The Return of the Menu Plan - come and add your favourite quick dinners

[popsycal]

For some reason, I stopped menu planning and must get back into it.

I tend to categorise into:

• chicken
• veggie
• other meat
• pasta based
• from the freezer
• other

and try to balance it. Needs to be quick stuff in the week as I work and boys have an increasingnumber of after school commitments.

Would be very grateful if you could add you ssuggestions

I need to start again too, so will watch with interest as am also bored of everything i cook

Me too!

Also to add, ds1 is almost avegetarian, bar the occasional bit of chicken or fish

Also interested in 'onepot' stuff. Not averse tp batch cooking if i can get my arse in gear.Considering investing in a slow cooker.....

I have used this site a bit......quick recipes

Here are our regular meals making an appearance most weeks..!

Pesto (bought from Tesco's) + pasta

Jacket potatoes with baked beans/cheese/tuna mayo/prawns

Chicken casserole (with homepride sauce...)

• rice

Sausage + Mash

Fishfinger + oven chips (boys' choice every Monday... ) We always have smoked fish and rice when ds's are having fishfingers!

Lentil sauce + rice/potatoes

Risotto - either veggie or with bacon/chicken/prawns (usually at weekends as it takes a bit longer to do!)

Pizza + chips!!

They're just from memory and most can be done in under 30 mins, have steamed broccoli thrown in and have gluten-free variants for me

Cowboy beans:
fry some bacon bits and onion (chorizo is good too)
Add 1 or 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and fry down
Add 1 or 2 tins of haricot beans
Season
Cook for a bit

Serve with jacket potatoes or rice or tortillas

Just to add some of mine forothers (loads of stuff I had forgotten about!!)

• fajitas
• stir fry
• chicken thighs/legs - teryaki/honey and lemon - roasted or braised in wine- with potato and veg
• cheats roast dinner (eg chicken breasts)
• fish pie (for weekends -tomuch time)
• chilli/spag bol/ lasagne/veg lasagne - batch cooked with some frozen
• posh veg lasgane - eg spinach and ricotta for weekends
• tuna 'balls'
• salmon with crust onplus veg,pot/rice
• bangers and mash
• sausage'pie'

I need cheap fish options
Need to do homemade pizza
CHeap meat options

chorizo/corned beef hash

brill ideas so far - thanks

Pasta with bacon and peas

Boil the pasta

Meanwhile fry some onions in a little butter, when softened add in some diced bacon (chicken would also work well) and fry til cooked through.

Add some peas and a little milk and cook for a further 5 mins.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan, with a little more milk and some grated cheese. Mix well until all the cheese has melted.

You can either serve it like this, or put it into an oven proof dish, sprinkle more grated cheese over the top and place under the grill until the cheese starts bubbling.

Grilled salmon with stir fry vegetables
Giant salads - so with base ingredients of lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, avocado, and then adding in things like croutons, grilled salmon, chicken, tuna, cheese

We were at the in-laws (DP's DM is a fabulous cook) and she made an amazing tart for lunch one day. She always keeps ready roll pastry (say flaky pastry) around, and then cooks it with some of the following fillings:

• red onion, goats cheese and pine nuts
• leek and gruyere

It's then served with green salad, and I think it takes about 15 minutes to cook. I'm going to get the recipe from DP and then post it. She also uses a Tunisian pastry called feuille de brick a lot (she's from North Africa, not wanky). It's a bit like filo, so you could probably use filo instead. She then makes things like:

• triangles filled with cooked mince (again served with green salad, with a squirt of lemon juice)
• triangles filled with potato and tuna

or else just fries it with egg or cheese inside. Amazing. Apparently Waitrose sells the pastry (or at least ocado has it).

Pasta is your friend. I make it about 3 nights a week with different sauces, meatballs or as a pasta bake of some description.

Egg-based dishes are good. Omelettes, frittata etc. Super quick and just do a salad and some bread as sides.

I try to get fish in there twice a week or more if possible. Fishcakes, fish pie, grilled fish of various types. Learn to make a few dressings e.g. salsa verde, or try different marinades (I make a quick 'Teriyaki' style one with honey, dark soy sauce & garlic, or a quick bbq one with the same but add ketchup and a bit of brown sugar instead of the honey).

Stuffed peppers
Homemade pizza (I buy the base and just add the toppings)
Chicken kebabs or falafels & salad in pitta
Fajitas
Veggie curries with rice or tagine with cous cous (especially using chickpeas or lentils - really quick)
homemade soup

I'd love to call round to your MIL's AbsofCroissant.

I want to go back . She had also made an almond and orange cake that we had for breakfast every morning with coffee.

My favourite can't be arsed quick weektime meal at the moment:

Chuck 1 cup of rice in the rice cooker with 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water, a pinch of salt and some cardamom pods / some cinnamon bark if I'm feeling very enthusiastic.

Chuck whatever veg comes to hand in the steamer over the rice cooker (usually broc or cauli or beans).

Switch it on.

Ready chopped onions in a pan. Slosh in a bit of wine or balsamic or something. Sometimes I'll add a bit of garlic and / or ginger but sometimes can't be bothered. a splash of water to soften the onions and speed things up. Throw in some spices.
A can of tomatoes and a can of chickpeas.

Cook it for a bit.

Serve.

Minimal washing up. Hardly any time in the kitchen. The rice takes a little time doing itself, but I tend to put the rice on, then sort out the children, then do the chickpeas which only takes about 10 minutes.

Roast beef/chicken/lamb/gammon with yorkshire pud on Sundays, same meat with mash veg and gravy on Moneqy, leftover meat scraps in a veg minestrone-ish soup and hot bread on Tuesdays, fish or sausages from the freezer on Wednesday, home made chilli/spagbol/lasagne on Thurs/Fri. Something like corned beef hash or Brunswick Stew (chicken thighs with carrots, onion, garlic tinned tomatoes and butter beans white wine and herbs) on Saturday. Not that we're in a culinary rut or anything!!! Need more ideas for fish and veg dishes.

cheese based:

tomato and cheese pasta
pesto and cheese quesadillas
homemade cheese and tomato pizza

egg based:

cheese and ham omelettes
dippy eggs with trad soldiers and crudities
tortilla

meat:

beef meatballs with tomato sauce and pasta
spicy pork meatballs with dipping sauce
sausages - toad or plain or deskinned and done in a tomato pasta sauce
spag bol ( my recipe has lots of veg and bacon, wine, stock, not that much mince and no tomato )
beef in red wine for the weekend

veg:

spinach and mascarpone pasta
tomato and mascarpone tart
baked potato with....
soup with crusty bread

chicken:

chicken and broccoli in a creamy chicken sauce with jacket pots
homemade parmesan chicken dippers
chicken souvlaki in pitta
chicken and veg stir fry with noodles
traybake chicken thighs with autumn veg eg butternut

fish:

whole baked fish and chips
fishfingers
fish pie ( weekend )
fish in cheese sauce with mash

Am loving the sound of the tunisian pastry, Abs. Where does she buy it from?

ooh, how do you do the quesadillas?

quesadillas:

dry fry a tortilla, smear over top with pesto, grate cheese on, put another tortilla on top, press down, flip over, done when brown and cheese melted.

lovely , sounds great ,thanks

loads more brill ideas thanks

we also do lamb ball things in pitta
nigella recipe i think

Ineed to getproperly organised

Great thread! Taffetacat, what sort of sauce do you use for your chicken & broccoli recipe and how do you do the souvlaki please?

well they are the two ends of the spectrum :)

chicken broccoli is layered cooked broccoli, then cooked chunks of chicken then sauce using a can of condensed cream of chicken soup and a tablespoon of mayo, mixed. grated cheese on top.

chicken souvlaki needs marinating - ideally night before but a few hours will do, mix of natural yoghurt, crushed coriander seeds, turmeric, crushed garlic, desseeded chilli, chopped mint, ex v oo and lemon zest and juice. Then grill on skewers and serve with pitta and sauce made from yoghurt, chopped fresh coriander, lemon juice, seasoning and ex v oo.

Taffetta, is it ok to use the marinate for raw meat as a sauce? I am never sure about it.

Tafetta - she's in France, but you can buy it in the UK from at least Waitrose here and I'm sure in other shops. Where are you based? I know a couple of places in London that sells them.