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

Have pre-made dinner for the family this week:

Sunday: swordfish, edamame and wakame salad, sushi rice all drizzled in a miso sesame dressing
Monday: spaghetti bolognese
Tuesday: fish pie
Wednesday: African Peanut Stew
Thursday: spaghetti carbonara with tempeh bacon
Friday: Ramen

Monday (National Holiday)
Lunch: Rotisserie chicken, potatoes and salad.
Dinner: Cheese schiacciata, fruit salad
Tuesday: Salmon and broccoli. Banana bread (also does breakfast).
Wednesday: Bacon and white cabbage Irish style. Fruit cobbler.
Thursday: Lemon chicken and chickpea/minted couscous salad.
Friday (not sure of time or numbers): Cold veal slices with tuna/boiled egg/caper cream (Vitello tonnato). Lightly pickled cucumber salad. Fresh fruit custard tart.
Saturday lunch: egg fried rice. Dinner out.
Sunday lunch: Ravioli, charcuterie and 3 bean salad.
Dinner: Pizza or leftovers.

Fresh fruit and vegetables every day.

Looking forward to Summer when meals are “Here’s a bit of protein and take your pick of whatever fruit and veg is on offer”.
Especially melon…

@UnimaginableWindBird could I get this recipe please? cheesy courgette soup

Here to get ideas! I had an exam today and all I can say is thank the leaves I discovered ' dump bags' we eat well all week!

Cheesy courgette soup is the cheatiest meal everr. Chop 500 g (3 medium to large) courgettes into chunks. Add around 1 lite of stock. Add a couple of peeled garlic cloves. Cook until soft. Add a pack of laughing cow cheese, leaving one triangle for another day. Stir as but until the cheese dissolves. Blend.

It doesn't taste the way you think it would based on the ingredients, but is in fact creamy and delicious.

That soup sounds really good!

Sorting out my plan earlier than usual this week. Friends coming to stay for the weekend.

Tomorrow: Lamb saag and a chilli garlic chicken curry
Saturday: Jambalya
Sunday: Out for a sunday roast
Monday: Chicken escalopes, wedges and green veg
Tues & Wed: Carrot and lentil soup
Thurs: Mexican rice with chorizo
Fri: Spag bol from freezer
Sat: Sorrel and goats cheese risotto
Sun: Roast chicken

This weeks
friday: freezer leftovers
Saturday: chilli
Sunday: jambalaya
Monday: Pasta with homemade pesto and roasted veg
Tuesday: kung pao veggie stirfry
Wednesday: veggie meatball subs
Thursday: Thai green curry

We have this line-up, including some cooler weather meals as it is quite chilly here at the moment:

Today: roasted tomato risotto + salad
Friday: sausage and butter bean casserole + green vegetable
Saturday: Thai red curry (prawns and veg)
Sunday: roast chicken + dauphinois potatoes and green bean vinaigrette
Monday: new recipe of pasta with onions, hazelnuts and crispy sage + salad
Tuesday: puttanesca salmon + jersey royals + salad
Wednesday: spinach and feta filo pie + nice bread and tomato salad

I'm being scuppered by winter weather when I keep planning summery food, so my plans keep being changed. The hope for the coming week is:
Tofu fried rice
Tofu stir fry with satay sauce
Quiche - side determined by weather
Jacket potato with tuna, sweetcorn and red onion
Marry me mushrooms/spinach with pasta
Paneer kati rolls
Paneer fajitas

@Makelikeatreeandleaf This is exactly why I'm making soup next week. Fed up of shivering in a cardigan while eating salad and my mum always swears by putting on a pot of soup as a surefire way to make the sun come out...

oooh all the risottos are a good shout, comforting but summery. Def adding one to my list, I like the sound of roasted tomato @MotherofPearl Lots of pre-batch cooking here again

Sat: tempeh and lentil casserole probs with mash
Sun: sea bass fillets, giant cous cous, miso grilled cabbage (making soup in thermos to take to my mum during a garden tour)
Mon: aforementioned risotto
Tues: spaghetti bolognese from the freezer (a veggie and a meaty)
Weds: fish pie from the freezer
Thurs: pizza for the gang
Fri: tempted to do one of these "marry-me" dishes, reckon worth a punt on the family and do chicken for the meat eaters and tofu for the non

The risotto did turn out quite well, though I say so myself @Citygirlrurallife

I just halve about 1kg of tomatoes (I’m cooking for 5 people) and roast with plenty of olive oil and seasoning for about an hour, adding garlic and fresh basil about halfway though. This gets used in a basic risotto recipe (you can reduce liquid as the roasted tomatoes are quite liquid), and I add snipped up sun-dried tomatoes as well, plus extra basil and obviously loads of Parmesan and a few knobs of butter.

I’ve been ill and eaten virtually nothing, so this week’s plan went completely up shit creek. Still not really eating or fancying anything either, so no idea what to put in for delivery on Sunday. Soup sounds a possibility though.

@MotherofPearl that sounds good. Do you put the tomatoes in from the start of the risotto? I did a tomato risotto once and it was fine, but just a bit bland?

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie Hope you feel better. Peanut butter on toast is basically all I can cope with when ill.

I haven't really got myself together but have a meat box coming this week so that helps a bit. I'm leaning towards:

Tonight: Baked chicken pieces with veg and yorkshire puddings for DD
Tomorrow: Chorizo/aubergine/chilli/tomato pasta for DS after his DoE!
Monday: meatbox day so spaghetti and meatballs!

That's about as far as I've got. I've got all the basics at home so just doing a small shop in person later to also pick up fruit and lunch box stuff and will do the rest of the planning next week. Tomato risotto might feature! I'm also sort of thinking of converting my spring greens/pesto with buratta gnocchi to risotto - as a summery risotto option.

Tonight - flatbread pizzas
Tomorrow - vegeree
M - courgette cacio e pepe
T - sweetcorn chowder
W - sticky aubergine noodles
Th - loaded potato skins
Fr - tikka paneer and kachumber wraps

@SpaceOPI usually get the risotto about 60% done and then chuck in the tomato mix. Once the liquid from that has been taken up by the rice I still have a few ladles of stock ready to take it to 100%. I guess another option would be to mix the mushed roasted tomatoes with the stock from the outset? I do think including snipped up sun-dried tomatoes helps to give it a boost of flavour. I know what you mean about potential blandness, but really getting the tomatoes well roasted (slightly blackened here and there) makes a big difference, as does the basil.

This is what I have planned for the week

Tonight - Roast chicken, roast potatoes (maybe do smashed roast ones with green tahini sauce), carrots, peas, summer greens. Maybe do something with the rhubarb in the fridge.

Monday - Harissa and gnocchi topped fish pie, peas, spinach (from yesterday's Guardian Feast)

Tuesday - Greek style cabbage and rice

Wednesday - lemony pasta with peas, feta and radishes for me before I go out, shop bought fish cakes and veg for everyone else

Thursday - kimchi fried rice

Friday - Butter bean puttanesca

Thanks, @SpaceOP I'm feeling a lot better, just still weak and exhausted.

I'm going to do macaroni cheese tonight with roasted broccoli.

Tomorrow it's just dp and I and we're having lentil soup and 'nice' brown bread.

Risotto on Tuesday - spinach and pea

Pasta pesto salad on Weds

Something with new potatoes on Thursday - salad, probably

Hi everyone.

I’m just wondering about chicken breasts. Where do you get them from?

I haven’t bought chicken from Tesco for aaaaages as it was so gross. Morrisons is better (still not perfect). I had some from sainsburys tonight and nobody ate it. It was disgusting; I threw away the bits where the fibres had separated (🤢) and what was left did not have a pleasant texture.

I have a local butcher I can go to; will this be any better? Or am I destined not to cook chicken again?!

I follow this thread with fascination and hope to join in soon. Meanwhile, to your question:

I am no food snob: we buy most of our veg at the local hypermarket, and that is an ASDA, my least favourite. But I agree with you completely about the chicken and yes, a good butcher will give you much, much better chicken.

Ours used to do both Regular corn fed and free range from a nearby farm. DH and I were amongst the few paying for FR. One time we were persuaded to try Regular on the promise that we would not be able to taste the difference and it was down to technical government regs. We were sceptics. We are now converts. I guess everyone agrees because our butcher no longer do FR.

Thank you @poetryandwine !

I’ll try it. 😁

@MotherofPearl @SpaceOP I pre-made our risotto for tonight and went for a wild garlic and lemon risotto with roasted tomatoes and goats cheese on top

@DilkushaKitchen what's your greek style cabbage and rice

I n ever really think of lemon and roasted tomatoes working but thes are two of my favourite things so I might have to look at that! I love a lemon risotto - used to do a nigella one often that I'd top with parma ham. I'm thinking that is dinner tomorrow - topped with asparagus and parma ham in a nod to the glory of asparagus season. Or I guess I could make asparagus and lemon risotto, topped with asparagus tips and some parma ham.

So, as I have to do an order now for tomorrow:

Tomorrow: risotto as above
Wednesday: I am out - DH and the DC will have to have something from the freezer. Or I'll buy burgers and they can have those
Thursday: Flatbreads with halloumi and chargrilled greens and a caramalised honey/chilli/lemon dressing - went down a storm last time
Friday: Creamy sausage gnocchi

Sadly I don't get to make it very lemony as the others all complain but then I add an extra squeeze on mine at the end. Goes really nicely with the wild garlic as well and I think brightens the tomatoes (combating blandness)