May I ask what your mid week family meals are?

[gallopingglio]

Struggling for inspiration for a family of 4.
We usually cook things like spaghetti bolognaise and chicken rice and sauce, roasts, cottage’s pie, or chops but we’re all bored of it and need new ideas.
I’ve looked in lots of books but it all looks a bit too far fetched.

Any ideas welcome, or examples of your weekly meal plan if you have one.

Fajitas/quesadilla/tacos
Spicy chicken linguine
Pasta rusticana (chorizo, cream)
Sausage, mash, veg
Homemade quiche, new potatos, salad.
Casserole.

Paneer and pea curry, Thai green curry, bean chilli with jacket potatoes (& lots of sour cream), dhal, peanut butter noodles with lots of green veg tossed in.

I tend to choose one of each of the below per week.

noodles, rice, potato, bread(ish), pasta

this week
ginger and garlic pork udon noodles
butternut squash risotto
fish pie
smash burgers
chicken and leek pasta bake

next week
Vietnamese rice noodle salad
butter chicken curry
sausage and mash
Greek salad Kofte wraps
blue cheese gnocchi and balsamic beans

We don’t meal plan but tonight we had sausages mash cabbage roasted veg and onion gravy.
Tuesdays are often a bit of a scattered approach, the boys are usually out watching football, I go to an exercise class and dd1 and I tend to eat something she’s made while I’m out. But it’s normally veggie (miso soup or a salad of some kind!)so the boys either feed themselves before or after (something meat based 😂).

We had Asian salmon, noodles and green beans last night

Creamy salmon linguine tonight

Ribs, shrimp, noodles and Cesar salad tomorrow

Also got some steak for the slow cooker, so beef casserole one night

Similar to yours really except vegetarian.
We eat a LOT of pasta dishes because it's quick and easy and the kids actually eat it usually. Well, DC7 and DC4 anyway. DC1 hardly eats anything still so I don't factor them in.

Also :

• Bean chilli with rice or bread or jacket potato
• Jacket potato with cheese and beans / cheese and salad. We used frozen ones if very pushed for time and they're alright.
• Gnocchi in a tomato and veg sauce sometimes then shoved under the grill with mozzarella on top
• Fajitas / tacos
• Some kind of quick curry made with Quorn pieces or chickpeas with rice or bread
• Tray bake if there's time e.g. halloumi, chickpeas, bell peppers, red onions, new potatoes.

Also often if we make a big stew or a big Mac and cheese on Saturday and Sunday for example, we will make double. Then we will keep the Saturday leftovers for Monday and the Sunday leftovers for Tuesday for example and just reheat.

Great thread op I'm getting some fab ideas.
My fav Is chicken in gyro packet source , worth Greek flat breads chopped up water cress rocker and spinach ,toms onion and cucumber.
A youghtt / mayo dressing with lemon and garlic

Fajitas.

Steak in various ways.

Pasta

Today we had salmon and potatoes
Tomorrow - chicken burgers with home made chips
Wednesday - steak pie and mash potatoes
Thursday - seafood spaghetti in tomato sauce
Friday - bbq ribs with home made chips

Tend to have 2 portions of veg with dinner too which usually vary between sweetcorn/corn on cob/broccoli/carrots/peas/mushrooms

But tbh I’m almost 35 weeks pregnant and can’t stomach the thought of food so some nights I cook for my son then just end up having cereal for myself 😅

So impressed with all these ideas! Something I do (based on an idea I saw online) is write meal ideas on lolly sticks which go in a jar - and then pick some out to make a meal plan before I go and do my shopping each week.
Having read these responses,I’m off to get my spare lolly sticks to write some down - thanks for this post OP!

Our go to are

Teriyaki salmon and noodles,
Meatballs, sauce and spaghetti, fish pie or fish chowder, bangers mash and onions. Stir frys

sticky Chinese chicken (slow cooker so easy)
sweet potato and lentil red curry
cottage pie
baked potatoes and toppings
turkey meatballs
turkey tortilla pie

Recently we’ve had beef stew with roasties, or mash. We eat pasta at least once a week. Chicken salad wraps are also a favourite, Pizza with fries or salad is a quick and tasty dinner. Chicken curry, with rice or Nan breads. Chilli, or tacos always go down well.

@Rosebud987 do you have the chicken gyros recipe? It's one of my favourites! I've done a lot of batch cooking at the weekend so have:
Lentil dahl - will add paneer
Sausage cassoulet
Lamb keema
Chicken korma
Chicken chasseur
Bolognese
Fish pie
Mac n cheese (with or without bacon & peas)
Burnt aubergine chilli
Will also do a sausage pasta fresh and freeze leftovers and trying the stocked beef chilli - i don't like it but DD does so will save a cook

Love threads like this for ideas! Thanks OP.
This week:

Mon / jacket potatoes, beans and sausages.

Tues / chicken curry & naan bread (made with greek yogurt and added spinach)

Weds / Roast chicken make your own gyros.

Thurs / "Picnic" (quiche, salad, nuggets, cold meats, cheese, bread rolls and homemade soup)

Fri / Fridge surprise with whatever salad / crudités we have.

Sat / Pork chilli con carne with rice.

Sun / Lamb roast with potatoes, gravy, peas, roasted carrots for DS's birthday (his request)

Something we do every few months is a family meeting (over some cake and hot chocolate) and make a list of everyone's favourite meals. Nice for the kids to get involved and it gives me a master list of meals I know they all enjoy x

I’m a bit obsessed with this kind of thing-

my meal plan each week I will try to do one
Asian dish (curry or stir fry or noodles)

an Italian one (might be pizza or pasta or risotto)

sausages (with egg chips and beans / roasts and veg or toad in the hole)

a chicken (either a roast / with chips and salad / Lebanese with chick pea salad or fatoush)

and a veggie day (omelette/ jackets / pasta pesto)

this all depends on what we have had the rest of the week - and what’s in the fridge.

So we had roast pork tonight - leftovers will be turned into a noodles broth thing with a load of veg / bean sprouts and I’ll probably do fried rice with it or spring rolls too to bulk it out.

Irish stew
pork medallions in bbq sauce roasted Mediterranean veg and couscous
cod, garlic and potato tray bake in white wine
meatballs

Big fan of an all in one tray bake here, chicken drumsticks, thighs or sausages, chopped up potatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, corn on the cob sliced into rounds or ribs, cherry tomatoes, broccoli/cauliflower florets (don’t need to do all of it just chuck in what you like or have to hand). Drizzle of oil and seasoning then put it in the oven for 40-60 minutes depending on how brown and crispy you like everything. Give it a shake around a couple of times.

Fajitas always go down well too, just fry up some chicken strips with onions, peppers and a seasoning pack then serve with tortillas, grated cheese, sour cream and guacamole.

My fussy lot are a PITA sometimes 🤦‍♀️ so we do eat the follow crowd pleasers ALOT :

spag bol and / or lasagne with salad
chilli con carne with rice, guacamole, few nachos
butternut squash, leek and chicken risotto
chicken or prawn curry / Indian or Thai
with rice (I have a rice cooker which is ace)
homemade naan if I have time (easy recipe with SR flour and natural yogurt)

pasta like rigatoni and tomato and bacon

frozen breaded chicken breast burgers in buns with salad

chicken noodles - using pre cooked chicken and ramen noodles, soy sauce sesame oil and chopped pepper and tin of sweetcorn

Pasta and pesto, cheese and veg in it

chorizo and butter bean stew, couscous

also buy the odd pizza -I try to get them to eat fruit afterwards if possible - but often fail

steak, new potatoes and veg

macaroni cheese

roast dinner - chicken their fave!

I make most from scratch but buy odd thing too.

i like the Batch lady - her books are ace
I batch Jamie O curry paste and a Thai red curry paste (Gordon R) and do loads and stick in freezer then just fry onion, meat add paste and a tin of coconut milk and maybe some veg and bingo!

Today we had falalel, greek flatbreads and salad with sweet chilli sauce.
Tomorrow pie and mash.
Wed chicken or prawn stirfry.

I made this the other day and everyone really enjoyed it. Someone in the comments suggested adding a tin of sweetcorn to it (at the end) which really added to it. I served it with rice but you could put it in tortillas or on a baked potato if preferred
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pulled-chicken-black-bean-chilli

Tonight's dinner was chicken breast with cheese, bacon and leek (served with roasted sweet potato and butternut squash).

Tomorrow will be omelettes with baked beans. Wednesday will likely be salmon and broccoli pasta if I remember to get the salmon out to defrost beforehand

We meal plan every week, cos I can’t be arsed to think about it during the week. I have all the recipes in a folder, then we just flip through and pick every week. If we try something new & like it, it goes into the folder. The DC cook one evening a week each too (they’re 12 and 15 years old - I figure they need to know how to cook!).
This week, we’ve got
Mexican spiced chicken thighs, sweet potato wedges, corn
Spinach pasta (DC2) (literally pasta, spinach, garlic, cream cheese, Parmesan)
Tomato & feta risotto
Pancetta & pepper pasta bake (DC1)
Chicken satay & rice

I do this too. It means we eat a lot of varied dishes, even though the base carbs are often on the same day, for example wraps and noodles are quick and usually on our double sport drop off/pick up nights. But they are very different week on week.

We have a wee mini buffet/pizza/kfc fakeaway style thing and movie night every Saturday and a roast on Sunday.

The roast may not be traitional though, it could be an Indian style toast chicken, a Morrocan leg of lamb, crispy duck with pancakes, mojo pork or a thai fillet of beef.

I like to browse through recipe books and pick something that is new/ we haven't had for ages for at least one meal a week

No idea why it evolved this way but we usually have some sort of pasta on Mondays, some sort of curry on Fridays, a more fancy recipe or roast on a Saturday and fish on a Sunday. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays would be another fish day (unless the Friday curry planned is prawn), a risotto, a stir fry, an omelette, a chilli, a main meal soup, goulash, stove top casserole or something from my repertoire of simple and quick or previously batch cooked. I don't do chips or roasts mid week, I don't have a slow cooker, microwave or air fryer.

This week - with DC back at uni - it's a medley of the things DC are not keen on. Pesto, grandma's chicken soup, risotto that involves peas, potato and asparagus omelette (maybe 🤣, although asparagus not seasonal)

Thus week’s meals here are/were:

Sunday - sausages, mash and roasted veg
Today - lasagne (not home made), tenderstem broccoli and garlic bread
Tuesday - chicken fajitas
Wednesday/Thursday - chicken satay curry with rice and naan. Big fan of cook once, eat twice
Friday - takeaway - first week back to work after a fortnight off but we usually have a takeaway once a month or so
Saturday - creamy leek and Parma ham pasta which is a Gregg Wallace recipe I got from a magazine years ago and is really good, before his scandal broke!

Tonight we had this Home - Day 14 - Return baked cod with a chorizo crumb with mash, sautéed kale, carrots and peas, fairly quick and easy - I bought ready crumbed chorizo, panko breadcrumbs and ground almonds instead of whizzing it up. The cod cooked in the same time as it took me to boil and mash the potatoes.

Tomorrow we are having spicy bacon and beans - onion, pepper, chilli, garlic and sliced bacon medallions fried together, tin of drained mixed pulses, tin of tomatoes, simmered while I cook some rice, top with grated cheese and some soured cream if we have some.

Another quick meal we had this week was pasta shells with broccoli, anchovy, garlic and chilli.