2025 Meal Planners!

[Citygirlrurallife]

Here it is - all welcome, long termers and newbies, I imagine this week is leftovers leftovers leftovers and kicking off from Thursday onwards.

ive gone back to Oddbox and our deliveries now come on Friday nights so I’m going to try to force my brain to meal plan Thursday-Thursday and have delivery on Thursdays to make it happen. Won’t happen this week but hopefully from next

Our menu is as follows

Sat - honey lime chicken skewers and chargrilled pepper rice
sun - alpine bacon and cheesy potato gratin
mon - pork and beef tacos with coriander salsa
Tues - beef keema rice
weds - sausage ragu with fresh orecchiette

Another one struggling with inspiration this week...
Today - veg dhal, potato & pea curry, paratha
S - Sausage & broccoli lasagne
M - Bean chilli & wedges
T - Spinach & ricotta pancakes
W- Beef & noodle one pot
T - Gnocchi & mushroom ragu
F - Burritos

Lunches will be smoked mackerel beetroot & potato salad & some sort of frittata.

@BiddyPop - do you have a recipe for the pumpkin and gorgonzola pasta? Sounds gorgeous!

Last week was a shambles here - it was my birthday so there were takeaways and dinners out and all sorts. Back on it from tomorrow though!

Sunday - roast chicken dinner, including pigs in blankets stashed away in the freezer from Christmas
M - chicken and red pepper risotto with the leftovers
T - goats cheese tart (not home made), jacket potato, salad
W - chilli and rice
Th - chilli-cheese jacket potatoes, salad
F - lasagne with peas and broccoli
S - got mil coming for dinner, not sure, but I won’t be cooking!

Right now sorted for this week and prepping for next as I’m away and DH is pulling 14hr days so thought I’d help by shoving stuff in the freezer, so this weeks eating and prepping plan:

Tonight: Down’n’Dirty Cajun Rice and Beans PREP bolognese and bean chilli

Tuesday: mushroom, cheese and spinach pancakes followed by lemon and sugar pancakes PREP African peanut stew

Wednesday: miso aubergine onigiri, tofu boats, wakame and cucumber salad and edamame PREP fish pie

Thursday: french onion soup but probably cheese toasties on the side rather than cheesey croutons on top

Friday: I’m out at a friend’s so the rest will likely have a ramen night, which has super ceded pizza night!

@Makelikeatreeandleaf the pumpkin pasta dish is a bit based on a recipe and a bit "make it up as you go along". I had it in a restaurant and found a similar-ish recipe online but used that as the method rather than being exact.

You roast the pumpkin and make a puree with it. Fry a diced onion, add the puree and pasta to the pot. Add a small amount of water. Basically treat it like a risotto while cooking, adding a small bit of extra water when it gets too thick. At the end, let it thicken up a little more to become your sauce, and add a decent handful of crumbled Gorgonzola. And that's it. The restaurant version had small pieces of pumpkin also but I didn't know how to do that so they'd cook enough.

And I roasted the pumpkin when cooking other things anyway, had a few chunks in dinner but mostly puree'd it for next night, and froze what I didn't need. This is my 2nd pumpkin this season doing this so my second defrosted batch, 1st worked fine compared to fresh.

Hmm, looks like I forgot to post last week's plan. It all went to pot at the weekend as we ended up eating out twice anyway!

This week:
Monday: Quiche and salad
Tuesday: Scallops in creme fraiche with broccoli
Wednesday: Stuffed turkey breast and veg
Thursday: Kedgeree
Friday: Lamb steaks and veg
Saturday: Cod curry
Sunday: Fajita bake

Need to have a dig through the recipe books this week for some inspiration; feeling in a bit of a food rut.

I have found my people! I do a meal plan every week. I get a lot of comments from family of oh wow you are so organised I just wouldn't have time for that. It falls on deaf ears when I tell them it actually saves you a tonne of time. In 1 night I decide what we will eat for the whole week, do the shopping and then that's it.

Where as before I used to start thinking from about 3pm on 'what'll I do for dinner?' 'what do I have in' 'what do I need to pick up'. Resulting in a lots more time thinking about it and of course a lot more money as I cannot be trusted to go into the shop and just pick up for 2 things I need. I'll check the reduced section and the specials and maybe pick up something nice

Back from holiday and have eaten so much rich and heavy food for a week, I'm now craving lots of vegetables.

Tonight I made an amazing mob recipe - spiced aubergine and lentil stew served on hummus. I absolutely loved this but unfortunately I was the only one. DH is still grumbling about it, so it probably won't make a reapparence for a very long time - I'll need a rare evening alone.

Tomorrow is obviously pancake day, which is obviously a very important date in the calendar so I'll make a pot of chunky vegetable soup and have a bowl of that to ensure everyone gets some veggies in their system before we bring on the nutella.

Wednesday- more of the veggie soup and nice bread.

Thursday - stir-fried chilli cabbage and cashews with wholewheat noodles.

Friday - warm salad of honey-roasted carrots, halloumi, cannelinni beans, spinach and walnuts.

I love a meal plan too.
Mon: Basque chicken (from freezer), kale, petit pains
Tue: Korean style cauliflower & carrot rice
Wed: Puttanesca Hake Traybake
Thu: Spring Green Chicken & Dumplings
Fri: Reuben Style Rosti

Fab, thanks Biddy.

That warm salad sounds absolutely delicious @HalloumiFries as the weather has turned now I starting to get my salad boots on!

Thursday: Japanese Karaage Chicken with edamame, kimchi slaw and noodles
Friday: Crosta and Mollica pizzas with salad (these pizzas are seriously amazing!)
Saturday: Souvlaki, Pittas, Greek salad and tzatziki
Sunday: Roast Chicken and all the trimmings
Monday: feta pasta
Tuesday: homemade spicy bean burgers and potato wedges
wednesday: chickpea curry!

Condensed menu today for Thursday-Sat.
Sunday catering a party so leftover party food that day and need the fridge clear.

Going heavy as spring is coming fast so last of the winter meals and really wanted to make this pie with leftover meats.

We will have the chicken with the goats cheese salad and hasselbacks.

Also bought an abundance of croissants as may do this Croissant pudding with stale ones for Sunday eve. https://www.nigella.com/recipes/caramel-croissant-pudding

Pork schnitzel
Chicken taco bowls
Bobotie (we swapped it for lasagna last week)
Pea and pesto gnocchi with smoked mackerel
Aubergine, chilli and tomato pasta with feta
Halloumi and mozzarella bake : https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/haloumi-parmigiana-bake-recipe/fo8g4wn6?r=quickeasy/jkd13e5y

I really want to eat more vegetarian food but DS, bless his heart, never finds it substantial enough as a bottomless-pit-14-year-old. He'll happily eat it so we don't have any fussiness there, but he's looking around for more food 10 minutes later! And he's not a huge lentil/beans fan (it's a texture thing I think more than anything else). On plus side, a lot of our meals I can make so that the meat/chicken/fish is not dominating the plate so while we're eating them almost every day, it's in relatively small portions, but I think more halloumi and feta needs to be a thing.

Veggies on thsi thread - any suggestions for substantial, not lentil-heavy, meals for boys?

Ok thinking:

F - Fresh pizza - goat cheese + red onion
S - Bolognese (freezer) with penne
S - Roast Beef
M - Some sort of chicken in wraps with salad
T - Mac and Cheese
W - Stew from freezer
T - I'm thinking like a chicken/ chorizo/ potato sort of things I don't know how I'll make it but I'll experiment!

Tomorrow - Pierlini and salad
Sunday - Roast chicken thighs with braised white beans and cabbage.
Monday - baked potatoes, tuna & sweetcorn and salad
Tuesday - Minestrone
Wednesday - fish & chips (breaded fish from freezer with wedges), carrots and peas
Thursday - Gnocchi bake
Friday - Out at a gig.
Saturday - spaghetti and meatballs

From next Sunday onwards for two weeks, MiL will be living with us while she recovers from an op. Meal planning will likely be very different and much harder for that period as we have very different tastes.

I really enjoy baked potatoes smashed up and then crisped up in the oven, then put crispy chorizo and melted cheese over

needs a salad with it mind, it’s fairly rich!

Saturday: chicken noodle salad with passion fruit dressing.
Sunday:mushroom and butternut squash risotto
Monday:sea bass with squashed potatoes and garlicky greens
Tuesday:lentil soup with wheaten bread and a green salad
Wednesday:DH to cook: pizza and salad
Thursday: DS to cook
Friday: chicken jalfrezi
Saturday: ottolenghi "fried" chicken with coleslaw and corn on the cob and maybe beige freezer onion rings and mushrooms.

Tonight - butternut parmigiana
Tomorrow - chilli bean stew with dumplings
M - ramen
T - falafel pittas
W - sweet potato satay curry
Th - halloumi gyros
F - fajita stuffed peppers

Ours isn't very exciting but we're back to 3 people and it's hard to get everyone's tastes to merge:

tomorrow is nice bread, cheese, dips etc for lunch / tea will be what we can find

Then in no particular order:

fishcakes, new potatoes, green beans, carrots - a Higgidy pie for me instead of the fishcakes

dhal, parathas. samosas

vodka pasta

veggie fajitas with homemade tomato salsa and guacamole

egg and chips

Our thrilling menu for the week:
Tofu fajitas
Jacket potatoes with salad
Quiche and salad
Mushroom risotto
Tofu stir fry
"Something from the freezer"
Out on Wednesday

Friday- Butter chicken with rice
Saturday - Chicken shawarma & tabbouleh bowl
Sunday- Beef stew in a giant Yorkshire pud
Monday - Loaded baked potato soup
Tuesday - Linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme mushrooms
Wednesday - Huevos rancheros
Thursday - Steak noodles with wok fried greens

I have a half plan for this week, from existing supplies in fridge and freezer.

Tonight - leftover lemon chicken and salad
Tomorrow - roasted veg and bacon pasta
Tuesday - chilli con carne with rice
Wednesday- buffalo chicken wings and chips
Thursday - out with colleagues
Friday - steak?

I also need to use up a lot of cheese and charcuterie so may just do cheeseboard and platter one night.

Proper food shop will be done next weekend.

@TheLadyIsAVamp beef stew in a giant Yorkshire sounds amazing - do you buy the giant Yorkshire puds or make them?

Sun: Pork Tenderloin with Pesto Parcels, roast veg & pesto cream sauce
Mon: Chicken Caesar Schnitzel Salad
Tue: Prawn & 'Nduja Bucatini & rocket
Wed: Vegetable Tagine (from freezer), flatbread
Thu: Cauliflower Cheese & Bacon, possibly with small baked potato
Fri: Moroccan Meatballs, couscous

Feel pleased to have included lots of things that need eating up: pesto, anchovies, 'nduja. Plus I'm on a constant quest to eat things from the freezer so I can defrost it!