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

I was talking to some colleagues yesterday and almost all of them have things like omelettes, tinned soup and a baguette, something frozen plus frozen vege, bought fish cakes and frozen vege etc for their dinners. I don’t want to go down that route all the time, of course, but it did make me think I should be simplifying things for us at least a couple of days a week.
so:

itsu gyoza and stir fry

fish cakes and steamed vege / little quiche and vege for me

leek and potato bake because DP is in charge and that’s what he wants to make - with peas

The rest tbc today.

We always do this! Eg this week we had M&S macaroni cheese which was a yellow sticker I’d picked up and frozen, with fresh broccoli and frozen peas, and burgers (veggie for me) in brioche buns with salad and oven chips.

I work with a woman who never ever cooks (nor does her husband) and they eat only pre-prepared food. She only works three mornings so it’s not about time, she just really hates cooking!

I think part of the point of this thread is we’re also people who like to cook and discover new things to make though

The hasselback halloumi traybake sounds interesting. Do you have a recipe link please?

I try to do a combination of both - things I can spend time 'actively' cooking - stuff that takes time and lots of processes and also stuff I can have ready in 5 minutes before I hit the wine and crisps instead.
This week:
Mushroom stroganoff (have mushrooms and sour cream to use up)
Veg/chickpea kofta
Something with tofu. Possibly Kati rolls.
Salmon with celeriac dauphinoise and green veg
Soup (have a dentist appointment...)
Katsu curry
Out one night.

I've been going through cookbooks recently, part decluttering and part inspiration. I've got some I've had for years (decades even) and not cooked one thing from them. They are like old friends, I've had them so long, but while I have enjoyed reading them, I still don't want to make anything!

Well, obviously- but I work full time in a job that can be stressful and I don’t always want to go the full goddess route. I’m interested in hearing about normal meals, as well as recipes.

@mum2jakie This is what I'm using this time www.happyveggiekitchen.com/hasselback-halloumi-harissa/ as I have some harissa which needs using. Previously done a version on the sainsburys website.

Forgot to post last week but we've had:
Gammon, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese & peas
Halloumi stuffed peppers
Steak & mushroom fajitas
Pea & paneer curry
Chorizo crumbed fish, chips, mushy peas

10 day plan:
Beef stroganoff tonight to use up mushrooms & sour cream
Out for lunch tomorrow so will have cheese & crackers or something light if we need it later on
Tofu bibimbap (thanks for the inspiration @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie!)
Crispy chilli sprouts & veg stir fry
Jacket potatoes - prob with cheese & coleslaw
Sausage & broccoli lasagne
Veg chilli
Basa curry
Pork & mustard sauce. potatoes, green beans
The riverford green pasta thing someone linked to above (sorry can't remember who it was)

Perfect. That looks really simple and with straightforward ingredients- thank you!

I've just done our menu plan for the week, it includes a couple of things that got swapped out last week

Sat - Braised squash and borlotti beans with tomatoes and sage (traybake) with crusty baguettes and a green salad
Sun - Turkey, ham and leek pie (stock and turkey from Christmas), cabbage, carrots, flat beans
Mon - Orzo with beetroot and carrot and salmon
Tues - Greek style cabbage with rice (and feta, pine nuts, sultanas)
Wed - Curly kale and smoked bacon pasta
Thurs - Butterbean and rosemary hotpot
Fri - Cod and chorizo fishcakes, bravas sauce, peas or green beans.

Hope you like it. Love your name btw!

Order done:

Itsu gyoza/rice/stir fried asparagus and tenderstem

eggs and mushrooms on toast (we're having work done on the house that day, so need something ridiculously easy)

DP's birthday - Taste the Difference salmon en croute, dauphinoise potatoes made by dp, green beans and carrots (leftover Christmas nut roast for me)

Leek and potato pie made by dp (note that when dp is in charge, it often involves potatoes!)

Friday - I'm out / the others will probably end up with beans on toast, jacket spuds or a Chinese

Saturday - pasta puttanesca

Sunday - I might make a veggie lasagne, as we've not had one for ages

Yeah, i like cooking, and eating varied, healthy meals is important to me, but I also sometimes have to remind myself that it can be simpler. I've been trying with a few meals recently like soup and toasties (although I do make the soup!) Or really trying to think strategically about quick and easy. Especially as I am going into the office more now and time really is at a premium.

One issue for me is the cost - some of the easiest quick healthy meals for me are things like steak or chops with some steamed, pre-prepared veg, but it quickly lands up expensive, especially with the size of the portions I need to prepare for dh and ds!

I do like a pre made fish cake or crumbed fish/chicken as good options in the air fryer sometimes with salad or similar.

Do you all use a particular app?
We eat mostly veggie Indian food..Its complex and many ingredients/ spices.

Need to simplify.

Our house I've tried to stick to a sort of theme. Mondays is meat free. Fridays is fish. Tue/wed/this is usually one chicken meal, one (turkey) mince meal plus one other. Saturday is help yourself night as either me or one/both of the boys is out. Sunday is a loose variation on a roast (some sort of meat pots and veg)

This week:

M - jacket pots cheese and beans
T - spag Bol
W - chicken gyros with rice
Th - pork stir fry noodles
F - tuna pasta bake
S - pizzas for the kids if in. I'm having Caesar salad
Su - cottage pie (I get this isn't roast!)

Quite boring looking back. Deffo going to be taking some inspo from
this thread
T -

One of the reasons we don't eat vegetarian as much as I would like is the effort involved. So I can sympathise here!

Yeah totally agree and same here - I am very partial to yellow sticker surprise and currently “cooking” fish finger baps but I can’t imagine ever relying on ready meals per PP’s friend

I remember her talking about putting chicken fajitas in the oven, and asking how she did them that way. Turned out it was a box from M&S, which led to the big reveal about no cooking at all. They must spend an absolute bomb, it’s a lot of Charlie Bigham type stuff so not cheap!

I’ve just cooked a loose variation of this for tonight. It will get more Parmesan when it’s heated through and I’ll do some orzo with it:

https://www.dontgobaconmyheart.co.uk/one-pan-creamy-chicken-chorizo/

I used breasts instead of thighs and left out the wine because I didn’t want to open a bottle specially.
Sun - going out for a roast
Mon/Tue - I’ve also just cooked a massive cauldron of chilli while DP’s out at sport, so we’ll have that one night with rice and the other as nachos
Wed - chicken with new potatoes and broccoli
Thu - spaghetti carbonara
Fri - finally payday so probably a takeaway
Sat - going out for tapas

Today: Spinach, spring onion and feta omelette
Monday: leftover Burns Dinner
Tuesday: butternut squash and chickpea curry
Wednesday: salmon, broccoli and cous cous
Thursday: veggie gyoza and miso noodle soup
Friday: at my mum’s

@Citygirlrurallife That omelette sounds great. I made a bastardised Spanish omelette for work lunches last week and enjoyed it so much that I’m going to do it again this week:
sliced tinned new potatoes cooked in the air fryer with paprika/ fried onions / spinach / cubed manchego

I also like a vaguely Greek one with peppers, onions, feta and spinach

Bugger I forgot I have a ton of red peppers h could have thrown in!!!!

Tinned potato in Spanish omelette?! Bloody genius. It's the main reason I dont makr tortilla that often- all that pealing and slicing and slow cooking potatoes!!!! Thank you for this idea!!!!!

I can't remember if I have a tin left (used some to make fish cakes this week) but if I do, that's what I am doing later as lunch for monday/Tuesday!!

I couldn’t get my head round this meal planning malarkey. But it was a 2025 New Year’s resolution that I would sort this out.

For money purposes, because we are throwing stuff out that’s gone out of date and simultaneously having nothing too cook. It was chaos.

Found cherry pick and been trying it for a few weeks now. It’s utterly life changing. Super quick meals. Doing my weekly shop for under £100 now and not scrimping (buying top range cheeses, butter, olive oil etc.).

Have a go; they have a free trial.

This is what we are having this week…

It's a game changer - they need the paprika and a good pan fry or air fry to give them flavour and texture and take away the taste of the tin, but they end up really nice. Obviously it means it's not at all authentic, but it's really tasty.

@Craftymam Thanks but I'm okay at thinking and planning, and we waste little except a few salad leaves sometimes - I just want to do much simpler things a couple of nights every week.