Perfectly lovely meal plans, but I'm feeling 'meh'

[kitchenplans]

So, firstly I probably need to point out that I'm menopausal, so my 'meh' might be meno 'meh'.

I'm having problems loving my meal plans. This is obviously completely bonkers, since I select the meals, but I've just somehow lost my mojo. I thought it was just a me thing, but in conversation with DH, he did call our meals "all of a type" (quite bravely, bearing in mind my aforementioned meno state), so he clearly feels the same.

I know our meals are on target re fruit and veg and balanced levels of UPF as the app I use tracks that for me.

I'm seeing too much pasta and gnocchi and a general lack of variety in meat.

Any suggestions of what kind of dishes I could put in to add a bit more interest? I do like each individual meal selected, but I think there's something missing in terms of variety.

(3 meal plans attached for ref, pics might take a minute to load)

I echo Flower0503. Try one or two traditional meals: roast chicken dinner, sausage and mash, eggs, chips and beans (homemade chips), pie and peas (homemade, top crust only). French style .steak frites’ is nice with roasted tomato and one large mushroom - this was our favourite Friday night meal until retirement + COL kicked in.
focus on having at least 2. Ears which are not creamy/cheesey/saucey.

Ears??? I meant ‘ meals’ lol

I use Gousto 2/3 times a month and keep the recipe cards of the ones we like. Then I meal plan from the recipes we like for the other weeks. The Gousto options keep it more interesting. Regularly though, on a Saturday I’ll do a basic freezer meal, chicken, bean burgers, fries, baked beans , that kind of thing. They are the most popular meals in our house. So maybe simpler meals now and then, scampi, chicken burgers, Waitrose do some nice fried chicken.

It does look heavy on dairy. We have dairy allergies here and I don't think we could eat any of those.

I would love to live in “sausage land” you cannot beat a good banger.

I agree with the pp that suggested more "non recipe" meals. A simple formula is the best fresh protein you can afford + seasonal vegetables + carbs of your choice if you fancy them

So it could be steak and salad, sea bass and courgettes, game and runner beans, etc.

Let your fresh ingredients speak for themselves a little bit - layers of flavour with cheese, sauces and dressing are okay but it's nice to have variety and sometimes the palate wants something simple.

I don't mean this in a bad way but your plan looks like the 'ready meals' selection from a supermarket.

Do you have any recipe books? You and DH go through a book each and pic out some new meals.

Do a few simpler meals, things like toad in the hole or sausage and mash.

Add in a 'picky bits' for a change.

I like the idea of chose a protein, add some veg, add a carb and you have a meal.

I make an 'Asian broth' that is not Asian at all but is adaptable. The basic broth is boiling water, a crushed clove of garlic (or frozen cube) a chunk or ginger grated (or frozen cube) a vegi stock cube.

Once you have that you can add whatever you want, I often do pork (previously roasted so it isn't too greasy) some green veg and something yellow or orange so corn or baby corn and carrots.

You can add noodles to it, or serve with rice ion the side.

Add sauces, herbs, chilli just experiment.

It would be too heavy for me to eat every day but nice food to have maybe 3-4 times a week. I would mix in some lighter stir-fry's, ramen, maybe a tagine. Just some dishes that don't have cheese or cream.

Chat gpt is great for meal planning.

I would add more curries, dhal, simple baked salmon with veg, stir fries etc.

The meal we've all enjoyed the most lately has been steak (fried or grilled, fillet, rump, sirloin) with new potatoes (we happened to have some from the gardenm but shop ones also good this time of year) and peas/veg of fancy. Butter on the potatoes and pan juices on the steak, but you can also buy tiny pots of eg peppercorn sauce if you like.) Really simple and delicious.

The other thing that goes down well is an 'all-day breakfast' - sausage, bacon, fried eggs, toast (or my preferred fried bread) baked beans, fried mushrooms. I find them lots of work (the timing, mostly) but they ARE delicious. Obv too 'rich' for every day but there's a reason it's such a popular staple of British cuisine.)

Interesting feedback, thanks.

Strongly taking on board the "too much creamy/cheesy" feedback. It's staring me in the face now it's been pointed out.

Equally, there's been lots of things suggested on this thread that are way off the mark for our families tastes. Stuff like fry ups, toad in the hole, egg, chips and beans, pie and chips, sausage and mash etc are all dishes we'd actively avoid.

I'm sitting down to do next week's meal plan now, so let's see what I can come up with.

in July some of our dishes included : budda bowls with Korean beef mince, fish tacos, raw tuna rice bowls, beef soba soup, chicken curry, dhals, raita and rice, falafel, grilled lamb and halloumi wrap night (everyone makes up their own combo wiyu lots of salads). All of these are serve yourself dishes in different proportions. So I set out lots of little things and everyone adds according to their preference. This lunchtime was the same but paprika chicken wraps with basic indicual salad ingredients like shredded cabbage and lettuce and radishes, cucumber, pepper and grated carrot and different sauces (mayo, watercress tzatziki, chimichurri etc..). They are a bit tedious to prep but tend to leave great leftovers too.

So here's next week's plan. 2 x meat free (we always try to do this), one chicken, two fish, one beef, one pork dish, so balanced in terms of main ingredients. The two meat free do have cheese, one feta and one paneer as we're not big fans of vegan food and avoid upf meat substitutes.

We have a pasta dish, two Indian dishes, a Thai dish, a Spanish dish and a Chinese style dish, so plenty of variation in cuisines.

All in all it feels a bit more varied and exciting.

It looks good.

The only thing I would comment on you have already said, two cheese meals on non meat day.

I have a recipe for tomato and aubergine casserole which does have a little yoghurt but no cheese.

What about huevos rancheros?

I also sometimes use hard boiled eggs as the protein in curry.

sashh I'd be interested in your tomato aubergine casserole recipe please

I will be back with a recipe. Currently I am preping for a colonoscapy tomorrow so it might be a couple of days.

Are all the recipes from the same app? I wonder whether that’s what makes it feel a bit ‘samey’. We’ve noticed it when we’ve had too much Gousto or Hello Fresh that it all starts to feel a bit formulaic.

You could have a look at the BBC Good Food website for some inspiration - lots of summer recipes on there at the moment.

To add to your list how about some rice dishes - seafood paella, summer veg risotto, stir fry rice with fish and veg?

Or some different salads - tuna niçoise, feta, halloumi, warm salads with pulses that you could serve with grilled fish, meat, new potatoes.

Homemade quiche or puff pastry tart, again with new potatoes and salad/veg?

I’d maybe also suggest having one night without a prepared meal and having cheese, seafood, cold meats with crusty bread and salad/pickles or antipasto type sides. Or a baked Camembert with lots of crudités.

OK I am back.

Tomato and Aubergine Casserole.

butter or oil for frying
2 large aubergines, sliced
1 large onion peeled and sliced finely
1 crushed garlic clove
1 large tin chopped tomatoes
15ml tomato puree
1 teaspoon of dried herbs, oregano or basil are good, personally I don't always bother
1 teaspoon of sugar
Salt and pepper
1 carton of natural unsweetened yoghurt
25g parmesan cheese
25g fresh white breadcrumbs

If you are feeding a vegan swap the cheese or leave it out and leave out the yoghurt. I have tried Yofoo and that doesn't work very well. It solidifies in strips, my guests thought it was good, but I think they were just pleased to have some vegan food that wasn't the usual Quorn pretending to be chicken.

Start by frying the aubergine in batches until they are brown both sides, put to one side and drain on kitchen roll - you could probably air fry for a healthier option as they do soak up a lot of oil.

Use the same pan to fry the onion and garlic until golden then add the tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 mins.

Divide the aubergine slices in to three equal portions.

Cover the bottom of a casserole dish (a lasagne dish is perfect) with a layer of aubergine, layer half the tomato mixture on top and top with half the yoghurt, repeat the layering ending with an aubergine layer.

Top with the parmesan and bread crumbs.

Put in the over 180deg for 30 mins.

You can do everything except the baking the day before.