Could you give me an example of your weekly meal plans?

[Picklepopsalot]

I’m looking for inspiration. I want to start being more organised with the food shop and start making a weekly meal plan. Teen DDs are getting bored of our usual dishes and younger DSs hate change so it’s a bit difficult to please everyone! Just wondering what other people’s weekly dinners look like! Thanks 😊

Do you want a sample menu?

Monday: jacket spuds with chilli
Tuesday: tortillas with chilli & sides
Wednesday: salad buffet
Thursday: curries
Friday: always party tea
Saturday: curries
Sunday: pasta bake with roast veg

Every week we do two things that last two days to limit the cooking, these vary so e.g. curry comes round about once every three weeks

We are veggie so 'slop' features prominently

We eat a lot of fresh veg so that means things change naturally as the seasons change.

This is a good idea for a thread. I was thinking about this today. We're so disorganised. DD & DSD are blimmin' fussy. We work compressed hours for childcare so time is limited of an evening now.

I REALLY need to lose 2st and know that it's 80:20 diet and exercise but eating better would help so much.

Interested in replies.

If your teens are wanting change- can you outsource this to them? They can easily do a poke bowl (nadyia, time to eat) it's all in the pre-prep. Then just throw it together. Equally, fajitas- can just get an old el paso kit, they can choose the veggies or proteins. or chicken thighs and nandos bag and bake.

It's too much for you to be managing different meal needs imo.

Then your younger ones can carry on having the meals they are used to.

I cop out and but Gousto boxes every two weeks. I then keep all the recipes in the folder and throw it at DH every week to pick a couple and I'll pick a couple, and then we'll shop to those recipes.

Highly recommend it.

Shamelessly posting a referral link as well - if you wanted to try it, you get 60% off your first box and then 30% off the rest of the month and I get £30 in credit for my next box too! Works well for us

cook.gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=ALLIS33205208&utm_source=androidapp

This week is different as it's half term and I'm off half the week.

Today - mince and dumplings in the slow cooker
Sunday - chicken roast
Monday always leftovers or freezer - curry with leftover chicken, chickpeas and cauliflower
Tuesday always vegetarian day- tomato and Marscapone pasta bake
Wednesday usually mexican stuys something but not this week - lunch at pizza hut buffet so light tea, maybe scrambled eggs on toast/omelettes
Thursday - spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread
Fish Friday - fish pie with green veg
Saturdays are normally fake takeout (or real) so curry/nandos/fish and chips/pizza

I had the same problem but then I read an article recently that helped. You write down 25-30 meals that you make and include some you want to learn to make. Then split them into the following categories: quick dinners; family favourites; weekend; budget; new recipes.
I then do my food shopping so I can make a range of the meals and can adapt the meal I'm making depending on circumstances. I don't end up with on Monday we eat this but I found that type of planning didn't work for me.

Fajitas
Chilli and wraps
Spag Bol
Meatballs and spaghetti
Macaroni cheese with sausages and veg
Stir fry
Curry W naans
Thai green curry (pkt from Aldi)
Roast dinner
Pasta bake/pasta with sauce and veg
Gammon egg and chips
Jacket potatoes with fillings

Those are our typical weekday meals.

One teen is veggie so I just substitute veggie options or alternatives. DD7 is picky so our meals aren't highly exciting. Only adults eat the stir fry and curries and DD7 just has ham and cheese wraps when we have fajitas. Fajitas are bbq flavour as the other teen doesn't like spicy!

Thanks! It is hard to accommodate different tastes when there are 6 of us. Feel like I go round in circles trying to come up with ideas for a week. Do you all generally plan a whole week in advance.
We very rarely have leftovers, it’s a getting to be struggle to feed everyone with a roast chicken. I have a small portion but everyone else has big appetites!

This week we are having:
Salmon and veg with noodles
Falafel and hallumi wraps and salad
Burgers, curly fries and salad
Meatball pasta
Chicken kebabs in mini naan breads
Takeaway curry
Veggie lasagne

Rather than a plan, usually I just have bases for meals hence the breakdown of
Leftover Monday
Veggie Tuesday
Mexican Wednesday
Mince Thursday and
Fish Friday
Fakeaway Saturday

That way it's not too rigid and I can swap things round if we need to

Mine changes weekly but I sort of have patterns so

Day 1 spag Bol
Day 2 chilli (made from left over spag Bol) with salsa, guacamole, rice or nachos
Day 3 chicken fajitas with leftover salsa, guacamole

Or I might do a roast on Sunday and chicken soup or stir fry Monday with leftovers

In terms of vegetables we get through large amounts of raw carrots, cucumber and peppers, avocados, olives which we have neat or with hummus. If this is a starter then I don’t feel too bad about giving them an easy main like tomato soup and toast or jacket potato with tuna or scrambled eggs and toast

Every couple of weeks we’ll have a meze night with veg sticks, hummus, taramasalata, halloumi, pitta, olives and either chicken marinaded in garlic or a ready made lamb kebab, maybe rice and I’ll get something ready made like vine leaves.

We also have fish maybe once every ten days, so salmon or white fish in foil with garlic and butter with broccoli, carrots, potatoes.

Puddings are yogurt and fruit.

love these threads I always come out with new meals

Monday - Dutch dish = potatoes beetroot bacon
Tuesday - sweet and sour chicken (home made) and rice
Wednesday - gnocchi. chorizo basil and tomato bake
Thursday - Indian chicken curry (I do an Indonesian one which is very different)
Friday - enchilladas
Saturday - pizza
Sunday - roast beef and all the trimmings

Last week:
Monday - stuffed pasta
Tuesday - beef casserole and dumplings
Wednesday - tagliatelle chilli crab (mn recipe)
Thursday - beef casserole and jacket potatoes (left overs)
Friday - chicken tandori naan wraps
Saturday - pizza
Sunday - cornish pasty and chips.

I have a list of meals, which I try and keep adding too, so I go to that and try and have something different each week. I have also recently sorted my recipe folder and I'm trying to cook things from there that I haven't done for a while.

This week we are having:
Thai green curry
Veggie burgers
Slow cooker chilli x2 www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow-cooked_vegan_chilli_44057
Chipotle mushroom tacos magazine.vitality.co.uk/vegan-smoky-chipotle-mushroom-tacos/amp/
Curry of some kind, probably a dal

@Picklepopsalot

Thanks! It is hard to accommodate different tastes when there are 6 of us. Feel like I go round in circles trying to come up with ideas for a week. Do you all generally plan a whole week in advance. We very rarely have leftovers, it’s a getting to be struggle to feed everyone with a roast chicken. I have a small portion but everyone else has big appetites!

if you are buying a large chicken (2+ kgs) then one chicken should feed 6. Do you carve the breast meat? I was surprised to find that many people serve the breast as a whole piece, same with legs. I carve the breast and carve the legs, then meat is on a big plate and goes round the table. It goes much further.

I meal plan for 4 weeks in advance and shop for the week ahead. This past week was -
Monday - chilli and rice
Tuesday - jacket potato with leftover chilli and salad.
Wednesday - sausages, mash, veg
Thursday - chicken thighs, mixed pepper rice and broccoli
Friday - easy dinner day - goujons, wedges, frozen pizza, cucumber and peppers
Saturday - roast dinner (chicken)
Sunday - chicken and vegetable soup (made from stock from the chicken carcass) with bake at home rolls.

Next week will be -
Monday - breaded fish fillets, wedges/oven chips with peas
Tuesday - omelettes and salad
Wednesday - Thai green curry
Thursday - chicken and chorizo paella
Friday - leftover paella
Saturday - tuna pasta bake
Sunday - pork loin chops, sweet potato mash, broccoli and green beans

More side dishes too - I'm still trying to persuade H that it's possible to have three portions of vegetables with a roast!

Today - chicken & chips
Sunday - bangers, mash, gravy, veg
Monday - spaghetti & meatballs
Tuesday - homemade pizza
Wednesday - homemade Nando’s wraps & hallomi
Thursday - Halloween party food with a couple of the kids friends.
This is for me, husband,2 kids age 5-9 so all pretty kid friendly.

Stuck in a rut here.

Linguine with garlic, chilli and basil
Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese and sometimes tuna
HM pizza and HM wedges
Shepherds pie
Skewers. Anything but often pork cubes with pepper, tomato and pineapple.
Roast chicken dinner
Sausage casserole
Toad in the hole with peas
Broccoli and pasta cheese
Salmon stirred in to pasta with peas and mayonnaise
Curries (we make a huge batch of base sauce from the Curry Secret book)
Roast dinner pie. Leftovers with a tin of soup stirred in with a puff pastry top!
Wraps

@Picklepopsalot

Thanks! It is hard to accommodate different tastes when there are 6 of us. Feel like I go round in circles trying to come up with ideas for a week. Do you all generally plan a whole week in advance. We very rarely have leftovers, it’s a getting to be struggle to feed everyone with a roast chicken. I have a small portion but everyone else has big appetites!

I roast 2 chickens at a time and that gives enough for leftovers for a curry or chicken fried rice.

I did this a couple of weeks ago so looking in with interest!

bolognese
chilli
curry
fajitas
sausage and potato hotpot
rösti, sausage and onion sauce
roast beef
roast chicken
steak, rice and veg
baked potato
Irish stew
chicken stir fry (that Marcus Rashford one is OK, otherwise I just put in whatever stir fry veggies are cheap in the supermarket)
bake your own pizza
toad in the hole
carbonara
cottage pie
ikea dinner (meatballs, chips and peas!)
tomato and mozzarella salad
bean and chorizo stew (off the Eat Well for Less show
risotto
chicken, flatbread, hoummous and tomato and cucumber salad

I've just done my 2 week plan ready for DH to do food shop, we were making the same stuff all the time so I went on BBC Good Food and searched up family dinners. Still need to decide Sunday dinners but so far I have:

Sausage casserole with mash and Savoy cabbage
Pasta with pork, lemon and herb meatballs with side salad
Jerk pork loin chops with sweet potato wedges, more cabbage and babycorn
Corned beef hash in big Yorkshire pudding with mash and broccoli
Chicken tikka masala (slimming world recipe that's just as good as a takeaway!)
Picky party food night next Saturday
All day breakfast (DH favourite food!)
Chicken, pepper, red onion and new potato tandoori traybake.
Indian spiced beef koftas with rice, flatbreads and coriander, rocket, red onion and tomato salad
Chicken and chorizo pasta bake with homemade garlic bread (extra strong garlic!)
Beef chilli con carne with random accompaniment s like tortillas, dips, salad, avocado, Doritos.

@steppemum I am intrigued by your Dutch dish! I love beetroot and apart from roasting, soup or salad I find it difficult to incorporate into recipes.

Can you tell me more please?

Lots of ideas here.

We try to stick to the following as a rough plan each week:

Mon- salmon (rice/noodles/stir fry/pasta)
Tues - easy freezer tea (fish fingers/nuggets)
Wed- jacket pots
Thurs- meat (curry/sausages/pork chops etc)
fri - takeaway
Sat- homemade pizzas or pasta
sun- roast dinner or BBQ depending on season

Sunday roast chicken dinner, Yorkshire pud
Monday chicken curry
Tues Salmon, new potatoes veg
Wed Pasta homemade meatballs and tomato/ veg sauce
Thurs Leftovers made into a bake with extra veg and cheese sauce. Salad
Fri Fish and chips takeaway
Sat Beef stir fry (M&S kit with loads of extra veg)