Looking for family meal inspiration

[HerculesMulligan]

We're in a bit of a rut - feels like the same 4-5 meals over and over - and I'd like to make a list of about 25 so there's much more variety. If your family has that sort of list or rota, please can you share what you cook? Our usuals are below:

pasta bake
pasta bolognaise
pork in a hoisin sauce with rice
poached salmon and potatoes
jacket spuds with cheese / coleslaw / beans
steak and salad
pork steaks with apple sauce and potatoes
roast chicken (weekends, usually)
roast beef (again, usually weekends)
toad in the hole

Chilli - meat or bean, with or without wraps.
fajitas - any meat or veggie
curry - again meat or veggie.
meatballs are good and go down very well if I have the ikea sauce! With mash, pasta, whatever you like!
pulled pork - handy to leave in the slow cooker all day
any variant of fried rice
stir fry, usually with noodles to make it like a chow mien.

1. Scouse (beef stew)
2. Chilli with rice or jackets
3. Homemade burgers and chips
4. Sausage & mash
5. Quiche, salad & jackets spuds
6. Soup
7. Chicken curry & rice
8. Chicken stir fry
9. Cottage pie
10. Thai green curry
11. Thai beef rice
12. Sweet chilli chicken
13. Pulled hoisin chicken noodles
14. Chicken & halloumi burger
15. Enchiladas
16. Chicken & bacon pasta
17. Chicken wrapped in Parma ham
18. Wrap pizzas & wedges
19. Gammon & new potatoes
20. Breakfast tea
21. Spaghetti bolognese
22. Steak baguettes
23. Paninis & wedges
24. Roast
25. Chicken Fajitas
26. Chicken & haloumi burgers
27. Chicken & chorizo kebabs
28. Chicken & chorizo pasta

I keep a list of meals on my phone, that’s some of them x

https://laughingspatula.com/creamy-garlic-chicken/

This was popular here tonight with tenderstem broccoli and optional crusty bread to mop up

Cheats carbonara
Cajun chicken pasta
Chilli/spaghetti Bolognese/lasagne
Fajitas/kebabs
Sausage and mash
Spanish omelette
BBQ
Roast chicken/beef/pork etc
Chicken fried rice
Posh jackets
Traybake (chicken, toms, potato, peppers etc)
Chicken parmesan
Mussels and chips (I hate them, kids like them)
Burgers

I'm not going to write up what everyone else has posted but that plus
Fritata
Falafels in pita
Shakshuka
Tandoori chicken in flatbreads with salad and raita
Pasta with honey and mustard sausages and leeks
Sausage casserole
Nacho chicken (chicken breasts butterflied topped with salsa then crushed tortilla chips and cheese)
Pasta with prawns, garlic, chilli and cherry tomatoes.
Stuffed peppers (stuffed with herbs cous cous, veg and topped with mozzarella and garlic breadcrumbs)

Traybake with gnocchi, sausages, sage, parsnips, shallots and apples.

Hairy bikers Chicken curry rice and naan
Chilli made with braising steak rice pitta and tortilla chips
Chicken fajitas with all the bits
Jamie's roast curry chicken with cauliflower and new pots (big favourite)
Roast dinner
Chicken and smoked paprika tray bake
Ramen I use the itsu ready made and add cooked chicken veg and noodles literally ready in five minutes
Chicken, broccoli and noodles (garlic soy and ginger)
Chicken fried rice
Sausage mash and peas in a giant Yorkshire pudding with gravy
Gammon egg and chips
Panko chicken and chips

The meals that always go down well for us are:

Gnocchi bake. As versatile as pasta bake but something a bit different.

I make a cajun halloumi pasta that is nice. You can just add a bit of cajun seasoning if children don't like it too spicy but it's essentially that fried off with chunks of halloumi then add cream cheese, tomato puree, peas and cooked pasta.

Chicken chow mein.

Fajitas with either chicken or chickpeas and mixed beans.

Cheat's "moussaka". Essentially bolognese with an added couple of teaspoons of cumin, oregano and cinnamon. Lay it in an oven dish, top with cooked, sliced potato, a white sauce and then some grated cheese and bake in the oven.

Naan bread pizzas. Bought naan bread, top with your choice of curry sauce, cheese and toppings. Everyone can customise their own but my DDs like theirs with naan bread topped with korma sauce, onions, peppers, cooked sliced chicken and a sprinkle of cheese then baked in the oven.

Chicken breast stuffed with pesto and wrapped in parma ham cooked in the air fryer. You can have with veg and rice, pasta, cous cous, potatoes.... whatever you fancy.

When I feel like this, I usually do a couple of weeks of hello fresh. I've introduced quite a few new items into our fortnightly rotation from this.

Saturday’s are salad Saturdays
Sunday roast
Monday fish usually cod baked with lemon
Tuesday stir fry with noodles
Wednesday gnocchi
Thursday homemade pizza
Friday pitta pockets with Greek style cheese

We have a similar menu to you actually OP. See some of our other meals:

• lemon and olive chicken thighs with garlic potatoes
• breadcrumb salmon with rice noodles and str fry veg
• chicken chasseur
• hoisin chicken meatballs with rice and stir fry veg (stir fry veg is key as you can tell 😆)
• peanut curry - a Joe Wicks recipe made with chicken
• we eat a lot of persian food- lamb and cherry rice is a fav
• tacos
• chicken escalope
• buttermilk fried chicken- a real treat but I am in the kitchen for hours prepping and frying
• easy meals- egg and chips, frankfurters and pasta, burgers and wedges.

Hope this helps, OP

I batch cook so do lots of freezable meals, either complete meal or add carb & veg. Here are my main freezer ones, aside from chilli etc

Lamb shoulder casserole - I do a spiced one with cumin & cinnamon and a more European one with red wine
Short ribs slow cooked in stout and stock
Moroccan chicken tagine
Lentil and sausage stew
Butter chicken
Peanut chicken curry
Sausage bean and tomato stew
Quesadilla filling, either beef or bean based
Qeema
Soups - minestrone, leek & potato, pea & ham, spiced carrot/squash are faves
Chorizo stew with chickpeas, butter beans, potatoes & greens

Quick cook (non freezer) meals

mixed veg cous cous (aubergine, peppers, tomatoes either roasted or fried) with fried halloumi
Shakshusha (sp) usually weekend lunch
Tomato mozzarella pasta bake (tomato sauce pre made from freezer)
Fajitas
Stir fry
Noodle soup
Waldorf salad with chicken
Chickpea salad with feta
Puff pastry tart with some kind of cheese/veg/nut combo
Pasta with creamy sauce (mushrooms & cream, courgette & bacon & cream etc) or carbonara
Pan fried fish w browned butter or butter & lemon, new potatoes & veg
Teriyaki salmon, rice/noodles & veg
Bavette steak or chicken wings with garlic butter, baked potato & veg

Oh and Schnitzel which is a recent addition

We do one new menu meal a week so this week is chorizo and chicken pasta bake from bored of lunch slow cooker recipes- then if we like it we add it to our list and rota it in with other favourites this way our list grows, kids try new dishes and we are not having the same things on repeat. We are trying to add in one new fake away a week as well.

Chicken and Parma ham with pesto pasta
Spaghetti bolognaise
Chorizo hot pot
Spanish rice
Home made pizza
Lasagna
Chilli
Spicy pasta
Veggie satay noodles
Tuna pasta bake
Spicy salmon noodles
Vegetable biryani
Black pepper and tomato spaghetti
Cottage pie
Shepherds pie
Chicken curry
Kung po pork

Oh yes,

curry
satay noodle soup

@Xtraincome

What do you put into and how do you do your stir fry veg.

Also what's your buttermilk recipe. I did try once and it was crap.

@AndIdratherplayhereWithalltheM

I use this American recipe http://www.katherinemartinelli.com/blog/2011/best-ever-buttermilk-fried-chicken/ from a cookbook my auntie bought me, her friend owns Clinton Street Baking Company. I use thighs and cut them into strips sometimes to reduce the time I'm standing at the hot oily pan

Our main stir fry veg are beansprouts, sugarsnap, red onion and mixed peppers, recently we have been adding edamame and tenderstem broccoli. In the Wok with a bit of oil, then we add our cooked meat in after a few minutes then add our sauce of choice and cook for 5 minutes.

The fried chicken recipe is so nice! It was a contender for Christmas day meal last year 😋. DM if you'd prefer a picture of the recipe directly from the book 📖

Following for ideas @HerculesMulligan . I'm also looking for new ideas! We same to have the same meals on weekdays, weekends are a bit different.

Here's our usual sort of meals that tend to feature most weeks. We don't eat beef so usually substitute for turkey or pork mince.

Chicken fajitas either normal chicken breast, or those crispy tenders.

Tacos with chilli

Spaghetti meatballs

Spaghetti carbonara

Filled pasta and pesto

Chicken chow mein

Chicken fried rice

Chicken curry, sometimes in slow cooker

Fishcakes and wedges

Weekends tend to be things like fish pie, slow cooker cottage pie, slow cooker lasagna, burgers and wedges. Roast dinner either with sausages, chicken or gammon.