Help me meal plan for this week please, going shopping today!

[LoveMyGirls]

I'm a childminder with 5 children to feed aged 11mths to 9yrs, I'm after some inspiration for meals for this week, if possible it needs to also be something dp and I can re-heat or keep warm and have once dc's have gone home.

Needs to be not too expensive or time consuming (I'm not generally a recipe book follower as I don't do buying a jar of something for £1.50 to have a few teaspoon's out of it then throw it out because it has to used within 4 weeks of opening)

2 of the children don't eat pork

Needs to be healthy.

I'm on weightwatchers so needs to be low fat and filling.

Help please?

The meals I'm really fed up of are spagetti bolognaise, shepherds pie, curry and casseroles.

The dc's will eat mildly spicey food.

new pots fab idea and baby sweetcorn?

Dijon chicken is chicken breast, salt and pepper, 1 heaped tbsp of dijon mustard and 750g of spinach with 4 tbsp butter in the slow cooker, sounds really easy.

I will give the soup a try but what can I serve with it to make it more of a meal? I always tend to do soup for lunch if we have it, not sure the parents would be happy if I just served soup for dinner for their dc's though I would be happy for my dc's to have it with crusty bread or even garlic bread, would that be ok do you think?

we sometimes have soup and sausages and bread, if i can't be arsed doing anything else.

dijon chicken sounds lovely. can't help you on the baby sweetcorn i'm afraid, i can't stand it. LOVE big grown up sweetcorn though.

big sweetcorn it shall be Probably cheaper anyway!

Can't usually have sausages, which my dd1 would like because she loves them, think i'll do toad in the hole for her on friday though as fridays 1 mindee doesn't come for dinner so that would be ok.

ah, cos of the pork thing. beef sausages?

oh, and just do the sweetcorn in the micro. i chop it in half then put it in a bowl in the micro with a splash of water and some butter if i'm feeling lush. loosely cover with a plate, cook for min and half, turn over and cook for same.

never forget the quick, easy, humble and under-estimated egg...
scrambled, fried, omlette, quiche and french toast/eggy bread.

We have scrambled egg, toast and beans quite often for lunch. Quick and easy.

Also toasties make a change from sandwiches.

VERY true about the eggs. well remembered.

So what's your tomato sauce recipe please AitchTwoOh?

it's my roman friends' recipe, so quite authentic. no mucking around with grating weird vegetables into it.

one onion, finely finely chopped, sweated for a good while in a nice slug of olive oil. don't be mean.

add a slice or two of chopped smoked bacon, and cook again on a low heat for a nice while. you don't want anything to go brown, though.

then add two cans plum toms, fill an empty can with water and add that, plus a half teaspoon of salt (it does taste better with this but if i've got a wee baby eating obv i leave it out) and another good slug of oil. again, you can leave out the oil but tbh it's what makes the difference between a nice and a delicious sauce.

leave it on a simmer for as long as you have, preferably a few hours. i add a bayleaf but it's not in my pal's official recipe.

so really it's just oil, an onion, two cans toms and a slice or two of bacon... but with that, you can make just about anything. i double up and keep it in the freezer. it's SO handy to have around.

oh, and at the end you should pass it through one of those mouli things to extract the tom seeds .

i never have done this, i simply do not get the objection to tomato seeds. squish it with a masher, it should be pretty melty and smooth.

and grate with parmesan to serve.

Something has gone wrong with every meal I've made since I posted this thread.

Saturday decided to make toad in the hole - for the first time ever it just didn't work, the middle was too soggy outside too hard.....

Sunday - Dp cooked as it was mothers' day

Monday - I made Dijon chicken with Spinach and new pots - It was disgusting, doesn't help that's i've discovered I don't like spinach. I had to make the dc's an emergency jacket potato, beans and cheese and salad dinner instead.

Today - I made Chicken and Mushroom Bake - well when it supposedly done I looked in the slow cooker and the milk had curdled and it smelt vile. By this time I had no choice but to salvage what I could so I put the sliced potatos on an oven tray so they browned on the top (they were quite nice after that) I rescued the chicken and rinsed it with hot water, I got rid of the liquid (chicken juice and oil by the look of it) and I put the rest in a blender and made what dp and 3 of the children quite liked as sauce served with sweetcorn.......so while not a total disaster it was hardly successful.

Sooooo what shall I try tomorrow? the soup with nann bread or something tried and tested that's quick and easy because I'm not well? (have temp, closed sore throat and have been feeling sick, am better today that I was yesterday but still could do with keeping things as simple as possible)