what are you all having for your weekly menus?

[jenk1]

I am in need of some inspiration,have been saying that i will do this for ages so now i have almost cleared and got to the bottom of the freezer and want to buy just food for planned meals and no cr*p!!!

Hope i make sense!!

Ok as of tomorrow our planned meals are

Chicken stir fry with plum sauce
Stew with dumplings
Cod fillets with sauce, carrots, leeks and potato
Chicken drumsticks coated in a sauce TBA with either pasta and salad or jacket pots
Burgers and salad
Lasagne
Minted lamb mince stew with mashed pots and veg

Will also do a few store cupboard and basic meals too when we're having a lazy day like beans on toast, boiled eggs etc.

HTH

Do you cook these ahead or on the day?

Does anything every last more than one night?

And what do you do when you get home later than you meant to and everyone is hungry, do you have beans on toast, then have the planned meal the next night, iyswim?

Sorry to be a bit thick but this sounds like a great idea!

Funnily enough I was part way through doing a menu thing, got bored and came on here! I got as far as

Sausage, mash & veg

Roast chicken/veggie option for dh

Salmon fillets and ????? (Saw a recipe for salmon laksa in an old copy of Good Housekeeping. Might try that)

Piperade, salad & bread

Barbecue on Sunday if weather holds out

Chicken Roast for Sunday
Have salad and french bread and rest of chicken next day

Neena, it's just a rough guide for me - to do with shopping sensibly rather than if it's Monday it must be spag bol, if you see what I mean. And I certainly don't always stick to the rough guide!

Certain meals can be be made in double quantity and then frozen.

Mercy, whats piperade?

God that would be great...we waste so much food in this house because of me never planning a meal unitl the kids are already hungry

Well I'm a heavily pregnant SAHM so I'm usually always in but yes if we've been out and can't be bothered to cook, it's just a quick meal.
I usually like to have Burgers in and I get some proper chicken breast southern fried chicken in for the freezer as they make quick meals too.

I also have a good JO recipe for a tomato sauce. It makes loads so I freeze it in batches.
Its so versatile. I either use it for a quick meal with pasta (just defrost in microwave and stir in with pasta). Also use it for Lasagne, spag bol etc.

Another good one, going off the mention of roast chicken,
use the chicken for sandwiches, chicken salad, to go on pizza (buy the bases ready made and also another good use for the JO tomato sauce )
roast beef, again sanwiches, salad, jacket pots and stir fry.

Great way to make use of left overs.

Piperade

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 red peppers, cored, seeded and cut into narrow strips
2 small onions, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tin plum toms, drained and chopped
4 eggs
salt/pepper
fresh basil leaves
fresh parsley

Heat oil and add peppers and onion. Cook until very tender. Add garlic and cook for a minute or 2. Add tomatoes and simmer until it all thickens.

Beat eggs, season them, and pour into the mixture, stirring as you would for scrambled eggs. Shred the basil leaves and stir in with the chopped parsley. Serve while the eggs are still creamy.

Taken from 'Real Fast Food' by Nigel Slater which I can thoroughly recommend. I do tweak the recipe though - I use one red pepper and one onion, most of a tin of toms and flat leaf parlsey. I believe it's a Basque dish and is traditionally served with the local ham.

they all sound great

Can i have the details of the JO tomato sauce as we eat lots of tomato sauce but i usually buy it ready made

Any more menus, keep em coming!!!

Jamie Olivers Tom Sauce

3 tbsp Oil
3 small onions, peeled and chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
3 courgettes, grated
3 carrots, grated
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large pinch of dried oregano
400g tins of toms x6
2-3 garlic cloves

Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a deep pan.

Fry onion, celery, peppers, courgettes, carrot and garlic for 5-10 mins.

Add the oregano and tomatoes, then season.

Simmer for about 30 mins.

Liquidise and when it is cool freeze the extra sauce.

HTH

Thanks for that YellowFeathers.

What does it taste like - ie, will the kids spot the veg or is well-hidden?

so far this week we have had:

• Monday: fish pie
• Tuesday: cheese-on-toast
• Wednesday: pork steaks w/ mustard sauce & courgette/peppers/onion skewers
• Thurs: lamb steaks & tabbouleh with plums in it
• Fri (tonight): going to do nachos
• Sat: quiche

Oh no its very tasty.

Just received my delivery of shopping and the blinkin fish needs to be eaten by tomorrow so tonights meal is already decided!

just about to go off and do the shop

i have planned

fish and chips
minestrone soup
macaroni cheese
pizza
fishcakes
tuna and cheese baked potatoes
sausage casserole
and maybe a nice roast chicken for sunday if the budget can stretch
(all home made of course)

my dh makes the most gorgeous baked potato/sandwich filler

dead easy

left over chicken, ripped up
mayo
finely chopped red pepper
s + p
squeeze lemon juice

mix all up together

YUM

My dh does the shopping and most of the cooking and he's a bit of a foodie so here goes (this is what we've had this week since last weekend):
lemon and parsley fried fish with new potatoes and pak choi
prawn linguine ala jamie oliver
lentils with gingery spinach and garlic
steamed salmon, mash and sweetcorn (me on my own as been cooking for for ds and dd all day) and that was what was left
aubergine, lemongrass and tomato curry
mushroom omelette with baked potato and spinach

Can anyone see why I have to cook separate meals for the children - that is the only downside....

Thanks for the JO recipe that looks lovely im going to cook some this weekend.

Right ive meal planned for the next 3/4 days and here goes:

Tonight Pork Steaks with StirFry and Rice
Sat Chicken Curry
Sun Roast Dinner
Mon Spag Bol

Thats as far as ive got!

that risotto that cod posted
scampi
daal
bbq - pork/lamb burgers/ spicy chick wings
chick/asparagus pie
southern fried chicken
veggie lasagne

not sure what else yet.

Halibut with roasted red pepper sauce tonight WHEN DH gets home, it's such a nice evening he's gone flying.

Tomorrow, rack of lamb, fine green beans, sprouting broc, new jersey pots with lots of butter!

Sunday slow roasted belly of pork, roast baby med veg and dauphinoise potatoes

and DH will cook it all except for tonites!

kelly have oyu tried that risoot?

no, have got the ingredients and I'm going to make it over the weekend, will report back.

I don't normally do risotto, but did paella last week and loved it, so I need to experiment. I'm not a huge rice fan, but I do lvev asparagus.