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

Here’s ours for this week. Only six days as we’re going to go to M&S as a treat to get stuff for Easter a day earlier than usual!

Friday: tandoori chicken Ooni pizzas
Saturday: smashed patties
Sunday: roast chicken with homemade sausage meat stuffing
Monday: chicken and stuffing Ooni pizzas with blue cheese garlic bread
Tuesday: creamy Tuscan chicken and spinach with rice
Wednesday: crab orzo

I know it’s pizza twice but I’m happy with that as my husband sorts the whole thing out and cooks them and he does the dough and sauce from scratch so it’s not too bad! 🤣

That all sounds delicious!

@HalloumiFries I’m in Italy so I can easily find frozen grilled aubergine slices*, not fried. I make a quick onion (easy on the EVOO), garlic, tomato and basil sauce, reduce it and layer the slices with that and cottage cheese. A generous sprinkling of Parmesan on top and bake for 25/30 minutes, like lasagne.
Fresh basil with the buffalo mozzarella, too!

(Edit:*easy to make on the barbecue, but they would soak up any oil like blotting paper.)

That sounds lovely and yes, the grilled aubergine will make all the difference. I usually griddle mine but it would be great to have them ready prepared as a time saver. I hadn't considered cottage cheese in this dish - thanks for the tip!

Tonight - poke bowls
Tomorrow - leek and butterbean crumble
M - lentil kofta, harissa and feta wraps
T - Thai chickpea curry
W - mapo tofu
T - tomato and pesto risotto
Good Friday - spanakopita

Had a week off from planning last week back to it this week.
Last night- Indian takeaway (birthday treat)
Tonight- Chicken and chorizo jambalaya
Tomorrow - Gammon, creamy cabbage and leeks, broccoli and new potatoes
Monday- Pav bhaji
Tuesday- Lasagne soup with garlic bread
Wednesday - Sausages, egg, chips and beans has been requested by his lordship
Thursday - Taco salad bowls

I haven't meal planned in forever, just been away for work and then away on holiday where I ate all the pizza, pasta and gelato! Now I need to get rid of the holiday pounds and actually looking forward to cooking again.

Tonight: Thai noodle salad
Tomorrow: salmon, broccoli and mash
Wednesday: blackened tofu, sweet potato and salad
Thursday: grabbing a drink with a friend after work so will probably get a pret soup on the way home (ramen for the others)
Friday: I am nicking the aubergine parmesan idea, with spaghetti for the DC
Saturday: In-laws are coming so I think a spring based roast dinner, chicken, new potatoes, asparagus. Will have to do a veggie protein for DS and I. And I reckon make a crumble
Sunday: I reckon get the BBQ out, burgers and salads and baked potatoes
Monday: in-laws leave after lunch so big fat lentil soup with crusty bread then the rest of the fam can have fish fingers and chips for dinner

DS has requested pizza for a sleepover tonight so that solves some cooking challenges for me! :)

Then in no particular order:

something with Salmon - exact decision tbc. Probably noodles/stir fry.
Gnocchi. I'd like something a little fresher so maybe with lots of spring greens, some sausage (for the obsessive carnivores) and a bit of pesto? I had a nice recipe along these lines, will track down.
Spaghetti bolognaise
Tuna fish cakes

I'm pausing there as I'm not sure what we'll do this weekend. I have a leg of lamb in the freezer if necessary.

We’ve been away for almost a week and eaten our body weight in cheese. Just two of us to consider for the next week or so, and a mixture of wanting to cook and wanting the option to eat out as it’s still holidays for us.

I’m thinking:

quesadillas with a couple of vaguely Mexican salsas, possibly a pineapple one and a tomato one

quiche, new potatoes and salad

drunken noodles if I can find the right kind of noodles tomorrow- the recipe calls for a whole radicchio but I’ve never seen such a thing in our neck of the woods, so I might have to adjust

hot honey goats cheese pizzas with a nice salad of some sort - maybe beetroot and hazelnut

tortellini and another nice salad of some sort - maybe spinach, lemon and pine nut

This past week hasn't exactly gone to plan 😄

Failed to get a rotisserie chicken last Sunday and ended up with a steak pie instead. That meant that Monday's planned leftover chicken became leftover pie. Also got invited out to a gig last minute yesterday so had dinner out (sushi) so the aubergine and butter bean stew will make an appearance next week instead. I was also really looking forward to my nostalgic white pudding on Tuesday but it gave me heartburn which kept me awake all night.

Back on track with the planned orzo bake tonight, out for pizza tomorrow and then the weekend is a curry and roast pork. Next week will be:

Monday: Mushroom quinotto
Tuesday: Veggie chilli
Wednesday: Sweet and sour chicken rice bowl
Thursday: Aubergine and butterbean stew
Friday: Spaghetti, creamy pesto, mushrooms and courgettes.

Saturday: Chicken kebabs, Greek salad, halloumi, tzatziki.

We've been away and in the coming few days I have adult DS and their partners coming and going so not sure who is eating when, but the loose plan is:

Fri: Chicken 'Nduja and Butter Bean one pot, ciabatta, kale
Sat: Cottage Pie (may chuck some swede & carrot in), PSB, peas
Sun: Roast Lamb etc
Mon: Greek Style Lamb Wraps (if there are leftovers), Sweet potato wedges, salad
Tue: Mackerel Bean Cakes, Salad
Wed: Ham & Pea Gnocchi Bake

Also, loving the optimism up thread about having a BBQ on Easter Sunday. Here in the South West, it is pissing down and I've put the heating back on!

Tonight - cauliflower tinga tacos with avocado crema
Tomorrow - butterbean, pesto and spring green pie with chartenay carrots and new potatoes. Jumping on the Dubai chocolate band wagon and doing chocolate and pistachio baklava for pudding.
M - pub lunch so something light
T - Cajun black bean burgers
W - pizza
T - speedy quiche traybake
F - tofu nasi goreng

Tonight and tomorrow sound absolutely delicious.

I ended up changing ours completely, having spoken to dp.

Pizzas tonight, with salad

Braised puy lentils in red wine with dauphinois and green beans tomorrow

Veggie sausage casserole - it was really cold and wet again yesterday and I think dp fancied something autumnal, rather than my salad thinking!

Butternut pasta with sage, garlic bread, spinach salad

this weekend has been a bit convenience-y but rest of the week
tonight: cauliflower cheese
Tomorrow: bruschetta
Tuesday: stirfried veg with spicy peanut sauce
Wednesday: out
Thursday: jambalaya

@Lastqueenofscotland2 spicy peanut sauce sounds amazing! We were at a food show yesterday and other people had some, but I couldn't work out which stall they bought it from <sobs quietly>

I bought loads of (cheap) broccoli and potatoes with my Easter shopping... now to think of recipes to use them all up!

Our dinners for the rest of the week:

Today:
Moussaka and Greek salad

Wednesday:
Ghormeh sabzi (Persian beef, bean, herb and dried lime stew) with saffron rice and Shirazi salad (tomato, cucumber, mint, dill, lemon juice, olive oil)

Thursday:
Georgian khinkali (meat and cheese dumplings) and pilav (rice with beef, carrots, nuts and dried fruits) - of course with lots of Greek yogurt and Shirazi salad

Friday:
Serbian cevapi (small grilled kebabs) with bread, kajmak cream and a couple of Serbian salads

Saturday + Sunday:
Travelling, so no cooking

Oh my goodness. This sounds absolutely incredible! How do you find the time?!

Do you have a link or recipe for Wednesday’s meal, please?

Those sound very tempting dinners @Arancia

My plan:

Thursday: asparagus risotto + green salad
Friday: salmon fish cakes + green vegetable
Saturday: out
Sunday: toad in the hole + roasted vegetables as requested by 8 year old DD
Monday: spaghetti bolognaise
Tuesday: vegetarian moussaka + Greek salad
Wednesday: slow cooker vegetable curry + sides

I made a few changes this week - made a minestrone to use up celery, carrots and greens, which was subbed in place of the veggie chilli, which remains in the freezer and will make an appearance next week instead! Also, tomorrow night I'm going to do something with orzo, leftover avjar, peppers and some veggie sausages, which I'll probably roll into "meatballs". There's a vision in my head - hopefully it will be palatable enough in reality.

From that point onwards, I'm planning:

Saturday: Spag bol
Sunday: Chicken kebabs, Greek salad, tzatziki and halloumi
Monday: Cheese and onion quiche and salad
Tuesday: Veggie chilli
Wednesday: Greek salad pasta
Thursday: Hallomi,carrot and butterbean quinoa salad.

I might be out for a work dinner on Thursday - if so, DH will sort out dinner (probably pasta) and the halloumi salad will move to Friday. If not, I'll work out a Friday plan later.

I make mine and it’s quite easy, I chuck some Sambal oelek, siracha, two different chilli oils, peanut butter, soy sauce and magic cooking wine and a dash of hot water to loosen and that’s in. Finish with a dash of lemon juice and stirfry whatever it’s with with really good sesame oil. Takes minutes really and really tasty

this week is
Friday: spicy sausage gnocci bake
Saturday; lentil sloppy joes
Sunday: roasted cauliflower tikka masala
monday: lentil harissa stew
Tuesday: sweet n sour veg stir fry
Wednesday; yet more leftover chilli (I have enough to feed the 5000 in the freezer
Thursday: mushroom stroganoff

Halloumi fajitas
Beef mince tacos
Spaghetti and meatballs
Chorizo, aubergine, chilli and tomato pasta
Stir fry of some sort
I'd love to do some sort of BBQ but I dont' think the weather is going to work out.

I think I'll add Jamie Oliver's pork belly and pineapple salad with noodles.

Tonight: veggie sausages for DS and I, home made chicken nuggets for DH and DD, chips, cauliflower cheese and peas
Tomorrow: mixed roasted veg and tofu in harrisa in tahini sauce
Saturday: a veggie lasagne and a meat lasagne (have friends coming over so this will cover all bases!)
Sunday: Fish Pie
Monday: bean and tempeh chilli and rice
Tuesday: za'tar salmon, giant couscous and broccoli
Wednesday: DS has requested something chinese inspired in celebration of doing his Mandarin speaking GCSE!

@Citygirlrurallife I'm in awe of your DS' Mandarin GCSE, it seems to be such a difficult language to learn!

I have tacos and accompaniments ready to make later, but our boiler has decided to pack up, not sure how much cooking time I'll have in between trying to sort that