Your dinner menus

[ouch321]

So I feel I need to introduce a bit more variety to my dinners. I go off things if I eat them too much in a short time period.

In a normal time - not affected by supermarket shortages etc - what would a typical dinner look like for you for 14 or 21 days? Eg day one spaghetti bolognese, day 2 fish pie and veg etc

I think probably 14 or 21 days is ok to repeat a rotation.

Before lockdown it was very boring and samey but I have really gotten into cooking in the past few weeks so at the moment it's something new everyday. Lots of different types of curries, pies, things I've never cooked before as tbh I was very lazy. I'm actually really enjoying doing new things. Sorry not really what you asked but that's my input!

Ours are a rough rotation of the following:

Spaghetti bolognese
Jacket potatoes with various toppings
Beans on toast
Pizza
Chicken or sausages, mash and veg
Fish, potatoes and veg
Stir fry with various choices of meat and veg
Sweet and sour chicken with rice
Veggie pasta bake
Macaroni cheese

Neither of us are big cooks and I don't want to spend anything more than 20 minutes cooking when I've been at work all day.

Spaghetti bolognese
Lasagne
Chilli and rice
Chicken fajitas
Curry and rice
Some kind of chinese dish with egg fried rice
Stew and dumplings
Sausage and mash/chips with beans/peas
Fish pie
Kedgeree
Fish and chips and peas
Tuna pasta
Bacon pasta bake
Chicken bake with rice/mash and veg
Gammon and mash/chips and veg

That's the meals I cook most often although there can be a few months when we dont have any of them for whatever reason.

This week’s meal plan is

Smokey sausage and bean casserole (jools Oliver)
Chicken Paprika (Delia Smith)
Pilchard Bolegnaise (dh’s invention)
Veggie Chilli with Tacos
Ginger Teryaki Salmon (Mary Berry)

Lasagne
Bbq Steak and salad
Fish stew (chorizo and frozen white fish, prawns if I'm feeling rich)
Risotto
Roast chicken with carrots, broccoli and potatoes (my least favourite but handy for chicken sandwiches for next day lunch and risotto from stock. Makes me feel efficient)
Homemade pizza (use bought wraps for base) this is my Friday night fakeaway
Indian (Dahl, Channa masala, rice or naan)
Chilli (whenever dh cooks, ie rarely)
Chicken curry (Pataks paste and coconut milk with veg or chicken or chickpeas)
Spaghetti carbonara (simple but very indulgent)
Seafood pasta (Rick Stein recipe)
Burgers (homemade and served with buns and salad)

I'm a reluctant and fairly average cook but have got into a bit of a groove in lockdown. Regulars that go down well with everyone are:

• Roast 2 chickens (just eat one)
• A couple of days later use the other one for chicken pie
• Veggie cottage pie from bbc good food
• Pasta with roast tomatoes and garlic/panko topping
• Chickpea/sweet potato/spinach curry
• Burgers (dh makes them)
• Macaroni cheese (from once upon a chef. Not a particularly healthy option, if I'm honest)
• Chickpea/bean burgers with sweet potato mash
• Buttermilk/panko chicken drumsticks (from dinner a love story)
• Pasta with veggie/tomato sauce
• Garlicky risotto (didn't have any onions so used garlic instead - was delicious) with roast cauliflower and sweet potato
• Sausage and mash
• Spaghetti bolognese (makes me lose the will to live but every now and then I come back to it. Bog -standard child-pleaser obviously)

Sides depend on what we've got - salad or roast/steamed vegetables, rice/potatoes.
All rather pedestrian really!

Things I haven't made for a while

• Lasagne (meat or veg)
• Vegetarian chilli and guacamole
• Slow cooker mustard/honey chicken thighs
• Slow cooker pulled pork and coleslaw
• Slow cooker pork shoulder and prunes
• chicken noodle soup

Roast chicken and trimmings
Chicken pasta bake (using left overs)
Jacket potato, cheese and salad
Lasagna, wedges and salad
Beef stew and mash
Veggie stir fry with rice
Pizza and chips
Roast beef and trimmings
BBQ chicken, mac and cheese and salad
Sea bass, veg and new potatoes
Lamb koftas, pitta, salad and rice
Tuna pasta bake
Fajitas
Meatballs, pasta, garlic bread

Next two weeks - (trying to clean out fridge freezer and cupboard!)

Pumpkin & spinach coconut curry
Crispy Tofu with noodle & vege stir fry
Prawn, courgette & lemon risotto
Salmon rice bowl with assorted blanched veges, pickles & seeds
Lamb wraps (schwarma esq)
Takeaways!
Grain bowl with crumbled eggplant and other veges and nuts
Sausage fennel Pasta
Pork and prawn fried rice (Rick stein)
Meatballs and cous cous
Vege chilli tacos
Takeaways
Steak & chips & salad

Oh yes, also homemade pizza and sometimes random made-up things when the cupboard's bare, like spaghetti with sauce made out of onions, garlic, chicken stock and frozen spinach + lots of parmesan

Oh and risotto. We have that quite often. Either pea and broad bean, or salmon and green bean.

We are quite samey and are in a bit of a rut right now. I feel like I ate too much potato pasta rice and I'm looking for meals that don't have these. But our usual meals are:

Vegetable and tofu Thai curry (we have about 4 different coloured pastes that we cycle through)
Risotto
Carbonara
Enchiladas
Chicken katsu curry
Veggie tofu stir fry (recently made a great satay sauce from the latest bosh video)
Mac and cheese
Omlettes
Sometimes homemade sushi on a Saturday night with miso soup
Indian curry (just from a jar though)

I feel like I spend my life looking at recipes but never make any of them.

Turkey jalfrezi
Turkey keema peas
Ginos Hunters chicken
Pinch of nom baked spaghetti chicken
Olive or prawn linguine
Scampi, homemade chips and mushy peas
Kofte meatball curry and rice
Pork chops, new pots and veg
Cajun chicken and spicy rice
Turkey with lemon and capers and quinoa
Gammon with fruity couscous
Bolognese risotto
Dirty Cajun rice
Pork and apple burgers
Roast chicken, pots and veg
Halloumi salad
Homemade Nando’s chicken and salt and pepper chips

We change it up quite a lot as I'm on SW and am forever buying new cookbooks. This week our plan is
Monday- Chinese 5 spice tofu skewers with rice
Tuesday- bean chilli with potato wedges and spinach
Wednesday- salmon stir fry
Thursday- crying tiger beef with noodles and asparagus
Friday- cheesy mixed bean quesadilla with wedges and salad
Saturday- KFC fakeaway popcorn chicken, chips and salad (it tastes better than actual KFC!)

That's all I've got so far. Trying to cut back abit on meat but we love the carbs!

Last few weeks we've had:

Thai green curry
Roast cauliflower with veggie couscous
Beetroot and chickpea curry
Lasagne
Pasta bake
Baked salmon and potato wedges
Chicken drumsticks, tabbouleh and salad
Pizzas
Falafel wraps
Quesedillas
Quiche
Macaroni cheese
Shakshouka
Chilli

No little people me and DH all home made from scratch

Tonight
Fish pie & green beens
Rigatoni Bolognese
Chicken Kiev’s veg
Beef stew & veg
Pork steaks in tomato wine garlic sauce & veg
Stuffed Peppers mince onions cheese
Stir fry steak & veg noodles
Chicken curry
Fajitas
Satay chicken
Steak & oven chips
Omelette
Quiche
Fish en papilotte Baked with fresh veg & wine
Spaghetti & clams
Salmon en croute & veg
Roast chicken salad
Italian sausage cooked in tomato garlic&herbs with mafaldine pasta
Veal scallops rolled in panko breadcrumbs & ratatouille
Tuna steak pan fried with olive oil wine capers tomatoes olives & salad
Caponata & crusty hot bread

Italian meals recipes from my lovely MIL.

This week:

Tempura basa and oven chips with mushy peas
Chicken enchiladas
Spaghetti bolognese
Gammon with marmite and cheese potatoes
Pasta bake
Pizza
Pad thai

Our weekday meals are a rotation of:
Spaghetti bolognese
Chicken cooked in a maggi bag of some sort with mash/rice/new potatoes and veg
Chicken or beef stir fry
Pasta with meatballs
Sausage pasta bake
Jacket potatoes with bacon, beans and cheese
Sausage and mash
Tuna pasta bake
Risotto with ham or chicken
Casseroles in the slow cooker

I've not been furloughed but I've been trying to use the time I would normally commute to make some new things, I made my first ever toad in the hole tonight and couldn't believe how easy it was.

Our next 10 days:
Chicken burrito bowls
Spag bol
Mushroom pizzas and salad
Pulled chicken buns, wedges and salad
Thai chicken curry
Lentil curry soup and naan
Pasta with spinach and ricotta sauce + salad
Crispy tofu stir fry
Fish, wedges and roasted broccoli
Black bean tacos

Other regulars:
Paella, jambalaya or biriyani
Tikka masala
Enchiladas
Spicy shrimp skewers
Singapore noodles
Fish tacos
Galettes with salad

Lots have already been mentioned above, a couple of easy ones I've been relying on are cupboard/freezer/fridge type meals. ie cod steaks that can be cooked from frozen (which I prefer to defrost first) wrapped in serrano ham, cooked for about 5 mins in the oven and served with a pack of flavoured couscous which also only needs to be soaked for 5 mins too, so effortless. And pasta puttanesca, chopped canned tomatoes, a can of anchovies, garlic, olives, chilli sauce, Italian seasoning and black pepper and a bit of tomato puree.

I usually try and do a month mealplanner(I put them into groups and then pick 7 meals out of that list for each week)we've found we save money on our food shop doing it this way.

This is our most recent one.
Beef meals.
Beef Bourguinon
Beef in blackbean
Steak Diane
Stirfry.

Chicken
Spanish chicken
Mustard chicken
Enchiladas
Hunters chicken

Mince
Bolognese loaded fries(handy when we couldn't get any more pasta)
Burritos
Meatballs and pasta
Lasagna

Roast dinners
Roast Pork
Roast Beef
Roast chicken
Roast lamb

Mixed list
Ploughmans
Pizzas
Cooked Breakfast(our 5DC love having this for dinner)
Caesar salad(we make it with fresh cooked chicken and streaky bacon)a newer meal on our meal plan for us and everyone loves it.
Hotdogs
Fishermans pie
Take away
Gammons
Burgers
Quiche
Fish and chips
Lamb Bhuna

We have different meals every month and our meal plans change with the time of year so in the winter we'll have things like Beef Cobler with cheese scones,sausage casserole,cottage pie,chicken casserole and then in the summer we'll have things like Plougmans,BBQ's,Caesar salad and we'll eat alot of greek meals and more cous cous and roasted vegetables.

We always try to make sure that we don't have very similar meals 2 days running.

I love threads like this and usually manage to pick up some new ideas so thanks for starting it OP.