meal planning...any help appreciated!

[itshappenedagain]

have decided to get oragainised and meal plan for the next month, there is only Ds and i so no-one else to complain, was thinking of cooking for woo weeks of the month and then having the other half of the food the next week heated from frozen.
could anyone give me a few suggestions of things to cook? i seem to run out quickly!

Fish pie
Lasagne - beef, veg, mushroom or salmon
Shepherds pie
Chicken casserole

All freeze well.

Sausage and mash + sausage casserole for freezer

Chilli and stews freeze well. You can turn a frozen stew into a pie when you cook it just by bunging it in a dish with ready-made pastry over the top, which feels more like a real dinner than a warmed-up one if you see what I mean!

Watching with interest!

I like to make batches of bolognese sauce which can then be used for spag bol but easily turned into chilli or lasagne.

Moroccan Beef (beef mince with onion, garlic, passata, dried apricots, sultanas, pinch of cinnamon, bit of water, simmer 30mins) and couscous.

Nigella has a recipe in Feast for a Tunisian veg stew, again with couscous. Have got a load of that in my freezer at the moment.

We must be psychic - spent most of yesterday doing this!!

Meals we have include:

Toad in the Hole
Sweet and Sour (Stir Fry - home made sauce - well just bung a big of pinapple, vingear sugar in!)
Salmon Mash and a Green Veg (lovely - the children love this too - you can get bags of portioned salmon in Sainburys - put them in the freezer - get out as many as you need)
Meetballs and rice Noodles with vege
Jacket potatoes and tuna mayo/baked beans (really it couldnt get much easier!!)
Poached Turkey breasts (put a turkey breast in a foil pouch with a bit of water and cook for about 25 mins), oven chips and broccoli

(I cant eat pasta/bread so somewhat limited)

We nearly always have fruit for pudding (just discovered baked apples which are nice stuffed with raisens and dates).

A really good book for meal planning is How to feed your whole family a halthey balanced diet with very little money, and hardly any time, even if you have a tiny kitchen, only three saucepans(one with an illfitting lid and no fancy gadgets by Gill Holcombe. It has excellent meal planners in the back with shopping lists. Really like the reciopes in there - they are low on preparation time and are easy to make.

I tend to meal plan based on a rotation of carbs so for instance:

Night 1 - spuds - roast dinner/stuffed chicken breasts or portions of fish.

Night 2 pasta - any kind, any sauce etc.

Night 3 - rice - chilli, curry or stir-fry.

Night 4 - Bread - fajitas or a big Italian type stew with salad and ciabatta.

Night 5 - Noodles - stir fry, Chinese, Thai curry etc.

Night 6 - couscous - spicy chicken and salad, lamb tagine.

Obviously this doesnt work if you are a low carber but I find it means there is plenty of variety in what we eat!