Do you have a regular meal rotation or mix it up? What is your weekly rotation?

[hungrybearoverthere]

So hungry and won't be home to eat for a while yet.

I'm trying to get more into cooking real food as opposed to eating for convenience and compromising on nutrition.

So my question is, do the bulk of people have a weekly meal rotation where they repeat the same meals every week? Or monthly? Or do you just create more of a one off bespoke meal plan each week?

I'm also thinking of trying a new recipe from a different country every weekend.

Very keen to hear what you are all cooking!

I do the same sort of 20-30 odd meals on rotation at dinner time.

This week we are having

Beef goulash with rice (over 2 nights)
Beef goulash
Veggie lasagne
Spiced cauliflower, chickpeas, herbs and pinenuts
White fish mornay
Quiche and salad
Stuffed peppers (stuffed with rice, herbs, feta and veg)

Now and again, I get fed up and then just type random ingredients into Google to bring up odd recipes...that's how I got the spiced cauliflower recipe above.

We do Hello Fresh which does us three nights (normally Fridays, Saturday and Sunday) then I have about 12 go to meals all based around protein (salmon, cod, chicken, mince beef, mince lamb) or veggies. So standard fare like shepherds pie and spaghetti bolognaise, mixed with more adventurous things like cod wrapped in Parma ham, or the Jamie Oliver Thai chicken soup/filo chicken Kiev's.

I rotate the same meals more or less, as I’ve got two small ones, a busy job and a household to run. At least I cook everything from scratch, so I don’t feel too bad.
It’s stuff like:

• cottage pie
• sausages/steaks/sea bass/chicken breast with chips and veg
• Slow cooker chicken & veg stew
• homemade pizza
• spaghetti with prawns and olives in tomato sauce
• tuna pasta
• chicken & mushrooms in cream sauce

I reckon mine are roughly on a three or four week rotation, and seasonal with some occasional changes.

When DC were school age a typical menu list would go:

spag bol
salmon with rice and steamed veg
chicken tray bake with mediterranean veg and couscous
beef goulash with mash and green veg
chilli and rice
oven baked fish and chips with peas and carrots
veggie frittata with salad
spicy lamb or chicken kebabs with rice and salad
falafel and humous with pita and salad
chicken and mushroom risotto with leeks and peas
pasta pomodoro and broccoli
home made pizzas with salad
kedgeree
stuffed peppers with salad
gnocchi mozarella bake with peas
roast pork with roast potatoes, greens and carrots
spicy beef tacos with guac, sour cream and crudites on the side
beef curry with rice, raita and spinach dhal
sausage and mash with five-beans and peas
roast salmon with stir fry veg and noodles
sesame chicken with rice and veg
macaroni and cauliflower cheese with peas
roast chicken with roasties and veg
home made burgers in ciabatta rolls or with chunky chips and salad
beef stew with dumplings
fish fingers, oven chips, peas, sweetcorn and carrots
chorizo and butternut squash risotto with broccoli
pasta carbonara with salad

That's about a month. Some we'd have more often as they were dc's favourites.

I think we have about 20 meals ( are vegetarian)
Of the top of my head:
Rissotto ( Beetroot and feta, spinach and lemon, goats cheese and pea, tomato and basil)
Vegetarian lasange
Three bean chilli with rice, salad and wraps
Burnt Aubergine chilli
Shepardess pie
Sweet potato, chickpea curry with flat bread
Dhal and rice
Home made veggi burgers, chips and coen on the cob
Homemade pizza
Home made gnochi with :
Creamy mushroom sause
Tomato sauce topped with mozzarella and bake
Macoroni cheese
Cauliflower walnut and feta pasta
Cauliflower orzo
Ottelenghi baked ragu
Quorn Bolangaise
Vegatable tagine with cous cous
Stir fry with tofu or cashews
Thai green curry
Minestrone soup
French onion soup
Leek and potato soup

In any given week (September- April) we will usually have:
Chilli or Bolangaise
A stir fry or curry
A soup night
Home made pizza
A pasta dish/ rissotto

Weekend night might be more involved.

We have some meals that pop up once a fortnight - like a roast chicken, or spag bol - and some that are more once a month, like kedgeree, shepherds pie, stir fry.

I enjoy cooking so often try out new recipes from cookbooks or magazines, but also often buy the ingredients and then forget what I was going to make / go off the idea 😳

Thanks everyone. A few interesting meals have caught my eye so I'll be adding these to my list to try soon.

Do most of you find your recipes online? I guess most cookbook recipes can be found online these days too.

I might start with a weekly rotation and then build it out to monthly for more variety once I'm familiar with the first ones.

I'm not a vegetarian but keen to be a bit more flexitarian and try some veggie and vegan recipes, so these are really interesting thank you. I'm still not super full of inspiration when it comes to these types of meals (usually because they seem to involve goats cheese or beetroot the two things I never eat!)

Bolognaise part 1
Bolognaise part 2
salmon
turkey schnitzel
toad in the hole
roast chicken
chicken & veg chicken in gravy
smoked mackerel & salad
haggis part 1
haggis part 2
burgers
chicken bacon and leek pie part one
Ditto, part two
shepherds pie (have to wait for the age to be in a right mood to make this) part one
shepherds pie part 2
the occasional roast lamb
roast lamb leftovers
Cod in parsley sauce (home-made)
chilli cooked with baked beans, instead of kidney beans, part one
Ditto part two
Chicken, bacon and leek pie, part three
Shepherds pie, part three
lasagna part one
Lasagna part two
Charlie Bigham’s moussaka (only when on special offer)

I was in a bit of a rut lately, so got down a cookbook i have and never looked at. It was Hairy bikes one pot book and I am making my way through the recipes that take my fancy. Some have been lovely and I will now put them into my regular meal list. Some I have thought were not great so won't do again. Have really enjoyed trying new meals. BBC good food is a go to for me for recipe ideas too.

Lots of mixing here. Lots of cookbooks and get the food magazines each month. Plus I love simply cook for new ideas or usually quick meals.

This weeks meal plan:
Sat - steak and chips. With watercress, stilton and a fried egg top of the steak.
Sun - chorizo, pork belly & chickpea dish
Mon - Butternut squash one pot
Tue - Greek chicken gyros and salad
Wed - Chilli con carne
Thu - Mexican pork one pot
Fri - crispy chilli beef stir fry

We always do eggs in one form or another every week, and a soup night every week. Usually also a stir fry or noodle dish one night too. Cheap and plant-based.

The other nights vary enormously depending on what I've got in the pantry, what's in season, the weather, if DH is away, what I've seen online that week, what the DDs have ordered for school lunch, and if the DDs feel like belong with the cooking.

This week is:

Steak and salad
Dijon and tarragon chicken
Soup
Feta eggs and asparagus
Veggie stir fry with peanuts
Courgette pasta (DD1 is cooking)
Korean fried chicken

I have a lot of saved instagram and TikTok posts with recipes which I draw from, as well as a list on my phone of ideas, especially veggie ideas (many pulled from Mumsnet veggie inspiration threads)

Friday night is steak night and Sunday we have a roast, other than that it’s whatever we fancy on the day. Obviously when it’s really warm then it’s not a roast but at the moment it’s usually a roast.
Dh does the cooking and will do a butchers run once or twice a week and then comes up with dinners based on what they had.

I've not been to a butchers in my adult life - maybe I need to give this a go for some ideas too.

I love pork belly and would love to learn how to cook that.

TBH I learnt to cook at my mother's side. I will occasionally check a recipe ( or more likely several and choose bits from each one), but on a standard Wednesday night I just do it, it's instinctual.

I do meal plan the hell out of everything though.