Cooking family meals day after day... ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

[valiumredhead]

I am about to throw the oven out of the window, I am SO fed up with churning out meals that everyone will eat ever day. I AM SO BORED!!!

Soooooooooooooooo, can you tell me what you eat please? - I need inspiration before I explode with boredom! Doesn't have to be fancy, I just need ideas.

I cook -

Lasagne
Stew
Butterbean casserole in the SC
Pork and cider and apple in the SC
Gammon in the SC
Sausage and mash and onion gravy
Baked potatoes with cheese or tuna and salad
Spanish chicken
Morrocan chicken with cous cous
Salmon and noodles
Cod
Spag bol
Cottage pie
Roast dinner
Pasta with tomato based sauce
Beef and shallot stifado
Curry
Egg and chips!

SURELY I can cook more than 18 meals but I am in such a rut I can't think of anymore

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

I share your pain - I meal plan and it's sometimes find it hard to think of different things each week and DP has been laughing at me all weekend after I served up sausage, egg and potato waffles on Friday and tried to convince him it was in fact a totally different meal to the sausage, egg and chips we'd had the Friday before!

I make lots of those on your list but it's good to be reminded of new things for when I'm lacking inspiraton... things I cook which are not on your list:

fajitas/tacos/enchilada
chicken/beef casserole
pasta bake - tomato based sauce or cheese, ham & mushroom
meatballs and pasta
stir fries
marinaded chicken thighs with roast veg
chicken wings in BBQ sauce with salad
homemade pizza
spicy chicken with salad in pitta
pork chops with rice and veggie kebabs

I know how you feel OP. I've recently added Jamie's fish pie to my weekly meals. It's easy to make and goes down a storm.

Fritta's We have loads.
I buy good food mag when i need some inspiration. But 18 recipes is really impressive!

Oh God I feel lazy in comparison to most of you! My list is:

Pesto Pasta
Stirfry
Shepherds Pie
Peppered steak and veggies
Spaggy Bol
Warm Chicken Salad (with mixed nuts, olives, rocket, peppers, toms etc)
Pizza made with one of those JusRol pizza bases and stuff chucked on top
Broccoli & Stilton quiche
Smoky Bacon and Leek quiche
Hot Pot (with Guinness, guilty face)

Used to make soups but frankly can't be arsed now. And we eat silly amounts of Haggis but it's ready-made because I don't want to know what's actually in it.

But 18 recipes is really impressive!

Thanks, I feel slightly better about it now, knowing that not everyone has endless recipes that they are churning out - obviously I am trying a bit too hard

Fish pie! Had forgotten about that!

Well by reading all that you cook, I'd say your family are lucky to have you

bbc good food magazine recipes website is brill. makes really enjoyable browsing, but you can also put in whatever ingredient you want to use up and it will come up with recipes for said ing. It really revolutionised my cooking. I'm veggie, but don't limit myself to the veggie recipes. Most of the meat ones can be adapted.

It really helped when I had got into that 'we eat the same flamin' things all the time' rut.

What about some of these?

Pasta with creamy sauce (leftover chicken/turkey, or ham, with mushrooms, sweetcorn or peas, cream, garlic and mustard or Parmesan)
Egg-fried rice (similar additions as above fried in sesame oil and soy sauce).
Chickpea, spinach and sweet potato/butternut squash curry made with green curry paste and coconut milk.
Chorizo and feta omelette or veg and cheese frittata with tomato and red onion salad.
Burgers with bacon, cheese, mushrooms and salad (including avocado, tomato, red onion)
Chorizo, tomato and white bean stew
Falafel or grilled lamb wraps with humous, feta, salad and chilli sauce - lovely with strips of baked aubergine in too
Fajitas = spicy fried chicken, pork, beef or veg with peppers and onions, plus sour cream, grated cheese and guacamole in tortilla
Bacon, spinach, avocado, tomato salad with cheese and red onion
Chilli with sour cream, avocado, red onion and fresh coriander garnish (save some leftovers for luncheon a baked potato with strong cheddar)
Baked pork chops marinaded in chili, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, honey and a mix of orange and lemon juice, with baked sweet potatoes
Pies and tarts! Try creamy pasta sauce as above with extra veg eg leeks, topped with pastry, or puff pastry with veg and cheese on top (nothing too soggy - pesto, fried courgettes and goats cheese is lovely)
Homemade pizza or Cornish pasties.

Thank you! Falafel - we LOVE it and I had forgotten all about it!

This is my new favourite thread.

Thanks for this thread. I'm always looking for new ideas.

My regulars include:
Maple coated drumsticks with salad.
Minestrone.
Prawn stir fry.
Fish goujons with chips and peas.
Fish cakes.
Chicken in red wine (bastard version of the Elizibeth David classic) or chicken in white wine and cream.
Frittata.
Roast chicken with salad and cous cous.
Spaghetti Carbonara.
Chilli con carne.
Ribs.
Steak, chips, salad.

A regular filler for the DC, post sports training is ciabatta spread with passata and mozzarella, baked in the oven for five mins til oozing.

Yesterday I made an old Delia recipe: Chicken basque (basically chicken joints, chorizo, rice, peppers and olives baked in stock and wine) and it went down a treat all round.

This is really useful.
My regulars are:
Chicken thigh stew with tinned tomatoes, carrots, new potatoes and cannellini beans served with rice
Salmon fishcakes with parsley sauce
Fish/chicken goujons with homemade potato wedges and peas
Lamb meatballs in tomato sauce with spaghetti
Spag bol
Chilli con carne
Tuna nicoise salad (really nice if you make it with fresh tuna but we use tinned too)
Cod baked with mozzarella, cherry toms, basil (Jamie Oliver recipe)
Pasta with a tomato/aubergine/mozarella cheese sauce (Jamie again)
Whole mackerel baked with new potatoes and beetroot
Spanish tortilla with green salad
Oh and occasionally chicken breasts in a tarragon and cream sauce, served with green beans and new potatoes - got it off Nigella's cookery programme. Dead easy.

It's all a bit bland I suppose but then I am trying to cook stuff our two-year-old will eat too.

Go a bit veggie and make chickpea stews and curries or lentil curries. Or bake stuff more - like veggies in cheese or tomato sauce with breadcrumbs and cheese on top. Or with sliced potato in too. Or make more soups with crusty bread.

Sometimes it gets so booooooooooooring doesn't it.

I can't stand the cooking every day either, I never know what to cook and then nobody likes it anyway.
Today I made vegetable and pearl barley soup with parsnip, parmesan and sage bread (Delia's recipe, it's lovely).
Usually I make
Lasagne
Chicken/beef curry
Chickpea or lentil curry with rice and naan
Beef stew
Roast
Chilli on jacket potatoes
Cottage pie
Spicy butternut squash soup with crusty bread
Spag Bol
Chicken casserole
Chicken fajitas with chips
Stuff from the freezer (chips chicken goujons etc)

That's all i can remember.
I'm going to try the lentil and bacon soup recipe sounds gorg

Just about to try making the lentil and bacon soup - Tescos only sell ready cooked puy lentils - will have to try in Waitrose for some 'proper' ones

Oh it is LOVELY! Soooooooo tasty! I ended up adding half a teaspoon on sugar as my tomatoes were a bit acid and I stirred a small dollop of creme fraiche through it at the end. DELICIOUS!