, vegetable stock cubes

    *Based on a family of four. Total cost is based on online prices at the time of publishing and is subject to change. Dependent on product availability, total basket price online may change due to substitutions.

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