MealPlans WB 11th January 2010

skintbint_2

all you menu's sound great -am afraid mines a bit boring but here goes
saturday : lunch h/m lentil soup & h/m bread dinner: chicken tikka wraps
sunday: lunch baked potato with beans dinner: roast chicken, mash, &veg
monday:lunch o/h chicken sandwiches me soup dinner tuna pasta
tuesday:o/h haslet & pickle s/w me stovies dinner: h/m fishcakes, beans, wedges
wednesday:tuna/sweetcorn s/w dinner; pizza and wedges
thursday: cheese salad dinner:mince & tatties
friday:cheese & pickle s/w dinner: stovies
also for snacks fresh pineapple, apples, satsumas, most of the bread this week i'll bake myself and will make the usaual lemon drizzle, scones and pancakes, have run out of jam so will nip to the jam factory and get the expensive stuff for 60p a jar mmmmmm homemade bread still warm with jam - no wonder i need to loose weight

Fitzio

Gosh, the week has flown in. Managed to stick to mealplan quite well, except I cooked a chicken and when I went to cut it, blood was pouring out! I don't think my oven is working properly - doesn't seem to be heating to proper temperature. Luckily, I had some sliced turkey in the fridge as the rest of the roast dinner was ready! So turkey again!! I did put a knife in the chicken as well and there were definitely clear juices hmmm. :rolleyes:

This week:

Mon - Steak Pie, Mash and Veg(1st attempt)
Tue - Steak Pie, Mash and Veg (hope it's nice as we are having it 2 nights in a row!)
Wed - Chilli & Rice
Thu - Prawn Yakisoba (DH cooking)
Fri - Honey & Mustard Chicken, Mash, Carrots and Brocolli
Sat - Roast Chicken (going to risk it again at higher temperature)
Sun - Chicken Chow Mein

Lunches - salads and soups. Going to make Potato & Leek and Pea & Ham this week.

jexygirl

Ok... I admit defeat to something I thought would be so simple ! not meaning to belittle - I had never done a meal plan as my life doesnt usually warrant it apart from once a year!
I AM IN AWE! HOW DO YOU DO IT!
We close for 3 weeks in Jan ( I think most know I have an Inn) and I thought OK, I ran stuff as close as I could without compromising our main menu, and did really well with predictions in the scheme of things, but it still left me with some stuff over that was needing to be eaten - so in true MSE style I did my first meal plan, in order to use up what I miscalculated on with the live in staff / our meals. We have alot to do when closed, maintenance wise, and thought I planned well... however, I am 3 days behind (2 ran on longer than planned and my resolve melted as i was to knackered and the 3rd I sent out for milk and OH came back with whoopsies (a victim of MSE success!) so I felt compelled to use them first!
The culmination that all are looking forward to is the ribeye steaks, but I am sticking to my guns in this one thing and not using them till everything else is gone! (its killing me!)
I truly admire your determination and willpower, I wish I had it - but the ribeyes will be last if it kills me!
I thought if I planned it, it would be fine, but its so hard! Normally I use up what i need to get rid of for staff meals, which I was doing, but laziness and the thought of being off / not cooking, took over!
Good job guys - its easier to give in than to stick to it, but nothing to be proud of, that I learned.
Jex

JillS_2

jexygirl wrote: »

Ok... I admit defeat to something I thought would be so simple ! not meaning to belittle - I had never done a meal plan as my life doesnt usually warrant it apart from once a year!
I AM IN AWE! HOW DO YOU DO IT!
We close for 3 weeks in Jan ( I think most know I have an Inn) and I thought OK, I ran stuff as close as I could without compromising our main menu, and did really well with predictions in the scheme of things, but it still left me with some stuff over that was needing to be eaten - so in true MSE style I did my first meal plan, in order to use up what I miscalculated on with the live in staff / our meals. We have alot to do when closed, maintenance wise, and thought I planned well... however, I am 3 days behind (2 ran on longer than planned and my resolve melted as i was to knackered and the 3rd I sent out for milk and OH came back with whoopsies (a victim of MSE success!) so I felt compelled to use them first!
The culmination that all are looking forward to is the ribeye steaks, but I am sticking to my guns in this one thing and not using them till everything else is gone! (its killing me!)
I truly admire your determination and willpower, I wish I had it - but the ribeyes will be last if it kills me!
I thought if I planned it, it would be fine, but its so hard! Normally I use up what i need to get rid of for staff meals, which I was doing, but laziness and the thought of being off / not cooking, took over!
Good job guys - its easier to give in than to stick to it, but nothing to be proud of, that I learned.
Jex

Don't beat yourself up. I guess you were working pretty hard over Xmas and could really do with a break.

Also, we make out these lovely weekly meal plans but do we always follow them? Speaking just for myself - not always. My next week's meal plan will often have repetition of some of the previous week. Sometimes this is because I have several meal portions in the freezer but, just as often, it's because I didn't actually make it the first week. Perhaps because I was too tired or didn't go into the kitchen soon enough.

However, I do find that it helps to have made out a meal plan. Separating the planning from the doing works very well for me most of the time. It's great to look at the plan and think "Ah, yes. Pasta chicken bake." rather than going into the kitchen and looking at the contents of fridge, freezer, and pantry and thinking "What on earth can I make?"

Also, I find it a real incentive to have taken items out of the freezer into the fridge the previous evening.

Most family cooks feel like a break now and again in the constant demand to provide meals even if they mostly enjoy cooking - it can be such a treat to have a nice meal made for you. Is there anyone else who could make the meal once a week or so?

JillS_2

>> OH came back with whoopsies (a victim of MSE success!) so I felt compelled to use them first <<

That's not failure. That's replanning in the light of altered circumstances.;)

kalojac

Morning All,

This week (2 Adults 3 Boys aged 8, 6 and 4):

Breakfasts: Toasts, Cereal, Fruit or Yoghurt
Lunches: 3 Days school lunches/work lunches or Toasties, Sandwiches, or HM Soup and HM Bread.

Suppers (I run our week Saturday - Friday, hope this is okay)

• Saturday - Dutch Roast (old family recipe contains mince, sausages, tomato puree, tomato sauce, brown sauce, eggs, butter biscuits, onion, and then get roasted in oven for 2.5 hours), served with Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings, Brocoli and carrots.
• Sunday - Sausage Stew Yorkies, Turnip, Roast Potatoes
• Monday - Mince and Tatties (Potatoes, Turnip, White Pudding and Peas)
• Tuesday - Spag Bol or Chilli Wraps with chips or wedges/Garlic Bread, Brocoli
• Wednesday - Burgers from local Butcher in Buns with Salad, Couscous salad and Wedges
• Thursday - Sausage, Potatoes and Beans
• Friday - Chicken Maryland, served with Salad, and Chips, Peas and Banoffi Cheesecake for Pudding

Thanks for all your meal planners, hopefully joining this challenge will give me more ideas for family suppers, it gets quite boring going week to week with only about 10 meals that everybody in our house will eat.

CCP

Norman_Bean wrote: »

Sorry for the delay CCP I've only just popped back to have a boggle at what everyone else is eating this week

Pumpkin Pomodore is a name I made up to make it sound more glamourous than it is but it does taste FANTASTIC.

It's spaghetti pasta or tagliatelle with a pasta sauce made from pumpkin cubes roasted in rosemary (we were given a HUGE pumpkin in October and I roasted half of it and froze in pomodore size portions).

Finely chop an onion and garlic - fry and soften in butter.
Splosh of white wine (if any dregs hanging around.)
Add egg yolks and massive dollop of cream.
Keep stirring then add your pumpkin cubes and warm throgh - is nicer if pumpkin gets mushed up a bit.
Mix into your cooked pasta and serve.

Simples!

How do you do your naan breads? H needs to start making ours soon as supplies are running out. Thanks x

Thanks for the recipe, and thanks champys for the alternative suggestions - they sound lovely and will definitely be going in my meal plan next time I have a pumpkin or squash (probably quite soon, as my veg box company seems quite fond of them).

The naan bread is a recipe from the booklet that came with my breadmaker (Hinari Homebaker, for copyright purposes!), although the machine just makes the dough so you can do them by hand too. It makes 4 - 6 naan breads, depending how big you make them:

3 tbsp natural yoghurt
1tbsp oil
5 fl oz water
12 oz bread flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt (I tend to use about 1/2 a tsp, personally)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp yeast
I also add a sprinkling of kalonji seeds, for that "Indian takeaway" look, but they're not essential.

Mix up the ingredients into dough and leave to rise (it's about 45 mins in the breadmaker), then knock back, divide into however many pieces you want, and roll out each piece into an oval. Stick under a hot grill (or in a hot pan) for a couple of minutes on each side until brown and puffy.

They're not quite as good as the ones you get from an Indian restuarant, but considerably better than Tesco's ones. I don't know how they'll compare to the ones you usually get in France.

Boodle

CCP wrote: »

Boodle - your meal plan sounds as lovely as ever. How do you make rogan puff parcels and Spanish butter beans, please? Both sound rather intriguing!

Hi CCP

The Rogan puff parcels are a mixture of veggies with some rogan curry paste and a splash of passata to moisten, then this mixture is encased in bought puff pastry. I once did frozen cauli and potatoes which was yummy, but last time I did them with sweet potato and a handful of frozen "mixed veg" which I then served with an aloo gobi and salad.

The Spanish butter beans are just butter beans in a garlicky tomato sauce made from passata and, surprise surprise, lots of garlic. I might chuck paprika, red wine and/or oregano in, but it's likely I won't. I like a good old slosh of extra virgin olive oil in there too. Sorry it isn't a real recipe - things tend to vary ever so slightly each time I make them!

CCP

Boodle wrote: »

Hi CCP

The Rogan puff parcels are a mixture of veggies with some rogan curry paste and a splash of passata to moisten, then this mixture is encased in bought puff pastry. I once did frozen cauli and potatoes which was yummy, but last time I did them with sweet potato and a handful of frozen "mixed veg" which I then served with an aloo gobi and salad.

The Spanish butter beans are just butter beans in a garlicky tomato sauce made from passata and, surprise surprise, lots of garlic. I might chuck paprika, red wine and/or oregano in, but it's likely I won't. I like a good old slosh of extra virgin olive oil in there too. Sorry it isn't a real recipe - things tend to vary ever so slightly each time I make them!

Yes, I'm the same - I've never really got the hang of following recipes.

Both these sound lovely - thanks very much. I think I'll be having the rogan puffs next week - I imagine they'll be good for my work lunch box, too, which is always good as you can have too many sandwiches for lunch! :rolleyes::)

PetuliaGristle

Monday - cauliflower and broccoli cheese (freezer)
Tuesday - Jamie's turkey and sweet leek pie (leftover turkey from Christmas)
Wednesday - casserole and mash (freezer)
Thursday - roast
Friday - Nigella's chocolate chip chilli (freezer)
Saturday - out
Sunday - bought southern fried chicken and chips (freezer)