planning next fortnights meal plan very uninspired what are yours?

[mothersmilk]

doing my meal plan for the next 2 weeks very uninspired need lots of hearty meals to feed five on and not so hearty budget ideas?

Also doing this and stuck but so far have
Coldweather hot pot
Roast chicken, with roasted fenel, carrots and onions.
Sticky pineapple pork, rice and chinese veg
Pasta with red pesto, chickpeas, and red onions with salad.
Linguine with pancetta, garlic and rocket
Creamy chicken with tarragon, and mustard, rice and grean beans.
Steamed thai style salmon, rice and pak choi

try www.recipezaar.com/ and look for a few recipies suitable for freezing and double up. Theres a nifty box that will change quantities for you and you can add the ingredients straight into a shopping list. I love love love that site. Do add some freezer cookies to your list too!

Here is mine:
Chicken pie and veg
Pork steaks and mash
Ginsters pasties and chips and veg
Pasta with garlic and chilli
Pizzas
Fish pie
Cheesy mince and pasta
Birds eye chicken grills and veg
Meatballs and spaghetti
Chicken stew
Fish cakes and veg
Mince tatties and dumplings

A mixture of homemade and packaged stuff.

Lentil stew with crusty bread
spicy bubble and squeak
tuna and chick pea burgers in rolls with salad
goat tangine with couscous
minute minestrone and garlic cheese bread
tuna melt with wedges
root veg casserole
lentil soup with dumplings and soda bread
spicy shepherds pie
macaroni and cauliflower cheese bake
chick pea and tomato curry
bean goulash
cheese and tomato polenta

If money is tight, have you tried cooking with dried beans and pulses? Much cheaper than meat and very good for you.

StressedHEmum - please, what is the recipe for tuna and chickpea burgers - that sounds lovely! in fact your whole menu plan sounds delicious and not too bad on the purse strings! hungry now

Tuna and chick pea burgers are really easy.

2 tins chick peas
1 400gm tin tuna
1 chopped onion
1tspn garlic
a shake of lemon juice
pinch cumin seeds
pinch crushed chilli flakes
flour for dusting

drain the chick peas and rinse them. Blend them until almost smooth. Put them in a mixing bowl and mix in the tuna, lemon and spices. Shape the mix into half a dozen or so burgers. dust them with flour to help keep them together and then fry them until they are hot, crisped and golden (about 3 minutes a side or so.)

Most of the things I make are quite cheap, to be honest. Beans are my friend as far as that is concerned and if you are careful how you cook them, nobody really misses meat that much. It just makes it more of a treat when they do get it

Potatoes are awesome - use a lot of them, cheap and I love them versatile!
Jackets with baked beans and cheese
Cheese and onion layered potato bake
Sausage & Chips
Pork with peas and Mash
Potato salad, warm, with fish fingers/breaded cod, tomato, cucumbers, hard boiled egg.
Chicken pie with mash, veg and gravy OR boied potatoes and green beans with a knob of butter on.
Spaghetti bolognaise
Sweet and sour chicken
Roast chicken (never had a problem with a cheap 'value' chicken) potatoes n veg.

Ours will be something like:

Today - baked potatoes and cauliflower cheese with sausgaes for those who want them

Tomorrow - mashed potatoes, lots of vege, nut roast or something of that ilk

Monday - Thai veggie curry and rice

Tuesday - soup and bread and plum crumble and custard

Weds - pasta with homemade pesto

Thursday - homemade wedges with veggie fajitas

Friday - veggie sausage casserole with lots of beans in it, served with either crusty bread or baked potatoes

Saturday - lentil chilli with rice

Like looking at these for ideas. Mine are based on what we have in as very skint, and will be planned so we don't have same stuff (ie chicken) two days running:

Chilli (two teas worth will be batch cooked)
Roast chicken dinner
Sweet and sour chicken with rice/noodles (leftover chicken from roast)
Chicken soup and crusty rolls (also from roast chicken)
Pork curry (slow cooker tea)
Cheese and onion omelette, sausage, beans and toast
Homemade pizzas
Sausage casserole with veg and mash or jacket spuds.
Probably vegetable curry too one night.

thanks stressedHEmum - i've noted and will try these! cheers

this week

Monday was jacket potatos (ham and coleslaw with mine and chilli for dh)

Today - beef stew and dumplings and loads of veg and mash potato

tomorrow - Fishfingers and chips for dd's and fish fillet in sauce with veg and crispy potato slices for us

Thursday - toad in the hole

Friday - dd1 has school dinner and dd2 eats at MIL as I am work - our dinner will be soemthing easy like sausage and mash

Saturday - scampi (not sure what with)

Sunday - roast (probably at IL's)

Ideas for next week are

Spag Bol
Chilli and rice
Chicken satay and rice/noodles
Chicken in mushroom sauce with veg
Chicken &mushroom pie with veg (cheap, easy and quick)
Lasagne

risotto with whatever veg needs using u
homemade pizza
macaroni cheese
roast chik and veg
left over chick with noodles
sausage and mash and veg
salmon with pots and veg

we tend to do similar meals every week-
something with chicken thighs (cajun/jerk/casserole/curry)
something with mince-shepherds pie/bolognaise/moussaka/chilli
a cheapo chicken dinner (roasted)
Jacket spuds with salad/tuna/coleslaw/cheese/beans
DD2 is always out on a tuesday so we have something veggie/spicy that we know she wont like or something costly like STEAK and have an early night...

we have fish/sausages/pizza/pasta/risotto somewhere in the rota as well.

We try to vary the carb ie if we have rice one day we try to not have it the next-ditto veg-if we have salad we'll have something else the same day.
we add lentils/beans to everything.
We use cheap cuts of meat (casseroles are easy and do at least 2 meals)
make double of most things.
i do fruit and yoghurt for puddings and occasionally do rice pudding/a fruit crumble.
we usually have a roast of some sort on a weekend and that does for the kids the next day but i'd do the meat with pasta/cous cous/rice and different veg.
we eat well,a friend of mine says she's found that meal planning means they eat more milk whereas if she were less organised they'd eat more pasta/pesto type last minute meals