2026 meal planners

[Lastqueenofscotland2]

Looking forward to seeing some old and new planners.
After two beens of cheese and cake I’m looking forward to some normal food!

Friday: lemon asparagus risotto
Saturday: mushroom & goat cheese tart
Sunday: Tofu Rogan Josh
Monday: Pesto beans on sourdough
Tuesday: peanut noodles
Wednesday: harissa tofu
Thursday: pasta e fagioli

To my surprise we actually stuck to the plan last week, but two weeks in a row would be a miracle, but here goes... 😋

Monday: Kedgeree
Tuesday: Chilli meatballs and green rice
Wednesday: Herby chicken grills
Thursday: Beef rendang
Friday: Ready meal/pizza (busy day)
Saturday: Fish curry
Sunday: Turkey chilli

DH and I ageing cooking duties this week and boring as it’s planned around what DD will eat

Monday: African peanut stew
Tuesday: steak/fake steak, leeks and roast potatoes
Wednesday: spag bol
Thursday: marry me white beans
Friday: home made chicken/tofu nuggets, chips and peas

no major plans this weekend so I might make a fish pie that then DH can use next week as well (I’m away with work the whole week) and fancy something decent/efforts on Saturday

Tonight - Falafel and baba ganoush flatbreads with salad
Tomorrow - Out for a pub lunch, maybe some picky bits later
Sunday - Chicken kebabs, Greek salad, pitta, halloumi, tzatziki
Monday - Griddled aubergine and halloumi with pourgouri and salad
Tuesday - Greek salad pasta
Wednesday - Stuffed peppers with salad
Thursday - Veggie chilli on a baked potato
Friday - Mushroom quinotto
Saturday - Greek-style roast chicken thighs with Cyprus potatoes and spring veg medley
Sunday - Lasagne.

I seem to have come over all Greek and salady. That seems a sure-fire way of ensuring the sun will disappear and the rain will return 😂

Tonight - Chicken korma, rice and naan
Saturday - Steak, mushroom & creamy pepper sauce ciabatta with fries
Sunday - Gammon creamy parmesan cabbage and leeks, glazed carrots, broccoli and some kind of potato tbc
Monday- Beef Bibimbap
Tuesday - Sweetcorn chowder
Wednesday - Chicken burrito bowl
Thursday - Lemon chicken pasta

Sat: homemade pork mince, haggis and black pudding burgers, curly fries
Sun: nigella's chicken and chorizo traybake
Mon: lasagna and chips
Tue: out
Wed: pork chops, mash, asparagus, creamy mustard sauce
Thurs: beef kofte, halloumi, salad, homemade flatbread
Fri: he can think about it

I had some of last week’s plan, but not the fajitas, sweet’n’sour or curry. I have the shwarma out for tonight.

tomorrow will be plain roast chicken with a baked squash and roast potatoes.
Monday will be spag Bol (I am defrosting the meat to do a 4 hour slow cook with loads of veg and half a bottle of wine version tomorrow while I write reports, and freeze a couple of portions).
Tuesday is beef Bourginonne and mash. Maybe with extra carrots.
Wednesday is rosemary sausages with roasted veggies and tomato sauce over pasta.

Thursday is the other half of the bourginonne.
Friday will be either a fast freezer meal (chicken and mushrooms in cream sauce or chicken vadagam are the main options) before I go to the airport or else airport food (or just a beer) as summer flight home is after 9pm.

I’m only sorting this weekend as I’m away next week so DH is in charge

Tonight we’re having grilled sea bass, sushi rice, miso soup, smashed cucumber salad, marinated shiitake mushrooms, red onions pickles in kombucha, veggie gyoza

Tomorrow steak strips for DH and DD, Mar instead tofu kebab for DS and I, flatbreads, hummus, Greek salad.

at a friend’s in the evening for a BBQ, I’m taking an Asian slaw

The last week of the month I try and just eat out of the freezer / larder and not spend any money on groceries.

So, thinking of that we will most likely have;

1. Chicken nugget fajitas (Dcs).
2. Red lentil dhal with rice (my ultimate favourite)
3. Jacket potatos and tuna mayo
4. mushroom pie
5. really awful Co-op broccoli quiche- actually- that one might go to the iurds as it was awful.
6. Tofu and mushroom stir fry (Freezer)
7. Something with tempeh which I've never cooked before.

Today: Cod & butter bean puttanesca, greens, toasted sourdough
On: Cheesy potato & veg bake, veggie sausages
Tues: Teriyaki tofu with rice & veg
Wed: Veg & goats cheese omelettes, herby potato salad, mixed leaves
Thurs: Leek & mushroom pasta
Fri: I’m out, family can fend for themselves

I continue to be a bit crap.

Im doing a veg heavy tomato based pasta sauce tonight so I can freeze portions for DD who lives on pasta and so I need to make sure the sauces are suitably nutritious! This one will be onion, courgette, tomato, red lentils, mushrooms, peppers and carrot. If I blitz it, does the fiber in the lentils remain or am I losing a lot? Anyone know? She doesn't mind lentils but I find the rest of the veggies in the sauce she's more likely to eat if blitzed. perhaps I should blitz the veggies before cooking? That might work as well actually and ensure the lentils stay semi-solid.

Then spaghetti and meatballs tomorrow/Tuesday and a pork stir fry the other night.

Then I need to plan again. We had a very expensive BBQ last night so I need to keep costs down for a week or so to compensate I think. Will give some thought.

Don’t think I did mine this week!

Friday was: grilled cheese sandwhiches
Saturday: gochujang pasta
Sunday: late lunch with in laws
tonight: butternut squash soup
Tuesday: Thai fried rice
Wednesday; sweet potato hash
Thursday: dahl and naan

For next week
Tomorrow: gnocchi pomodoro
Saturday: chilli cheese fries
Sunday: cauliflower and chickpea tagine
Monday: drunken noodles
Tuesday: jerk tofu with rice and peas
Wednesday: veggie korma
Tuesday: enchilada rice bake

Ended up having impromptu pub dinner with DH and friends last night, so the planned veggie chilli will happen tonight and tonight's mushroom quinotto will make an appearance next week instead.

Tomorrow: Greek style roast chicken thighs with Cyprus potatoes and spring veg
Sunday: Lasagne and salad
Monday: l/o lasagne and salad
Tuesday: Mushroom quinotto
Wednesday: Chicken escalopes with potatoes and roast veg
Thursday: Keeping free and easy for now (both DH and I working late)
Friday: Pesto spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and pine nuts.
Saturday: Out for MiL's birthday
Sunday: Risotto primavera

I skipped lunch (not on purpose) on Tuesday so the 2 person beef bourginonne turned out to be a perfect 1 person size.

Otherwise I stuck to plans, pulled out a confit duck leg and oven chips on Thursday and chick vadagam last night.

Tonight I am making a steak dinner for DH and I.

I have chicken kievs (1 to eat, 1 to freeze) to bring back so that’s Sunday dinner.

I’ll think about next week on Monday.

Kale and mushroom lasagne tomorrow - takes a while, so ideal bank holiday cooking for me.
Then order to be decided:
Miso aubergine with rice
Tofu ramen
Halloumi with pitta and salad
Pasta puttanesca
Pizza and salad

tonight Steak, onions, mushrooms, peas, onion rings. Peas, chips and peppercorn suce

sunday black bean and pepper sauce, egg fried rice and chicken

Monday- Monday- Holiday!!!!!!!

We’ve got roast pork today, chicken wrapped parma ham tomorrow then, in no particular order, tofu and veg curry, fish cakes, jacket potato and pasta with homemade kale pesto and cherry tomatoes.

Sadly, I am at risk in a major redundancy program at work so I'm now heavily motivated to get back into meal planning as a way to keep costs under control. So I guess there's always a silver lining!?

I am conceding defeat though and going back to 5 day plans. Anything more than that and we run out of food because it doesn't matter how much I buy, the never-ending black hole of DH and DS will eat it all.

So, this week is:

Baked chicken pieces with new potatoes adn veg. Leftovers for sandwiches etc.
One-pot chicken and broccoli lasagna (although I'm using taglietteli as Amazon doesn't sell fresh lasagna and that's where I did my shop this week)
Halloumi pita breads with home made butterbean hummus and chargrilled greens
Pork stir fry
Chicken and chorizo paella

I'm in a similar boat @SpaceOP 😢 It's utterly shit and really worrying. Meal planning is one of the very few areas where I feel a have a bit of control over what is happening in my life right now. I'm expecting my plans to get less and less imaginative though.

Sending solidarity and good luck vibes.

@HalloumiFries I'm so sorry to hear that. It's shit, isn't it? And so common. Here I am thinking it's just me and a few hundred of my colleagues but of course, it's probably all over the place, all of the time. It really makes me think that the old system of one person in a couple working and earning the bulk is a broken system. I'm the breadwinner and DH works, but earns a fraction, and it's the pressure that is really killing me. But, I will be fine!

Good luck to both of us! x

Last night I made a carbonara style pasta with bacon and mushrooms.
Tonight I plan chicken shwarma with Greek flatbreads, hummus, pickled onions, garlic/lemon yoghurt drizzle and salads
Tomorrow I have a work dinner
Thursday will be ham hock with apple sauce, mashed potatoes and steamed brocolli
Friday (if I am not travelling) will be bbq ribs and oven chips
Saturday (if I am here) possibly a proper chicken tikka masala or butter chicken, with puppodums, tomato/spring onion “salsa”, and possibly Bombay potatoes (with freezable leftovers)
Sunday forecast is miserable so I may do a chicken chasseur (again possibly with freezable leftovers)

@SpaceOP - again, same here. I earn more than double my DH's wage and honestly don't know how we'll cope if the outcome is that my post is to be made redundant. I'm genuinely scared, but keep telling myself it will work out one way or another. As you say, it really shines a light on the fact that the old system is gone and almost definitely won't come back. Although I've also been quite surprised (I probably shouldn't be) by the number of friends and family who express some sympathy but then tell me to look on the bright side, it could be DH's job at risk - making the assumption that he is the breadwinner.

Anyway, don't want to hijack the thread.

I've had so much work travel recently, everything has got shot to shit but I am trying to get myself back on track later this week. Going to have a scroll back and see what you've all been making as I'm feeling very uninspired!

Sorry to hear that @SpaceOP and @HalloumiFries the uncertainty is crushing. I've been made redundant twice and it sucks but in all honesty, I went onto something better both times. Fingers crossed for you both.

Just placemarking, DH is currently unemployed so in charge. I feel your pain @SpaceOP and @HalloumiFries DH is the breadwinner, I’m a freelancer and thankfully right now my wage is matching his but I can just as easily find myself with no work for a month or so, so it’s pretty scary

plus point is DH can’t be bothered with cooking much so meals are very simple and very cheap right now!

Thanks @Citygirlrurallife - these are pretty uncertain times.

Tonight: Spaghetti, pesto, cherry tomatoes and pinenuts
Tomorrow: Out for MiL's birthday
Sunday: Risotto primavera
Monday: Zaalouk-style butterbeans
Tuesday: Chicken escalopes, potatoes, peas and carrots
Wednesday: Tortellini and salad
Thursday: Pizza and salad
Friday: Halloumi and falafel flatbreads
Saturday: Eurovision buffet!