What's on your meal plan?

[Anycrispsleft]

I'm trying to get more organised. I often see people on here talking about meal planning, and I wondered whether anyone would like to share theirs?

Our meal plan at the moment often goes
Monday - fajitas
Tuesday - burgers
Wednesday - curry
Thursday - err, I don't know
Friday - takeaway curry
Saturday - DH "cooks for the kids" so usually oven pizza for them, grazing for us
Sunday - bolognese or a roast if I can be bothered

our kids also don't have a school canteen (bloody Germany) so I have to make them something for then as well. I choose from the following

• soup (Scotch broth for DD1, pumpkin for DD2, either of them will eat sweetcorn chowder)
• potato, sausage and onion hotpot type thing
• pasta and pesto
• couscous with peas and bacon bits
• sandwich (but I hate doing a sandwich bc I have to do it in the morning, and DD2 will only eat tomato sandwiches and the tomato has to be deseeded, and nothing says check your life choices like deseeding an effing tomato at 6.25am)

Any suggestions for individual meals or whole weekly or monthly plans gratefully received!

bump

Mine for this week -
Mon - duck massaman curry
Tues - lamb with courgette fritters and flat breads
Weds - cod with wedges and beans
Thurs - potato/chicken/cauliflower harissa one pot bake
Fri - cottage pie
Sat - pizza/pasta/salad
Sunday - roast dinner

Mine also have packed lunches so they often taken a mini thermos of leftovers or pasta. Or I do breaded chicken wraps etc

This week:
Saturday - Yaki udon (Wagamama book)
Sunday - beef brisket, mash, veg, Yorkshire puds
Monday - chickpea, spinach and cauliflower curry with naan
Tuesday - Korean fried rice (leftover beef brisket from Sunday - save with Jamie recipe)
Wednesday - fish burgers in buns and wedges with salad
Thursday - Spag Bol (kids' sport night so has to be quick and easy

We try to do at least one veggie and one fish based meal each week. Shopping day is Friday and we plan to the following Thursday. I couldn't cope with life any other way!

Mine for this week is:

Mon - chicken, ham and leek pie
Tues - burgers, salad and homemade chips
Weds - homemade pizza, garlic bread and coleslaw
Thurs - spaghetti bolognese
Fri - roasted veg and halloumi fajitas
Sat - steak, sweet potato fries and salad
Sun - roast chicken and apple crumble

Sunday- roast chicken, carrots, broccoli, roast potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire’s, gravy
Monday- chicken noodle (leftover chicken, celery, leeks, sweetcorn, egg noodles and a chow mien sachet sauce)
Tuesday - vegetable chilli and rice
Wednesday - steak pie from butchers (£££ but yum) broccoli carrots and some mash for those who want it
Thursday - chicken tikka masala (chicken breast, onions peppers, jar of sauce) rice
Friday - frozen fish portions, oven chips and beans
Saturday - takeaway pizza.

Sunday - steak pie, mash and broccoli
Monday - firecracker chicken noodles
Tuesday - sausages and mash
Wednesday - veggie pasta
Thursday - veggie Thai curry
Friday - not sure yet, see what's left to use up tbh.

I've done an excel of all meals we enjoy, adding what is "main protein" (eg beef mince, chicken breast, tofu, chickpeas, beans) and few other variables (eg cuisine, if seasonal ingredients, prep/cooking time etc). I also regularly add new meals into it but this makes it easier for me to plan ahead.

Sunday - roast chicken, roast potatoes, Yorkshire’s and vegetables. Steam pudding and custard.
Monday - random pasta - left over chorizo, left over chicken, left over cream cheese all stirred into tomatos, onion, garlic and smoked paprika to make a sauce. Oh and some spinach added too. It was rather good.
Tuesday - chicken tray bake / bone chicken, veggies and potatoes with herbs
Wednesday - fish, chips and salad
Thursday - ds 1’s birthday and has asked for pizza. I’ll do chicken pieces, salad, wedges and bread to serve with it.
Friday - off to inlaws no idea when or what we will eat

Thanks very much everyone! Got a lot of good ideas in there.

@mamaduckbone I have that Wagamama book! I should pull it back out. We go to Wagamama whenever we're in the UK, the kids love it.

@QueryA that's a good tip with the steak pie. We have absolutely sod all pre-prepared food here in Germany (this is a country that sells pre hard boiled eggs as a convenience food) but there are some decent butchers in town, that would be a great idea.

I've done an excel of all meals we enjoy, adding what is "main protein" (eg beef mince, chicken breast, tofu, chickpeas, beans) and few other variables (eg cuisine, if seasonal ingredients, prep/cooking time etc).
I so need to do this.

Today we are having baked potatoes, Brussels sprouts and scrambled eggs for lunch Fortunately half term is nearly over and I won't have to take the Dc food shopping with me next week...

Not a particularly inspirational week this week:

Monday: roast squash, leek, feta, olive, pesto pasta
Tuesday: veg curry (aubergine, kale, leek, leftover roast squash, chick peas) and naan
Weds: half a frozen pizza and salad
Thurs: leftover veg curry
Friday: miso corn on the cob with some sort of fried rice and veg mix
Saturday: out with friends
Sunday: veggie haggis with mash and broccoli

For lunches I’ve made a batch of courgette, kale and potato soup which I’ll alternate with other soups from the freezer.

I find getting a veg box helps mix things up. I always plan for pasta on Mondays, one freezer meal and Thursday is almost always a repeat of something earlier in the week.

I have fallen down on meal planning lately as I am just out of inspiration. But I tend to have days for a certain style of food and then work around it. So a standard sort of week would be;

Monday- Pasta (vegetarian) -

Tuesday - tacos (and I vary this with burritos, fried tortillas etc)

Wednesday - rice - (stir fires / curries, / stews with rice etc

Thursday - hotdogs. (which might segue into sausages and mash; sausage stew; bratwurst with deli salads)

Fridays - soups and bread (invariably chicken soup)

Saturdays - Roast

Sundays- supper (so might be eggs en cocotte; scrambled eggs; cheese on toast etc). We have swimming on Sundays and McDs for lunch so a simple dinner is standard.

I find the broad 'rules' really easy to work around yet still having alot of variety. So the Dcs would never say 'Oh growing up we had hotdogs every Thursday) because it really is a variation on sausages. My favourite sausage dish right now is putting fat sausages into a tray, adding an entire punnet of grapes, some sliced onions and a bit of wine and cooking until the sausages are cooked through (25 minutes -ish). This is glorious with couscous or polenta and fits my rough meal plan criteria of 'hotdogs on Thursdays').

I need to get back to it today. Lately I have been having mainly chicken and veg as I am too tired to think and one of mine has food issues and it's easy.

My menu this week is

M- lasagne and salad
T - chicken Arriabiata and parmesan dumplings and broccoli
W - slow cooker chicken Korma
T - Beef and Ale pie and veg
F - rigatoni sausage pasta bake
S - Pizza
S - Roast Gammon, potatoes and veg.

Next week will include-
Gordon Ramsey shepards pie
Fish, new pots, veg and parsley sauce
Chicken and spinach Alfredo
And not yet decided on the rest.

I get most of my recipes and inspiration for what to cook from the bbc good food website and fbook group.

This is our this week and next week.

Lots out of the freezer next week to make space for some Christmas stuff.

@Anycrispsleft it's one of our favourites - ds2 loves Wagamama. We do quite a few recipes from it, although you do have to build up the sauces and spices.