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Please help me to plan a weekly menu incorporating all these food preferences (before I boil my own head!)

14 replies

LadyBumps · 29/04/2019 21:20

I'll try to summarise briefly without outing myself/new lodger...

New lodger (gap year student) has Asperger's and is absolutely lovely and very high-functioning, however food causes her real anxiety. Part of the deal of us hosting her is that we provide meals (for various reasons, asking her to cook for herself wouldn't work).

When she first arrived I tried to accommodate her food preferences (mostly meat & beige oven food, though she does also like fish) and I was just about managing to balance that with a fairly picky DS, vegetarian DD and DH & I on Slimming World.

However, she has just told me that she needs to lose weight and wants to eat more healthily. Trouble is, she likes very few fruits/vegs/grains/rice/noodles so I'm fairly stuck with pasta & potatoes. I have asked her to Google SW recipes & find some she likes, which she has, but they all contain meat so I'm still stuck with needing a second option for veggie DD.

To ease the stress of meal planning & cooking I have tried to devise a weekly menu:

Monday: meatballs & spaghetti (Quorn balls for DH, DD & I, meat for DS & lodger) same tomato sauce for everyone.
Tuesday: veg chilli (DH, DD & I) with jackets potatoes, cheese & beans/tuna etc for DS & lodger.
Wednesday....what the badger can I cook that isn't pasta or potatoes?!?! PLEASE HELP :)
Thursday: pasta bake (various recipes)
Friday: various fish recipes (DH, DS, lodger & I) veggie burger for DD
Saturday: meat & veggie curries
Sunday: roast dinner with veggie option.

I'm looking for a 'category' that I can vary recipes within but still have some structure to ease my troubled brow (like pizza or fajitas - but not those as neither are great on SW.) Also trying to balance it against Tuesday's potatoes & Thursday's pasta...

Any ideas please?

OP posts:
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TheWoollybacksWife · 29/04/2019 21:36

When I make fajitas I have the spicy meat and veg stirred into rice as I'm not a huge fan of wraps - it's not too much extra hassle cooking a single portion of rice.

I've had pizza at a friend's house when she was doing SW. She used Asda wholemeal bread mix and said it was free on Slimming World. (It was a year or so ago and I think some of the free foods have changed since then though.)

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BlueSkiesLies · 29/04/2019 21:36

Wow. Rod for your own back there!

I’d probably just do lots of combinations of grilled meat or fish for most of you, something like tofu or field mushrooms for the veggie. Then carbs and lots of veggies. The lodger doesn’t have to eat the veggies, and you don’t have to eat the carbs if you don’t want.

Sounds like a nightmare TBH

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QueenofCBA · 29/04/2019 21:43

Wraps with a “buffet” of ingredients, you can use lettuce as the wrap.

Omelette with different fillings.

Stir fry with different “add-ons”.

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MoodLighting · 29/04/2019 21:48

What veg/carbs does the lodger like?

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Ricekrispie22 · 30/04/2019 05:22

Low syn toad in the hole pinchofnom.com/recipes/low-syn-toad-in-the-hole-slimming-world/ and just use veggie sausages for your dd’s portion.

Syn free burgers pinchofnom.com/recipes/syn-free-tex-mex-burgers-slimming-world/ with veggie version for dd.

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AwdBovril · 30/04/2019 05:35

Things on toast. Vary the toast - maybe pumpernickel for you & DH (it doesn't sound like she'd eat it, although you can offer).
Baked beans, scrambled/fried eggs, peanut butter & sliced banana, avocado & poached egg, bacon & mushrooms, etc. Offer a variety, everyone choose in advance what they want from 2-3 options per night.

Or, toasted sandwiches/ regular sandwiches, & a side salad. You have a small sandwich with a lean protein filling, & mainly salad.

Wraps sound doable, with you having lettuce as the wrap.

Maybe some days you have a big salad, they just have something different? Does the lodger like any salad at all that could be a side salad or otherwise included in her meal?

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sashh · 30/04/2019 05:40

Rice, quinoa or another grain or is that a 'no' category?

Assuming you can go rice get a rice cooker.

Add rice and various veg, a can of coconut milk and a bit of water, I would normally put a bit of salmon on top but with a vegi you might want to put the fish in foil or cook separately.

Sweet potatoes instead of ordinary - less carb and calories but you can bake or mash them the same, actually 10mns in a microwave and you can squeeze 'ready mashed' sweet potato out of the skin.

Fish 'pizza' - basically any white fish and top with tomato sauce, onions, pepperoni - any pizza toppings, you can do individual ones to suit vegi or other preferences.

Some sort of stew, probably negi, i do an aubergine in tomato bake, similar to a pasta bake but with slices of aubergine, it would also work with courgettes.

Stuffed portobello mushrooms.

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LadyBumps · 30/04/2019 07:25

Thanks for the replies, appreciate it.

Moodlighting - carrots & peas. Only cucumber from salad veg.

Sashh - she's experimenting with rice, for which I am very grateful! Allows for the curries at the weekend. I'm going to try her with couscous tomorrow, but it really does have to be softly softly as trying new foods causing her huge anxiety. If she likes couscous, then I've got some nice one-tin roasting recipes :)

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sashh · 30/04/2019 07:36

Lady

My carer doesn't have a diagnosis but has some ASD 'traits' and also due to his mother forcing food down him as a child (literally, not just saying you have to eat it) has issues with food.

I'll occasionally ask him if he wants to try something I'm eating, rice has been a 'well I could eat it if I was starving'. He also needed to add mint sauce.

He will eat carrots if mashed with swede and broccoli and cauliflower but no other fruit or veg unless it is potato in some form and the cauliflower can't be pure, 'rice' with cheese, just boiled or steamed florets.

When you said beige I thought of him. He doesn't eat eggs either but if your lodger does then there are various omelettes,scrambled,poached eggs you can make.

But one thing about his diet is that he doesn't get bored of the same thing. I tend to keep a few bits in the freezer for the times we both eat together.

'His' shelf in the freezer has fish fingers, 'roast' potatoes, oven chips, sausages, fish in breadcrumbs and cauliflower.

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Cloudtree · 30/04/2019 07:46

Moroccan tray bake

cherry tomatoes
butternut squash
carrots
(all chopped into chunks)
Soya pieces (you can all eat this whether or not veggie since the sauce will make it taste the same anyway)
chickpeas

cover whole lot in tagine paste and roast for 20 minutes. Serve with salad or a flat bread or cous cous.

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PurpleCrowbar · 30/04/2019 07:49

Would shepherd's pie work? Batch cook the Bolognese - if you'll all happily eat a vegetarian version with quorn or lentils, do that, or if some of the family want beef just make two versions, store in 2-3 person portion bags in freezer. Defrost beef/veggie versions as required, top with mash in separate baking dishes, into the oven, serve with steamed veg for the less fussy members? Or are you not allowed mash on SW?

Also home made potato wedges with whatever else you're cooking (eg maybe grilled fish/chicken/quorn to suit individuals) - anyone who wants to minimise their carbs can go easy on them & top up with masses of salad?

New potatoes now they're in season? With grilled something & salad as above?

Still very potato-y - sorry!

Or big plates of stir fry (fry meat/prawns separately for non veggies to add) with steamed rice?

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DontCallMeBaby · 30/04/2019 07:58

How about soup as a theme? Plenty of veggie options for soup. Bread for the kids and lodger, none for you and DH unless you can afford it on SW. Go for hearty soups so you’ll miss the bread less. Anyone not guaranteed to like the homemade option has a supply of tins in the cupboard (this is our method - DD pretty much won’t accept any soup that’s not Heinz cream of tomato 🙄).

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MollysLips · 30/04/2019 09:18

I thought soup too, but you probably couldn't do that in the height of summer, sadly.

When the weather is consistently warm, could you be arsed to do what about a BBQ? If you've got a good BBQ (like a gas one) they're quite easy and quick mid-week, and it seems more fun than a normal tea. Plus it's very easy to do them healthily.

Poor you, though. That's a lot of dietary considerations!

Or salads?

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littlequestion · 30/04/2019 09:31

Beany wraps are a big hit in our house. In saucepan, chuck in kidney beans, borlotti beans, peppers, onion, garlic, 1 or 2 tins of tomatoes and whatever spices you like. Once cooked, put the chilli in wraps (two per person), with some grated cheese inside the wraps too. More grated cheese on top of the wraps, together with some of the tomato sauce from the chilli (otherwise the wraps get too dry). Bake for about 10 mins (once cheese has melted).

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