5 easy family dinners for £25 - Beef pasties, spinach pasta, meatball risotto...

Monday: Meatball, spinach and tomato risotto

4 Woodside Farms pork sausages
250g cherry tomatoes
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 small Redmere Farms red onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
350g arborio risotto rice
1 reduced-salt vegetable stock cube, made up to 1ltr
125g fresh spinach
25g unsalted butter
50g grated Creamfields Grana Padano

1. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. Remove the skin from the sausages, divide each into 4 and roll into small balls to make 16 meatballs. Transfer to one side of a baking tray lined with nonstick baking paper. Add the tomatoes to the other side of the tray, season and scatter over the rosemary. Drizzle everything with ½ tbsp oil and roast for 20 mins, turning the meatballs halfway.

2. Meanwhile, heat ½ tbsp oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 mins until starting to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 1 min. Add the rice and cook for 1 min more, before adding a ladleful of hot stock. Cook, stirring continuously, until the stock has been absorbed, then add another ladleful. Continue to cook like this for 15-18 mins until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is al dente. Stir through the spinach.

3. Remove from the heat and stir through the butter, 30g Grana Padano and the tomatoes. Divide the risotto between 4 plates and top each with 4 meatballs. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Wednesday: Caramelised onion and beef pasties

2 tbsp olive oil
3 small Redmere Farms red onions, finely sliced
1 tsp caster sugar
400g 15% fat beef steak mince
2 garlic cloves, crushed
125g Grower's Harvest frozen peas
375g pack lighter puff pastry
plain flour, for dusting
3 tbsp milk
1 round Nightingale Farms lettuce, washed and shredded
1 carrot, peeled and grated
80g cherry tomatoes, halved
½ tbsp white wine vinegar

1. Heat ½ tbsp oil in a saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions, sugar and a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until caramelised. Tip into a bowl; set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat ½ tbsp oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook the mince for 7 mins or until browned. Add the garlic and peas; cook for 3 mins. Spoon into the bowl with the onions, leaving any liquid behind in the pan. Leave to cool completely.

3. Meanwhile, unroll the pastry on a large, lightly floured piece of non-stick baking paper. Using an 18cm cake tin as a template, cut out 4 circles (rerolling the pastry as necessary) and place on a lined tray, then chill in the fridge while the mince cools. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C.

4. Divide the mince between the pastry circles, spooning it onto one half of the pastry, leaving a 2cm border. Brush the rim with milk, then fold over the other half of pastry; press to seal the edges. Brush all over with milk, then bake for 25-30 mins until golden.

5. Mix the lettuce, carrot and tomatoes in a bowl. Drizzle over the final 1 tbsp oil and the vinegar. Season; toss well to coat. Serve with the warm pasties.

Friday: Fish with parsnip chips and cheat's mushy peas

550g parsnips, peeled and cut into chips
2 rosemary sprigs, leaved picked and roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
4 Hearty Food Co. breaded pollock fillets
30g butter
350g Grower's Harvest frozen peas
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. Put the parsnips on a baking tray lined with nonstick baking paper. Scatter over the rosemary, season and drizzle with the oil. Toss well to coat, then roast for 30 mins.

2. After 10 mins, put the fish on a second lined baking tray and bake on the shelf below the parsnips for 20 mins.

3. Melt the butter in a lidded saucepan over a medium heat. Add the peas; cover and cook for 4-5 mins until cooked. Remove from the heat, then roughly mash. Add the vinegar and season to taste. Serve with the fish and parsnip chips.