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Can we do a 'It's January, let's get organised' meal planner /recipe thread?

15 replies

Lulumama · 05/01/2010 21:03

Need to get back to meal planning, have bursts of it and then give up, it saves so much time and money and waste though !

fridge and freezers relatively empty so am ready to stock up!

would particularly like recipes for easy soups/stews etc for the slow cooker

Typical week chez lulu is

Roast chicken and trimmings
Soup from carcass with pasta or crusty bread
Jacket spuds with various toppings
Pasta with a sauce, something tomatoey
Fajitas/enchiladas/nachos etc
something like fishfingers with oven chips

etcc etc , usual array of fruit and veg, don't really do puds

any ideas/inspiration?

OP posts:
Lulumama · 05/01/2010 21:46

no-one?

got some parsnips.. wsa going to create some sort of soup tomorrow whilst we're havinga snow day

OP posts:
TheHouseofMirth · 05/01/2010 22:06

Our menu this week:

Braised lamb chops with mash & veg
Frittata with salad
Spicy meatballs with rice
Turkey schnitzel with cauliflower cheese and saute potatoes
Butternut squash and sweet potato soup
Fish pie
Jacket potatoes with smoked haddock and creme fraiche

winterwalks · 05/01/2010 22:08

Fly lady has loads of easy slow cooker receipes- they are a bit American but easy to adapt

flylady.net/pages/FFT_SlowCook1.asp
I am watching with interest

Onlyaphase · 05/01/2010 22:19

This week's menu (am using up what is in freezer) for lunch and dinner looks like this. I've included lunch as I'm catering for 4 adults at the moment for lunches

Monday lunch Tuna/cucumber and brie/tomato sandwiches
dinner is pork and pepper stirfry with noodles

Tuesday lunch baked potatoes with homemade coleslaw and cheese
dinner was french onion soup with cheese on toast

Wed lunch soup and fresh bread, cheese
dinner will be mushroom risotto

Thursday lunch smoked mackeral pate and toast
dinner will be spaghetti bolognaise

Friday lunch bacon and egg sandwiches
dinner will be cottage pie and veg from garden or freezer depending on weather

Sat lunch roast pork, roast potatoes and veg
dinner will be pizza

Sunday lunch will be veg soup and bread
dinner will be some sort of noodle soup with pork

JaneiteIsAWimpyTeacher · 05/01/2010 22:23

Our menu this week is probably:

Monday - Thai vege curry and rice with cashews
Today - dp's cheese and potato pie with spicy peas (dd2's favourite)
Weds - qaesadillas and mango salsa, with homemade wedges
Thurs - pasta with roasted vege
Fri - either lentil chilli or a leek risotto, depending on which I fancy
Saturday - probably out
Sunday - something in the slowcooker, to involve lentils if not eaten on Friday or otherwise to probably involve chickpeas

CaptainNancy · 05/01/2010 22:25

Roast lamb
Moroccan lamb
Spag bol
Chicken pie
Fish
Chilli con carne

All served with plenty of veg.
Don't do puddings either- fruit and yoghurt mostly, though currently wading through moun ds of leftoverf c@hristmas cake (MIL makes enough for whole street... but gives it all to us!)

CaptainNancy · 05/01/2010 22:31

Hello wimpyteacher (!)
I still haven't made your mango salsa...

StillCounting · 05/01/2010 22:35

Hi Lulumama - have cut and pasted this from when I posted on another thread - hope perhaps a few ideas will be useful ...

Sunday(nearly always roast or braised dish of some description with all trimmings). Lots of roast chickens, lamb shoulder, lamb and haricot bean casserole, roast pork, very occasional (twice a year) beef rib ...

Monday therefore nearly always cold cuts + fried pots, new pots or baked spuds depending on season + either salad or green veg (usually broccoli or frozen peas)

Tuesday = "start again day" (usually supermarket shop Tues & Fri) some sort of dish with large veggie component either pasta with good home-made sauce (lots of veg in disguise) or veg lasagne (prepped before and frozen) or thick lentil and bacon soup or Nigella's sweetcorn fritters (to which I add ham or bacon lardons) or fishcakes, also prepped in advance (usually tuna or salmon) or cous-cous with chicken and carrots or baked beans on toast or home-made pizzas (make dough in advance and freeze.

Wednesday is usually a "quick" meat day such as sausages or home-made chicken dips or ribs with corn on cob/baked spuds, or minced pork and apple burgers(prepped and frozen in advance - good recipe from book called 'Cooking for Coco') or mini cottage pies (prepped before and frozen) or just good ham with baked or new spuds + sweetcorn or broccoli.

Thursday is TOTALLY VEGGIE day. This can range from penne or parpadelle with broccoli, mange tout, peas, and tom sauce + parmesan, or veggie noodles, or home-made minestrone (made in advance) or roasted butternut squash and carrot soup, or pasta twirls with tomato, butternut squash and carrot sauce, or veggie burgers, or home-made pizzas, or roasted root veg and chick pea type casserole thing. DD loves mushrooms so we sometimes have a mushroom risotto.

Friday is always fish night - so either salmon (frozen or fresh), new pots, peas, or some sort of white fish and parsley sauce and pots & peas, or mini fish pies or tuna or salmon fish cakes (both prepped in advance) or honey & soy salmon kebabs, or fish fingers, or sardines on toast if I'm rushed. When budget is tight one medium-size cod fillet will stretch to make a fairly generous fish pie.

Saturday I don't really cook (apart from batch cooking for freezer). Supper is either take-out or ready meal or boiled eggs and soldiers or poeached egg and chips, or tortilla courtesy of dh!! Sat lunch is usually snack on the hoof or whatever anyone can scavenge from fridge ...occasionally home made soup.

Do batch cooking for freezer on Sats/Suns/weds.

I'm afraid I don't do puddings except 'fruit from the bowl' or 'yoghurt from the fridge' or occasionally, ice cream from the freezer. Will occasionally go as far as peeling an apple for dd or making a fruit salad ...or making fruit compotes to eat with yoghurt. And in season, will make rhubarb or blackcurrant crumble or apple pies, depending on limited crops from our town garden.

There's not a lot of cheese or dairy in the above menus (apart from yoghurts and parsley sauce) but dd tends to have quite a bit of cheese in her sandwiches for school (no canteen) and she has a mild milk intolerance.

Good luck with the meal planning. Oh, forgot to say, a few of above recipes are from one of Annabel Karmel's books ...

notamumyetbutoneday · 06/01/2010 09:24

Our menu this week is very veggie/hopefully low-fat following the Christmas blowout!

Sunday- rainbow trout stuffed with lemon and herbs, roasted new potatoes and veg

Monday- smoked haddock risotto with courgettes and tomatoes

tuesday- chickpea and vegetable tagine with lemon and sultana couscous

Wednesday spinach and ricotta low fat philly canneloni

Thursday- Chicken tikka masala and rice (madhur jeffrey recipe)

Friday- bean fajitas

Saturday- homemade pizzas (bought bases)

Lulumama · 06/01/2010 10:47

thank you very much, same really lovely lovely meal ideas to be inspired by!!

OP posts:
Lulumama · 06/01/2010 11:18

right, have just ordered my asda shop

got lentils for soup, stuff for casseroles etc

going to make a broccoli and stilton soup

fancy stuffed peppers too

thanks again xxx

OP posts:
JaneiteIsAWimpyTeacher · 06/01/2010 20:44

Captain Nancy - just eaten it and it was bloomin' lovely! How are you btw? Have been meaning to email you for ages but work has been so depressing that I've not wanted to inflict my gripes on anybody!

Notamummy - how do you do your tagine? I love it but my recipe is a bit of a faff, so wondered if yours was easier!

notamumyetbutoneday · 07/01/2010 08:43

Janeite- I suspect its not terribly authentic- I kind of adapted it from others I'd used to suits us but essentially its:

diced onion
veg of your choice- I use courgettes and peppers
tinned chickpeas
tin chopped tomatoes or fresh chopped tomatoes
teaspoon ground cumin
teaspoon cinnamon
teaspoon ground coriander
chopped dried apricots
fresh corainder to garnish if you have it

Fry onion til soft, add your veg and spices, fry for a few mins. Add the tomatoes, dried apricots and chickpeas and simmer til done.

For the couscous I just add lemon zest, juice and sultanas and cover with boiling water.

I've got the leftovers for my lunch today!

JaneiteIsAWimpyTeacher · 07/01/2010 19:28

Thank you so much.

I feared it may contain tomatoes though and so it does! WHY do so many veggie recipes have tomatoes as the 'sauce bit'?

notasize10yetbutoneday · 08/01/2010 11:49

Have you tried the courgette lasagne on the BBCgoodfood website? Something like creamy courgette lasagne. This doesnt have a tomatoe-y sauce and I must say it was delicious when we had it a while ago.

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