Meal plans

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Anybody want to share? In no particular order:
Brazilian stew with palm hearts - recipe from Lad Iguanas
Cauliflower cheese and jacket spuds
Nigella's fish finger bhorta
Thai green curry with tofu
Shallot tart with rocket salad
Veggie chilli

@Fivemoreminutes1 yes, that veggie stew looks good and I like the dumplings as an addition. Might try that. I've just started an Oddbox delivery so maybe, depending on what's in it, I could use those ingredients.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie it's less the waste for me and more the massive effort involved in ensuring there isn't waste? eg planning obsessively to take into account freshness/longevity of ingredients etc. Its just so tedious.

Plus I simply can't store enough of everything so we land up spending a fortune at our local co op picking up extras constantly, all at 10-20% more per item than if I buy it at Tesco or even via Ocado. I think it somehow lands up more expensive overall. I was spending about £160 on my big shop plus easily another £40 per week on the 7 day planning thing and now I feel like I'm spending a bit less (so maybe there is less wastage?) £100 every 5 days or so but almost nothing in between. I've only gone back to this recently so will have to compare my supermarket spend for say January vs April and assess that way more properly.

That veggie stew looks good.

Plan for us

Whole Roasted aubergine with yogurt & harissa
Finally going to give the nigella bhorta a whirl
Lunch out with DH on Weds, do not care if it snows
Sweet potato, ginger, coconut, lentil stew
Katsu chicken/quorn
Lentil Bol (joe wicks)
Sofa picnic

Today: Melting middle fish cakes (Aldi) & veg
Sun: Those cheese dumplings @Fivemoreminutes1 linked look really good so I’m going to do a veg & bean stew with those.
Mon: Pesto salmon, baby potatoes & veg
Tues: Red Thai veg curry with brown rice
Wed: Spaghetti and meat(less)balls - those quorn Swedish style ones.
Thurs: Stuffed peppers, salad, garlic bread
Fri: Spicy prawn & veg stir fry with rice/noodles.

Please may I join.

I'm currently on a no waste drive, however I lack motivation after a day at work. Dh is a rubbish cook despite years of trying, I have 2 teens who will eat most things but never at dinner time so gets reheated and 1 pescatarian child who doesn't like veg or any strong flavour and I have now decided to let them live on pasta and beans on toast for the short term as food is becoming too much of a battle.

As usual I have over shopped so lots of fresh stuff to use first.

Monday: Smoked mackerel and courgette pasta in one pot

Tuesday: Chicken wings/quorn escalope, potato wedges and corn on cob

Wednesday: Thai chicken/tofu noodle soup

Thursday: Wraps with whatever veg needs using and halloumi or feta and a herby dressing

Friday: Spag bol

Sat: Spicy Korean pork and rice

Sunday: Beef rendang

I've also cooked and shredded a chicken and a gammon for my work lunches for the next few weeks so will have them with various salad bits every day.

@lexloofah So jealous of your aubergine meal. I LOVE aubergine. DS tolerates them and DH thinks he's allergic (he's not) so we almost never have them. They're just a great alternative to meat and it annoys me that we can't eat them once a week at least. DS and I are planning a trip to my favourite sushi place when they open so I can introduce him to the best Aubergine dish in the world!

This 5 or 6 days we're having:

Roasted vegetables
Cauliflower/macaroni/leek cheese - version of what we all discussed last week
Steak with potatoes and vegetables
Salmon with stir fry veg and noodles
Spaghetti bolognaise
Vegetable fajitas.

@SpaceOp aubergine was so good, mixed in couscous to soak up juices. Just me and DH though, DCs would not go for it. I had forgotten about sushi, and now I want it wah!

@TheMethodicalMeerkat are the quorn meat(less) balls good? We had the moving mountain ones last week and we all thought they were vile.

[quote lexloofah]@SpaceOp aubergine was so good, mixed in couscous to soak up juices. Just me and DH though, DCs would not go for it. I had forgotten about sushi, and now I want it wah!

@TheMethodicalMeerkat are the quorn meat(less) balls good? We had the moving mountain ones last week and we all thought they were vile.[/quote]
You're KILLING me.

@lexloofah re the Quorn Swedish style ones. We all really like them but I haven’t tried other brands so I can’t say how they’d compare to the moving mountain ones. I also haven’t seen them in local supermarkets lately (Ireland) so I’m wondering if they’ve been discontinued. I should probably check the date on mine !

Placemarking as some great fresh ideas.

From tomorrow

Nduja, roasted peppers, onions and tomatoes with penne, lemon, breadcrumb and Parmesan topping
Thai green chicken curry (homemade paste), some pani puri/gol gappa as a starter
Roast chicken dinner
Broadbean and pea falafel fritters, flatbread, tahini dressing, pickles
Sausage stew with potato scones
Teriyaki chicken and rice
Hot smoked salmon pasta

Feeling vvv uninspired this week
Tomorrow: take out
Saturday: lentil meatballs and spaghetti
Sunday: broad bean and asparagus risotto with a pea and spinach pesto
Monday: noodle stirfry and peanut sauce
Tuesday: mushroom stroganoff
Wednesday: coconut dahl and naan
Thursday is for DP

Broad bean and asparagus risotto is my favourite. Even better with some artichoke hearts.

Sat - naan pizzas
Sun- cheesy leek and potato pie
Mon - courgette frittata
Tue - satay sweet potato curry
Wed - chickpea tagine
Thur - butternut crumble
Fri - tofu chow mein

New one - yesterday we had supermarket chinese with a friend and it was lovely. Dim sum and crispy duck with a few extra bits. DS discovered he LOVES battered prawns!

Monday: Roast chicken
Tuesday: Chicken salad with garlic bread
Wednesday: Bobotie (thanks to the poster who reminded me of this dish!)
Thursday: Fish cakes
Friday: Butternut curry

In the BBC Good Food magazine this month there's a relatively easy recipe for duck curry which I'm going to try next week. It's duck breast that you render the fat, then cook the paste in that, then once you've assembled the coconut milk, potatoes, aubergines etc you add the duck breast back in, thinly sliced, and cook for about 30-40 minutes. I've never cooked duck - does that sound right? I worry the duck will be dry and chewy?

Just place marking some this doesn’t drop off my watch list - had hip surgery last week so DH is on all good duties for now. I think I’m annoying him but texting him recipes!

Hope you feel better soon @Kobanidaughters

Friday: takeaway and many many beers. I’ve a huge work project that’s been going since January that will be done and I’m excited.
Saturday: creamy mushroom pasta
Sunday: the dahl we were meant to have yesterday but instead drank a bottle of wine each and had chilli from the freezer...
Monday: fried rice with Thai peanut sauce
Tuesday: sloppy joes
Wednesday: DP is making “something elaborate”
Thursday: harissa cous cous salad

Friday - I think I'm going to order pizza. Craving a wood fired margherita and I have a great local restaurant that does it just perfectly.

Sat - Goan fish curry, pani puri.
Sun - roast chicken, potatoes, creamed cabbage, stuffing, carrots, peas.
Mon - chorizo, ricotta and spinach pasta bake.
Tue- Broadbean, asparagus and artichoke risotto.
Wed - lime and coriander chicken, fattoush.

Thu - Bean burger, chipotle mayo, salsa, chips.

Ooooh all the risotto talk and it’s asparagus season here too. I taught DS how to make a good risotto a few weeks ago so might convince him to do that this weekend! We do actually have a bit of a plan for the next few days:

Thursday: Chickpea curry over a sweet potato kindly made and delivered by a friend
Friday: thai takeaway
Saturday: Thai veg and noodle salad
Sunday: asparagus and pea risotto

Sat - bhaji burgers
Sun - red lentil loaf, mash and greens
Mon - cheese and tomato gnocchi bake
Tue - Caribbean rice and beans, corn on the cob
Wed - shakshuka
Thur - Quorn meatballs
Fri - chickpea dahl

@Kobanidaughters i hear you on the asparagus thing! I'm planning a halloumi and asparagus grill dish for next week from a recipe I got in this month's Olive magazine. I love chargrilled/barbequed asparagus! I get DH to do it on the BBQ sometimes although there's usually at least a few that disappear into the coals!

I often roast it in a hot oven wrapped n parma ham, alongside a few tomatoes and a whole head of garlic then eat it with bread and cream cheese. It's the perfect picking meal for me!

This evening was lentil lasagne, salad & chips. It’s been a long week and I needed the double carbs . Grocery shopping in the morning so this thread helps focus my mind -

Sat: Wraps with quorn spicy strips & veg, bean salad, guac etc, sweet potato wedges
Sun: Sea bass lemon caper dressing, sautéed potatoes & garlic roasted greens
Mon: Halloumi with lentil, chickpea & beetroot salad
Tues: Roast veg & goats cheese quiche, potato salad, tomato & cucumber salad
Wed: Teriyaki salmon & veg stir fry, rice
Thurs: Spinach & ricotta cannelloni, salad, garlic toasts
Fri: Get DC to make pizza rice bowls

So we're going big this week with three things we've not had before (at least, not at home), and a number of ridiculously overpriced ingredients.....

Sat: Burgers
Sun: BBQ at friend's
Monday: Grilled sole
Tuesday: Duck curry
Wed: Grilled asparagus and halloumi
Thursday: Fajitas
Friday: Chicken tray bake. (Might really push the boat out and make a FOURTH dish we haven't had by using a different recipe/flavouring).

@TheMethodicalMeerkat what’s a pizza rice bowl? Sounds like something my lot would like

@SpaceOP grilled/BBQ asparagus is the best, I like to drizzle it in a lemon tahini sauce with loads of maldon sea salt. I don’t even care about having weird smelling pee.

Chicken/veg/prawns stir fry
Chilli corn carne with tacos
salmon or sea bass with veg and potato dauphinoise or garlic new potatoes
Rogan Josh or madras curry
chicken fajitas
katsu curry
roast dinner or a takeaway