What’s for dinner AND is it from a packet/box?

[Bigpinksweater]

Be honest!

These threads usually attract replies from busy mums saying ‘aubergine orzo with lemon chicken’ and I think ‘from scratch, at 5pm, with 2 hungry kids??’

Please let me know!

Rice bowl with fish and various veg plus a home made miso and tahini. So from scratch but simple.

We cook 90% from scratch and it's boring as fuck.

Egg on toast. Because there is nothing easy in the freezer and I am not in the mood to cook

Mussels in cream sauce with bread and steamed broccoli.

Tomorrow vegetable soup with bread.

Bread is homemade as I can't have gluten.

Spaghetti with pan fried mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, garlic and wilted spinach. Sauce made using cream cheese thinned with a little pasta water and a little bit of Italian seasoning. Some strong grated cheddar sprinkled over - I had run out of parmesan. It took 15 minutes altogether.

DH had scampi and chips done in the air fryer.

Gnocchi bake (cherry tomato sauce, roast veggies, capers, cheese).
Made from scratch, although gnocchi are from a packet, I am never going to make my own gnocchi!
Slight cheat… was made yesterday, so tonight is leftovers.

A mish mash of dinners tonight as dh is on nights so got himself some leftover chilli and a bread roll alongside it. Dc and I got back from parents evening quite late so Dd1 had eggs in a basket with two slices of bread followed by a slice of chocolate cheesecake and dd2 had some filled pasta a chocolate éclair and then a salami sandwich as she is surprisingly hungry at the moment.

Once they are in bed, I am going to have a bowl of vegetable soup I have just finished making and a burrata. And a cookie.

Its only me & dh here now & we've decided to cut back on upf's in our diet where we can.

I've lost almost 2 stone now since switching & the dishes we're making are practical as they mostly have leftovers that form the basis of lunch or dinner the next day.

Last night we had salmon cooked in foil with red peppers, spring onion, ginger, chilli flakes, fresh coriander & soy sauce. We had that with steamed new potatoes & roasted Asparagus.

I cooked 4 pieces of salmon.

So tonight we had salad (lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, fresh Beetroot, Avocado with the cold salmon & red peppers..we had left over Asparagus & a small handful of the new potatoes so I cubed them & roasted them & added to the salad.

It was delicious 😋

Tomorrow we're having prawn, butternut squash & mango curry with brown rice

I'll use the left over butternut squash & coconut milk make a spiced soup which will make enough for 2 lunches each.

I'm feeling great eating this way.

Sausages, mashed potato and baked beans.

Homemade spiced pear and ginger cake for pudding.😋

Thai curry, homemade but with (jar red Thai sauce) veg and cous cous

Yesterday baked beans and cheese with jacket potato!

Tofu katsu curry!

Panko breaded tofu with katsu sauce (both from packets). Boiled basmati rice and raw veggies on the side (sweetcorn, grated carrot and sliced cucumber).

Quick, easy and relatively healthy.

Jacket potatoes with various toppings - tuna mayo with chopped red jalapeños, grated cheese, beans and coleslaw. Beans & tuna from a tin, jalapeños from a jar and ready made coleslaw from the supermarket!

Breaded chicken steaks with potato waffles and beans 😳. Followed by Aldi white chocolate magnum.

Pasta pesto but I blend spinach and creme fraiche into the pesto to feel better about it 😂

My homemade sausage roll (shop bought pastry) has gone absolutely tits up. It’s raw in the middle but the pastry is cooked. Think I added too much onion (it needed finishing). So I’ve cut it lengthwise (it proceeded to fall apart somewhat). And it’s covered in baking parchment - no foil. I was very smug whacking it in with my little pastry design. Dinner was an hour and a half ago 😂

From a box: wine, pineapple juice.
Poached mushrooms & egg & parmesian cheese & curry paste : no boxes but yes a jar.
Also trying to cook some split pea soup. Why don't my peas melt like they used to? Weanh... peas from a bag, no box.

Spag Bol (from scratch, but batch cooked and frozen so only reheated).

That paints me in a better light than usual. Last night we had takeaway burgers, and Monday was freezer chicken Kiev’s and hash browns.

Left over roast chicken, gravy (bisto!) baked sweet potato and sprouts.

So slightly from a pack!!

Last night’s fajita chicken leftovers have been sloshed into some green Thai curry paste (Tesco own brand).

Served with rice that I cooked in my new Sistema microwave rice cooker that I tried for the first time. Rice came out 7/10. Will try again with more water next time.

Burger bowls.
I worked until 2, got child from school, went to park with dog and collected leaves .. child did crayon rubbings with said leaves whilst I prepared dinner. Yummy and quite healthy too…

Shepherds pie. I made a batch a few weeks ago and took it out of the freezer this morning because I knew we had a late one today and needed something quick and easy. The leftovers will be DH’s lunch tomorrow as he will be WFH.

Revitas and butter. Might do some porridge

We had spaghetti and meatballs.

Pork mince, herbs, breadcrumbs and an egg.
Tinned tomatoes, red onions, garlic, wine, basil, chilli.
spaghetti.

We made pizzas using dough we buy frozen (so it’s not got loads of rubbish in it). With them we had home made coleslaw (didn’t make the mayo) and crudités.

I did pasta (from packet) with a homemade tomato sauce, sausages (from frozen) & fresh red pepper. Plus garlic bread (from frozen). DD had a pizza (from frozen).
We both work. I’m part time and I do enjoy cooking but I do the majority of it plus school lunch and am limited for time some days, so we have a mix of frozen / fresh / homemade stuff - whatever I fancy or can be bothered to do!

In an extra moment of smug I’ve knocked up a dozen Yorkshire puddings with my left over batter from road in the hole. That’s three Sundays worth of them. They freeze and reheat so easily it would be criminal to waste the batter. My batter is a mug each of milk, eggs and flour and a big pinch of salt. Beaten with the electric hand whisk and left to stand for as long as possible. Easy.