Aibu to ask you for top five family dinners?

[Tempone]

So tired of cooking the same thing over and over again. I am the main cook for me dh and three boys, two are big teens and eat a lot, recently invested in a double air fryer.
We probably have a rotation of the same meals . If everyone shares their top 5 meals then there will be ideas for others.
Mine are
Fajitas,
Vietnamese style Pork with noodles and a fried egg
Pork chops in honey and soy
Carbonara
Sausage and bean casserole.
Cate to share yours?

Thankfully DH cooks becuase if it was me it would be cereal. Or toast.

Savoury Mince Crumble
Roasting Tin Chow Mein
Sweetcorn Risotto with Roast Courgettes
Tuna and Pea Kedgeree
Sweet Potato and Back Bean Enchiladas

• Fajitas or fish tacos with fresh guacamole/fruit salsa
• Pimped toad in the hole - eg with Mediterranean veg and feta, or apple & blue cheese
• Pork chops with mash and creamy garlicky mushrooms & spinach
• Beef & mushroom stroganoff with rice
• Turkey saltimbocca (rolled up with bacon, sage leaves and tomato purée) with roast potatoes and veg

Loving this thread and definitely making the halloumi curry soon.

Lately we’ve had a lot of
-black bean chilli (bbc recipe),
-carrot lentil daal (Anna Jones),
-homemade beans and toast
-veggie toad in the hole on cooler days with cauli+broc cheese,
-chickpea curries,
-tuna mayo pasta,
-homemade pizza with sainsburys quick dough recipe, the odd
-halloumi ratatouille (Fast 800 recipe)

looking to get more organised and do a 2-week rotation.

Tomato and lentil soup with part baked rolls
Thai green curry with Quorn pieces, green beans and rice
Veggie burgers with sweet potato wedges, corn on the cob and salad
Spaghetti with pesto plus lentils, chopped ham etc salad and cheese toppings in a snack tray to serves ourselves
Egg fried rice with lots of veg

No children just me and OH

Mexican Burgers
Halloumi Burgers
Chimechangas
Sesame Salmon
Philidelphia and bacon pasta
Honey mustard chicken pasta
Macaroni cheese

We generally go through a two week rotation of meals I hate deciding what to eat!

Ours are:

• fajitas/taco/burritos
• pork mince kofte with pitta & tzatziki
• chilli
• fake nandos
• fajita pasta
• "tik tok" Boursin pasta

Oooo love a good meal thread always looking for new ideas. I tried keeping a list for a month of what meals we eat to see what repeats etc we have, I need to do that again!

Anyways, most weeks we have these sort of meals...

Tacos / fajitas. Either chicken with the powder sachets, peppers onions and mushrooms.
Or halloumi with above veg
Or crispy chicken in breadcrumbs.

Chilli but turkey or pork mince as we don't eat beef. Always done in slow cooker.

Curry usually chicken, usually korma, done on the job or occasionally a butter chicken or tikka masala in the slow cooker (simply cook boxes)

A pasta dish usually homemade turkey and pork meatballs. Or sausage pasta with creamy tomato stir through sauce a bit like pesto.

Fish / fishcakes, wedges and corn on the cob also features regularly.

• Chickpea, Lentil & Spinach Daahl with wholegrain rice and Naan bread
• Salmon, crushed salt and chilli baby potatoes & mixed veg.
• Cajun chicken pasta
• Crispy Teryaki pineapple tofu fried rice
• Pinch of Nom Honey Chilli Chicken
• Pinch of Nom Mediterranean Chicken Orzo
• KFC Zinger burger Fake-away

I’m not being at all snarky, but I’m really surprised at how many families have meat at every meal! I’m now pescatarian but before that I’d minimized meat as it’s so expensive - and that was before the cost of living crisis AND we are a relatively high-earning family. What are your grocery bills like if you don’t mind me asking? I try and stay under £100 a week for a family of four, though that’s getting more and more difficult. Just wondering whether it would be much more expensive to include some meat, which my children and husband would be very happy about!!

I’m not being at all snarky, but I’m really surprised at how many families have meat at every meal! I’m now pescatarian but before that I’d minimized meat as it’s so expensive - and that was before the cost of living crisis AND we are a relatively high-earning family. What are your grocery bills like if you don’t mind me asking? I try and stay under £100 a week for a family of four

About £150 for a family of four (including two teenagers). We are relatively comfortable (not wealthy). We eat meat for probably 5 or 6 dinners a week. It has occurred to us to cut down, but for health or environmental reasons, not financial.

Also, people are listing their top five meals, not listing what they eat every day, so how do you know they eat meat every day?

@ThunderMonkey we eat our meat in considerably smaller quantities than many people think appropriate. Two ounces of mince per person, for instance.

In 2022 we spent £4800 on groceries - the two of us about 50 weeks, S2 for about 20 weeks, S1 for about 4. (Christmas was at MiL's, but we provided the turkey.) Ate out maybe half a dozen times, takeaway about 4. Alcohol is largely home-made (mostly from kits) so isn't included in that.

Also, people are listing their top five meals, not listing what they eat every day, so how do you know they eat meat every day?

oh yeah, good point! 😂

We eat meat every day. I'll happily eat veggie meals but my family are really fussy and I'd hear no end of complaints

Sausage and bean pasta bake
halloumi/chicken fajitas
chilli
burgers (various diff kinds, beef, fish, halloumi, bean, pork/apple)
cheesy fajita orzo

We try and do new stuff as much as possible, tried the tik tok Big Mac tacos last night, definite success but a bit of a faff!

Japanese curry with chicken and rice
Nasi goreng with fresh prawns or chicken
Teriyaki salmon with yaki soba noodles or couscous
Meatballs with spaghetti
White sauce pasta with prawns and veg
Lamb and potato curry
Seabass grilled with baby potatoes and vegetables

We eat try to eat sea food 2-3 times a week. Red meat is once a week. I am not great with plain vegetarian food but we r working on that.

I thought we where listing an average week of meals not favourite meals

Roasted veg and feta on garlic ciabatta

roast

salad

beany bake

veg lasagne

Ours are

Chicken stroganoff rice
Chicken peanut noodles
Honey Mustard Salmon potato wedges salad
Prawn Thai curry rice
Spaghetti Bolognese

Check our Bored of lunch or Zack Chug on Instagram!

Whats beany bake I like the sound of that

Following!

A white bean, like cannellini, mushrooms, pepper, tomatoes,onions all in a cheese sauce with mashed potato on top. Yum!

That sounds so good 😋

Roast Beef
Roast Chicken
salmon traybake
chilli con carne (veg option preferred)
stir fry
baked potato with whatever is to hand
veg stew

This week in our house which is one DD with food sensitivities, one pescatarian, and two
adults.

Chicken korma / pasta for kids
Fish Pie
Prawns or salmon with stir-fry noodles
wraps (various fillings pick you own)
jacket potato with beans or tuna mayo
Shop bought pizza and deli board (Fridays)
slow cooker - cowboy beans or veg sausage casserole

we also often do philly pasta with brocolli
sweetcorn and ham/prawns, and omelettes. I also try to batch cook chicken breasts with a rub or spices for salad lunches, or Turkey and apple meatballs. Apart from Ham, we rarely eat red meat.