How many different meals do you cook?

[meredithgrey1]

Not sure whether DH and I are unusual in this respect or not.
We have about 10 meals we rotate through but realistically probably 4 of those aren't done regularly so we generally eat the same six meals, with perhaps slight alterations.
This seems like a really low number to me - 6 regular meals, 4 less regular and a few very occasional meals that are done quite rarely. They are all home cooked which makes me feel a bit better but DD is 8 months and I'd like to have a bit more variety as she grows up. I am a decent cook, just can't be arsed thinking up different things so tend to revert to the same ones.
How many meals do other people cook on a regular basis?

We rarely eat the same meal twice in a one month period. We have loads of cook books and a BBC good food subscription that has been on going for nine years (although I've switched to the digital version now). We would get so bored eating the same stuff week in week out. Things can get a bit repetitive in the Christmas run up when my work is busy and I just want to make something without any thought required, but the rest of the time it's always new things.

That sounds a terribly boring way to live. Eating should be a pleasure. And change with the seasons. No excuse to be short of ideas these days!

I wish people would post their lists!

40 meals? 6 week planner? 2 new meals every week?

Wow!

We seem live along the 80/20 rule: in everything we seem to do 20% of our repertoire 80% of the time. Whether that's which clothes we wear out of the whole wardrobe available to us, or which dishes we make out of all the ones I know how to make!

I get bored of it.

About 40 but half of those are pasta!

I mean 40 "regular" meals interspersed with a few wildcards that I have to follow a recipe for.

I wish people would post their lists!

40 meals? 6 week planner? 2 new meals every week?
Wow!

I know!

Very boring here. Either roast pork beef or roast chicken on a Sunday.
Bolognese or chilli
Beef burgers
Salmon or cod
Stir fry / curry
Sweet and sour pork
Pasta pesto
Fajitas (rarely)

That's about it. Sometimes roast duck or something for a special occassion and sometimes bacon and sausages or fish fingers for an easy option

Just read your list there and you could add in a few more

Chicken and brocolli bake
Home made pizza
Omelette
Quiche
Pork chops with Apple sauce
Thai curry

Regular meals

Veggi curry (various)
Dhal
Rissotto tomarto
Mushroom
Chard and lemon

Chilli
Burritos
Nandos chicken
Chicken wraps
Roast chicken
Nut roast

Canadian soup
Leek and potato
Minestrone
Spicy lentil
Chicken noodle

Stir fry (various)
Cauliflower pasta
Lasange
Pizza
Naples bake

Naples bake is a sort of savoury bread and butter pudding with tomatoes.

Probably about 10-15 regulars. I do get bored and lack inspiration.

Salmon - either panfried with saute pots and broccolli or teriyaki with noodles and stir fry
Oriental beef with bok choi, veggy noodles
Beef casserole with jacket potato
Carbonara
Pasta with spicy sausage and cream sauce
Spag bol
Chilli con carne
Chicken rissotto
Marinaded butterfflied griddled chicken with saute and salad
Satay chicken skewers with rice
Pan fried pork with veg
Balsamic onion flan with salad and jacket potatoes
Ham and cheese omelette with salad and baked potatoes
Chicken pie and veg and pots
Falafel, houmous and salad

I'm bored of dinner too lately and need to mix it up.

Off the top of my head the regulars I have been cooking lately are:

Mac and cheese
Pasta with some variation of tomato sauce
Peri chicken with chips and salad
Chilli
Lentil dal
lentil and bacon soup
baked potato, often with haggis as a filling
roast chicken and trimmings
pizza and salad
Some kind of ramen noodles

I really need to mix it up a bit, I used to make loads of nice curries from scratch but haven't been in the mood lately.

Reading these I also serve quiche sometimes.
And oven baked salmon although less recently as Dd is veggi

@hopefulhalf
Could you please post the recipe for Naples bake

We tend to base it on what's available but usually it's one of the following:
Pasta, salad and garlic bread.. various types of pasta
Mushroom stroganough
Tacos with quorn based chillie
Enchiladas
Fajitas
Tom yum soup
Green thai curry sometimes red or yellow
Stir fries various types
Khichdi nd Kodhi ( yogurt based curry with rice and lentils)
Byriani
Chicken curry
Bhangan Bharaka (fire roasted aubergine curried)
Lazania
Stewed vegetable and chicken usually us a stock cube
Salmon with some seasoning
Fish curry
Okra curry
Peas and Potatoe curry
Fish and chips
Sweet potatoe curry
Chick peas curry
Kidney beans curry with rice or nan
Falafel
Grilled Halummi with meditarian veg
Lamb chops
Roast chicken
Sausages and mesh
Chilli Paneer
Sagg Panner
Mixed Dal
Dosa from a packet
Various Soups
Yummy cheese toast
Stuffed peppers with a variety of diff stuffing
Stuffed Mushrooms
Quasadias

So I guess 30 to 50 dishes with variations using a variety of spices and herbs usually served with some form of Veg or a nice fresh salad

I can try we only have it written down in Italian !

Take yesterday's bread and slice.
In a pan make a bechemal sauce.
Take some tomatoes and skin and chop roughly.
Butter a pie dish
Layer the tomatoes and bread (probrably involves garlic and olive oil.
When the bechemal is cold add a beaten egg and some parmasan
Pour over the layered bread and tomatoes
Bake until brown.
We have it with green salad and olives.

Bored here too and its tricky as between the 4 of us we have one low carbing diabetic, one veggi and one who hates vegetables and rice. Whatever i cook wont suit someone. Usual things are:
Mince (chilli or bol)
Meatballs
Fajitas
Slow cooker casseroles
Pulled pork
Jacket potatoes
Frittata
Stir fry
Dhal
Curry
Soup , lots of
Sausage casserole
Pasta
Pizzas.

Gah, stodgy and dull but all home cooked.

I generally do a 2/3 new recipes a week. I have a cookbook addiction and trying out new recipes is what keeps me motivated with meal planning / cooking. I usually have a couple of cookbooks I'm working my way through, when meal planning I / the DC pick a couple of meals a week from them. The tricky bit is finding cookbooks with recipes with interesting enough flavours for me but that the DC will still eat.

It's my hobby though and I enjoy it, as long as you are eating a reasonable range of food that's reasonably healthy I don't think it really matters.

Like a previous poster, we eat seasonally.
Currently rotating:
Risotto (frozen spinach or tinned tomato)
Grilled salmon, rice and veg
Pasta bolognese/Lasagne (meat-free lentil version for me)
Pasta e ceci
Pasta carbonara (mushroom version for me)
Eggs or omelette with chips, wedges or gratin dauphinois
Baked chicken breasts ( with pesto or paprika/garlic run) or tofu
Chili con carne / veggie chili
Twice baked jacket potatoes with various fillings
Vegetable and bean stew
Tuna pasta bake
Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs/ bean balls
Burgers/veggie burgers
Veg, chickpea and couscous thing (North African inspired)
Spanish chickpeas and rice

I don't know a precise number, but it's got a lot less since DH turned vegan a year ago. There aren't that many vegan meals DC will happily eat. I do try to find new recipes and cook a variety of things but some meals seem to be eaten most weeks.

Chilli
Pasta with tinned tomato and olive sauce
Smoky bean stew
Wraps
Stir-fry veg and tofu
Lentil shepherds pie
A couple of different curries
Pizza every Friday

Sausages, mash, peas
Fajitas
Burgers and salad
Chicken burgers
Quiche and salad
Steak and salad
Stir fry
Spag and meatballs
Spaghetti Bolognese
Jacket potatoes
Steak/chicken pie and 3 steamed veg
Chilli
Curry
Chicken kebabs
Roast
Pizza
Paella
Chicken fried rice
Fish and chips
Pulled pork
Gammon
Lamb shanks
Cauliflower curry
Shepherds pie
Lasagne
Beef casserole
Risotto
Satay chicken
Bok Choi & broccoli

I try to get as much steamed veg:
Cauliflower, carrots, peas, broccoli green beans, french beans, broad beans, etc into ds's but it's so hard!

Thankyou @hopefulhalf
Sounds delicious.
Does it work with drained tinned tomatoes?
(I don't buy fresh tomatoes out of season.)

A couple of years ago we decided we would cook something new every weekend. If it was good, the recipe would be kept and used again. I now have a collection of about 60 dishes that we rotate one weekends we don't find something new to try. I now have a box file of lovely dishes.