Tips for incorporating new recipes and not eating the same thing!

[Ventureintheslipstream]

I love food and cooking and spend way too much time looking at new recipes and different dishes to incorporate into our rotation but they rarely get incorporated OR I just forget about them. I would also like to try to eat more seasonally.

Does anyone have a system for keeping track of recipes you want to try, or which were successful once? Do you keep a list of recipes everyone enjoyed?

I think the issue we have is online shopping- it's easy to not realise a week has passed and just order the same as last week/'favourite' items which means we eat the same things. I have young DC but they are not excessively fussy so I don't need to be so constrained in what we eat.

ALSO anyone have any healthy-ish / light desert ideas? We always default to fruit, yoghurt or squares of chocolate.

On dessert - a vague Eton mess with yoghurt instead of cream and any fruit you like. Meringues aren’t THAT unhealthy, surprisingly!

Oh yes, good idea (and thank you for correcting my 'desert' typo). I know crumble is also obvious but I'm not a huge fan.

For meals I have a list of about thirty to forty meals that everyone eats. I have the list in Notes on my phone and add to it every time we find a new dish we all like.

It’s split by theme eg meat, fish, pasta, vegetarian, quick and easy. For weekdays I have rough meal plan based on things we know we like from the list **and for weekends I add new ideas that sound interesting from books, magazines, food blogs etc. Anything that’s a hit get added onto the list.

If I realise that we’re just having the same things on repeat, I just go back to the list and remember something that either fell out of favour, or often seasonal dishes that were dropped for the winter and can come back now it’s summer (or vice versa).

For pudding, in the summer try homemade ice lollies made with fruit, yogurt etc. One of my boys’ favourites is just mango pulp bought in a tin from the Indian shop and frozen in lolly moulds. Also fruit and cream, not as healthy as fruit and yogurt perhaps but a nice change.

In winter, try old fashioned nursery type puddings. Mine love bananas and custard or homemade rice pudding.

Wow thank you - that is the kind of organisational system I need to input.

So, weekends are your 'designated' time to try something new? Do you online or in-person shop?

Yep, we both work full time and three DC with various weeknight activities so no time to try new things in the week.

I shop in store on a Saturday so meal plan on Saturday morning. This also gives me time to browse recipes over breakfast so can find new things I want to try. Obviously don’t try new dishes every weekend though!

Half the effort is coming up with your basic list. I’ve copy pasted mine below to give you some inspiration.

Meat
Toad in the hole
Roast chicken
Sweet and sour chicken
Cottage pie/ shepherds pie
Chilli con carne
Lasagne
Spaghetti Bolognese
Beef stew with dumplings
Mince with dumplings
Chicken and leek pie
Sausage and Puy lentil casserole
Chicken faijitas
Roasted gammon
Chicken nuggets
Meatloaf
Sausage and kale risotto
Sweet potato and chorizo hash
Lamb curry
Keema
Kofta curry
Chicken curry
Tandoori chicken

Fish
Sticky salmon and noodles
Poke bowls
Fish pie
Fish cakes
Fish fingers
Paella
Sea bass
Crispy salmon fillets
Fish tacos
Fish finger bhorta
Prawn curry
Salmon curry

Veggie
Quesadilla
Stir fry with cashews
Fried rice
Frittata
Risotto
Falafel and pita
Bean burgers
Jacket potatoes
Pizza
Sweetcorn fritters
Vegetable fritters
Bean chilli
Puff pastry tart
Cheese and onion pie
Swede and potato pasties
Mujadara
Fried eggs with giant veg rosti
Ratatouille
Chickpea curry

Pasta
Leek, pancetta and cheese
Carbonara
Arrabiatta
Chorizo and tomato
Chorizo and red pesto
Pesto
Cabbage, pancetta, mozzarella
Sausage and kale gnocchi
Lentil bolognese
Orzo with peas and pancetta
Crab linguine

Wow that list is amazing, thank you!

We save loads of money by sticking to a weekly online order but I definitely need to make sure our set aside some meal planning time to make sure we get some more variety.

It’s funny. I haven’t pulled it out for a while and there’s loads on there that we haven’t had for ages! Definitely helpful to have the list for inspiration when you get into a rut.

Karma - your list contains loads of recipes I recognise! I imagine you use BBC Good Food too? In fact, I spotted items on there I have been toying with making - Sausage, kale gnocchi. I also frequently use Mary Berry (sausage tray bake and sausage and express lasagne) and Delia (chicken Basque, sea bass with lentils, Greek lamb neck, pork and bean casserole and many, many more).

I don't have a list or a system but I wish I did! All I do do is keep recipes I fancy trying as open tabs on my phone or iPad until I get round to making them. I rely on my family to remember and say 'can we have that thing again'. Most recently that was 'beany mushy thing' which is BBC good food's pork with cannelinnii bean mash (though we do it with all sorts of other meats).

@Chewbecca I think a lot of the recipes are just “family favourites”. I use Jamie and Nigella mostly for these types of recipes and although I browse bbc good food, it’s not my main source.

The sausage and kale gnocchi actually came about as a general idea suggested by another mumsnetter. She made the sausage and greens and served with crusty bread as a way to get greens into her family. I thought it would be nice with pasta (it is!) but it made the list as a recipe with gnocchi! A lot of recipes are revisited and updated that way. Often my weekend experimenting is just another version of something I know we all like but a different recipe or some tweaks to add variety.