Your top 5 weekday meals

[LMW1990]

I'm trying to build up a repertoire of weekday teas so that we stop eating the same ones week in week out. I do simply cook to add some variety and ideas but this is mainly for DP and I as DSC wouldn't really like any of it yet.

So what are you top 5 weeks day dinner time meals? 😊

@EternalOptimist7 it’s an American dish that’s basically rice, black-eyed beans and leafy greens (traditionally collard greens but I use kale or spring greens). It traditionally has pork in as well but I make mine veggie and just add extra smoked paprika for the flavour I’m more of an improv cook rather than recipe person so this isn’t exactly how I make it (celery ) but there’s a bbc recipe: www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hoppin_john_16527

Some great ideas on this thread , I’ve just put Marscapone on next weeks online shop to try the chilli type lasagna dish from a pp .

This thread is great, thanks OP for starting it and to all posters for ideas!

Ours are (n.b. DH veggie, I’m not but usually can’t be bothered to cook 2 meals)
Veggie curry, rice and naan
Veggie chilli with rice or in wraps with grated cheese, salad and avocado
Wraps filled with falafels, crumbled feta, mixed salad and tzatziki
Quorn escalopes/southern fried nuggets/Linda McCartney sausages or similar with mash and veg
Veggie burgers with chips and salad
Spinach and feta omelette with veg
Oven baked risotto
Baked Camembert, veg soup and crusty baguette
Veggie lasagna or pasta bake with garlic bread and salad
Pizza with sides (mozzarella sticks, wedges, onion rings, dips, salad)
Jacket potatoes with beans/coleslaw and cheese
Tabbouleh topped with fried halloumi and tzatziki.

Great thread! Place-marking!

I like to cook once and serve twice with minimal prep involved in second serving.

1. Roast chicken with trimmings first day

Following day, chicken noodle soup with shredded cold chicken, chicken stock, with pak choy, ginger, chilli, garlic, etc.

1. Portion of cod or salmon baked en papillote day one, alongside two trays of roasted ratatouille

Next day, puree spare tray of rat to make sauce for pasta with parmesan

1. Day one: posh spiced meat loaf with kale & ginger or roast onion sauce and mash chilli

Day two: sliced cold meat loaf in wrap or pitta or sandwich with carrot and white cabbage coleslaw made with honey and citrus dressing

1. Day one: lots of roasted root veg (onions, carrots, parsnips, pots) with fennel sausages

Day two: puree spare veg and add stock + butter beans or chick peas and chilli to make soup

1. Day one: roast duck breasts with purple sprouting broccoli, roasted new pots and cobbled together Cumberland sauce

Day two: shredded cold duck with pancakes, plum sauce, shredded cucumber, spring onions etc

Aubergine Parmigiana.
Puff pastry tart with caramelized onions and Camembert.
Shepherds pie either with minced beef or lamb or lentils.
Creamy chorizo spaghetti.
Griddled tuna steaks.
Jacket potatoes with garlic mushrooms.
Traybake with chicken, lemon quarters, herbs, root vegetables and stuffing balls.
Massaman curry, either veg or prawn.
Slow cooker lamb and potato curry.
Aloo gobi and daal and rice or naan.
Chicken in creamy tarragon sauce.
Halloumi griddled, salad, new potatoes and a lemon caper dressing.
Steak and horseradish or truffle mash.
Toasted cheese (and ham occasionally) sandwiches with salsa and sour cream on the side.
Stir fry veg and noodles with a satay or hoisin sauce.
Fish pie.
Burgers, toppings to build your own, home made bbq sauce and potato wedges.
4 cheese macaroni cheese.
Charlie Bigham's pie, tenderstem broccoli and runner beans.

These are our standard midweek dinners. Obviously add veg, salad etc if needed.

No. 3 works well with meatballs too

I am definitely going to add some veggie curries and aubergine parmigiana to my repertoire ( but latter has always been undercooked when I've tried it before however long I stand over griddle pan first).

Love gammon ham, parsley sauce and new pots too.

@Shamefulcorners
Aubergine hack here......put the whole aubergine in the microwave for a few minutes until soft. Leave to cool slightly then cut into slices and use in parmigiana.
Life changer.

Roast Chicken wraps
Spaghetti meatballs
Omelette and chips
Chilli lasagne
Pulled pork

[quote palmstar]@Shamefulcorners
Aubergine hack here......put the whole aubergine in the microwave for a few minutes until soft. Leave to cool slightly then cut into slices and use in parmigiana.
Life changer.[/quote]
That's genius. Thanks Palmstar!

Pasta with salmon and peas We had this last night. DS (13) made it with minimal supervision from me - that's how easy it it! Nice and quick too.

This Veggie Tagine is really nice. It's not overly authentic as you're just roasting veg and adding a sauce but it's very tasty and a great way of getting a load of veg in. It also freezes beautifully.

We also really like pasta with sardines. It started out as a Jack Monroe recipe but I'd added bits and pieces to it. Basically, sweat some onion and garlic in the oil from a tin of sardines. Add some green veg (kale is nice, as is brocoli cut quite small, or green beans) with a few sultanas and a bit of chili and stir fry until cooked. Add capers, lemon juice and the sardines and break them up a bit. Stir through hot pasta. It's got all the flavours going on - spicy, sweet, salty and savoury and it's really quick and easy to do.

I make these Buddha Bowls when I feel like we need to be a bit healthier! I use the ready marinated tofu as it's less faff that doing it myself.

DS's favourite is macaroni cheese but I think it's the worst thing I cook. I still haven't quite cracked it...always ends up a bit stodgy

I love these threads!

Excellent idea to have a master list and ask family to choose from. I might be stealing that idea :-)

Meatballs (turkey with tomato sauce and pasta / beef with gravy, mash and veg).
Macaroni cheese (add broccoli, sometimes ham)
Rotisserie roast chicken with boiled potatoes, coleslaw and salad (when I'm in a rush, not had one for ages, might do it next week!)
Burgers, potato wedges and corn on the cob.
Chorizo and mushroom risotto.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

Mexican night with grilled vegetables, rice and wraps - dips
Roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, vegetables and veggie sausages
Grilled halloumi with a drizzle of honey on noodles with stir fry vegetables or cous cous
Salad with jacket potato and fillings
Rice noodles with tofu and sesame, oyster mushrooms, pak choi
Sushi

So bored with food at the moment so definitely getting ideas from this thread.

We're a vegetarian & vegan household.

A typical week at the moment:

Jacket potatoes with cheese & beans or egg mayo. Served with salad.

Toad in the hole made with Meat Free Richmond sausages. Served with mashed potatoes & veg.

Pizza with salad & sometimes chips.

Vegetable curry with rice & quorn nuggets on the side.

Spaghetti with dinner balls in a tomato based sauce. Served with garlic bread.

Roast (Quorn roast/nut roast/pies) with roast potatoes & veg.

Pasta with a tomato based sauce with a sosmix (vegan dry sausage mix) fritter/burger on the side with salad.

Sometimes have:
Stew & dumplings
Quiche
All day breakfast
Omelettes

Chickpea, chorizo and spinach stew with rice or bread.

Risotto with leeks and bacon.

Thai green chicken curry (made with paste from a jar)

Jacket potatoes - often with cauliflower cheese, or tuna salad, or just butter and cheese with mixed salad on the side.

Salmon baked in foil in the oven - with egg fried rice and stir fry veg, or noodles and stir fry veg.

Sausage, or lamb chops, or chicken thighs done in a tray bake with potatoes and various veg according to recipe. I like the Nigella one with chorizo and chicken. With sausages we have onions and large tomatoes, peppers. With lamb chops I might put in aubergine and cauliflower and curry paste, make it a sort of Indian thing.

Sausage, mash, onion gravy, green veg.

Veg burgers or spicey bean burgers and chips and salad.

Hearty soup like minestrone or lentil and bacon or chicken and veg.

Sausage and mozzarella pasta
Chicken paprikash
Slow cooker pork ragu (often two nights - once over pasta and again over rice or gnocchi)
Creamy chickpea and spinach pasta
Nigel Slater’s chicken with spices and cream
Prawn and chorizo jambalaya

We're in a bad rut at the moment of chicken, jar of sauce, rice/pasta (work extremely busy and very very fussy teen). But favs include:

Chorizo potatoes (in ovenproof dish, tip a bag of baby potatoes (possibly halving the large ones if needed), a jar of tomato and chilli sauce, half a Lidl chorizo (sliced) and 1 pack of the Lidl double pack of bacon lardons - mix together, set oven on timer to cook for 60-75 mins until potatoes done, can put together night before as meats less problematic than eg chicken, serve dish to table and everyone help themselves)

Tacos, fajitas, quesedillas, etc - chicken, beef, fish, prawn, turkey, veggie...

Turkey, beef or veggie chilli with rice (leftovers frozen to go with baked potatoes another time)

Mac'n'cheese with lots of bacon (Lidl lardons) and veg (onion. garlic, mushrooms, peppers, petits pois, courgette etc) - leftovers can be frozen to redo as pasta bake

Large batch of Spag bol/lasagna/shepherd's pie/various types of curries etc - freeze extra portions

Risottos - Chicken, mushroom, seafood, butternut squash, spring green veg

Chicken joint traybakes, often on a bed of veggies or with roasted med veggies as a side, and often roasting baby potatoes which have had garlic granules/lemon pepper/salt/lemon juice/olive oil on them before roasting. Have been known to do a lamb chop in a similar way. Or more roots veg and long slow roasted lamb shanks (probably with baked potato rather than roast - not enough heat to get crispiness of roast).

Tagines in the oven in a regular casserole dish

Pasta carbonara

Chicken and chorizo paella
Sausage and mash with veg
Slow cooker gammon in cola
Fajitas
BBQ pork steaks with wedges and coleslaw
Lasagne
Hunters chicken
Pizza
Chilli and jacket potato

Vegetarian/vegan here too:
Macaroni cheese (fake cheese) with added leeks plus carrots and green veg (broccoli/cabbage/green beans/peas)
Spinach, red lentil, and sweet potato dahl
Roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings and vegetarian sausages
Gigantes beans with couscous
Tortilla (chopped up veg like carrots/peppers/sugar snap peas/baby sweet corn fried then tortilla toasted in pan with grated cheese and veg inside)
Tofu fajitas
Vegetarian shepherds pie
Pasta with mushroom and lentil “bolognese” sauce

@Bakedpotatoandgin

Kedgeree, or variations thereof. We prefer to use smoked mackerel (less bones) and don't always bother with the egg. Always contains a variety of veg and green leaves.

Red lentil and veg curry with rice, sometimes add a boiled egg and some raisins for a 70s style egg curry.

Chickpea spinach and sweet potato curry (my personal favourite), Sam stern recipe.

Potato wedges with assorted root veg/ frozen peas etc and eggs baked in ramekins with a bit of butter for the last few minutes of the wedges cooking time. Or sausages or fish fingers.

Indonesian hotpot - a very old bbc good food recipe I think, basically noodles cooked in a spicy peanut butter sauce with white fish, peppers and peas. It has spring onions, garlic, ginger, chilli, but somehow manages not to be too hot. I can try and find the full recipe tomorrow, it's amazing

@Bakedpotatoandgin please do share the Indonesian Hotpot recipe - sounds amazing and I’ve searched without luck.

I've also just come to the end of the thread hoping for Bakedpotatoandgin's recipe!

Spaghetti bolognese
Chicken Fajitas
Tuna Pasta Bake
Beef Stew
Korma

Lentil bolognese lasagne and green veg

Chinese pork - pork mince, with ginger, mushrooms and five spice, with sesame noodles and iceberg lettuce cups to stuff it all in

Cauliflower Mac and cheese and salad

Sausage and broccoli pasta

Chorizo and bean stew with green beans/salad and fried eggs

Am watching with interest as I need inspiration. Absolutely dread the weekly meal planning exercise.

Shall
Chicken Shashlik
Biryani/ Brown Rice
Kofta
Masala fish
Yogurt curry
Lamb and dried spinach
Paneer pakora
Chow mein home made
Tandoori chicken
Spaghetti and meatballs
Chapattis to accompany

Chilli con carne and brown rice (not too spicy or the kids won't eat it)

Honey and mustard chicken with mash and veg

Haggis (when in season) with mash and swede/carrot mash

Spaghetti Bolognese. Boring but the kids like it.

Teriyaki chicken and rice

Kedgeree

Tuna pasta salad in summer

Lentil and bacon soup

Lamb tagine (hairy bikers recipe)

Hot pot with picked red cabbage