AIBU to ask for "proper" meal ideas?

[Bumble1830]

I always do the same dinners, every week, I googled meal ideas and what came up was, in my opinion, are not things every day people cook on an every day basis, You have to have every single herb, pulse, and spice there is, as well as cupboard essentials such as chickpeas, capers and wine vinegar. Ok, so I usually cook the normal stuff, a spag bol, chicken casserole, roast dinners. Am I old fashioned in my cooking or is Spiced chickpeas with halloumi a normal every day dish?? And any dinner ideas would be gratefully received.

You sound like me OP, I'll throw in fajitas and a few other pastas and maybe a curry from a jar but I'm not the best at cooking and really don't have the time for big complicated meals with a million ingredients. Hopefully I'll get some inspiration here!

The spiced chickpeas with halloumi do sound nice but in principle I agree op. Lamb cassoulet with shredded Beetroot etc, just isn't in my sphere of experience. Beans on waffles on the other hand...

When pushed for time I’m a big fan of Maggi packets.
The rib one is nice also something like Italian Chicken, you basically add chicken, courgettes &peppers, shove it in the bag and serve with rice

I also stretch to a jar made curry, Its not that I don't know how to cook, I do, and I enjoy it too, I just never know what to cook, when I walk round the supermarket aisles, i'm just staring at the food looking for inspiration, lol

My slow cooker is my best friend! My favourite is diced lamb, with sliced mushrooms, onions and garlic with a couple dollops of mint sauce on top. It makes its own gravy with the juice and is delicious and just so simple to make with five ingredients! Also enchiladas, fajitas, curries, meatballs, home made burgers, carbonara are the usual in our house :)

I’m the same OP! And I find a lot of meal ideas really lack veg. Really struggling with ideas for what to cook the family, so following this for inspiration.

We have things like:

Toad in the hole
Lasagne
Pasta bake
Roast
Casseroles eg, drunken chicken
Osso Gucci
Oxtail stew
Goulash
Risotto eg, chicken and mushroom
Fajitas
Enchiladas
Chilli
Sticky pork with rice
Various soups eg, tomato and basil,chicken
Corned beef hash
Tray bakes eg, various veg and potatoes roasted with diced chicken or sausage or something.

HTH.

Sorry for taking over my own thread....but, also, what do people have for a "side". For me, If its meat, (chops, sausages, roast joint) its potatoes and veg, things like fish, its obvs chips, curry is rice. There has to be another option surely???

Quick & easy - fresh pasta, pancetta, leek, mushroom, peppers and a small tub of low fat creme fraiche So quick & so tasty!
Bolognese, chilli, chorizo & butterbean casserole, beef stew. Mostly at weekends though - children eat at school & nursery!

*bucco, not Gucci. Must proof-read!

DC is complaining about always having the same stuff but as DC is a fussy eater I’m certainly not spicing any chickpeas a few ideas here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/3464773-Anyone-back-meal-planning

And I saw this on a thread but keep forgetting to try it:

www.mealime.com

Howdoidothis4eva What on earth is Osso Gucci? [Embarrassed}

Howdoidothis4eva Thanks for the correction - still have no idea what that is though??

Quick meal is roasted mixed veg mixed with cous cous, and served with pork chop or something. To save time you could always use the roasted red peppers, antipasti, and sun-dried tomatoes, all of which you can buy in jars.

We've got all those things in the cupboards (plus a whole load more) precisely because they make varying meals easier.

Although I'd do a chickpea curry one night and something with the Halloumi the next day, rather than have two meals in one - maybe a halloumi/mushroom burger with onion chutney (in the cupboard), frying it with chilli flakes (in the cupboard) and adding to a salad, which could be just leaves, cucumber, tomatoes and olives or leaves, tomatoes, cucumber and bulgar wheat with lots of parsley, lemon juice and olive oil (cupboard & pot growing on windowsill) to give tabbouleh. Same way, yes, we could have spag bog, but if you bung in a couple of spices and a tin of kidney/black eye/black beans, you get chilli, mash spuds, you get cottage pie or roll the mince into blobs before cooking you get meatballs.

You're not BU, but people do really have loads of ingredients in their cupboards - they don't all cook something by Ottolenghi for every meal, but they do mix things up in between the spag bogs and (my favourites) egg & chips or potato waffles and chips.

We try to make a new meal every week - bbc website is usually good for these

This week we have made:
aubergine jambalaya from Leon cookbook
Pasta pesto
Saag aloo with chicken from Joe Wicks lean in 30book
Egg on toast
Butternut squash and chilli risotto
Beetroot and horseradish soup
Sausage and sweet potato fries

We try 3 or so nights to eat veggie but that's mostly to keep food bills down. We do buy a lot of spices etc but they do last a while and are pretty good value if bought from a Chinese or Indian grocer

I've found my people! Ok...

Chicken Kiev's are underrated IMO. Some salad potatoes and veggies on the side, delicious.
Coleman's do a nice sausage casserole sachet that you can do in the slow cooker. Could serve with mash or crusty bread.
A quick tea for those nights - poached eggs and beans on crumpets.
Prawn stir fry with some sweet chilli sauce stirred through. Serve with egg noodles.
Good old jacket pots, fail safe!
Chicken fajitas - either the preparers boxes or just do your own with some chicken goujons/bowl of salad/cheese/sauce of some description/nice fresh wraps.
Oven fish, chips and mushy peas.
Lasagne and garlic bread.
A new fave in our house - nice beef burgers with a slice of Halloumi in a brioche bun.

I do try and serve the majority of these salad/veggies but we have 2 young kids and both work full time so I don't have the energy to do every single thing from scratch I'm afraid.

I love Lindsey Bareham recipes - she's got several books out that are really simple and don't involve a long list of ingredients. I use these most weeks and she's a good starting place for simple family everyday recipes. She's a great columnist and you can find loads of her recipes online.

I went through a patch of being really bored with what I'm cooking, so I made a resolution to try at least one new recipe a week. This month I'm working my way through Joe Wicks veggie book, this week we've had sweet potato and kale curry that took literally 15 minutes and was gorgeous. They too are simple recipes with a few ingredients.

It's basically a stew using veal shin bones, but you could substitute beef shin or oxtail

My meal plan for the week is

Tonight- Boston beans (Really easy) and sausage casserole with mash and corn on the cob
Monday- enchiladas
Tuesday- veg soup and cheese scones
Wednesday- chilli and rice or baked potatoes
Thursday - chicken pie, roasties and veg
Friday- chilli pizza
Saturday - butter chicken (maggi bag) rice, naans, poppadoms, mango chutney

I use the slow cooker a lot. We also have sports clubs most nights so I need food that will keep as we seem to all be eating at different times a few nights a week.

I alsways double recipes as I have 4 teenage boys and Dh always takes leftovers for his lunch the next day.

I’ve downloaded that mealime app. It looks fab.

LLOE7 do you need to brown it or can you just chuck it in?

I've found by introducing new meals at the weekend when I'm not rushed then they can sometimes make it onto the "midweek" menu. I'm not a massive fan of potato or rice so I tend to just have extra veg or have some bread tbh. For a different side I really like Sainsbury's bulfar wheat and freekah grain, mixed with lots of fresh parsley and a dash of pomegranate molasses (bottle lasts ages and makes great marinades and dressings) It's great with any lamb/chicken or halloumi and some salad/veg. I also sometimes just have grilled meat with salad and pitta/flatbread. Maybe with hummus or tzatzki.
Another favourite is to beef up a sausage casserole with lentils and just have it as it or with bread if needed.

I'm having lamb hotpot tonight, first time I've made it but was looking for an easy dinner. All you do is chop some onions and carrots, brown your meat then soften the veg, add stock, bung in a casserole dish and lay sliced potatoes on top. It's got to be in the oven for an hour and a half but I quite like having a break between the prep and eating else I don't usually feel like eating much of it

My standard weekly meal plan looks like this:

• Spaghetti Bolognaise - serve with pasta. I usually put spinach, olives, diced tomato, and fresh basil in with the meat sauce.
• Mexican tacos/nachos or enchiladas (with turkey mince), topped with green salad, Greek yoghurt (in place of sour cream), and store bought salsa.
• Thai Green chicken curry with rice
• Crustless quiche with ham, cheese, and whatever veggies I have on hand needing to be used up (usually spinach, mushrooms, onions, etc)
• Tuna Pasta bake. I make my own sauce using a tub of cream cheese, some Greek yoghurt, lemon juice, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese. Mix veggies such as spinach and frozen peas carrots and corn through
• Curried Sausages served with rice
• Beef or Chicken stir-fry with rice noodles
• Chicken Bacon and Mushroom Carbonara
• Zucchini and Potato fritters served with coleslaw (sometimes we just eat them as is though. No sides).
• Lamb chops with pearl cous cous salad (cooked cous cous with chopped tomato, cucumber, and fresh herbs and lemon juice stirred through)
• Sometimes if I have time I'll make up my own pizza dough and we have pizza for dinner.

I don't think there's anything unusual on my recipe list, all these have ingredients easily sourced in most supermarkets.

I also tend to add frozen veggies to most dishes, just to get extra serves of vegetables in. This works well with the curries and pasta dishes (except for Carbonara).