Aibu to think all meal planning is for "budgets" what do you eat if you're not on a really tight budget?

[hardhatonforthis]

I think we are stuck in a rut. I don't want to eat beans or parsnips every night?
Don't like hello fresh.
Shop at ocado because it suits us for a variety of reasons.

What are you eating this week?

I don't meal plan to budget, I meal plan for efficiency. One weekly shop, always know what is for dinner without needing to open the fridge and work out what I can make.

There are some nice looking recipes in this weeks Waitrose weekend paper, and also in their monthly free food magazine.

I don't meal plan or have a budget but I do have several freezers and a well stocked pantry and store cupboards. I also get a Veg box every week so most of our meals are based around the seasonal veg. Any casseroles or curries are always made in double quantities for the freezer as, although I love cooking, after a stressful day at work, I usually just can't be bothered but we don't want to eat junk or take away so have our own homemade ""ready meal". We don't waste anything and eat a wide variety of food.

We plan meals around what looks good in the shop on the day plus standard basic crowd pleasing store cupboard staples like making a pasta sauce plus pasta etc if we don’t have time to go shopping. We hardly ever plan in advance but we also don’t have much waste as my husband has a talent for making delicious food out of seemingly nothing. We buy from farm shops, roadside stands (we live rurally) plus local petrol station shop / sporadic supermarket deliveries of things like tinned tomatoes and dried pasta.

I plan for the week and don’t do any batch cooking, would like to try though.
Tonight we had homemade turkey and vegetable soup with fresh bread.
Tomorrow - stew - chicken, chorizo, chickpeas, spinach, potatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, paprika, chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock.
Friday - bolognese and garlic bread.
Saturday - pork loin chops, sweet potato mash, broccoli.
Sunday - veggie and tomato pasta.
Monday - chicken legs, salad and potatoes.
Tuesday - omelettes, salad.

Wednesday - probably a takeaway.
Thursday - chicken and chorizo paella, salad.

I try and and keep things as simple as possible and always have stock of stuff in to make a repertoire of about 5 meals.

Meal planning is not just for budgets. You could meal plan steak or lobster or oysters, after all!

I meal plan because it saves time, reduces waste and ensures we have a healthy balanced diet.

@Auridon4life I need a steak now 🤭

Any tagine recipes for me? Do you use a lamb leg diced and slow cook it

I forgot how much I used to love Mongolian lamb belly shredded

Tonight I made Tom Yum soup
Friday - steak with spinach and peppercorn sauce
Saturday - lunch - curried fried rice. Dinner - Chicken in tarragon sauce.
Sunday - brunch - baked eggs with tomato and chorizo. Dinner - beef stroganoff
Monday - Thai beef stir fry
Tuesday - chicken katsu

I'm not on a budget, but meal planning helps with my weight loss.

Like others I only meal plan so that I know what to buy.
Tonight - chicken wrapped in smoked bacon with Brie, homemade wedges and coleslaw.
Fri - takeaway
Sat - Homemade turkey curry (Turkey left over from Christmas in the freezer)
Sun - Roast chicken
Mon - pasta bake (probably with left over chicken from roast)
Tue - beef pepperpot stew and rice (slimming world)
Wed - pork chops with sweet chilli sauce, roasted veg (peppers, red onion etc) and savoury rice
Thu - prawns and black olives in a chilli tomato pasta sauce and spaghetti.

The nigella lamb tagine with allspice, cumin, turmeric, pomegranate juice and dates is online. It is really tasty, I serve with cous cous. I buy diced leg of lamb to cook it but a cheaper cut would do fine I think.

Jamie's 15 minute tagine is an easy and quick version, zap the aubergine in the microwave so that it gets lovely and squishy.

quick lamb tagine

My wife meal plans, batch cooks (e.g. casseroles, curries, soups) to freeze - which helps the meal planning.

One things she's got real value out of is www.eatyourbooks.com/ which allows you to put ingredients in and find recipes in cookbooks and online. The free version is limited in the number of books it will let you add, but is still useful.

Duck confit
Son in bed

Delighted- great meal idea

I'm also going to have duck spring rolls tomorrow

And the spring roll

We tend to have something like this over a week:

Homemade Thai or Indian curry with king prawns

Katsu curry made with tuna steaks

Vegetarian toad in the hole and veg

Homemade pizza and salad

Smoked haddock poached egg and mashed potatoes

Pho type Asian broth with fish or prawns and veg

Sunday roast

We’re not on a tight budget but any of those can be made cheaper or more expensive depending on what type of prawns/fish you use (dh is pescatarian but I eat anything)

We probably eat out about once a week as well

I let everyone in the house choose a meal for one night so that’s 4 nights, the other 3 I alternate simple things like omelettes, pasta bakes, jacket spuds or curry

In the last couple of days we’ve had a takeaway pizza and a curry meal in a box, so our meal plan has been adjusted slightly.

Yesterday we had puff pastry mini tarts with various topping, plus pear wrapped in Parma ham.

Today we’re having roast beef with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, swede and carrot mash, and celeriac remoulade.

Tomorrow we’re having pasta with tomato, beef and roasted vegetable sauce.