To ask those who like food and cook from scratch without getting bored what meals do you cook most often, what does a typical week look like and what is your most used cookery book?

Nigel slater cookbooks. I have about 12 recipes that I don’t need a book for that I can do for midweek meals. And then weekends I can go to the farmers market and get whatever looks nice and look up how to cook it.

I regularly batch cook, then just take something out to defrost in the morning. Things I often make:-

Lasagne
Fish pie
Spaghetti bolognese
Macaroni cheese
Shepherd's pie
Salmon carbonara
Fish cakes
Chicken korma
Chilli con carne
Mustard chicken
Hungarian goulash
Spanokopita
Chicken pasta bake
Sausage and bean stew
Burgers
Tuna and sweetcorn burgers
Chicken enchiladas
Creamy beef and shells
Toad in the hole
Tuna and broccoli pasta bake
Salmon and potato bake
Ghoulash pasta
Cowboy pie
Greek chicken and rice
Homemade tomato sauce

And probably more I can't think of offhand 🤣 Oh and I love my Mary Berry cookbook, I taught myself to cook from it 😊

Ottolenghi simple is my most used book at the moment. Every recipe is a cracker.

Two others that we always come back to
insanely easy fish pie (I don’t even make mash, I just break up ready made straight onto the top and bake) https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish/best-fish-pie/

and this delish sweet potato chilli, make as much as you can and freeze in portions, have with microwave rice, tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese! https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables/sweet-potato-chilli/

Chat GPT. It will even give you a shopping list for whatever supermarket you use, estimate the cost of each meal and tell you what can be batch cooked. Bloody brilliant.

Mince/lentils and pasta with lots of veg
Chicken stir-fry with lots of veg and noodles
Left over chicken add spices and make into curry
Potato wedges and salmon in the oven
Pork steaks slow cooked with tomato pasta and veg
Add spices to left over pork and make into a curry with homemade naan ( self raising flour and yoghurt)
Roast chicken with roast potatoes and parsnips plus a fruit crumble for Sunday lunch

At the supermarket I buy big packs of pork and chicken as they are cheaper and last for 2 days
Also a big pack of kale as can be added to all stir fries or curries or mince
Cabbage for the roast and salmon

I use Google instead of recipe books for doing things with random vegetables. Tesco magazine can give good ideas

Sunday - Roast
Monday Jacket potato and beans
Tuesday - Jambalaya
Wednesday - Spag Bol
Thursday - fajitas
Friday - Fish and chips
Saturday - homemade burgers, salad and corn cobs, halloumi

Extra in the rotation:
Chicken Alfredo
Chicken, bacon and Leak pie
Sausage and mash
Beef tacos
Lasagne
Chicken, chickpea and pepper curry
Pizza and chips

Pretty much eat those 13 meals on repeat!

Monday, Saturday curry leftovers ( home made) Tuesday leftovers from Sunday dinner, usually pasta or rice based. Wednesday varies, tonight it's spaghetti bol. Thursday alternates, sausages or fishfinger sandwiches. Friday whatever we fancy, this week it's fish and chips. Saturday curry or chilli. Sunday most weeks a roast.

Sunday Roast dinner.
Mon left over chicken, salad new potatoes.
Tues pasta, sauce garlic bread
Wed Prawn Stir Fry
Thurs oven pizza, sides
Friday chilli con carne
Sat Takeaway
Changes slightly every week but this is a good idea of my week.

The 1st Prashad cookbook is brilliant. Get a spice tin and curries are an easy, nutritious meal. We have an instant pot which makes cooking pulses and beans quick. And delicious.

Days of the week are usually the same, with variations. This week it was:

Mondays--veggie, usually a stir fry (30 min black pepper tofu)
Tuesdays--tacos, a rotation of fish, beef, chicken, veggie, turkey mince (this week chicken)
Wednesdays--pasta, some combo of greens/pancetta/sausage/beans with loads of garlic and chilli pepper (this week borlotti beans, tomatoes, kale)
Thursdays--fish (last week smoked haddock on a bed of lentils and chard)
Fridays--a piece of meat with potatoes and greens (last week chicken thighs on the grill)
Saturday--curry (last week sweet potato dahl)
Sunday--sometimes another pasta; generally we go to the farmers market so might pick up something interesting or a chicken for a roast.

If I'm out, the rest of the family will get a takeaway (usually burgers).

I rarely fancy what's in cookbooks although I have a lot of them! I do get recipes online.

I never meal plan. WFH so for me a 30m walk to the market twice a week or the supermarket is daily exercise I wouldn't otherwise get.

I buy food for lunch and dinner, whatever I fancy and the kids will eat. We eat whatever looks nice plus spaghetti Bolognese once a week and a roast on Sunday.

I really don't see how you could buy breakfasts plus 14 meals in one go at one shop and get nice fresh food without ten times the mental effort of shopping more frequently.

Every week I sit down to meal plan and my mind goes totally blank and I forget every meal I have ever made. So I rarely make the same thing twice and I just can’t remember anything.
However two current favourites
Salmon pasta - 1 skinless salmon fillet per person in an oven proof pan. Add a punnet of halved cherry toms, small bag spinach, a Boursin, couple of cloves minced garlic, some capers and a tablespoon of chicken powder. Bake for 20 mins, no lid, at 180. Cook some pasta, put a bit of the pasta water in with the salmon and then stir it all together and serve with some Parmesan.

Chicken schwarma - chunk up some chicken thighs, quarter some new potatoes, marinade with sliced red onion, capers, lemon juice, oil and schwarma seasoning. After a bit tip it all onto a baking tray and oven for 45 mins. Serve with tzatziki and salad.

I like Emily English on Instagram, she has simple recipes that taste nice. Otherwise Jamie Oliver always and forever!

I've never understood meal planning, because the meal is only ever going to be as tasty as its ingredients. And if the ingredients aren't in season or are super expensive, then it all goes out the window.

So, I shop first, plan second. I see what looks good, what's in season, what's on special offer (to eat now or freeze for later). I start with vegetables, then add a protein and that generally dictates which carb I make. I always have chicken and beef and ground pork in the freezer. I have a well stocked spice rack and pantry with grains, pulses, pastas and tinned tomatoes and vegetables. I have lots of condiments.

It's not that difficult, for me, but I appreciate I have the time to do this. I shop once a week, cook three-four times a week (always make extra for lunches the next day), get take out once a week, have omelettes/sandwiches/quiches for lunch at the weekends because life is hectic - and always have tonnes of fruit and a fairly decent amount of junk food (ice cream, tortilla chips, etc).

To be honest our meal plan is pretty repetitive. I don’t have the energy to be more creative. We always have a roast on Sunday unless we are busy and I always pick a pasta dish. I try to do fish once a week too. One night is our late office night so must be quick (always pizza). That doesn’t leave a lot of nights

Favourite easy meals that we never seem to tire of:
broccoli chilli garlic and pine nut pasta
sausage and butter bean stew
toasted red pepper, n’duja, and burrata with ciabatta
sweet potato, red pepper red onions chorizo tray baked topped with a fried egg
steak, home made chips chopped salad
lamb chops chopped salad with feta and hummus
korean mince with rice.
I get bored of the same old things - no one in the family eats chicken anymore and we are only really eating meat on nights when we’re in a hurry. Love Diana Henry - she’s practical and has a great palate -(I like almost everything I make from her books)

@Katemax82 my favourites are the rustic pasta, Vietnamese sticky pork and beef stroganoff . My H loves em , I like the fact I can just buy fresh on the day and do what I actually fancy that day - the house always smells amazing too when I do them . I try to do 2 a week

This week we have had:
a beef mince curry
Shakshuka with black beans and feta
Chicken Karahi curry
Beef mince curry again
Prawn and Chorizo Paella
Mozzarella and Spinach potato Tortilla
Beef or Chicken burgers will all the things, chips and sprouted broccoli.

I mostly get my recipies online.
if I find one I really like and we use a lot I write it in my recipes notebook.

I batch cook. I really like feeding everyone well. I make a big batch of tomato sauce and use this as a base for bolognaise / curry / pasta bake. I also make root veg mash and we’d have that in a shepherd pie with sausage and mash or roast chicken.

I also cook with my kids. Tomorrow DD and I will make chicken parmigiana (essentially) giant chicken nuggets. And tomato mascarpone sauce. I made chicken Alfredo with DS as he saw it on insta and asked to make it! We also make pizza, chicken nuggets etc.

I freeze all the above so I can have days off cooking.

RecipeTinEats is my go to and every night this week is one of her recipes!

This week it's:
Pork Tenderloin on a bed of King Edwards Potatoes and tomatoes (olive oil, lemon, garlic and herb dressing).
Rump Steak Stirfry with her Charlie Sauce
Firecracker Beef with Rice
Moroccan Stuffed Aubergine
Moroccan Lamb Meatballs

Her recipes tend to be for the right amount of people and scale-able as well 😀She does flavours impossibly well.

We just wing it. Have a decent store cupboard and stocks in the freezer plus buy a good selection of seasonal veg.

Then we usually pull some protein from the freezer - meat or fish and knock something out depending on what we have. Sometimes it might just be an omelette or a stirfry, sometimes fajitas or koftas or a stew or chilli. Sometimes its something more exotic.
Its quite fun not planning.

My favourite cook book is Pulse, full of bean / lentil recipes (totally delicious). I love Mary Berry Sunday lunches, Hairy Bikers, and Persian Kitchen too but nowadays I get most of my ideas from YouTube shorts and on here

On an average week I’ll do

• two meals where I cook something big like a casserole or a roast. and we have leftovers another night usually
• two nights where I cook something like bibimbap or ramen
• one night where we have baked potatoes or oven food (fish finger sandwiches etc)
• Friday night is always pizza or beans on toast as we have twenty minutes to eat between activities

my favourite easy meals are chicken casserole- but chicken thighs & drumsticks, put in casserole dish with whatever vegetables you fancy (typically red onion, sweet potato & peppers in my case, but I’ve tried loads of different ones), add some good quality chicken stock & a slug of wine, fresh rosemary. Serve with microwave bagged rice and some boiled green vege.

I loathe meal planning with the fire of a thousand suns, so get Hello Fresh 4 nights a week. That just leaves 3 nights to wing it, which usually means:

Night out or takeaway or leftovers
Baked potatoes with various toppings
Pasta eg: carbonara, or orzo with something, or risotto with fridge pickings
DH's chili
Breakfast-for-dinner

Although tonight I have bucked the trend with roasted pork belly strips with chinese spice, courgette, leek, broccoli and edamame.

Edited to add that Diana Henry is a goddess for throw-it-all-in-a-roasting-tin cooks like me. I luffs her.

I have hit a cooking rut at the moment. Usually we eat in a week:
A casserole e.g. lancashire hotpot or beef stew
Pasta with pesto and chicken
Turkey escalopes or chicken Kievs with green beans and broccoli
A roast dinner
Fish from the freezer with mash and veg
Ham, egg and oven chips
A mild curry (so DD can eat it) and rice
Home made fried rice with chicken and veg in
Spaghetti bolognaise
Chilli con carne
Sausage and mash

That's about all I do on repeat at the moment. I am ordinarily an adventurous cook and love cooking spicy / more exciting things but this meets the family's needs at the moment and I don't have to think too hard about doing it after work.