Saturday Night Dinners?

mrsJef

Hi there,

I am finally in the habit of meal planning & reduced my shopping budget considerably since coming on here, however the one night I struggle with every week is Saturday night.

Me & OH both work full time and have 1 x teenage son and 1 x 8 year old, previously most sat night dinners were take-aways and not only expensive but we got bored of the same things. Now we still hanker after that sat night relaxed dinner in front of Strictly/Quiz show/film with the kids but am bored of Burger/KFC style chicken/HM Pizza.

What do you guys have that doesn't mean spending hours in the kitchen on a sat afternoon prepping but gives you that 'treat' without breaking the budget. (BTW I already have the takeaway secret book and am working my way through it!)

Thanks

mrsJef

krlyr

Fajitas don't take too long to make - I use frozen peppers in ours (lacks the "crunch" but still taste good and require no chopping!). So brown the onions, then the chicken, then add the spices (I have a Nutella jar I've filled with a HM spice-mix so just a spoon or two of that), then peppers last thing. While that simmers, grate the cheese (you could do this beforehand - even freeze large amounts of grated cheese), make or defrost a ready-made portion of HM salsa, defrost or warm up a pack of wraps, open a bag of salad, and it's done.
I even help cut costs by bulking it out with sausage in place of a chicken breast at times - you could do pork or even mince instead if you'd got that cheaper. I've just started making HM wraps too which are really cheap as they're just flour, a bit of oil and water!

Or for a change from regular burgers - how about chicken burgers? You don't have to go KFC style, we make the sauce you'd use on buffalo wings, cut a chicken breast in half to make two thin fillets, cover in buffalo sauce and oven cook - served in a burger bun with salad and mayo, yum!

Sambucus_Nigra

I am afraid that I don't watch TV at all...but Saturday is the one night that I don't plan; the OH goes shopping on a Friday so the fridge is my playground.

It's usually a treat. Tonight probably some meal based around half a tub of Chinese curry sauce that I have frozen after a take out a few weeks back.

So loads of veg cooked quick, probably a packet of 3 minute noodles with soy sauce, and the hot curry sauce poured over the top. Lovely.

krlyr

Just looking at the list of meals we typed up the other night to do a big online shop, some might be of some inspiration to you? They're not all things we've tried yet, added some new meal ideas this month as we were stuck in a bit of a rut, and they may not all make for easy lap dinners, but for some ideas..

Lemon chicken
Paprika chicken
Chicken noodles
Omelette
Burgers
Pizza
Chili
Bolognese
Fajitas
Lasagne
Sweet & sour chicken
Buffalo chicken
Pulled pork
Steak pie
Chicken pie
Roast
Sausage, eggs, chips & beans
Sausage & mash
Chicken casserole
Sausage casserole
Chili nachos
Hunters chicken
Chicken goujons
Chicken nuggets
Stir fry
Jacket potato
Chicken pasta
Shepherds pie
Beef pies
Curry
Chili beef stir fry
Fake Nandos
Chicken salad
Stew with veg


Another thing I'd really recommend, having discovered lately..Pinterest! The food & drink section is fab to browse through and then read up recipes that catch your eye.

ItchyFeet

I usually have homemade pizza on a Saturday.

Kitchenbunny

Saturday night is no different to the meals we have midweek, to be honest. I try to make it so that most meals are relaxed and don't take long to make. But, the oven does get used more on a Saturday, so things like a pasta bake that can be made earlier in the day and reheated later, jacket potatoes with different toppings, toad in the hole, etc, go in the oven and give me a spare shelf for garlic bread if accompanying, or a dessert like a crumble or tray of cookies.

I take after Nigella - cooking should be relaxing and, when the time calls for it, quick

KB xx

zaxdog

Last night after I got home from work I cooked some YS chicken thighs and drumsticks after rubbing with salt and chilli, then with some YS sausage meat and YS pastry I made sausage rolls. All done in under 30 minutes and we'll have tonight with salad (down to 50p in a Mr T deal) and coleslaw.

Not our cheapest meal at around 4.50 but a treat for the two of us.

And the chicken bones will make stock for soup tomorrow :j

cutestkids

A favourite here is steak sandwiches, just by thin cut sandwich steak and fry with onions I also add pepper and mushrooms, serve on a baguette, sub roll or ciabatta with mayo and have coleslaw on the side.

Another variation is meatball sandwiches which are just small meatballs in a tomato sauce with cheese melted over.

Or chicken and bacon with mushrooms is another favourite

Hot dogs and nachos are always a winner with the kids here.

All are quick to make and easy to eat in front of the TV

candylucy

Our Sat night treat is generally HM chilli and nachos - delish, got it cooking on the stove as we speak!

I totally agree about wanting some sort of treat on a Sat night x

Soworried

krlyr wrote: »

Just looking at the list of meals we typed up the other night to do a big online shop, some might be of some inspiration to you? They're not all things we've tried yet, added some new meal ideas this month as we were stuck in a bit of a rut, and they may not all make for easy lap dinners, but for some ideas..

Lemon chicken
Paprika chicken
Chicken noodles
Omelette
Burgers
Pizza
Chili
Bolognese
Fajitas
Lasagne
Sweet & sour chicken
Buffalo chicken
Pulled pork
Steak pie
Chicken pie
Roast
Sausage, eggs, chips & beans
Sausage & mash
Chicken casserole
Sausage casserole
Chili nachos
Hunters chicken
Chicken goujons
Chicken nuggets
Stir fry
Jacket potato
Chicken pasta
Shepherds pie
Beef pies
Curry
Chili beef stir fry
Fake Nandos
Chicken salad
Stew with veg


Another thing I'd really recommend, having discovered lately..Pinterest! The food & drink section is fab to browse through and then read up recipes that catch your eye.

The paprika chicken sounds lovely, do you have a recipe please?

pjran

krlyr wrote: »

Fajitas don't take too long to make - I use frozen peppers in ours (lacks the "crunch" but still taste good and require no chopping!). So brown the onions, then the chicken, then add the spices (I have a Nutella jar I've filled with a HM spice-mix so just a spoon or two of that), then peppers last thing. While that simmers, grate the cheese (you could do this beforehand - even freeze large amounts of grated cheese), make or defrost a ready-made portion of HM salsa, defrost or warm up a pack of wraps, open a bag of salad, and it's done.
I even help cut costs by bulking it out with sausage in place of a chicken breast at times - you could do pork or even mince instead if you'd got that cheaper. I've just started making HM wraps too which are really cheap as they're just flour, a bit of oil and water!

Or for a change from regular burgers - how about chicken burgers? You don't have to go KFC style, we make the sauce you'd use on buffalo wings, cut a chicken breast in half to make two thin fillets, cover in buffalo sauce and oven cook - served in a burger bun with salad and mayo, yum!

Please could you give me the wrap recipe but only if its really easy

Thank you, sorry to hijack this thread, I need inspiration too. I feel quite peckish reading all your suggestions not that I'm hungry as I ate HM cottage pie at lunchtime.