Kitchen revolution - meal plans for a whole year!

blueberrypie

A few years ago, in Canada, I bought a similar system called More Time Cooks, produced by a company called More Time Moms. I see they have a website at http://www.moretimemoms.ca/aboutus.html although the original product that I bought isn't there. It was a box of recipe cards, weekly mealplans, grocery-lists and other bits and pieces - eight weeks worth of it. It was fantastic - the recipes were good, there was nothing complicated about them and they provided a well-balanced diet at a reasonable cost. I later bought two more versions of it - More Time Cooks for Couples, and More Time Cooks Vegetarian - and still have them. Although I haven't followed the mealplans in quite a few years, I still use many of the recipes regularly. I see they're now selling a similar system in book form, although I admit I quite liked the cards.

artichoke

well i have just done an order online with sainsburys (not the cheapest i know) for the items i need for a weeks food

i am doing march week 1 - next week (yes i know it is march weeks 2 but i have a craving for the pork:rolleyes: )

i have a well stocked pantry, and we grow our own seasonal veg so most of the veg will be from the garden apart from onions, butternut squash, celery,

i have already bought the pork from the butchers (local meat from a farm behind my house - i probably used to pat the cows head every day whilst walking the dog...

I have bought bone in pork rather than rolled (its cheaper but will need slow cooking - that is ok as i can adapt the recipe)

the pork was £6 and the rest of the weeks ingredients that i don't already have come to £10 or so....

admittedly i have adapted some recipes (I am ignoring the goats cheese on toast accompanyment to the soup - my family will have to make do with homemade crusty bread) and i do have a very well stocked store cupboard, and a garden full of winter veg...

but i will let you know how it works out....

i can see a problem for me with this menu plan - they seem to eat lots of fish and we live in the Peak District with no local fishmongers... so might have to do something else on those weeks...

art

septemberblues

I never meal plan, I just eat whatever, whenever, but I think this idea is fantastic, I'm going to buy the pork for week 1 and follow all the recipes for the whole week! The baked pork and cabbage sounds lovely..............

artichoke

ok - lets do it together for week 1 - i am so looking forward to sunday and mondays pork dishes

if we do it together we can swap notes...

does the friday menu display on your computer - it does not on mine

art

artichoke

my bone in pork is cooking as i type....

i have cooked the pork the Jamie Oliver way - 6 hours on low, it is a very big joint - although i know there is a bone in there so until i cut into it and see how big the bone is i don't know how much leftovers there will be .


I have now realized that friday's meal is a meal from the freezer ie one that you cooked double quantities and froze the week before....

not sure how that is supposed to work for a complete beginner in week 1 but as i always batch cook it is not a problem here as we have loads of lasagne fillings, and chilli etc bagged up in the freezer.

Looking at more of the recipes i can see that a lot of this is "posher" cooking than i would normally do - but as i am doing this to get me out of my rut of the same old dishes i will give it a go and see what happens.

I am ignoring some of the "posher" more expensive bits and substituting for things my family would eat. I am only cooking for me (DH on some nights but not all) and a 3 and 4 year old, so i may need to simplify things a bit.


anyone else cooking from this menu plan this week?

art

art

Restaholic

Have any of you seen the meal planning thread on here? I find it useful for getting ideas and v friendly - people share recipes etc

artichoke

well - i bought the ingedients but now the online recipes have disappeared:mad:

i cooked the roast pork yesterday and have just looked online to find the pork and red cabbage bake recipe, and they are no longer there.....

is it just me? maybe they only display for a certain amount of time to make you buy the book...

oh well - it still displays the menu plan for week 1 march

roast pork

pork and red cabbage bake

squash soup

bean crumble

parsnip and swede veg cakes with spinash and eggs

vegetable cobbler


and i have the ingredients - now i just need to make up the recipes!

aghg - i thought it was too good to be true - a free menu plan and recipe site

art:mad:

blueberrypie

artichoke wrote: »

well - i bought the ingedients but now the online recipes have disappeared:mad:

i cooked the roast pork yesterday and have just looked online to find the pork and red cabbage bake recipe, and they are no longer there.....

is it just me? maybe they only display for a certain amount of time to make you buy the book...

...
aghg - i thought it was too good to be true - a free menu plan and recip"e site

art:mad:

It says on the site:

This website will feature the current week’s recipes as well as recipe and ingredient lists for the whole year. Check back each week for a brand new set of recipes or buy the book to get the full recipe set as well as extra pudding recipes and helpful tips on choosing the best ingredients.

But then on each week's page (including all the March weeks), it says:

Full recipe details for this week are available in 'The Kitchen Revolution'. Out now in hardback.

Benefit of doubt: maybe they took down last week's recipes and forgot to put up the recipes for this week.

Still...not very impressive!

artichoke

hi

can anyone who has the book give me the recipe for the pork and red cabbage...

i was quite looking forward to a red cabbage recipe as i have loads of red cabbage in the garden i would love some more ideas for how to use up..

the rest of the weeks recipes i am not bothered about i will just use the veg up in my own made up things....

but the cabbage and red pork did sound very nice...

art

Blairweech

I borrowed this book from the library recently. I think I would give it 3/5

Pros
- Fantastic idea, to have a weeks menu which uses up leftovers in an exciting way (as opposed to last-nights-dinner-reheated)
- There are some really lovely recipes which will definitely get you out of your cooking rut
- Definitely does save you time, as long as you read the recipe beforehand so you kinda know what to do. I liked the way the recipes have timings alongside it, I found this particularly helpful

Cons
- The typeface is particularly small and awkward to read
- No pictures
- Menus are on the expensive side, and you have to buy breakfast and lunch on top
- Food is definitely gourmet (which is sometimes nice, but sometimes you will just yearn for a burger!)
- Not very family friendly, especially if there are fussy tastes in your family
- No good for a beginner cook

I'm glad I borrowed it from the library and didn't buy it tbh. Unfortunately (as some of you have already found out), the recipes on the website don't always 'work' and I have found they don't always tally with the book e.g.missing vegetable side dishes which the book has recipes for, and various little extras about buying food. The puddings are not listed online either.

If there was an 'Old Style' version of this which was more budget friendly I certainly think it would be a bestseller :money:. Have we not considered making an Old Style cookbook?