As some of you may remember, last year I reviewed $10 Meals with Chelsea, hailing it ‘the book that halved my grocery spend!’ Big call, right? But absolutely true! I still cook from it and rave about it to friends 11 months on. So, you can probably guess at my delight when I heard a couple of months ago through the $10 Meals Australia Facebook group that Chelsea Goodwin was hard at work on her second book. I’m not too proud to admit that I was onto her publisher for a review copy so quick I may have had tiny sparks flying from my fingers as I typed! Haha!

So, for the last 2 weeks I’ve been in possession of’Money-Saving Meal Plans with Chelsea (which is being released today —15^th April 2025) and have been putting it through its paces so that I can share whether I think it’s worth the (small) investment.

Spoiler alert: It’s freaking amazing, and although I’ve only got through the ‘week one’ recipes, I have a feeling I’m going to love this book even more than the first one! I know, right!

Week One – Money-Saving Meal Plans with Chelsea

The Cost of Groceries

If like me, you find choosing what to cook every night exhausting, you’ll love having 8 week’s worth of meals planned out for you. I love being able to sit on the couch with my cuppa and my laptop doing my online shopping off a list. No thinking required!

The cost of my Week One shop at Woolworths came in at $101.56, although your total will vary depending on where you shop, if you decide to substitute with any of the ‘Swap ‘n Save’ ingredients, and what items you already have in your pantry.

Confession: I did purchase 2 tubs of thickened cream ‘cos my family like their food drowning in sauce and I planned to make a double batch of the Creamy Lemon Chicken Spaghetti because leftovers are the best —especially when you have growing teens home on school holidays!

The Meals

Creamy Garlic Chicken

Chelsea is right! The sauce is divine! Rather than halving my chicken horizontally I chopped them into chunks (just as a personal preference). My kids absolutely devoured this meal!

Middle Eastern Bowls (mildly spiced but not spicy)

This meal had so much flavour, and even my spice adverse daughter really enjoyed it. Love all the colours on the plate too. Honestly, I could eat this every day. 15 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook is my kind of mid-week meal. I can finish work, sneak in a quick gym class, and still have dinner on the table by 6.30pm!

Creamy Lemon Chicken Spaghetti

I know you’re probably looking at this and wondering where the chicken is. I was too! You see, the cooked chicken that I’d kept aside from the first meal went walkabout from the fridge! Seriously, nothing is safe during school holidays! So I had to improvise and add bacon instead. Which, by the way, worked beautifully still!

Spiced Mince, Silverbeet and Feta Pastries

Having a huge bag of spinach in my fridge, I opted to use that instead of buying silverbeet. The plan was to serve these for dinner with a salad, but they smelled so amazing when they came out of the oven that they all got snaffled up and I was told between mouthfuls, “You have to make these again! They are sooooo good!”

Chorizo and Potato Stew

I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious this was. So flavourful and satiating — the perfect comfort food as the weather grows colder. I added extra veggies that I had in the fridge that needed to be used up – so it’s super versatile too!

Evie’s Easy Chicken Burgers

I left one of my teenage son’s alone with the book and the ingredients to tackle Evie’s Chicken Burgers and was not disappointed. This book is so clearly written, with easy-to-follow steps, that its perfect for beginner home cooks as well as more experienced ones.

Spiced Spirals

Delicious. I loved how quick this dinner was to prepare too, as I already had the meat cooked and stored in the fridge from when I made the Middle Eastern bowls near the start of the week. (Some was also used in the spiced mince pasties making them quick and easy to throw together too.)

Things I Love About Money-Saving Meal Plans with Chelsea

The Week at a Glance

Everything you need to know about the meals for the week are clearly laid out at the start of each week so you can see at a glance what is involved. My advice is do NOT skip this page. It’ll help you to understand how the various meal bases will be used in different meals throughout the week i.e. the spiced mice that is used for the Middle Eastern bowls, the pasties and the pasta, and the creamy sauce that was used for the chicken and rice dinner, and the spaghetti dish 2days later. This ‘cook once use twice’ or even three times method is genius. Not only does it help to keep cost down, but it also makes meal prep so much easier, and you never feel like you are eating the same meal twice.

The Grocery List

The grocery list page lays out clearly all the ingredients you’ll need for the week, so you can buy just the right amount. No food waste!

Swap ‘n’ Save

If you are working on a tighter budget, are busy, tired or catering to unexpected guests or special dietary requirements, Chelsea lists potential substitutes, cheaper alternatives and ideas for using up leftovers! Seriously! She’s thought of everything!

Recipe Rescue

This is also a very handy page with tips on how to rescue a meal if it’s too salty, too sweet, too sour, too spicy, too bland or too runny.

Suitable for All

The simple to follow recipes are suitable for all levels of cooking experience. I love that I can leave the book on the bench and nominate one of my kids to get started on the meal prep if my work day runs on a bit long or have them cook the entire meal. I get help without having to go into long explanations of what I need, and they learn new skills and grow their confidence in the kitchen!

The Handy Index

If you are just looking for a single meal idea rather than a weekly meal plan, I recommend flicking to the handy index at the back. Here you’ll find all the recipes sorted by theme such as dairy free, fakeaway favourites, flavour bombs, one base two or more dishes, gluten free, on the table in 30 minutes or less, one-pot meals, side dishes and vegetarian.

The Verdict

It’ll come as no surprise that I have no hesitation on recommending Money-Saving Meal Plans with Chelsea by Chelsea Goodwin. You don’t necessity want to stretch your budget to love this book. If you’d just love to learn to cook flavourful meals with fresh ingredients that your family will love, this book is perfect for that too.

My advice is grab one wherever you can, before they fly off the shelves! You won’t regret it!

Disclosure: I was gifted this book for the purposed of providing an honest review. All thought and opinions expressed here are my own. 

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