To ask to share your meal plans?

[lcyb]

This year I'm really shaking up my finances by cutting back on my spending and generally being more frugal.

As part of doing this I'm going to start sticking to weekly meal plans, instead of going shopping and buying loads of mixed bits. I really want to be organised! And I've seen a lot of people here share the benefits of it.

Can anyone please share their meal plans here for some inspiration?

This week (I normally have a mix of easy meals and more complicated):

• Gnocchi with pesto and green beans and broccoli
• Homemade macaroni cheese with spinach
• Roasted paneer aloo gobi (from the East cookbook)
• Galettes and pancakes (galette is a French savoury pancake filled with cooked onion, tomato, mushrooms, cheese and ham - or any other topping)
• Pizza with baby sweetcorn and sugar snap peas
• Sausage/veg sausage, mash and vegetables

This caters for my fussy children, as well as us and we all eat together. We tend to only have 1 pudding a week - a homemade crumble or something. Other nights pudding is seasonal fruit and/or yoghurt. Lunches at weekend are homemade soup and bread, sometimes steak, rice, green beans.

I change the menu each week, always a few really easy dishes and a couple of ones needing a recipe book.

Should add that as a difficult week, and as I am not well, the gnocchi is chilled and from the supermarket, the galettes are premade (by us, and frozen, also available from Ocado), the pizza is a Pizza Express chilled pizza from the supermarket, and the mash in the sausage and mash is again ready made and chilled.

Tonight - jacket potatoes with cheese or filling of choice
Tomorrow - chicken fajitas and sweet potato wedges
Thursday - breaded fish and salad or with cauliflower cheese
Friday - pasta with sauce
Saturday - paella

We both work different shifts and my tastes keep changing as I'm 21 weeks pregnant! Because of work being as it is this week and both of us on different shifts quick and easy dinners!

This week we’re having-

-roast chicken and veg

• tagliatelle, pesto, prosciutto and mushrooms
• vegetarian lasagne
• sausages and cauliflower cheese
• noodles and salmon stir fry

-lentil Dahl with rice and popadoms

• spicy chickpea wraps

I always have fish fingers and chips in the freezer for the ids for days we really can’t be bothered or homemade batches of tomato sauce that can quickly be defrosted to go on pasta.

Monday - chicken legs roasted with peppers & onion and cous cous & cucumber
Tuesday - chicken Kiev, chips & peas
Wednesday - roast chicken, potatoes & 2 veg
Thursday - stir fry noodles with left over chicken
Friday - homemade pizza
Saturday - out for meal
Sunday - Swedish meatballs, potato gratin & peas.

V cheap week as all from freezer frozen bargains (total spend about £10 for all).

Breakfast: porridge oats; egg x 3

Lunch: chicken breast, brown rice, green veg

Dinner: see lunch

Supper: porridge oats

Repeat. Daily. Until the end of May. It may get more interesting after that.

Lasagne garlic bread/cooked chicken salad potatoes wedges /stew/sat chinese not planned more that that is far!!!

I am trying to roughly follow the fast 800 so some meals are from that cookbook.... can provide recipes if wanted!

Salmon, broccoli and tomatoes with cauli rice
Smoked haddock with lentils and a poached egg
Chicken shawarma with pitta and salad (from Nigella www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/oven-cooked_chicken_04728/amp
Pasta pesto with cheese
Spag Bol (homemade in batches and frozen)

Tonight- fajitas using 1 steak from freezer and tin of kidney beans with loads of veg. Salad on side.
Tom- jackets with beans/cheese, green veg
Th - sausage and butterbean stew with crusty bread rolls and peas (use only 6 sausages- cutting down meat)
Fr - fishfingers and chips/ oven quick tea
Sat - soup (peasants pasta- not like minestrone)
Sun - roast pork
Mon - stir fry with pork leftovers.

Cheapy week this week:

Lamb kofta and homemade flatbread
Maple gammon with roast potatoes, stuffing, vegetables. Then homemade apple and ginger tarte tatin
Gammon, bubble and squeak, egg and chips
Sausage, mash, red onion gravy and veg
Buttermilk chicken burgers, white cabbage slaw, corn on the cob, bbq beans.
Sweet potato and bean quasadilas.

Also making a spiced honey cake during the week. This week was chilli, casserole, baked harissa salmon with green beans, feta and spinach filo pie with salad and piri piri chicken.

Sunday - full roast
Monday - chicken & veg
Tuesday - sausage & mash
Weds- massaman curry & naan
Thurs - omelette with chorizo & veg
Fri - not sure
Sat - Jamie's puff pastry veg pizza

Tonight - chicken curry (left over roast chicken)
Wed - cous cous with roasted veg and goats cheese
Thurs - tacos
Fri - haddock risotto
Sat - unsure. Generally something like jack pots, omelettes or fish fingers for the children
Sun - roast chicken
Mon - fajitas with left over chicken
Tues - stir fry or curry with left over chicken.

Yesterday was veg stew.
Tonight is egg chips and beans (the eggs need using up!)
Tomorrow will be veg soup and bread.
Thursday chicken and rice in some sort of spicy marinade I haven't decided on yet.
Friday jacket potatoes and beans.
Weekend I haven't sorted out yet! Meals at the moment are easy and quick to do, due to us having a 6 week old. :) I also tend to keep homemade lasagne, soup and pizza in the freezer for days where I'm just not going to cook anything, as well as convenience foods like dried pasta packets.

*bit like minestrone!

Sausage and mash
Cod (frozen) and roasted veg
Chicken wraps
Spag Bol
Roast pork
Something left over from the pork
Homemade pizza

This week:

Tonight - devilled sausages with a shiteload of veges
Tomorrow - Spaghetti and meatballs
Thursday - Salmon with udon noodles
Friday is takeout.

Spaghetti bolognese and salad
Thai chicken noodles
Jacket potatoes cheese and beans
Pesto salmon, green beans and roasted new potatoes
Chicken tikka masala, rice etc
Chicken and chorizo casserole with butter beans, green veg and rice
Toad in the hole, mash, whatever vegetables left!

Think I went a bit mad on the meal plan after Christmas stodge -
Monday - butternut squash, carrot, chilli & coriander soup with bread & all the leftover cheeses
Tuesday - tuna steak with Thai red curry noodles & veg (edamame, green beans, spring onions, peppers)
Wednesday - chicken & sweetcorn Chinese rice soup
Thursday - salmon fillets, sautéed potatoes, green beans & kale & almonds
Friday - lamb chops, celeriac mash, roast carrots & parsnips, redcurrant sauce,
Saturday - French crique potato onion pancake with chicory salad & walnuts & apple
Sunday - chestnut & mushroom flaky pastry pie, mash potatoes, leftover veg from the week

I batch cook and freeze things in single adult portions a lot - saves time when I get home from work and we all (me, dh & 3 dd) need supper in the hurry!

Monday - homemade (batch cooked) tomato soup, baked crunchy salmon (roll it in a bit of mayo and breadcrumbs then bake!), mash and sweetcorn.
Tuesday - chicken stew in the slow cooker, rice & broccoli
Wednesday - sausages , chips & peas,
Thursday - pasta, tomato sauce, cheese & tuna
Friday - chicken soup, roast chicken, potatoes & veg
Saturday - leftovers from friday night & extras to fill up
Sunday - 'spare' night - I try new stuff, sometimes stir-fry, sometimes fried fish, sometimes bolognaise

Last night was chicken stir fry
Tonight will be bacon egg beans sausage and mushroom
Rest of week will be chilli, fajitas and salmon with veg
Saturday am out so will then do a roast for Sunday

Am also doing similar OP. And sick of doing the same dozen meals on rotation. Have asked the family for a list of meals they like, chucked a few I want to try and done a list of meals and snacks. Drawn up a 3 week plan and put first weeks down. Haven't done next weeks as will do it Sunday on the same planner so I don't end up replicating. Then will do same next week as well. Hopefully.

This week is

Sunday dinner (chicken)
Tomato pasta (homemade) for me and dd, carbonara (in a tub for dh/ds)
Prawn stir fry for me and dh. Dcs had flatbreads/hummus/salad
Cod with new potatoes, veg and parsley sauce for us, veg stir fry for dd (veggie)
Pulled beef with Yorkshire puddings, veg and mash for us, same for dd but with veggie sausage.
Friday is takeaway night
Saturday am doing thai curry for me and dh, dcs will have freezer surprise unless dd wants thai veg curry.

Breakfast is cereal or toast or yog or fruit.
Dcs have lunch at school. Dh buys lunch at work. I wfh so have had chicken soup from left overs yest and today. Tomorrow and thursday I will have salad with whatever I can find in fridge. Friday I don't know yet, whatever wants using up.

Saturday and Sunday breakfast tends to be poached eggs on toast. Saturday lunch will be sandwiches or something. Sunday we don't have lunch as have sunday dinner about 4pm.

Trying to be healthier but friday night is sacred for a takeaway.

Tues-Peri peri chicken, red cabbage slaw, pickled radishes and lettuce with citrus dressing
Wed-pork chop with peperonata
Thurs-tuna salad
Fri-pork tenderloin with pak Choi and miso aubergines
Sat-lamb Ragu with pappardelle

These are general plans but will need to shop for Friday onwards so I may change my mind...!

Any combination usually of

• sausage chilli pasta (sausages cut into meatballs, with onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes)
• chicken tray bake (usually with roasted new potatoes, greens, tomatoes)
• chilli or spag bol with hidden veg (leftovers with baked potato/wedges or in enchiladas/burritos)
• cottage pie (add lentils to bulk it out)
• cod and chorizo (roasted tomatoes and roasted new potatoes)
• lentil daal
• veg or chicken curry
• chicken wraps (can also used breaded fish fillets) with salad
• roast - cook extra veg and gravy and have roast leftovers with Yorkshire puddings or turn into pie with mash or pastry lid
• sticky chicken with rice and broccoli
• cheats chow mein (noodles, veg, any leftover roast meat - cooker in sauce made with soy/mirin/garlic/ginger)
• naan bread pizzas
• pastry pizza
• baked potatoes
• casserole/stew
• sausage casserole (sausages, beans, tomatoes, veg)
• one pan rice (bit like paella, Chuck in leftover chicken/beef etc (or cook from raw), add veg and stock and spices of choice)
• rice/bulgar wheat/couscous sides. (We buy large bags from a local specialist food shop. Cheaper than supermarket and they last for ages.)

We menu plan on a fortnightly basis and we cook most of these dishes a couple of times a month.

Also make a big batch of veg soup at the start of the week that covers work lunches.

Jack Monroe has some great low cost recipes.

I tend to make 4 portions of everything that freezes well, eat 2 and freeze 2.

Tonight I've warmed up chicken I cooked yesterday with some bacon and bbq sauce. As it's an easy dinner I've also batch made 8 portions of lasagne. 2 of these for tomorrow and 4 for the freezer.

Cous cous is another dinner have - I fry off peppers and onions etc then any whoopsie/yellow sticker salmon or meat I've frozen back when. Bit of sweet chilli sauce.

We do refried beans topped with shops brand tortilla chips and some grated cheese - bake. Serve with guacamole. This is a Friday night tea instead of a takeaway.

Looks interesting. Must do all this someday.

crunch Munch munch Mmmmmmmmmm Tim Tams

Orders Pizza😎