What do normal families eat for dinner?

[youaremychocolatecake]

I need some inspiration. In love cooking and had a pretty good routine going before I got pregnant with number 2 and simultaneously went off food and had zero energy.

I worked part time so on my days off I'd do some kind of recipe like a fish pie or toad in the hole, lasagne, curry or sometimes something a bit more involved. On my work days it would be something in the slow cooker or something I could pre-prepare in the morning and heat up/finish off later (I was good, not sure what happened?!) I used to plan meals 10/14 days in advance and do a big online shop.

I like my son to eat the same as us wherever possible and I never tended to use frozen stuff or anything convenient like old El Paso. I don't have anything against them - infact this is where I think I may be going wrong.

Anyway, cut to now and I'm just rubbish! I hardly ever do a big shop, I can't get inspired by food anymore and with a newborn baby to deal with it's all just a bit too much effort. We keep getting takeaways

Also now my oldest has started school he comes out starving so I feel like I need to feed him there and then!

I need ideas of what everyone eats for dinner in an average week. I don't feel I have the time or energy to be getting the recipe books out 5 times a week now. Simple family food.

TIA x

[DoItTooBabyJesus]

Oh and our plan is as follows for a family of three adults and to kids, one 8 he other is 1.

Monday pasta peas and pesto
Tue egg and chips
Weds frozen homemade meal. This week it's veg casserole and dumplings
Thursday chippy
Friday veggie curry
Sat homemade pizza
Sun roast lunch

[scratchandsniff]

Two of us plus a 13mth old. This week we're having:

Chicken, chorizo, butterbean and smoked paprika casserole with cous cous.

Stir fry with quorn

Spag bol

Sausage, mash and veg.




Cheese and baked bean jacket potatoes

Frittata using up bacon and some veggies with oven chips

Quorn biryani (use sharwoods biryani sauce, really really nice) with naan bread.

I do struggle to think what to make sometimes. I try and make something more involved and freezeable on the days I don't work, then quicker easier stuff the rest of the week.

[Redpriestandmozart]

This week is

Mon - stew & crusty bread
Tues - slow veg cooker chilli, rice & tortilla chips
Wed - spiced veg & quinoa laksa
Thurs - grilled chicken, vegs & potatoes
Fri - home made pizza, salad, garlic bread
Sat - samosa, dosa, bombay potatoes & chutneys
Sun - cowboy dinner, potatoes, onion, bacon, beans

I'm vegan so Tues, Wed, Thurs & Fri are all vegan and everyone eats it the other days I have salad & vegan burgers or nut cutlets.

[youaremychocolatecake]

Thanks everyone, so many great ideas and feeling very inspired now and some things have been mentioned that I love and have kind of forgotten about :) x

[Jiltedjohnsjulie]

So what's for tea today then youare?

[CreamyCooler]

Something like the following
Monday- salmon, potatoes and veg or fish, chips veg
Tuesday- lamb burgers from the local butcher, veg such as peppers, onions and mushrooms.
Wednesday- chicken Kiev or gammon, baked potatoes, veg
Thursday- sausages from the butchers, roasted veg, chips or potatoes
Friday- roast dinner
Saturday- takeaway or eat out
Sunday- takeaway or eat out.

[youaremychocolatecake]

Today (pre shop day) I've gone for some pork loin steaks I had in the freezer. Diced them up and fried with a bit of a manky old onion and some sliced mushrooms. Added some Philadelphia stir in sauce, mushroom
Flavour and doing some rice. Haven't eaten it yet but looks quite nice. Did a big online shop today so some things I have planned (based on some ideas above and working with what I have in freezer to clear space for Xmas) are as follows: old El Paso enchiladas with savoury rice and corn on the cobs, meatballs with spaghetti, jacket potatoes with fillings, omelettes (maybe for a weekend lunch), a Greek baked pasta (macaroni, white sauce, Aubergine, mince etc), fish cakes (premade and on offer) and then I chose the following recipes from fay ripley's book: Italian crispy stuffed chicken, cottage pie, chicken and butternut squash traybake(have a load of chicken thighs to use up) all look quite easy, with various veggies/salad. I have also ordered a bag of aunt Bessie's midweek mini roasties to try as they were on offer. Hoping for a better food week and NO takeaways x

[youaremychocolatecake]

I have a foolproof way to cook rice by the way.

75g basmati rice per person (I use Tesco value basmati)
175ml boiling water per person
Salt

Add the above to a bowl, cover with cling film and pierce. Microwave for 12 minutes (for 3/4 portions, you would have to experiment for other amounts)

Voila. Perfect fluffy rice every time. no rinsing or draining or stirring. And much cheaper than micro pouches or boil in the bag.

[youaremychocolatecake]

I also saw a good recipe for a slow cooker macaroni cheese earlier. I will try and find it again and post it x

[FeisMom]

Yes please OP I'd love a slow cooker macaroni cheese recipe

[youaremychocolatecake]

Macaroni cheese.
(Serves 4)
250g macaroni/pasta.
2 pints milk.
350g grated mature cheddar.
1 egg.
1/2 tsp salt.
1 teaspoon pepper.
A large mug of frozen peas.
Oil spray.

Grease your slow cooker, tip in the pasta, mix the egg and milk in a bowl then add cheese & peas & seasoning , stir well then tip over the pasta & cook on low for 3 hours.

[FeisMom]

Wow I'm trying that this week - thanks

[Seeline]

Wow - slow cooker macaroni cheese! I assume you don't pre-cook the pasta chocolate ?

[Methe]

There's 4 of us here, 2 primary schoolers and dh and I who both work and have a commute.

Our average week will be something like

Soup a couple of times, this week we've had brocolli and Stilton twice with those part baked rolls.

We've had corned beef hash with beans

Chinese on Saturday

Veg curry with rice

Pasta

Chops with mash and veg

We have a slow cooker but don't use it as whenever I have it ends up tasting like slop.

I've only recently gone back to working office hrs and creating decent healthy food quickly is hard work! I'm sick of thinking about it to be honest.

[oakmouse]

Erm...there's what I make...and what gets eaten...

When I go through an ill period mealtimes are quite harmonious as the kids get fishfingers, chips, raw carrots, celery and cucumber, frozen beans, peas, sweet corn, baked beans, tinned spaghetti, ham or chicken, rice and pasta, toast with Nutella or honey, and lots of cereal, apples, pears, bananas, blueberries and dried figs and apricots. Dd eats half those things and ds eats the other half. I force down the leftovers and don't care as long as nobody complains about being hungry when I'm about to crawl into bed.

Then I'm better and tackle the withering veg box surplus with zeal and pull out all my recipe books and plan lovely nutritious jamieworthy meals, and the wailing and gnashing of teeth starts again...

[youaremychocolatecake]

I've not tried it but found it on a slow cooker page on Facebook. (I will get the proper name) and she says the pasta is uncooked when it goes in x

[youaremychocolatecake]

The Facebook page is called 'slow cooker recipe page' it has 250k likers so you know it's the right one. It's a ill page and there is also a website www.slowcookerrecipepage.com

[HaveAQuestion]

Some ideas of what we eat (2 adults, 1yo and 7yo):

S – chicken mayo stew
S – cottage pie
M - wraps
T – fish cakes & chips
W – chicken pie
T – pesto pasta with mushrooms and bacon
F – one pot chicken and chickpea pilau
S - jackets
S – spagetthi bolognaise
M – hunters chicken + roast potatoes
T - Risotto
W – BNS soup + bread