My monthly grocery organisation...

pavlovs_dog

its always nice to see how other people do it, if you dont mind posting newlywed, that would be fab :j

newlywed

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

its always nice to see how other people do it, if you dont mind posting newlywed, that would be fab :j

Ok, here's my meals list:-

Fish: Mackerel, fish pie, salmon fillets, sesame salmon with sweet potatoes, prawn omelet, smoke salmon omelet, prawn risotto.

Sausages: Sausage casserole, smoke pork sausage cassoulet, sausage and mash, smoke pork sausage and mash, Toady hole

Mince: Lasagna, Shep pie, mince bake itallienne, pasta bolognaise, meatballs, turkey meatball casserole, chilli.

Pork/gammon: Pork chops and mash, cheesy chops and chips, sweet and sour chops, gammon steaks, boiled gammon, pork joint, ham omelet, bacon omelet.

Chicken/Turkey: Roast chicken, chicken risotto, chicken leek pie, chicken leek cobbler, chick leek pancakes, chicken cougere, chicken stirfry, chicken dopiaza, sweet sour chicken, turkey curry, turkey steaks.

Carbs: (OH avoids these so do them rarely): Risotto, pasta, rice onion and potatoes (cooked in stock), cannelloni, lasagne

Lunches (when at home): Pizza, pasta, toasted sarnies, cheese on toast with beans, jackets, HM burgers, sausage and mash, soup and rolls, pita pizzas, salads, bacon sarnies, eggy bread.

newlywed

When I do the whole month, I can make sure we don't have fish pie and shep pie too close together etc and usually only do omelet once a week or so.

mandy_moo_1

hi newly wed
if its possible do you think you could post the recipe for mince bake itallienne....it sounds lovely but i haven't a clue what it is!! :rotfl:

also, how do you make chicken risotto? i've never made risotto before...do you have to buy special risotto rice, or can you just use the ordinary white rice you'd use that goes with a curry when you make it?

thanks x

newlywed

mandy_moo_1 wrote: »

hi newly wed
if its possible do you think you could post the recipe for mince bake itallienne....it sounds lovely but i haven't a clue what it is!! :rotfl:

Here you go - really easy

Do a usual mince bolognaise sauce (fairly thick one or the next step mixes in) - put in a casserole dish.
Add a layer of cheese sauce (usual white sauce with cheese added like for a lasagna). Pour the cheese sauce over mince
Butter 3 slices of white bread on one side and cut each slice into 9 pieces.
Lay the bread pieces (butter side up) on the top of the white sauce.

Bake in the oven for about 20 mins or until bread starts to crisp and go golden.

Serve with veg (or salad - mum said )

It's bit like lasagna without the pasta - the kids love it too and it's so easy

mandy_moo_1 wrote: »

also, how do you make chicken risotto? i've never made risotto before...do you have to buy special risotto rice, or can you just use the ordinary white rice you'd use that goes with a curry when you make it?

I use proper risotto rice (arborio) - but that's coz I prefer it - mum always used normal white rice as Dad was fussy

Fry an onion in some oil. Fry off chopped chicken pieces till browned, (or if using left overs from the roast then just add them to the pan and stir).

Add the amount of rice suggested on the packet for the amount of people . Stir and fry gently for a few mins.
Add a few dried herbs, eg thyme. Then add enough hot stock (I prefer to use beef stock with the chicken as it makes it more tastey) to just cover the rice, stir. Gently simmer. Keep checking and stirring (tends to stick otherwise) although I don't do this constantly. Add more hot stock as needed. Add in frozen peas or sweetcorn near the end (Cherry tomatoes or anything you fancy).

Serve when the rice is nice and soft and there's not much liquid left. (or fat swollen and creamy if using proper risotto rice)

If you have any left over white wine (rare for us) it's nice to add that to the gently fried rice before adding the stock. It's also nice with leftover gammon, or prawns (but for ready cooked, defrosted, prawns add them in a few mins before the rice is finished cooking just to heat through)

MissPennyPincher

great idea the meal planning - something i do with my man that guarantees I cook both what he wants and what I want to eat is place a white board in the kitchen which is the next week's "Meal Wish List". So if he has a hankering for pizza or chicken fajitas he just jots it down and when I plan the meals for the next week I make sure I pickup (or have on hand) the ingredients to make the requested meals. It's fun too because it gives me a challenge sometime to create to as near as possible taste as what we'd have in a restaurant at 4 times the price!

I feel shy/silly asking this but you all have these lovely chicken curry's included in your meal lists. Does anyone have a recipe for a really good one? I've never actually tried making a chicken curry as of yet thanks!

r.mac_2

the easiest curry recipe I have is a lamb curry - you brown chunks of lamb in a pan with a little oil, then add some chopped onion and your preferred spices and some chopped chillis if you like. You could use a curry paste which you buy in the supermarket (you use a tablespoon or two and it keeps for ages in the fridge). fry for a few mins until aromatic and then add some tinned chopped tomatoes and simmer for about 45mins. This is even better if left overnight and eaten the next day.

for thai chicken curry I use a spice base found in the supermarket and brown some chicken in a pan and the spice base - I add a variety of chopped veg (last night was baby corn, some corgettes, chopped aubergine and red pepper as well as an onion). Add some chopped ginger, some lemongrass and a tin of coconut milk. simmer gently for about 20 mins. just before serving add a few drops of thai fish sauce and juice of a lime. serve with rice and corriander.

For the ultimate chicken curry - I use Curry Queen's recipe. It's amazing! http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=980039&postcount=1

hope this helps x

MissPennyPincher

r.mac wrote: »

the easiest curry recipe I have is a lamb curry - you brown chunks of lamb in a pan with a little oil, then add some chopped onion and your preferred spices and some chopped chillis if you like. You could use a curry paste which you buy in the supermarket (you use a tablespoon or two and it keeps for ages in the fridge). fry for a few mins until aromatic and then add some tinned chopped tomatoes and simmer for about 45mins. This is even better if left overnight and eaten the next day.

for thai chicken curry I use a spice base found in the supermarket and brown some chicken in a pan and the spice base - I add a variety of chopped veg (last night was baby corn, some corgettes, chopped aubergine and red pepper as well as an onion). Add some chopped ginger, some lemongrass and a tin of coconut milk. simmer gently for about 20 mins. just before serving add a few drops of thai fish sauce and juice of a lime. serve with rice and corriander.

For the ultimate chicken curry - I use Curry Queen's recipe. It's amazing! http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=980039&postcount=1

hope this helps x

Awesome, thanks r.mac - Sounds yummy, I'll be trying those out.

pavlovs_dog

thought i'd share someting ive been working on for my household manual. the idea of themed nights as a basis for meal planning really appeals to me, because its easy to fall into a rut of eating the same things week in, week out.

listed below is the start of my themed night lists. im confident that it will grow, as im finding inspiration all over the place. its pretty generic, to allow flexability more than anything.

say for example the ROAST was chicken, then this would be s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d, so the rice dish could become chicken risotto, followed by chicken curry another night.

there's room for a fair amount of overlap. chicken curry could go under meat, but seeing as we'd never serve it without rice it could also go in the rice category.

no sides are mentioned, as these are normally very easy to choose once you've picked a main item.

ROAST
Joint – chicken, lamb, beef, pork
Pie
Sausages
Casserole
Sheperds pie
Toad in the hole


PASTA
Lasagne
Ravioli
Gnocci
Bacon and mushroom tagliatelle
bolgnaise
tuna pasta bake
macaroni cheese
carbonara
noodles

RICE
Risotto
Chilli con carne
Kedgeree
Chicken supreme
Bbq chicken
Egg fried rice
Cous cous
Paella


FISH
Smoked fish
Fish cakes
Fish fingers
Fish pie
Baked fish
Breaded/battered fish


MEAT
Fajitas
Chops
Southern fried chicken
Curry
Stirfry
Sweet and sour
Steak
casserole
corned beef hash
kievs
chicken chasseur
meatballs
burgers
hotdogs
gammon
faggots
meatloaf
sausages


VEGGIE
Soup
Cheese and potato pie
Veggie burgers
Ratatouille
omlette
veg crumble/bake
baked butternut squash
stuffed peppers
nut roast


EASY/CHEATS/ POT LUCK
Pizza
Jacket potatoes
Something on toast
Yellow stickered ready meals
Soup
Leftovers
Ploughmans
Take away
Bubble and squeak
Omlette
nachos
quiche
pasty

kazmeister

Hi, here's my thoughts on meal planning

For whatever reasons I had cupboardfuls and freezers full of food but still didnt know what to do for tea each night and invariably went and bought more. OH didnt help either as when he picked DD up from school they used to go to Mr T's and he would come home with carrier bags of yellow stickered stuff.

I however realised it was ridiculous and started by making a list of everything in the freezer which I now keep in a folder in the kitchen which I have been using for over a year now. I date it when I put it in so I can rotate the older stuff as I used to find stuff that had been in there 2 - 3 years! Recently I have made a list of cupboard contents and I have a lot as well.

I now meal plan as follows
1 x Roast day
1 x Pasta day
1 x Rice day
1 x Meat day
1 x Fish day
1 x Snack day
1 x Other day

This gives us a variety and you will soon build up loads of different things to do (I have just recently checked my old lists and found that the max amount we have had 1 dish is 6 times in 15 weeks)

I start with the roast (using what I have from the freezer) as usually I can get another meal for the 4 of us (2 kids 9 and 15). So roast pork on Sunday becomes sweet n sour pork eg on Tuesday (which would become Rice day) so thats 2 days done and to the shopping list I have added veg, a jar of sweet n sour sauce ( i use Sharwoods small jar with no bits in) and maybe a pineapple (as hate tinned). Then I find something from the freezer to fill in one of the other days and then only add things to the shopping list that we havent got. To me its a really easy plan to follow and it seems to work and I dont do anything too complicated. Snack day is usually planned around when we have to rush out to sports clubs etc and need something quick.

Heres some ideas
Roast - Chicken, Pork, Beef. Lamb, Turkey
Pasta - Spag bol, Macaroni cheese, Sausage pasta, Pasta Carbonara,
Meat - Cold roast, chips n beans, Pork chops, Lamb chops, Sausage and Mash. Sausage casserole, Shepherds or Cottage pie (made by mincing leftover roast), Toad in the hole, Beef casserole (with dumplings) Liver & Bacon, Spanish Stew, Stedak PIe n veg.
Fish - Fish fingers, Tuna/Tomato stew, Grilled Rainbow Trout (both kids love it), Fish cakes, Pan fried cod with HM chips or mash, Fish casserole.
Rice - Chicken Curry, Sweet n Sour, Chilli con Carne (mild for kids) Kebabs with a rice salad, Kedgeree or anything served with rice
Snacks - Sausage Pasta, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Tortilla wraps, Fish n Chips, Omelette, Chicken and Ham rolls, Burgers, Quiche, Jacket Potatoes, Salad
Other - Can be a duplication of any other day, a takeaway, Meal out, or leftovers from the fridge/freezer.

By using this plan I have really reduced the contents of my freezer (but not emptied it yet) and if I see a special offer at least now I have the room to put it in. It also means that I can check what I need for the next day and get it out of the freezer in advance so that when I get in from work at 5 we can have tea on the table by 6 instead of 8!

In addition to the above I love Easycook magazine which comes out every couple of months which I get loads of ideas from, a lot of which can be cooked in 30 minutes.

I will try and find my list I did for the month and add that too

HTH

Found it
sun 4 Roast Chicken/roasties/veg
mon 5 Sesame pork noodles
tues 6 Chicken Fajitas
wed 7 Iffits - these are leftovers found in either fridge or freezer!
thur 8 mackeral fillets/JP/salad
fri 9 Sweet n sour pork/rice
sat 10 Hot n spicy chicken/chips

sun 11 Roast Beef/roasties/veg *
mon 12 Pea/Bacon risotto
tues 13 Spag Bol
wed 14 Iffits
thur 15 Cheese n potato pie/baked beans
fri 16 Sardines somehow as been in freezer too long
sat 17 Chicken casserole/mash/veg

sun 18 Roast Lamb/roasties/veg *
mon 19 Rainbow Trout/JP/Salad
tues 20 Shepherds pie/veg
wed 21 Liver n bacon/veg
thurs 22 Lamb curry
fri 23 Beefburgers in buns
sat 24 Tagliatelle carbonara

sun 25 Roast chicken/roasties/veg
mon 26 Sweet n sour chicken/rice
tues 27 Seabass/new pts/veg
wed 28 mega omelette
thurs 29 Macaroni cheese
fri 30 Fish risotto
sat 31 steak n chips

and the previous month

Roast chicken/roasties/veg
Salmon Encroute/new pots/veg
Chicken Tikka/rice
Sausage casserole/mash
Iffits
Rainbow trout/pots/veg
Tagliatelle carbonara

Roast pork/roasties/veg
Cheese n potato pie/baked beans
Chicken breast/gravy/mash /veg
Spaghetti bolognese
Omelette/chips
Shoulder Lamb/veg/mash (should have been a fish day but OH got lamb on reduced shelf!)
Pea/Ham risotto

Roast Beef/roasties/veg
Spaghetti bolognese (again - I know!)
Spanish Stew
Cottage Pie
Kedgeree
Cheesy nachos plus chilli n rice as extra peeps turned up for tea
Fish n chips

Roast Lamb/roasties/veg
Fish Risotto
Pork chops/mash/veg
Rainbow trout/JP/Salad (Again but I had about 6 in the freezer!)
Pizza/chips
Iffits
Sausage Pasta