Meal inspiration please!

[Lex345]

I'm just a bit bored with same old, same old. I have annual leave this week and love to cook, so have some time this week to experiment.

2 adults, 3 teens. Not particularly fussy eaters, open to veggie/vegan options, but DH prefers meat on most meals.

I cook from scratch 99% of the time. We tend to have a lot of italian food (and I love it) but fancy a bit of a change.

I am on a modest budget-£5-6 per meal, so expensive cuts of meat are out

Please can you give me a bit of inspiration?

This is a slow cooker stew we make a lot, but you could cook it on the hob instead, maybe keep it on low for a while so the flavours condense. It's really good with a lovely crusty loaf and butter on the side or potatoes and green veg.

Tastes even better the next day and we use the frozen 'Green Cuisine' sausages which are nice and not expensive.

I LOVE your laminated cards 😍

I like the sound of your stew, perfect for winter thank you!

www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/filipino-style-chicken-adobo.html

this is so yummy. Uses chicken thighs so not expensive. I’ve made a few other meals from this site and have liked most.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spinach-sweet-potato-lentil-dhal Vegetarian and yummy. Only takes half an hour to make.

fried rice - only a small amount of meat. I am making it tomorrow with left over pork roast. I also make vegetarian nachos with kidney beans a lot and that’s always popular.

www.nigella.com/recipes/spanish-chicken-with-chorizo-and-potatoes Uses drumsticks. I roast cauliflower to go with it so I’m maximising the oven.

Chicken katsu curry

chicudn thighs baked in the oven with peppers/onions/herbs etc serve with cous cous

hoisin chicken wraps

I had a gousto box and got inspiration from that! It totally transformed my weekly meal planner

These teriyaki tuna burgers are really popular in my house. I scale the recipe up and buy a three pack of tinned tuna steak.
Chicken thighs aren’t too expensive. This traybake is a really good recipe with them.
Meatballs are always a hit with my dc but I do Swedish meatballs when I’m fed up with pasta. Ditto for these lamb meatballs with feta.

These have all gone down well here recently
Chicken, leek and fennel gratin
Currried cod
Hasselback haloumi
Squash, blue cheese and sage risotto

I use frozen cod for the curry to keep costs down and it's absolutely fine.

Jack Monroe's Bacon and Black went down very well recently - I used cooking bacon.

Mac n cheese is always popular with bacon or chorizo and sliced tomatoes on top. I make a massive batch and freeze the remainder into takeaway pots.

Chilli cheese dogs - bean chilli on cheese, on sausages, in hot dog buns. Make a big batch of the bean chilli and freeze for another meal.

Pitta or tortilla wrap pizzas. You can chuck anything on them. I make a quick tomato base with tomato puree, dried basil, thyme and oregano and some garlic powder. It's quite thick but if you want it thinner mix in some ketchup. Then either mozzarella or cheddar and anything else you want.

Cook some frozen potato wedges, top with a mixture of tinned tuna, mayo, parsley, finely chopped onion and cheddar and then under the grill until browned.

Just to add as well, a conversation with my butcher yesterday revealed that gram for gram, chicken thigh is no more expensive than chicken breast. Personally I prefer thigh though and I'm happy to eat less meat.

I love these suggestions so different from ehat we usually have! Will definitely be giving them a try thank you!