Apparently most people have 6 meals they make on a loop? How about you?

[BarrelOfOtters]

Some random study I read.

It's probably about right..

stirfry
fajitas
a roast of some kind (not every week)
salmon and veg
sea bass with veg
fishfingers chips and peas (or similar)
a curry - usually prawn.

Oh definitely not here! I meal plan monthly, so we never eat the same thing twice in a month - with the exception of a roast, but we still rotate the meat and accompanying vegetables/sides.

I keep a record of what we've eaten the previous month, both for inspiration and so I can avoid too much repetition. We recreate recipes we've had before from Gousto, new things we see, old favourites such as fajitas/spag bol. I try to do fish on a Friday, unless it's pay day, in which case we might have takeaway. At least one meat-free meal a week and one pasta dish.

I'd die of boredom eating the same 6-8 meals over and over again!

I was going to say this. I make stir fries with either noodles or rice, and there are lots of different types of noodles and rice - egg noddles, instant noodles, rice noodles, basmati rice, whole grain rice ...

And I might have no meat, and use tofu; or fish; or egg; or mushrooms; or cashews / peanuts, as a main ingredient. If I'm eating with DP or DS, I'd use chicken.

The other vegetables could be any mixture of: beanshoots, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, a leafy green, carrots, sweetcorn, ginger, courgette, chillies, peppers (any colour), peas, radishes. I've even added tomatoes if they need using up.

Then there's variation when adding in a sauce or liquid like soy sauce, miso broth, rice wine or hot sauce.

That's the basis for well over a dozen combinations.

And I'm on a restricted diet! (Low FODMAP, no onion or garlic.)

When I make Thai green curry, I buy a paste. I’ve never made my own paste. So total ingredients are - oil, brown sugar, green Thai paste, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, coconut milk, fish/soy sauce, coriander and lime juice. Plus chicken.

I would also add green beans and/or baby corn to a Thai curry.

I have a sort of 4 week meal plan, but a lot of it is quite repetitive. Roasts are in the a lot just with different meat/veg, jacket potatoes feature every week, some type of curry, a pasta dish just with ever so slightly different ingredients.

Similar to most we have dishes that we eat much more often than others, I don't use jar or packet sauces except Chinese curry sauce and I make quite a few different passata based dishes with chicken and pasta that are always a bit different depending on what I decide to put in.
Jacket potatoes
Sausage and mash
Sausage casserole
Spaghetti Bolognese
Gammon usually with rosemary potatoes and veg
Chilli
Something with noodles with Chinese curry sauce or sweet chili
Pasta with chicken and sauce

Turkey breasts with potatoes and veg
I make Indian curries from scratch about once a month.
My boys are 4 and 7 so a few fish finger/nugget meals are thrown in the mix too

Within maybe three weeks, I tend to repeat:

Japanese curry + rice
Homemade pizza
Miso soup, fish, and rice
Chicken and mushroom pasta
Gyoza and rice
Roast chicken etc

We have a Mindful Chef subscription so it’s more like 60 for us 😅

Making from scratch - no pastes, just spices like cumin, ground coriander, etc etc.

But I don’t make Thai green curry! So that one would be harder! I make Dhals and other veggie curries a lot though. I love fresh coriander and fresh ginger etc, so I only make if i have that!

I'd say probably twice that much, but it does still feel pretty repetitive.

Salad
Omelette
Salad
Omelette
Salad
Omelette
Salad
Omelette

Do you mean you only eat those six meals or that those 6 are things that are repeated regularly? Because we definitely have a few things that are on the menu at least once a month each, but our overall repertoire is way more than 6 meals.

Certainly, I try to make something completely new or something we haven't had in months at least every fortnight, preferably every week. And we also have a lot of things we have regularly, if not weekly.

@Decafflatteplease come join us on the Meal Planning 2023 thread in Food and Recipes - lots of ideas and often recipes too! Great way to get new ideas.

@InDubiousBattle I was the same growing up. It never changed or very rarely did, the odd time we would have something different. In fairness they had a LOT of kids to feed and it must have made life easier.
Bacon and cabbage
Savoury mince
Spag bol
Fry up
Roast
Friday/ Saturday fend for yourself - frozen pizza/ similar.

Broadly, here are the things written down on my meal plan for the last couple of weeks.
++ means is something we've had more than once over the last few weeks.

• is something we've had before but not necessarily recently

Honey Roasted carrots and feta "pilaf"+
Pizza with taleggio, spinach, ricotta. +
Spaghetti and Meatballs +
Lamb gyros
Asia style mince and noddles + +
Steak, new potatoes, salad ++
Aubergine and tomato pasta ++
Roast chicken ++
Lamb chops and new potatoes and salad +
Chicken salad with garlic bread? +
Chicken korma+
Boboti +

Leek and pancetta tart with salad +
Tuna jacket potatoes +
Fish fillets with vegetables +
Salmon and stir fry +

And off the top of my head, things we eat regularly but apparently haven't eaten int he last few weeks include risotto, chicken burgers, spaghetti bolognaise, roasted vegetables, fajitas, halloumi and greens in wraps....

I do because there's only 3 of us at home so I batch cook. Mainly consists of Thai red chicken (or veg) curry, spag Bol, 3 bean chilli, risotto, steak, sweet potatoes and salad, a Sunday roast, fajitas. We do eat out once/ twice per week.

Probably 10 old faithfuls in all honesty. I've been aware of being in a rut for some time, so have been trying to add one new thing a week.

I try to vary it a bit more than that but definitely have a few staple meals that I cook every other week. We have pasta a couple of times a week but I try to vary it rather than always have spag bol.

Sounds about right to me. I just have steamed veg with some kind of protein (fish, chicken or cheese) every day.

I really think of food as fuel and also find the above delicious so it works fine for me. You forget that other people would find that horrifying though

I will make 5/6 meals on a loop, but its continually changing, so I will add in a different 3 and keep 3 from last week, then the following week ditch 2 and keep 4, then same again, last week was

salmon salad
steak and salad
chicken fake nandos
katsu curry and rice
mushroom omelette and chips
avocado and chickpea salad

next week I will ditch the steak, omelette and curry and probably add in bean chilli and spaghetti dish, add in yum yum chicken

Probably about right:

Pasta bake
Lasagna
Homemade pizza
Curry
Beef stew and mash
Bacon/sausage sandwiches

I love this thread for some inspiration. We meal plan and we’re enjoying basing it on a mix of classics we choose (one or two each), some healthy choices and one or two new recipes every week. We try to use ingredients we have here too when deciding on recipes which is also going well for avoiding waste.

I think we’re probably somewhere between the extremes of having a small number of meals on rotation and something different for weeks on end - although I wish I was more like this! Here are some of our family favourites which are easy:

• Salads such as Niçoise or chicken and avocado this time of the year
• Egg-fried rice or stir fry with a noodles base
• Chili con carne and sweet potato wedges
• Pasta: lasagne or spaghetti Bolognese (rarely those two in the summer) or a creamy salmon or pesto-based with chicken kind
• Roast chicken: with the traditional trimmings or marinated in something like harissa with Middle Eastern sides
• Steak, chips and peppercorn sauce
• Sausage, mash and onion gravy
• Fishcakes and some kind of potato and veg with a lemony sauce
• Pizza and a big (Mumsnet) salad
• Fajitas
• Burger and chips

Very similar here. I can’t be bothered thinking of cooking so it’s always something like this

curry - lentil (brown or yellow), chickpea (black or white), chicken curry (nknrsl tomaoto based, jalfrezi or karai), biryani, prawn, lamb, Kinsey beans

pasta based - lasagne, shepherds pie, pasta sauce tomato or cheese

fish and chips of some kind

burgers of some kind - lamb, chicken, breaded chicken

roast chicken and veg and pots

grilled chicken different spices with naan or pitta - harissa/mint and lemon/ peri peri/ Turkish/ tandoori sometimes even lamb chops

sometimes salmon fish and rice and veg

usually have enough for leftovers so not cooking all the time

I cook at the weekend and then only have to reheat

JPs and home made pizzas also feature regularly

i would like more fish in but husband doesn’t really like white fish roasted and also Thai curries but he doesn’t like that either. We also have noodles every now and then but DD isn’t a fan.

it’s fairly repetitive and I try to see different recipes but two under 3 and working full time makes it hard!

Monday curry, Tuesday pasta, Wednesday out for pizza, Thursday couscous and tajine, Friday paella, Saturday Night Special (a novelty or unusual thing), Sunday toast and hummus, salad, avocado and a dollop of Boursin.

Yes, but most of the list allows for a lot of variation. I cook about ten different pasta dishes regularly and experiment with others, for example. Three or four different curries and risottos regularly too.

Risotto
Pasta
Curry
Fish (with some combo of salad / carbs / sauce)
Various potato-based things like tortilla
Tacos
Pizza

I think having a limited amount of meals on rotation helps keep costs low and is easier if working full time/juggling kids, housework etc. We tend to eat quite basically and will always have something like jacket potato, veg and a meat substitute, veggie spag bol, cheesy pasta, pizza, noodles, wraps. Plus youngest is super fussy so will adapt to suit them. I think I we were to expand our repertoire our food bill would go through the roof!