Please could you lend a hend with my meal plans & some cooking q's? THANK YOU

thisismoneysaving

Hi OSers! :j
I've been moved out from my parents for nearly a year now. I started off really good and cooking nice, healthy meals from scratch and somehow I've slipped into buying a lot of convenience foods and unhealthy food. I'm looking to get back on track, get a good stock of homemade 'readymeals' in my freezer and just eat better, while saving some money.
I've scoured the boards and found some recepies I'm going to try (Twinks hobnobs! ).
I live with BF and we both like pretty much everything (although no fish - only tuna for me).

Fridge
Butter
Cheese
Milk
Ham
Chicken Breasts
Peppers
Mushrooms
Carrots
Sausage Rolls
1/2 Leg of Lamb
Lamb Chops

Freezer
Whole Chicken
Sweetcorn
Peas
Spinach
Mushroom Burgers x 2
Spicy Chicken Strips
Pork Spare Rib Chops
Veggie Masala Dish
Mince
Bacon
Chicken Breast x 1
Chicken Thighs (big tray)
Apple & Hazlenut Balls
Ice Cream

Herbs & Spices
Mint
Coriander
Oregano
Garam Masala
Paprika
Cumin
Classic BBQ
Rosemary
Chinese Seasoning
Fajita Seasoning Mix + Salsa

Tins
Tinned Tuna x 5
Condensed Chicken Soup x 2
Chopped Tomatoes
Beans
Spaghetti
Hoops


Jars
Homepride Chilli
Homepride Shepherd's Pie
Lasagne Red x 1
Lasagne White x 1
Pataks Tikka Masala Paste
Pataks Rogan Josh Paste
Pataks Creamed Coconut Sachet (x 6)

Carbs(?)
Spaghetti
Penne
Uncle Ben's Microwave Basmati Rice x 1
Savoury Rice x 2
Cous cous (lots!)
Baby New Potatoes


Miscellaneous
Gravy sachets – lamb, pork, chicken
Stock cubes - beef & chicken
Caesar Dressing
Balsamic Vinegar
Bicarbonate Of Soda
Self Raising Flour
Small amount of red wine
Passata
Sundried Tomato Paste
Red Split Lentils
Dried Soup Mix (from asda)


Sweet Things
Golden Syrup
Maple Syrup
Honey
Strawberry Jam
Red & Blue Food Colouring
Vanilla Flavouring


My plans go like this (I've not included the ingredients I'll be using, in the list above):

Thursday
Roast Chicken with veg, potatoes & gravy.

Friday
Chicken Curry with rice.

Saturday
Chicken Soup - can anyone help me please, I don't know how to make this

Sunday
Dinner at my mums

Monday
Jacket potato with cheese & beans

Tuesday
I'd like to make a soup of some kind, but I'm not sure how to.

Wednesday
Nothing planned yet... eek!

Thursday
Spaghetti bolognese in the SC

Friday
Steak with mash, onions & mushrooms

Saturday
Not too sure yet - we will probably be out...

Sunday
Lasagne

rosieben

The grocery challengers have a recipe list which includes several good soup recipes and there are more soup recipes listed in the Complete Cooking collection

I found a chicken soup recipe at channel4 and more soup recipes at good2know but if you google you will find thousands more!

for your meal planning you'll maybe get some inspiration from the weekly meal plan thread or from the Complete Menu Plans Collection

one recipe which I discovered recently and now do regularly is the Batch Bake Minced Beef recipe which would give you some home made ready meals to freeze, check out the soup recipes on that website too

hth, good luck!

Bitsy_Beans

I also use this website for any receipes

http://allrecipes.co.uk/


For the Wednesday why don't you try making something with pasta. I use a tin of tuna and a tin of chopped toms. Heat toms, add some garlic and any other herbs you like, saute some onion or any other suitable veg, cook pasta, mix all together with tuna, grate over some cheese and grill. A very quick and cheap meal. Serve with perhaps crusty bread or garlic bread although if you've done a lot of pasta (like i normally do) you might not need it

HTH

knithryn

You haven't mentioned lunches, (that's a very helpful list you've put up) and pasta salads spring to ind - cold cooked pasta, throw in some peas and sweetcorn, a tin of tuna, maybe try the caesar dressing or salsa, chopped peppers. If you've done the chicken you could do chicken in it instead of tuna.
The spicy chicken strips and caesar dressing would go really well in a wrap (you can buy this combination in shops like M&S and Boots).

And you haven't mentioned those lamb chops in your menu...maybe pop them in the freezer for now and use them on Tues (if the chicken has run out) or Weds with couscous? And the leg of lamb...don't forget to use/freeze it too!

You've obviously got the making of...
shepherd's pie
lasagna
chicken curry
stuffed peppers (with the couscous), maybe serve the mushroom burgers with it too
chilli con carne
roast lamb
chicken in sauce (using the chicken soup as a sauce and throw in some mushrooms)
bacon butties

You don't need to shop for about 2-3 weeks if you are careful and plan it.
Well done to you for thinking ahead and realising you need to menu plan and spotting when things go awry.

thisismoneysaving

Thank you so much for your ideas.
I love the lamb chops & cous cous idea! And the stuffed peppers. I would never have thought of that! Thank you

Everything is going quite well & according to plan. We haven't had to buy anything so for. Ohh... I made Twinks Hobnobs last night YUMMY!!!

Rosieben, I love that mince batch cooking idea, thank you.

Sorry I have been slow to reply, I've been trying to get some recipes together & organise our ourselves.

Here's an update:

Thursday
Sausage casserole

Friday
Jacket potato with cheese & beans

Saturday
Dinner cooked for me by a friend

Sunday
Roast Chicken with veg, potatoes & gravy.

Monday
Chicken Curry with rice.

Tuesday
Still have LOTS of left over chicken, half a pack of passata (from curry last night) and a tub of lovely pulm/cherry organic Tesco tomatoes which need to be used. Can I make something from this?? Any ideas?

Wednesday
Nothing planned yet... eek!

Thursday
Spaghetti bolognese in the SC

Friday
Steak with mash, onions & mushrooms

Saturday
We will be eating at a friend's house.

Sunday
Lasagne

CCP

thisismoneysaving wrote: »

Tuesday
Still have LOTS of left over chicken, half a pack of passata (from curry last night) and a tub of lovely pulm/cherry organic Tesco tomatoes which need to be used. Can I make something from this?? Any ideas?

How about roasting the toms with a bit of garlic and a pinch of herbs, mixing with the chicken and serving with pasta? I love roasted cherry tomatoes - they go all sweet and caramelly. :drool:

thisismoneysaving

CCP wrote: »

How about roasting the toms with a bit of garlic and a pinch of herbs, mixing with the chicken and serving with pasta? I love roasted cherry tomatoes - they go all sweet and caramelly. :drool:

:drool:
:drool::drool:

This sounds YUMMY!!!
Thank you!!!! :T

zippychick

Could you use the leftover chicken from today to make chicken lasasgne tomorow? using up rest of passata and your jars of sauce (freezing any leftover sauce in ice cube portions inf reezer). Adding peppers & mushies ? You could serve it with baby potatoes or maybe whizz up some garlic bread (although Im not sure if you have bread?!)

thisismoneysaving

Thank you Zippychick!
I really like this idea too. I'm going to make a chicken lasagne for tomorrow night. Lovely!

Do you think I could layer it all up tonight and just stick it in the fridge. Then cook it in the oven tomorrow night. The chicken is already cooked, so I can't re-heat it twice, can I?

Or do I have to layer it then cook it straight away?

Thank you so much for all the ideas.

CCP

I can't see any problem with making the lasagne tonight and leaving it in the fridge until tomorrow - the chicken would be in the fridge anyway, so it might as well be in there in lasagne form!

And you're right, it's not a good idea to reheat chicken more than once - I know some people do do it but it always strikes me as a good recipe for food poisoning.