What are your weekly dinner meals?

[kikikaka]

I’m really struggling for ideas, I seem to do the same meals most weeks and it gets boring. Looking for more ideas, especially for my 1 year old.

meals we have regularly are pasta bake, lasagne, cottage pie, sausage and mash, chilli, enchiladas, spaghetti bolognese

Roast chicken thighs (air fryer) new pots and salad
curry
soup and bread
rice and grilled chicken
salmon and avocado salad
Caesar salad
white fish in tomato sauce with potatoes or spaghetti
whole roast chicken with potatoes and mixed veggies
pressure cooked stew
chicken in flatbreads with salad
oven roast salmon with corns on the cob and potatoes
spaghetti pesto
jacket potatoes and sausages
fish pie
Greek salad
beans on toast with cheese!

Vegetable stir fry with rice noodles.
Bunless burgers with salad and sweet potato fries.
Breakfast for dinner.
Falafel sweet potato wraps.
Mackerel with veg.
Salmon and salad.
Chilli in the colder months.
Pulled pork with homemade cornbread.
Some kind of chicken thigh bake with peppers and onions.
Moussaka.
Spaghetti bolognese but I prefer my mum’s.
Sausage and mash.
Baked potatoes with whatever filling (I like tuna, DH likes cheese) and salad.
Burritos.

We rotate a few :
chicken Shawarma with flatbread
sticky air fryer chicken with rice or noodles
miso Salmon with jersey royals & asparagus
chicken & veg risotto
crispy chicken thighs & egg fried rice.
courgette spaghetti
Spag bol
carbonara
homemade pizzas
air fryer peri peri chicken fillets with pitta & salad ( basically homemade nandos )
pork steaks & cauli cheese
spicy mince & homemade chips
various stir fry combos

I’m looking for more inspiration on here !

Mainly stick to meals that everyone eats most of, sooo.

Kebabs with rice, salad and yogurt dip

Vegetable and bacon soup with dippy bread

Supermarket curry with rice and homemade spinach/cauliflower paneer

Sushi

Pizza/fish finger/ chicken goujon once a week

A plate of 'bits' one night. Sliced cucumber, cheese, sliced apple, carrot buttons, hummus, boiled eggs.

One fairly extravagant meal, either sausages with mash, red cabbage, peas gravy etc OR backed creamy chicken wrapped in bacon OR baked garlic and lemon cream salmon.

Chicken and bacon ceasar salad

Halloumi, hummus and roast veg salad with sweet chilli sauce.

Roast sweet potato and goats cheese salad

Pad Thai (using a kit)

Spag bol/leasgne

These are my go to meals
mac and cheese
sausage and mash
chicken and chorizo pasta bake
pea and paneer curry
red lentil curry
chilli
spaghetti bolognaise
burgers
chicken and bacon cesar pasta with rocket
stew and dumplings
cottage pie
lasagne
enchaladas
pork chops with dauphinois potatoes
fry up
chicken katsu with egg fried rice
and the trusty chicken chips and beans (who doesn’t love the odd beige freezer food meal?!)

Similar to yours tbh, other things:

• Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans/spag hoops
• Veggie sausage and bean stew with some nice bread
• Tortelloni
• Pasta with either cream cheese and veg/tomato and veg sauce/pesto and veg
• Chickpea, paneer or Quorn pieces curry from a jar sauce with rice and/or naan bread
• Leftovers of something from the weekend when we had more time e.g. Mac and cheese, veggie sausage/halloumi and veg tray bake with couscous or rice or potatoes, more elaborate stews or homemade curries etc
• Fajitas
• Freezer food meals, I try for this not to be more than once a week though e.g. veggie fingers/Quorn nuggets/pizza/veggie or cheese and onion pie with chips/potatoes etc and veg

We used to struggle with our food ideas, so I got a note book and we put everything we ate each week (evening meal only) for about 18 months.
It had 3 benefits

1. It helped with our food shopping as we knew what we were having.
2. It meant that I could see what we had had previous weeks/previous year when we were looking for a change.
3. When that note book ended, I put everything different meal we had had over the course of the book into a new one.

We will vary things through the year depending on the weather but this week we are having Jacket Potatoes Takeaway (yes I know but if DH goes to golf and I have to solo parent, the least he can do is get us a takeaway once a month) Roast Dinner Tarragon Chicken Sausage, Egg and Chips Spagetti Bolognaise Prawn’s in a mushroom sauce

I saw somebody else say about a Hairy Bikers recipe and now I wanted HB Smashed Chicken!

One of our favourites: Chicken breasts in stock and tomato passata in the slow cooker, spices to your liking eg smoked paprika, chilli, garlic etc, a few hours later ‘ pull ‘ the chicken with two forks and use in burritos, tacos, fajitas, on dirty fries, wedges / sweet potato etc. top with sour cream dressing, chopped salad, spring onions, sweet corn / cobs and grated cheese. Easy but really tasty.

Anchovy butter has been a lifesaver for me, a Rachel Roddy recipe from the guardian a few years ago: put a small tin of anchovies, some lemon zest and juice, half a clove of garlic and some chilli flakes in the food processor with melted butter- about one third of a half pound block. It makes a kind of buttery pesto that tastes amazing mixed through pasta. I use the fresh pasta from Tescos.
I keep the rest in the fridge and stir it though green veg when needed. My three year old devours it in pasta. It’s hard to believe he’s unknowingly eating anchovies…. But it’s so divine I’ve yet to meet anyone that didn’t like it and it’s takes about 3 minutes to make.

I am just feeding me nowadays which is so much easier (2 DC grown and flown - DH cooks for himself as he is a fussy bugger). I have:

Marinaded chicken with salad and flatbread
Some sort of protein (salmon, chicken or tofu) with a honey soy sauce, sticky rice or noodles and stirfry veg (not the bagged sort I just use baby corn, broccoli, carrot, mushroom and edamame)
Taco salad - shredded iceberg lettuce and grated carrot plus whatever else I want to chuck in like sweetcorn, peppers etc, bit of mayo, fajita spiced mince, cheese and salsa served with tortilla chips to scoop it all up

I just tend to have these meals twice a week each and we either have takeaway or go out the other day. Boring but I like them!

Try one of the websites/apps where you put the ingredients in and then they give you recipe ideas. I'd broaden your ingredients, you are only basing on mince and sausages, try including chicken and fish and maybe some bacon or pork. Personally I also rotate in curry, pies/pasties and stir fries.

What is this app Laur? Sounds ideal for me

Need to try this. Love anchovies

I adore these threads, so thank you!

Current favourites here are beef mince tacos; Nando’s style chicken with rice, halloumi and salad; lasagne with garlic bread; bolognese; sausage traybake.

I hate cooking these days, and am always on the lookout for ideas!

🤣

this made me laugh!

The Super Cook app is free and brilliant. Looks like a spoon in a superhero cape.

You add the ingredients you have in, to the 'pantry', and the app will search the Internet for every possible recipe you could make.

Yo ucan then search by meal type, cuisine, or only recipes you have all the ingredients for.

It also will make suggestion of recipes where you might only need to buy one ingredient.

It's really, really useful, saves us loads of food waste.

That sounds delicious although an effort by my standards! Definitely adding it to my menu

Supercook- available on Google play

My first thought is- that’s a loat of meat and very heavy meals!
Maybe try to incorporate some veggie meals to balance out a little.
veggie curries
tofu with rice/noodles
veggie fritters
fish dishes - baked salmon with veg or roasted cod

Recently we’ve had:
spag bol
pan fried salmon with potato salad and big mixed salad
chicken shawarma with salad and flatbread
scrambled eggs with courgettes
cheese fruit and crisps
roasted veg with halloumi
shakshuka
roast chicken with potato salad and a mixed salad
chicken korma, rice, roasted honey glazed carrots and green beans
chickpea curry with raitha and pitta bread

Chopped chicken breasts and gnocchi pasta bake with red and orange peppers, a broken up mozzarella ball, a pot of red pesto, a pint of chicken stock and a dash of cream is just yummy.

Aubergine lasagne with one layer aubergines and one layer chopped cherry tomatoes and mozzarella slices. Grate parmesan over the top and bake.

Salmon fillets squirted in lime juice and wrapped in foil. Air fry for 20 minutes and serve with Jersey Royals potatoes in butter and freshly chopped parsley served with garden peas.

Chicken breast chopped up and cooked with bacon lardons. Strain off liquid and put back in deep pan. Add 2 pots of low fat creme fresh and simmer. Add a handful of frozen garden peas. Add in soft blue cheese until it melts. Serve over fresh tagliatelli.

Roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli and gravy.

Breaded cod and mashed potatoes with baked beans.

Spaghetti Bolognese.

Honey glazed boiled ham finished by roasting in oven with mashed potatoes carrots, peas and parsley sauce.

Ham and boiled egg salad with coleslaw, beetroot, lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a slice of cheese. Served with warm part baked bread rolls.

Thai chicken and cashew with noodles
Meatballs in tomato sauce (batch cooked and frozen)
Sausage and bean casserole (batch)
Thai pork and basil (batch)
Bacon and tomato risotto
Chilli wraps (batch)
Chicken goujons, pilau rice and Waldorf salad
Tomato sauce, tortellini and leftover cooked sausage

I'd give the baby what I'm having, but chopped or mashed.

My DC used to bring food for their own DC (usually UPF before it was called that) when Granny was feeding the family.
Babes ate whatever Granny fed them

Our rotation includes lots of yours plus chilli; kedgeree; fish pie; salmonvegbasil traybake, smoked salmon pasta (cook pasta, add bag spinach at end, drain, mix with smoked salmon, chopped jarred or roast red peppers, large tub cream cheese, Parmesan, chopped spring onions and splash of pasta water, squeeze lemon over dead easy and the first thing the kids learned to cook); dhall with grilled fish; macaroni cheese; home made beef burgers; quiche or tortilla/frittata; stir fry with soy/honey/lime dressing; sweet and sour chicken; chicken pie - leftover roast chicken with white sauce and airfried mushrooms with pastry on top.

At 1 the things my DD reliably ate were fish pie with vegetables on the side, a roast dinner or chicken korma with rice.