Give me your meat free 5 day family meal plan, desperate for some new ideas!!

[Chateaulaohshit]

As tittle says I have got into a bit of a rut with cooking, especially dinner for my family of 5.

My two eldest DD’s are meat free (though will eat fish) and have been for a good few years and if I’m honest though I have of course supported their decision it’s really taken the joy out of cooking for me.

Youngest DD and DH love their meat, I can take it or leave it, throw in busy work week. club, hobbies and most days with contrasting timings of everyone being in the house at the same time, meal times have just became really stressful and I bit bland.

I’d love to see how houses juggle this and especially meat free weekly meal plan ideas as DH is going to be away for work most of the summer so really would like to get myself Moses organised and enjoy cooking again.

I'm left u sure as to whether you cook two separate meals or what, sorry?

Oh sorry, you want veggie meal plans.

I do a rough two week rotation (tailored especially to one v fussy child):

Macaroni cheese with veg
Lentil and courgette or tomato soup with rolls
Wraps with quorn nuggets, fried halloumi, grated carrot, hummus and avocado
Fish (fingers for some) and chips
Veggie meatballs, bolognese sauce and spaghetti
Salmon for those who'll eat it
Quorn pieces in curry sauce with rice, nan breads
Scrambled egg and beans on toast if it all goes pear-shaped
Toad in the hole with veggie sausages
Jacket potato with various fillings, salad
Veggie burgers plus veg and dips

Midweek dinners could be

Bean burgers
Veggie chilli or curry
Split pea stew and dumplings
Eggs and chips or omelettes
Pizza
Mexican bean wraps
Mushroom risotto

We are veggie
regular on ours are
Dahl and naan
West African peanut stew
Veggie sausage stew
Lentil Bolognese
Mac and cheese
Bean chilli
Mushroom and leek risotto
Veggie paella
Kimchi fried rice
Thai curry with noodles or rice
all manner of stir fries (with crispy tofu in the airfrier)
Enchilada/fajita/quesadilla
Satay tofu or sweet potato with rice
Peanut noodles

Most of those were happily eaten by a child who didn't eat vegetarian food 😀

Er, @Lastqueenofscotland2 , how do we apply to live at your house! 😋

This week -

veggie lasagne
quiche with potato salad and tex mex salad
biryani & raita
cashew tofu & rice
one pot tomato & lentil pasta
baked potato cheese & beans

good luck!

Lentil bolognese with pasta
Black bean and pepper risotto
Beany chilli with rice or tortilla chips
Vegan burgers, wedges and veg
Fake chicken, Mediterranean veg and spicy rice
Pizza
Lasagna with Meatless Farm mince
Vegan sausage, mash and veg
Mac and cheese
Chickpea and veg curry

A few ideas we eat here.

Some things we've had recently:

Pilaf (https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/pilaf-recipes)
Minestrone
Pasta, tomato & mozarella sauce
Veggie burgers
Dhal & rice
Veg stirfry with black beans

Veggi meal plan here:
Lentil mousakka
Quorn bolongaise
Spinach and lemon rissotto
Green Thai tofu curry
Purple sprouting broccoli with pasta

I do a lot of Mexican food as it ticks the boxes for my dd who doesn't like meat and those who love meat.

Quesadillas with pinto beans, cheese and avocado served with sour cream and salsa (sometimes with corn on the cob or potato wedges)

Taco soup (I'll put the beef in after I've dished up the veggie portion) and cornbread or a few tortilla crisps

Burritos - pinto beans, brown rice, onions and green peppers, cheese, jalapeños and sour cream or ranch with lettuce

Fajitas - black bean and pepper based usually - with sour cream avocados etc, sometimes with spicy wedges, sometimes sweetcorn

I also do bean chilli (again will add beef later). I make tripple and then freeze some veggie portions, I also do this with the taco soup.

Heuveros Ranchos - I can never spell this.

I also do tofu stir fries with peanut butter and loads of veg. DH told me he hated tofu yet inhaled this without realising it had tofu in. I just said it was stir fry.

I also do a jacket potato bar with various toppings and people can help themselves.

HM soup (leek and potato is a favourite) with different cheeses and HM or nice crusty bread.

I love to cook and found it hard at first when she stopped eating meat but now love cooking again.

In our house we have 2 meat eaters, a pescatarian and a vegetarian

Things we have that are meat free and everyone will eat :

Vegetable fajitas
Lemon salmon with rice and veg (I won't eat this cos I'm veggie)
Vegetarian haggis with baked potatoes
Vegetarian lasagne (hit and miss with kids tbh)
Macaroni cheese
Tomato and mascarpone pasta bake
Freezer dinners (eg pizza and wedges or haddock and chips)

Nothing particularly inspiring I'm afraid!

Great ideas here!
What's HM - something to do with the Coronation?!?!

Jamie Oliver’s veggie chilli is delicious.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-chilli/

Some good inspiration in this thread.

A few regulars we enjoy are:

*Butternut squash and chickpea curry with pilau rice and mini naan

*Sweet potato and black bean chilli with crumbled feta and tortilla chips (Gousto link)

*Vegetable packed potato topped pie with garlicky greens (Gousto link)

*Kidney bean and green lentil dal makhani with coconut rice and mangetout

*Thai green curry with coconut, chilli and lemongrass rice (I use the flavoured Tilda microwave rice pouches for ease and omit the chicken or substitute with tofu if making veggie)

*Lemon garlic salmon with new potatoes, asparagus and tenderstem broccoli

*Herb crusted salmon with hasselback potatoes and peas (Gousto link)

*Buddha bowl salads during summer - this is my favourite base, though I tend to use quinoa or red rice with saffron rather than brown rice.

*A simple roast vegetable and wild rice bowl (using whatever veggies are in the house and again a Tilda rice pouch) with chickpeas, topped with nutritional yeast and balsamic glaze.

The first handful lend themselves well to batch cooking, so I tend to make plenty and freeze portions for days I don’t have the time or energy to cook. If we don’t have anything ready to go when cooking from scratch isn’t on the cards we fall back on pasta, often just ready meals like mac and cheese or spinach and ricotta cannelloni.

A few of the recipes we use were originally meal boxes from Gousto that we liked so much we keep making independently. I don’t think the links for these work unless logged in unfortunately.

Hope you have fun getting organised and bringing some joy back into cooking.

Massive mushrooms stuffed and with blue cheese on top.
Beef tomatoes (same stuffing but with added tomato innards and usually some ham and grated cheese)

Mushroom risotto

Courgette sliced lengthways, drizzled with lemon juice, covered with buttery Parmesan breadcrumbs and baked

Nasi goreg (Indian fried curry rice with lots of veg, tuna, prawns)

Mushrooms in creamy sauce with pasta (may include chicken sometimes)

Mushrooms Fried in butter, garlic and thyme on toast or with some added cream to make a sauce and thrown over pasta

Roasted butternut squash curry

Veggie chilli and rice

I like cauli cheese with roasties and no meat but easy to add chicken joints to potatoes roasting

Pasta with various tomato based sauces and veggies