To ask those who like food and cook from scratch without getting bored what meals do you cook most often, what does a typical week look like and what is your most used cookery book?

[Chi11iFlak3]

I’m bored of meal planning, also how do others who cook from scratch every night plan the week?

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish/golden-miso-salmon

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/indian-spiced-chicken-and-potato-traybake

Tuns steak and baked ratatouille or just greens with garlic and butter

Burritos

spag bol
mac n cheese
cauliflower n broccoli cheese
salad niçoise
spaghetti a la vongole
Crispy tofu stir fry

Got a recipe for the poke bowl please?

I meal plan. I try to include fish at least once a week, one veg based meal. One easy meal like pasta or jacket potatoes.The day before shopping we have freezer surprise with whatever is in there. I always cook from scratch and go out of my way to make enough for leftovers for the freezer. I have a book with around 30 of my best loved recipes. I always get those free magazines from the supermarket and look for new ideas. I use the Good Food website, currently loving Recipe tin book and website. I also ask everyone in the family to tell me what they fancy.

I hate cooking but after 50 odd years I have a reasonable repertoire. Regulars include:

stews and casseroles, venison is a favourite, often in the slow cooker
pasta and various made from scratch sauces: carbonara, bolognese, tomato, meatballs
fish: salmon, sometimes marinaded, white fish baked, with either a herbed crust, or spicy veg topping, fish pie, smoked salmon pancakes, mackerel or tuna salad
roast veg, sometimes with chicken drumsticks, and lots of spice
chilli, always veggie, and curries, often veggie, including a surprisingly nice egg one
roasts, and various things made with the leftovers, like pies and shepherds pies
pizzas, or cheats’ pizzas using flatbreads
risottos - pea and lemon is a favourite at this time of year
soups - including cold ones in the summer
stir fries
lots of vegetable salads - currently a bit obsessed with a lightly spiced halloumi and broccoli version, served with couscous - and bean based salads

I barely follow recipes and generally just make it up as I go along. I look in the garden and see what's ready, look in the pantry/fridge to see what ingredients I have, then concoct something. If I'm lacking inspiration I might google 'recipes containing x/y/z'.

I cook from scratch:

1. shepherds pie
2. spag bol
3. chilli con carne
4. lamb sag
5. lamb shish kebabs
6. lamb tagine
7. Korean pork kebabs
8. Italian pork chops (with peppers and fennel)
9. chicken fajitas
10. chicken korma
11. chicken with cheese, wrapped in ham, with Greek roast lemon potatoes and Greek salads
12. paella
13. chicken with cashew nuts and rice
14. roast
15. sausages, mash and onion gravy
16. sausages, baked beans and air fryer chips
17. steak, air fryer chips/baked potatoes and salad
18. Salmon kedgeree
19. King prawns Thai green or red curry

I use mainly the BBC Good Food website, Recipe Tin Eats website, Hairy Bikers diet books and the Good Housekeeping recipe book.

deoends who’s in. If just me and dh I’ll do for eg a rocket salad with grilled hallumi, pistachios and lemon.. or if kids I’ll do roast chicken. My most used cookery book is Ottolenghi Simple but only for entertaining. Too much work!

I did the same. I cook approx 15 dishes very well which everyone loves. I put these into chatgpt and asked it to rote them over a month and it gave me a one month daily meal plan. No more thinking what’s for dinner tonight.

I meal plan as I finish work late and don't have much time in the evening, so DH starts the meal off.

Soups
Minestrone
Leek and pot
Veg

Lamb stew

Pasta
Macaroni cheese
Spag bol
Lasagne
Spinach and ricotta canneloni
Pepperoni pasta
Greek lamb pasta bake
Meaty pasta Italian sausage mince pepperoni and chill tomato base
Meatballs pasta
Enchilada
Fajitas
Tacos
Quesadillas
Chilli

Traditional
Roast
Shepherd pie
Home made pie and mash
Sausage casserole
Fry up.

Chorizo chicken thigh new pot veg tray bake
Sausage new potatoes onion red wine hash

Risotto
Cajun chicken and rice
Paella

Lamb cutlets and aubergine fata bake

Fish

Steak and broccoli cheese

Omelettes
Jackets

I mostly use BBC or Mary Berry

I have a 4 week meal plan. Some things come up more than once and it's slightly different in winter and summer. Weekend meals are typically stuff that takes longer (lasagne, roasts, etc) or things DH cooks (grilled sea bass, chicken thighs). Monday is always something veggie, Tuesday salmon (we vary the sides), Wed and Thu are my working days so easy freezer meals like Bolognese and chilli or quick pasta meals ,and Friday is quick but tasty stuff like wrap pizzas, beef tacos or fakeaways using spice tailor meal kits (sweet and sour is our fave).

We don't always stick to it rigidly but I find it v helpful as a starting point! We review it every so often and swap out anything we're bored of.

I don’t follow recipes but I always have in my cupboards and fridge/ freezer…..
Maggi coconut powder (box …. Goes along way)
Bisto gravy powder (box)
soy sauce
chilli flakes
miso sauce
fish sauce
Homemade chicken stock
rice , pasta, pulses and tinned tomatoes
fresh potatoes, carrots, mushrooms , peppers and broccoli or Cauliflower, garlic , onions and ginger. Tomatoes , rocket and little gems.
frozen spinach & okra.
mince, chicken thighs or pork loin
smoked salmon, tinned tuna, basa
bay leaves, thyme , basil, fennel and chives from the garden .
dumplin mix, Yorkshire pudding mix.
feta cheese & Parmesan.

With these ingredients I can make about 25 different meals .

Rice (I use Japanese sushi rice as it has the right rexture), grilled plain salmon fillets chopped into chunks, cooked edamame beans, diced mango, diced avocado, diced cucumber, diced red pepper, sriracha mayo (mix equal parts mayo and sriracha), poke sauce (1tsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, garlic and ginger to taste, or you can just buy Kikkoman ready made poke sauce). Just spoon the hot rice into bowls, add poke sauce, arrange the veg and salmon in little piles on the rice, spoon over sriracha mayo and serve. You can add crispy fried onions, spring onion and fresh chilli of you like. It's so easy - mainly chopping veg.

Mostly I cook just for me. Top books are Nigel Slater’s Eat and the Roasting Tin books.

I find it easier to think about a type of recipe, to save on mental load
Pasta with sauce
Curry
Bangers and mash
Stir fry
Sunday roast
Use up everything soup

I mix up the details, but having something to base it on makes it mentally easier

Spaghetti bolognese
Tagliatelle a la carbonara
Seabass/lemon/butter served with baby pots and green beans
Chilli con carne
Tikka masala or Korma with a spice kit
Home made lasagna
Macaroni cheese
Greek salad and koftas
Beans stew and sausages
Leek and potato soup with ham/cheese and a baguette
Savoury pancakes

Before kids, we had a much better/wider range of dishes. My kids will give the dishes above a go but recently,we had to remove stir fries as my autistic son developed a strong aversion to it.
He hates potatoes (so we swap for rice for him) and cheese so we have to compromise (he will eat cheese "disguised " in other dishes though).

We have a bit of a formula, it varies a bit eg we binned the roast dinners in the heatwave and had more salads.

But for the bulk if the year it is:

Sunday - roast
Monday - something with the leftovers
Tuesday - a pasta dish
Wednesday - a pie of some sort with veg (could be shepherds/cottage/chicken and mushroom etc)
Thursday - fish in some form
Friday - a rice dish (curry, risotto, fried rice etc)
Saturday - fakaway

These are my current summer meals:

Sriracha sweet & sour veggie sauce with egg fried rice & veg spring rolls.

Bake a Boursin garlic & herb cheese with half a lemon, shallots, garlic, olive oil & herbs for 1/2 hour. Throw in cooked pasta & a bit of pasta water to loosen.

Greek flatbread with meat or veg in Greek herbs with salad & feta.

Burger & chips

Jacket potato

Three bean chilli

Avocado & poached egg on toast with salad and balsamic vinegar.

I wish I was as enthusiastic as you guys

Monday night is pasta night and Friday night is curry night. I have a lot of pasta dishes in my repertoire and I don't look at a recipe book for any of those. Sometimes I try something new. The curries are also variations on themes and recipes I don't need to look at to cook. The rotation is random but we decide when planning the shopping what we might fancy.

I like the roasting tin book and most weeks when the weather isn't as hot as it is now I will do something from one of the books or cook fish or meat in a manner inspired by the books.

I like chilli once in a while (at least every three weeks) and we quite have a risotto.If we have a roast it would be on a Saturday. Sunday is usually a fish day.

If I'm stuck for inspiration I will leaf through cookbooks and wing something together based on what I've read. My mother was like this.

I always meal plan for a week at a time. Each week normally do pasta, soup, curry, veg based, Chinese/thai, and then fun things at the weekend for the kids. I use Prashad, Green Roasting Tin, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's veg, Nigel slater, Linda McCartney cookbooks (we're vegetarian).

E.g. this week:

Mon -- caponata and sourdough (McCartney)
Tues -- chickpea curry and rice (Prashad)
Wed -- tofu and aubergine satay (Roasting Tin)
Thurs -- pesto and pasta (from memory)
Fri -- refried beans and flatbreads (H F W veg)
Saturday -- homemade pizza (from memory)
Sunday -- summer stir fry ( H F W veg)

Making a roast today.
Oil, herbs, Just bung it in - and baste
Couldn’t be easier!