any advice would be greatly appreciated!

bridget81

i think i need some help in the meal planning and cooking department,

firstly, i love fish and my OH is allergic to fish and cream.
secondly, OH loves meat and i only eat chicken, prefer quorn or veggie stuff.
thirdly, i have a 2 & 1/2 little lad who will eat anything (still working on green veg though) so i want meals as healthy as possible.
fourthly I CANNOT COOK!! - i could burn water!!!

i find meal planning really difficult because of the difference in our diets. Plus it is something i have never been brought up with, my relationship with mum was never how should be, so only cooking i got taught was by grandma but she lives in spain so wasnt a regular 'teaching session', and when mum left me and dad just plodded along and he was the same as me, couldnt cook, so we burnt water together!

WEEKENDS

weekends i end up cooking 2 meals, i can make a cottage pie, one withmeat for OH and son and one with quorn mince for me, (this takes me a least an hour and half to make! like i said i'm rubbish at cooking!)

OH works sat till 4pm so lunch tends to be butty, soup, beans on toast (although since discovering how much salt is in a tin of beans i dont really like giving them to my son) quich and salad so sat lunch is sorted (horay!)

sunday is difficult, as lunch we end up going to a fast food place which i hate (what a waste of money) so i am trying to do scrambled egg on toast, or poached egg on toast with mushrooms, something breakfasty so accomodate OH as he gets up late, but to work as a light lunch for my son.

sunday tea is back to cooking 2 meals, again i struggle.

evenings - well, it is whatever can go in an oven with a couple of veg's. this is where i get disheartened as i would like to be able to cook a nice tea, thats cost effective and some nights that we can both eat as it takes its toll after a while cooking 2 meals every day. OH can cook really well, from scratch ( as i call it) too, but he would rather pay for a takeaway £20 than cook. (again this is money that could go towards debt £80 a month!! - he is still in the dark with debts, not debts as we can afford them, so i'm trying to reduce where i can but compromising with a takeaway twice a month, so saving £40, but one is from a BOGOF pizza place)

we both work really hard, i'm up at 6.30am weekdays and get home about 5.45pm, play with my son, bath story and bed, and up about 7am weekends, so i dont have much energy to spend an hour cooking in the kitchen every day! OH gets home from work about 6.30pm ( he has own business so works late and sometimes works 7 days).

Deary me, so sorry for long post!

any help with simple meals even i could cook, or suggestions wehre i can make two versions of the same meal, one with meat and one meat free would be very gratefully accepted

CLARABEL

meals that could be meaty and veggie...

well to start with, there are the easy ones for the week

jacket spuds - various fillings
pasta - tomato / bolognese sace
risotto - mushroom / bacon
chilli - veg / meat
curry - quorn/chicken/prawn
fajitas - veg / chicken
chicken (and bacon) salad


these are just a few of my mid week easy staples. i would bulk make and freeze chillis etc to save time / effort of two meals in the future...

hTH

Clara.xx:D

bridget81

aw thanks for that clare, i completely forgot about jacket potatoes! going to try to compile some form of meal planner for this week before i go to tesco..

thanks again

HariboJunkie

What about omlettes with different fillings, pizza (buy the bases if you can't make them) with veggie, non veggie toppings and pasta with different sauces.

ellas9602

Hi Bridget

A slow cooker may really help you. You can bung things in at night, switch it on in the morning and it's ready when you get home.
You can stick a whole chicken in there and it will be done when you get home.
When you are cooking cottage pie on the weekend make LOADS. It doesn't take much longer to make large quantities. You can freeze the filling and the mash seperatly, take it out of the freezer in a morning and assemble when you get home.
If you all like chicken thats not a bad start, chicken stew, chicken pie (use mash potato top if you're not confident with pastry), chicken curry, chicken soup, chicken pastys, chicken hotpot, chicken pasta bake, mexican chicken wraps.

have 'something on toast night' or soup night, serve with a pud if they feel badly done to (easy things like bananna split or fruit and yoghurt)
My OH hates quorn but devoured nearly an entire leftover pie on monday, he said that was lovely and I started laughing. he went a bit red and said '..it's quorn innit!'
When using mince for OH always stick a least a handful of soya mince in, my OH has never noticed. (p.s bags of dried soya mice are much better/cheaper than quorn).

you can buy pizza bases (or make your own if you have time, there are some easy recipes on OS) for a weekend treat.
Try to recreate home versions of the takeaways you like.
pasta's a good one. you can partly cook it then cover it in a sauce, soup works well, add veggies top with cheese.
save all leftovers, bits of bread can become a bread and butter pudding (v easy to make) leftover gravy can come in handy to serve with quick grilled meat etc etc...
Online shopping is great. You only buy what you need and have time to really think about it. there are always voucher codes for £10 off (theres one for £10 off when you spend £50 at the moment. PM me if you want it) and it saves your precious time.
If you stick with it you'll soon become confident.
jsut a few idea's, I'm sure I'll be back with more and someone else will be back with better!
Good luck x

daisyroots_2

I'm sure you'll get loads of recipes from other OS ers, here's what I made yesterday, to be eaten today. We're off out in a minute, so I'm leaving it to heat up slowly.

Cassoulet - you'll find recipes all over the place - just google, but it's canellini beans, soaked for 24 hours, then cooked with chopped onion, carrots, garlic, tomato puree and any kind of meat you like and any herbs you have lying around. I've seen recipies with lamb, duck, chicken, pork and even veggie versions with veggie sausages. Most versions involve cubed, stale or toasted bread on the top, which sinks in and thickens it. This is v. cheap dish.

I know you say you can't cook, but start by soaking the beans, google up a few recipies and don't worry too much about quantities - and just bung in the things you like or want to use up. The only things that seem to be absolutely essential are the beans and some kind of sausage, either cut up into one inch bits, or whole. Mine has a wild mallard duck, which was greatly reduced in the supermarket yesterday, four chicken sausages and two chicken legs which needed using up, the last 3 carrots from the bottom of the fridge, a squirt of tomato puree, a bit of thyme which needed using up, the last sad leaves of the basil plant on the kitchen windowsill, and half a pint of water. I soaked about 10 oz of beans, but didn't weigh them, for 24 hours in a saucepan. Chucked the soaking water, added fresh (cos fermentation starts, which is why beans can make you fart if you don't change the water) Boiled for 1 hour or until softish. Got big casserole dish, bunged in all the stuff - didn't have enough garlic really, but used the 3 cloves I had left, 2 bayleaves off our tiny tree and all the ingredients mentioned above.

Then into a low oven for 4 or 5 hours, or longer if you like. A solid, peasanty dish which sticks to the ribs. Make a big pot and you won't have to cook for days.

bridget81

thank-you for your suggestions, i made the wraps last night as tesco had the fajitta packets on half price which was good :T and they were actually edible after i cooked them! :rotfl: think we'll have jacket spuds tonight as we're both working late

ellas9602

sounds good :T

let us know how you get on with a Meal plan for your shoppong trip.

dannahaz

HI bridget

Another thing to try is to cook double of each meal, and then freeze one portion. This way you will have ready meals in the freezer.

If you're up to it, just double cook both meals. Then, another day you only need to do one from scratch and you can get the other one from the freezer.

My DH and I often eat different meals, and this works for us.

bridget81

thanks dannahaz thats a really good idea, luckily i've not had to do much cooking, last night we went to a friends bonfire and food was free just had to take own drinks and iceland had a fab offer on lemonade £1 for a big bottle with 100% extra free..
sat lunch was simple cheese on toast, did jacket spuds friday, thursday was pasta..
today lunch will be easy as my lad is at a birthday party, and for tea think it will be mash, veg and sausages for them 2 and veggi ones for me..
i did my shop last week and spent £26.50 (inc fruit, yoghurts, bread, milk, loo roll, some toiletries, cereal)
this week planning to do:
saugsage caserole (OH loves sausages byt the way!)
found a quiche in freezer so quiche and new potatoes & salad
pasta bake - tuna for me! & mushrooms and bacon for him
ommelettes
chicken parcel things with wedges and veg (again found in freezer!)
chicken and rice with a jar sauce! chips for OH as he doesnt like rice
spicy chicken wings with wedges again found in the freezer

then we're back to sunday!

phew thats one week done!

thanks for all your help : )

bridget81

just been out to shed freezer and found 5 packets of bacon, a couple of meat joints (dont ask me what though, OH will know!) some ice cream, 6 t bone steaks, some normal steaks, some covered in some pepper stuff.. and OH is telling me he has no food! He's got enough meat to open a butchers!!!

this month should be a very cheap shopping month then, cos he only needs bits to go with it all! Horay!