2024 meal planning

[Lastqueenofscotland2]

Anyone else starting to think about getting their arses back in gear?!
Mine for the next week
Tomorrow: baked Camembert with nice bread (not quite over Christmas yet!)
Saturday: Thai green veggie curry
Sunday: NYE - will be sitting in with a dog terrified of fire works, might just order a pizza
Monday: Tuscan bean stew and sourdough
Tuesday: west African peanut stew
Wednesday: some sort of pie with all the leftover veg
Thursday: gochujang tofu

Hi! Does anyone have any suggestions for roast potatoes? We get loads sent from my daughters work most weeks.

Aside from making a roast to go with them, making them into a sort of patatas braves and frying up, any other thoughts? Thanks!

Frittata! Perfect for already cooked potatoes

bubble and squeak?

I’m working 3-10pm each night this week so DH is in charge of him and the kids and I’ll just scramble around in the fridge I guess

@Citygirlrurallife we've done frittata before, thank I'll do it again.

And wondering if they will be just weird in a potato salad!!

So far I've sort of stuck to my plan.

Sunday was roast chicken, veg and new pots.
Monday paneer curry and rice.
Tuesday brisket chilli and jacket spuds (all cooked on Sunday alongside the chicken). Salad.
Tomorrow will be left over chicken and noodle soup.
Thursday frittata
Friday pot luck freezer tea.

You could try frying the roast potatoes up with cumin/mustard seeds/turmeric then folding in some fresh spinach. A sort of spiced hash to serve alongside a curry.

I did a tofu and vege sweet and sour last night.
Tonight is veggie burgers with salad.
Then we've got:
spinach/pesto/pinenut pasta
a paneer, vege and chickpea curry
something else which I have currently forgotten

Friday: Veggie burgers
Saturday: pasta alla norma
Sunday: out
Monday: dahl and naan
Tuesday: bibimbap
Wednesday: I’m busy in the evening so maybe just some cheese on toast when I get in!
Thursday: veggie stirfry with peanut hoisin sauce

I with @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie turn the roast potatoes into some kind of side or addition to a curry. Potatoes and spinach are particularly delicious together, in pretty much any form.

I'm doing a sort of odd end-of-week shop and going to expand the meal plan from last week so new plan from today that includes some things from this week that aren't yet done:

Beef stir fry
Aubergine and tomato pasta
Butternut and chicken risotto
Fish with veg
Tomato and mozarella/burrata tart with salad
Leek and salmon pasta
Something with mince as nothing else on this menu will be eaten by DD.

Not sure about the week ahead but my bff and I are cooking a joint birthday dinner for mutual friends this weekend and have finalised our menu so I thought I’d share as you lot are probably the one people who’d be vaguely interested!

cocktail hour:
St Germain and Fizz
Crostinis with tapenade and gherkins
sliced cucumber crostini with turmeric hummus and coriander

starter:
home made flatbreads and caponata

main:
baked sea bass
cannelini beans and green tahini
fennel, orange and black olive salad
HFW potato salad tartare
grillee asparagus with lemon and parsley

pudding:
chocolate torte and strawberries

ending with cheeseboard (vegan and non) and port

very excited! And everything “accidentally” vegan except for the fish so I don’t have to make additional separate dishes

That sounds amazing! When you say cannelini beans with tahini - do you just warm the beans and drizzle tahini or is it more complicated than that? I'm very keen to start eating more cannelini and butter beans but somehow haven't quite got myself doing it yet.

@SpaceOP i do this recipe which is amazing https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/the-ottolenghi-test-kitchens-green-cannellini-and-tahini/

Thanks @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie and @SpaceOP I'll give thise ideas a whirl.

I was also going to ask about the beans and tahini… looks divine!

Yes, that's going on an upcoming meal plan here too. Looks amazing.

I actually have a lot of recipes like this that I'd like to try but they seem to fall into the category of side-dish. They tend to be bean based, or salad-based (some are bean salads!) I'm really trying to reduce pasta, rice and potatoes in our diets (unsuccessfully as you'll see if you look back at my plans) and like the idea of doing something like this bit of protein. Tbh, I'd happily eat the beans and tahini as well as many of my other salad-type options on its own but others in the house will want more and, tbh, I'd end up with food jealousy.

The obvious thing would be a piece of meat or fish - chicken breast or similar but I'm also trying keep meat to a minimum and DH won't eat fish. Maybe some thick griddled aubergine? Any other ideas for this kind of meal?

My ideal, especially during the summer, would be to pre-prepare huge bowls of various salads (bean and feta, tomato, broccoli and quinoa etc) and have a few good spoonfuls of each of these on the side of something every night - I could probably go three evenings with delicious food and little effort if I could think what the main part of the meals could be.

I don't even know if my question makes sense. Any ideas?

I hear you re the need for something substantial. It IS meat but what about little meatballs? What are those greek ones without sauce called? Less chunky meat if you know what I mean?

Griddled aubergine/courgettes/asparagus? Possibly topped wth some mozzarella/goats cheese?

I sometimes do aubergine/mushroom/goatscheese stacks (with a drizzle of honey and some fresh thyme) at BBQs for vegetarians and they always get devoured by the non veggies too.

I haven't tried this yet but I keep seeing people doing big chunks of cabbage roasted in a hot oven then drizzled with a dressing/tahini? That could work?

I think as long as at least one of the salads is substantial you don’t necessarily need a main thing on the plate.

But off the top of my head

Quiche, frittata, spanakopita, homity pie, etc

Marinaded crispy tofu

Stuffed vegetable item (pepper, aubergine, mushroom, onion, beef tomato, etc)

Some sort of veggie bake? I do one with aubergine, halloumi and harissa fairly regularly but I’m sure there are more exciting options too

Fancy sandwiches?

Would your DH eat prawns or fish cake or something? Mine isn’t keen on ‘a piece of fish’ but will eat fish and seafood that doesn’t look fishy if you see what I mean. Or you could have fish and he could have some ham or something if he’s more of a meat eater.

So my plans...

Sunday: beef brisket, veg, roasts and yorkies
Monday : paneer curry
Tuesday : roast chicken, Bulgar wheat, veg
Wednesday : veg Thai green
Thursday : chicken, noodles and veg
Friday : left over wraps
Saturday: chicken curry
Sunday : stir-fry rice

Became

Sunday roast chicken, potatoes and veg
Monday paneer curry
Tuesday beef brisket chilli with jacket potatoes
Wednesday left over chicken, stir-fry, noodles
Thursday thai Green curry, with chicken and rice.

Tomorrow burger and fries
Sat eating out, left overs fir family
Sunday sausage and fennel Bulgar wheat
Monday frittata and salad
Tuesday spaghetti bolognese
Wednesday vegetable fried rice

@HalloumiFries to be honest that cannellini bean dish would be the main event at our table, propped up by veg or salad. But also agree substantial salads I find I don’t need anything else. I’m vegan though so am used to my meals being soups and stews or massive salads with protein incoporated

having said that though I do love big family style meals with multiple dishes everyone can help themselves from

Yes, that's what I'm getting at - a multiple dish sharing situation. I can hear DH complainign though that it's all a collection of sides with no "bulk". It's not just him - my cook for my mum several times per week and she wouldn't go for this either. Trying to find a way of having the meals I want without the expese and faff of making different things for different people.

Some good ideas though - quiche/tortilla/frittata definitely a plan, along with griddled aubergine. We do actually make roast cabbage wedges frequently, both as a side, or as part of a cabbage and harissa butterbean dish (might be Ottolenghi, I can't remember) which goes down well so perhaps the tahini bean dish with cabbage could be a variation on that. Stuffed veg (I love a stuffed beefsteak) and a veggie bake also good shouts - the veggie bake could be made in bulk and portioned out over a few days along with the salads!

Fishcakes could work - DH will eat them as well as any breaded white fish but I'm not sure that works with the other dishes I have in mind. He eats calamari also so that's also an option. I'm allergic to prawns and other crustaceans so can't use those suggestions.

Thanks all, I knew I could count on the good folk here to get the creative juices flowing. Now I just need to think abotu a meal plan for next week which may or may not include these options. We've got friends coming round to watch Eurovision tomorrow so will be putting out a buffet with as many european cheese options as possible. I also picked up some gorgeous looking (but expensive) Cyprus potatoes yesterday so will do a greek style roast chicken and Greek salad with those on Sunday. Beyond that though, I'm stumped!

I think I might make those now, for lunch. I've been meaning to eat more beans, may as well make a start!?

Thai green chicken curry
Ramen broth from freezer with tofu dumplings
Marry Me Chicken
Roast pork, crackling, roast potatoes, cauli
Cheese, green beans
Veg chilli from the freezer

I did the beans! They were really good but I see why the recipe calls for doing in bulk - bit of a faff to say the least! Definitely adding them to the menu for next bbq or mezze style meal though! I used different herbs too.

Hi - and good news my DD is back eating a bit more but we are still in exam time! Still having comfort food this week

• Pizza & garlic bread
• egg fried rice with optional prawns
• veggie burger & fries
• veggie sausage pasta bake
• mushroom carbonara
• cheese soufflé quiche & sides
• beetroot falafel & flatbread & salad (new recipe)

that green bean/ tahini recipe sounds good will definitely try it out!

Posting so it shows up in my feed again as I always lurk on here for ideas. @Seaside3 I've seen quite a few roasted potato salad recipes on Tiktok I would have tried it but leftover roast potatoes don't exist in this house 😅. My mum used to make a sort of hash with leftover potatos using sausage/chorizo, onions and peppers and various spices topped with a fried egg.

In no particular order.

Bhaji burgers, cucumber and tomato salad and raita with mini poppadoms for scooping.

Chicken shashlik with pitta and leftover salad and raita.

Honey and mustard gammon, cabbage, cauliflower cheese, peas and jersey royals.

Cabbage roll soup, I always add macaroni to this and it does a few lunches too.

Mexican turkey burgers with wedges and jalepeno slaw and extra guac as I love it.

Mexican shakshuka with baguette for dipping.

Hadn't decided on the last meal but have now decided it will be steak ramen after seeing @OffTheWalll plan of ramen.

Not a very exciting week, seems a bit samey so hopefully get more ideas here 😊

@TheLadyIsAVamp if my daughter brings some home today I plan to try roast potato salad, probably with a zesty dressing. I do like a good hash too. I've also bought spinach in the hope of making something indian inspired.

I'm glad I found this thread, it's making me look at different options for food.

Tonight is picky bits - quiche, salad, new potatoes, hummus, will make some tsatziki and some little feta stuffed peppers

This week:
pizzas and salad
veggie spag bol
Jamaican pasties with rice and peas and salad
Baked feta risotto
I’m sure I’ve planned another one too, but it is currently eluding me