I decided to go back on the menu planning bandwagon, and trying to organise recipes and ideas. There has been a few similar threads, but they are all quite all so wanted to create a new one
Would love to see your meal plans/ideas/how and where you plan.
At the moment I have a mix of trello boards / physical calendar on the fridge and my notes. Will see what works later on.
My January menu, really hoping to stick to it:
Wed 8st– Salmon with parmesan herb crust, quinoa and salad Thu 9th– Leftovers Fri 10th– Beef burgers with mix of sweet potato and normal fries, cheat aioli (defrost burgers the day before) Sat 11th– Egg benedict for breakfast Cheddar broccoli soup for lunch Vegetarian moussaka and salad for dinner Sun 12th– Pancakes with frozen blueberries for breakfast Leftovers for lunch and dinner Mon 13th– Roasted chicken with red cabbage and potato wedges Tue 14th– Chicken and broccoli bake (with leftover chicken, defrost Christmas cabbage the day before) Wed 15th– Swedish meatballs with mash and lingonberry jam with cucumber salad Thu 16th– Leftovers Fri 17th– Out Sat 18th– Pasta with ragu (Jamie Oliver recipe. Planning to cook it in advance and freeze) and garlic bread (Tasty) Sun 19th– Clear-the-fridge for breakfast Leftovers for lunch Greek quesadillas with tzatziki sauce for dinner Mon 20th– Pulled pork taco bowls with nachos and guacamole (defrost and slow cook the pork the day before) Tue 21st– Courgette & lemon risotto (bbcgoodfood) Wed 22nd– Leftovers Thu 23rd– Home-made fish fingers, tar tar sauce, salad (defrost fish the day before) Fri 24th– Pulled pork pizza (defrost pork the day before) Sat 25th– Syrniki with sour cream Pumpkin soup Paneer korma with homemade naan (make paneer in advance) Sun 26th– Waffles for breakfast Leftovers for lunch Dinner - out Mon 27th– out or Tuna pasta with capers Tue 28th– Chicken and Mushroom gratine Russian style(julienne) with salad Wed 29th– leftovers Thu 30th– Egg fried rice with veggies in oyster sauce and boy choy Fri 31st– Spanish omelette with chorizo and salad
@maxelly I just been so unorganised the past year that decided to start 2020 right haha Do you cook separate meat and veggie option every time? That is impressive! I am trying to move towards mostly vegetarian meals at home but have been struggling a bit with inspiration
Basically re the meat/veggie things, some meals (e.g. the sausage and mash we're having tomorrow) I use meat substitutes so the veggie sausages get cooked at same time as the meat ones, we don't really like quorn but there are increasingly good meat substitutes on the market e.g. chicken substitutes. Some meals we have are a complete meal without the meat, so I just add some meat for the meat eaters at the end if they want it (sometimes they eat veggie too but they do like their meat) - the ham/egg and chip example above is not the most nutritious (!) but a lot of pasta dishes work for this, or things like veggie paella or risotto where you can just add some chorizo, fish or chicken to the cooked rice and vegetables.
And then for lots of meals I have a system where I batch cook a meaty version one week and then freeze the extra portions, then the next time we have it I batch cook a veggie version, the meat eaters have a frozen portion from freezer, and the space in the freezer is filled with the leftover veggie version. The next week vice versa etc. So I never have to cook two versions of the same thing.... this works with lots of our family favourites, off the top of my head various curries, chicken/bean stew, chilli, shepherds pie, lasagne, bolognese, burgers, pie all freeze well. Anything made with mince is easy to make veggie as you can pretty much directly substitute quorn or lentils...
I have one of these blank calendar in the fridge where I fill in the month meals. I also have a simple Excel spreadsheet with our monthly meals, with what I have in freezer/cupboards.
I try to shop once a month for meat and 'heavy' items I.E. tins, frozen and only buy fresh weekly/bi weekly.
My meals tend to be
Sunday - Roast ??? Monday - Leftover - cold meat, chips & salad. Stir Fry noodles/rice Tuesday - Mince Wednesday - Chicken or Leftovers Thursday - Pasta Friday - I don't cook 'proper' meals. So soup or burgers Saturday - I normally do more involved dinner. E.g. Fake away.
I do weekly fri-fri The week we are currently in was Friday - chana masala Saturday- salt n pepper tofu Sunday- has a bag of chips Monday: Seeni Sambol with rice Tuesday: “creamy” vegan pasta Tonight will be mushroom, pea and leek risotto Tomorrow puff pastry tart with kale pesto and asparagus with baby potato and roast tenderstem
And mine for next week is Friday- hoisin tofu with pak Choi and rice Saturday- vegan meatball sub Sunday - my friend is having us over and she’s a bit of a naff cook so suspect a freezer special! No complaints! Monday - dhal abd chapatti Tuesday- ma po tofu Wednesday - penne puttanesca (which caper instead of anchovy) Thursday- lentil and mushroom fajita
Very inspiring! I did this for every month in 2018 but dropped the ball last year. It made a huge difference to our grocery bill in 2018
Our January is a little all over the place as kids are still on long summer holidays and husbands work is gearing up, he will be working 14 hr days (on nights) so I need to be more organised! I eat low carb so usually just adapt the family meal, we eat a lot of protein + veg meals due to health issues.
Tue 14th– Spaghetti Bolognese & salad (zoodles for me) Wed 15th– Haloumi burgers with fries Thu 16th– Chicken and Green Veg stir fry with veg spring rolls Fri 17th– Steak and Veg for adults, tacos for kids (using leftover portion of Bol sauce) Sat 18th– Thai green chicken curry & San Chou bou Sun 19th– Chicken pie, corn on cob and green veg Mon 20th– Swedish meatballs, sweet pot mash, green beans Tue 21st- cashew beef and broccoli noodle stir fry Wed 22nd– roast salmon, lemon cream sauce & green Veg Thu 23rd– beef stew, pan fried gnocchi and green Veg Fri 24th– keto chicken pamagania & green veg Sat 25th– beef burgers and fries Sun 26th– roast lamb and veg Mon 27th– BBQ meats and salads (public holiday) Tue 28th– first day back at school - spaghetti bolognese, salad & garlic bread (kids traditional request for first day back) Wed 29th– baked pesto & mozzarella chicken & salads Thu 30th– beef & green veg stir fry
Looking at it seems a little dull, lots of stir fry! but this is summer for us and food generally revolves around not heating up the house - do the roasts on Webber or pressure cooker and finished quickly in oven (and whatever will actually get eaten by the 9,7,6 yr olds without complaint!)
Tonight: lentil bolognese Tomorrow: out for a pub lunch Monday: west African peanut stew Tuesday: ma po tofu (meant to have this last week but went out instead) Wednesday: leek and mushroom pie with roasties and veg Thursday: beans on toast Friday: off on me holidays
OP you have leftovers quite alot - interested as would be fab not to cook every night. Of course, i do batch cook some meals but your leftover days dont seem to be after what I'd call 'double-up' meals. Do you make double quantites, or do you have a kind of 'pot luck leftover' drawer in the freezer or something?
We're going a month of buying no meat so its all veggie apart from using up some pork mince that i have in the freezer.
Sat : Lunch : Beans on toast Dinner : Linda McCartney mozzerella burgers, home made fries, salad
Sun : Lunch : Homemade cheese & onion pasties, with salad Dinner : Chicken Ramen
Overwhelmed by this thread! I barely do any cooking from scratch & there are so many meals here that I could make. Actually ashamed that I don’t really plan, don’t research recipes & hardly ever experiment. We tend to raid the freezer, have something simple like pasta & pesto or I buy ready meals such as Asda curries. Very unadventurous!
Bunny I meal plan cause I live in a rural place and I've to be organised cause it's a total pain and really expensive (fuel/time) if I forget ingredients/ neglect planning. Takeaway options are severely limited (Plus I m total a cheapskate and hate/avoid paying for food I could make myself better) but I also have a lot of time on my hands to cook so swings and roundabouts 😀 If I worked full time or lived in civilisation I wouldn't be as organised
Friday: pizza (with no cheese) Saturday: hummous, flat breads, falafel and tabouleh Sunday: out - not sure Monday: Penang tofu Tuesday: Cajun jambalaya Wednesday: lentil and bean chilli with wedges Thursday: veggie sausage pasta Friday: going out to a very good vegetarian Indian restaurant
@WhatTheFronti do you have a recipe for your minestrone soup and pastries? Would love to give it try.
Just finished this week’s plan: Saturday: breakfast is lemon and blueberry baked oats. Out at friends for dinner Sunday: Apple and cinnamon pancakes for breakfast. Dinner is campfire stew. Monday - sweet potato and butter bean tikka masala Tuesday - hot and sour soup Wednesday - chicken, Rice and veg bake Thursday - leek & bacon tartiflette Friday - fish and chips with peas
May I join with a request for ideas please? I have never meal planned in my life, there are 2 of us and DH only eats chicken and low-fat beef mince, (I know!) so every meal needs to contain one of those. No chance of veggie, though I'm insisting on fish (salmon mostly) once a week.
We're rich on time as I work from home. At the moment I have a ridiculous amount of store cupboard content, but the idea is to reduce this - and the weekly shop - by planning ahead rather than buying half of Sainsburys just because I am not planning!
This week: Broccoli macaroni cheese (and dd1 made burgers at school so a small burger each) Veggie chilli Veggie bolognese Veggie green curry Lamb dolmades and grilled aubergine Singapore noodles with prawns Minestrone soup
Last week was Mushroom risotto Ginger and spring onion noodles and veg Steak, chips, mushrooms and peas Courgette stuffed with tomato and feta couscous and veggie sausages Beef stew and jacket potatoes Pizza Roast pork
I don't add peas - usually sub for finely shredded kale (kids won't eat peas in soup but are ok with kale ?!?) Sometimes I'll sub out the short pasta and use a small packet of filled tortellini to make it a bigger meal and serve with garlic bread.
The ricotta and spinach parcels are from Aldi freezer section... (they are great at $2 a pack and fab ingredient wise)
Start new thread in this topic |
Watch this thread |
Flip this thread |
Refresh the display
