Getting through January

[Deleted User]

maybe not healthy but once a week won't kill you egg chips and beans basic stuff that costs very little If you want to you can make it egg beans and potato wedges instead.I used to make slies of corned beef,egg chips and sliced tomato for my tribe when they were younger with a home made rice pud to follow nice and filling and comfort food when its cold outside

splishsplash

I would do up a meal plan for the five weeks until the end of January listing five chicken dishes, five beef dishes, five pork dishes, five fish dishes and five vegetarian dishes.
That covers five days each week, the other two days each week would be pizza day and potluck or 'other' day.

I routinely add a chopped courgette to pot-style meals as I think of them as sponges - they are pretty tasteless but take on the flavour of whatever you're cooking, and they add bulk and texture to everything.

Chicken dishes :
I get approx 700-800g meat from a 1.9kg roast chicken = 7 or 8 portions of 100g each (yes I weight it up!). I either use 1 full portion each for roast dinners or less than one portion each if it's going to have another protein added like nuts, chorizo, bacon, cheese etc., so 2-3 portions for 4 of us. Likewise with chicken breasts - I use 2 or 3 for four of us, bulked out with courgette, chopped veg, etc.
Home made stock made in the slow cooker with the carcass and skin adds depth and flavour to soups, rice dishes, sauces etc.

My meal plan would look something like this:

W1: roast chicken/turkey dinner; chilli beef w/rice; pulled pork in bbq sauce w/wedges; fishcakes w/couscous; stuffed mushrooms w/mash; pizza; chicken soup w/dumplings

W2: chicken pasta pesto; taco mince w/wedges; baked pork chops w/mash; kedgeree; quiche w/potatoes; pizza; falafel in pitta breads

W3: piri piri chicken w/rice; lasagne; roast pork dinner; poached salmon; tortilla; pizza; warm kale salad w/pine nuts, croutons, chopped boiled eggs w/vinaigrette.

W4: chicken enchiladas; burgers; pasta w/bacon and cream cheese; fish pie; mushroom vol-au-vents; pizza; cullen skink w/hm brown bread

W5: chicken and chorizo jambalaya; roast beef dinner; bacon and mushroom pie; pan-fried mackerel; warm pasta salad w/roasted veg; pizza; waldorf salad w/chicken, bacon and croutons.

Standard sides would be steamed veg like carrots, kale, broccoli, swede, parsnips or salads w/lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spring onions, beetroot, grated carrots etc.

Lunches would be soups, salads, toasted sambos, hm brown bread, eggs, ordinary sandwiches, leftovers, etc.

milliemonster

Some absolutely fabulous ideas here, thank you so much, yes I forgot to mention we do have sausage casserole, I tend to buy the frozen packs of casserole veg from farmfoods that are 2 for £1 and use them in my sc, we've also had chicken and chorizo jambalaya a few times too but I had food poisoning earlier in the year after having it one time and it's put me off chorizo for a while!

I do cook a spinach and halloumi frittata (it should have been ricotta but as aldi don't sell ricotta I had to improvise!) so will do that.

I need to meal plan now, anyone got any ideas for left over turkey which we have lots of in the freezer apart from curry?

pavlovs_dog

milliemonster wrote: »

I need to meal plan now, anyone got any ideas for left over turkey which we have lots of in the freezer apart from curry?

personally I'd use it in any dish that works with chicken. I doubt anyone would notice!

Fancynancy77

had turkey, beef and gammon over xmas and have sliced and portioned up all the remainders

I read "we portioned up the reindeers :eek:

sweetilemon

What about homemade soup and toasties/pannis (can buy part bake baguettes for 45p for 2).

Chicken goujons (breadcrumbs and chicken), homemade beef / pork/ turkey burgers, chicken or mince kebabs with roasted veg and pitta bread/rice/cous cous.

Noodle dishes like stir fry or sweet and sour?

Spendless

bbq shredded pork is a fav of mine in the slow cooker.

Spray sides of sc with oil to stop sticking, slice onions enough to layer the bottom, put pork in (I use shoulder as I can get it cheaply from our market), pour bbq sauce over, any whatever you have in. I've used table sauces and cook in sauces before, both come out fine. You need enough to coat the meat but not to submerge. Leave to cook. Take out and 'pull' the meat using 2 forks.

Put 'pulled' meat back into sc where it mixes with the onions and juices, whilst you prepare the accompaniments. I have it with bread buns, HM coleslaw and wedges. There is usually plenty of leftovers which can be used as a filling for wraps or topping for Jacket spuds.

[Deleted User]

Tortilla wraps are cheap as chips and are a great way to 'bulk' out a snack.
I will spread a wrap on the plate and fill with shredded lettuce diced tomato,cucumber and even some chopped up peppers.grate cheese on top wrap it up and voila you have a filling lunchtime meal or with wedges and evening meal.My DGS love these and they all have hollow legs.


Oldest one Ben who is at Uni likes them so much he will do a couple of rashers of bacon and an egg and cover the wrap with tomato ketchup then lay the cooked bacon and egg on top and wrap the whole thing up .he says its a better way when he is at uni than hoping there is bread left in the communal bread bin at his student house as the other boys often pinch the bread and never replace it.So he keeps a stash of wraps in a store in his room so he can always have something to eat when he gets in from his part time night job that he does at a local night club two nights a week. Often you will find the wraps in the reduced section I buy them and freeze wrapped in clingfilm individually so I can get one out at a time for myself 20 seconds in the microwave and its ready to wrap :):)

emmad5689

No water in slow cooker just wrap them in foil, you could stuff the chicken with whatever you wanted too and because it's wrapped in foil it holds anything that melts x

emmad5689

jlhmd666 wrote: »

Do you add water to the slow cooker or just put the foil wrapped chicken in there, thanks.

Try again as it didn't quote!! No water and you could stuff chicken with anything you fancy and cause it's wrapped in foil it holds anything that melts x