The I will MEAL PLAN and not change my mind thread.....

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhhhh my ....... I've just made Toad in the Hole for the first time in years and ...... wow!

It's yummy!

That'll be going on the meal plan at least once a month I think!:D

I'm going to start a list of Favourite Recipes in my Home Organisation Journal (see the Household Diary thread if you're interested!) .... hoping that'll really help with my planning too :T

Marmite27

Wk 2 UPDATE I

F 4th [STRIKE] Chicken Noodles with stir-fry veg & prawn crackers.[/STRIKE] Chinese takeaway
All kinds of failing going on for me today. OH had a mini strop and said that a meal where all of the components come from the freezer can in no way be considered a birthday treat. Then I felt pants as I've been back at work after being off for over a fortnight and I think I've lost all my immunity to the bugs so feel terrible - worse than last week! and decided a chinese was in order. Usually order chicken fried rice, chips, noodles and salt & pepper shredded chicken, but after another strop from OH we (read I) was brave and ordered something different. Really glad I did as I soooo enjoyed it. Got chicken in black bean sauce and could only manage half so the other half has gone in the freezer for another day. So instead of stuff out of the freezer stuff has gone in :rotfl:

S 5th [STRIKE] Tapas[/STRIKE] Chicken Noodles - Planning on cooking a meal for me and my OH as its his birthday this week. Lots of little dishes including: Patas Bravas, Chicken & Chorizo stew, Chicken Rice, Spanish Meatballs, Salad, Pitta bread, Fish Cakes and Ham & Potato Croquettes. Most of the stuff for this meal is in the freezer already (apart from salad stuff).
Now becomes chicken noodles! Tapas components live another day using up precious space in the freezer :rotfl: I don't mind really its himself's birthday after all, and money came out of a savings account for such things so hasn't impacted the grocery budget in anyway.

S 6th Pulled Pork with HM BBQ sauce, HM wedges, coleslaw & salad.
2nd week in a row I've missed out a day! d'oh. Maybe its because I was embarrassed as the pork was coming out of the freezer :rotfl:

M 7th Chicken Curry, Pilau rice & poppadums. You guessed it already in the [STRIKE]tardis[/STRIKE] *cough freezer! Last week when we had friends round there was a portion of curry that went in the freezer, OH can have that and I'll do him a fresh portion of rice. The time before that when we had friends round for a curry, there were two smaller portions of curry & rice frozen for me, I'll have one of those, and an easy night :rotfl:

T 8th Spag Bol, Bol is... heck there's a lot from the freezer this week :T also my WI day, so try to have pasta on a Tuesday as himself can usually remember to put the pot on the stove

W 9th Sausage Casserole, Crispy potatoes, green beans & spinach. Sausages from yep the freezer :beer: Crispy potatoes currently in Asda's freezers until I buy them :rotfl:

T 10th Jerk Chicken with rice/peas/spring onion.

Well that's another week planned, and no more scratching my head trying to work out what the heck to cook when I get in. My mission, (quite clearly from this weeks plan) is to try and make some space in the Freezer :rotfl: Have a good week guys

WantToBeSE

I am dead chuffed with myself as i have continued to stick to the meal plan.
On tomorrows menu is HM Fish & Chips with mushy peas...might go and see how i can make my frozen peas mushy! BB (my lovely 7yr old cat) is sniffing around the sealed at cat -proof container of white fish that is currently sat on the kitchen side defrosting...she has a naughty glint in her eye...

Mags_cat

Next plan :

Sat : Corned Beef Hash (need to use up some sweetcorn so that's going in, too)
Sun : Stuffed chicken breast roast (fr) + veggies
Mon : Lamb chops (fr) + veggies
Tue : Toad in the hole (sausages in fr) (Thanks Rising - good idea!!)
Wed : Battered fish, chips, peas (fr)
Thu : Pasta + salami, tomato sauce
Fri : Possibly a take away?

So - last week I bought nothing apart from the £14 in Aldi. I used up some of the stuff in the freezer and I mainly stuck to the plan, although I jigged the order about a bit. I call that a success.

Off to Aldi when they open to get supplies for this week. And possibly some bacon for a sarnie later

Edited to add : £26 in Aldi, but I did get some extra stuff which has gone in the freezer. Probably got enough for two weeks! I can see how useful the Xmas leftovers were last week in keeping the cost down:eek:

rising_from_the_ashes

I'm trying to put together a list (which will be going in the household folder;)) of bog-standard main meals IYKWIM ... hoping this will help when trying to meal plan & if I've got xx siting in the fridge to be used up, it might provide some inspiration!:)

It doesn't include one-off things that I might make once in a while or new things to try ... just the day in day out type things.

Up to 48 already which has surprised me!:cool:

Casperthefriendlyghost

Hi everyone

You're all great and inspiring me with great ideas for meals. Thank you.

I've pulled out the chinese cook book (never used before) to make the spring rolls and sesame prawn toast. Really excited about it. Pork in SC with a nice recipe from the same cookbook. Am feeling hungry already lol!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers
Casper
xx

pollys

5th Chicken, salad and oven chips6th Lasagne with salad
7th Lamb kebabs with salad
8th Spaghetti bolognese
9th Onion and potato pie and peas
10th Chicken and rice
11th homemade fishcakes cauliflower and broc cheese
12th Toad in the hole, mash and veg
13th Chicken dinner


Hopefully we will stick to this. I'm really enjoying seeing what others are eating, it's giving me some ideas to try with my lot, thanks.


Pollys

[Deleted User]

I'll be making something from nothing for tonight's tea! We were supposed to go to Mum's for todays lunch but that sadly didn't happen so we have had our evening meal at lunch time! I'm sure I'll be able to sort some kind of pasta dish but need to make sure I don't use anything that is supposed to be going towards meals later in the week.

CatchFazed

Hi guys,

Would like to join in this meal plan thread. Spent a good hour on Thursday doing a freezer inventory, Tesco shop (£50) and meal plan and have to say I really enjoyed it (though I am a geek!).

I get paid on the 21st so have meal planned lunch and dinner up until then, but I'll spare you the details of lunch as it's mostly sandwiches and leftovers!

Thurs 3 - HM shepherds pie (lamb from freezer)
Fri 4 - Out, but OH had leftover pie
Sat 5 - Visiting friends so they'll feed me
Sun 6 - Sausage and mash
Mon 7 - Grilled chicken (from drumsticks and thighs in freezer, deboned and marinaded on Sunday night) with Leon pilaff rice
Tues 8 - Jamie's proper blokes fusilli sausage pasta
Weds 9 - HM chilli (beef from freezer)
Thurs 10 - Out, but OH can have leftover chilli
Fri 11 - Hotdogs, rolls and wedges (don't judge me, love to eat like a child sometimes!)
Sat 12 - HM chorizo and artichoke pizza, salad
Sun 13 - Chicken fajitas (chicken from freezer)
Mon 14 - HM turkey dansak and rice
Tues 15 - Slow cooked honey and garlic chicken (leftover chicken from freezer, and enough to freeze remainder for weekend)
Weds 16 - Nigella's Mustard and cider pork chops with gnocci
Thurs 17 - Chicken kiev, wedges and peas
Fri 18 - Beans on toast
Sat 19 - Leftover honey and garlic chicken with salad
Sun 20 - Lemon roast chicken with dauphinoise potatoes and broccoli

I've set aside a further £10 a week to pick up the fresh ingredients I'll need, though most weeks I've worked out I should be under that. Have also set aside £5 every Friday for a lunch from Pret or Leon so I don't go totally sandwich mad!

Good luck everyone - writing this down has made me even more determined!

joedenise

Have done a menu plan for the rest of the month and don't need to buy any meat or fish - it's all coming from the freezers (I've got 3!). Hopefully I'll be able to move all stuff out of one of them to defrost it, really needs it.

Denise