Meal Planning Monday - the end of school year edition!

And it can't come soon enough. Just so many things have been going on - last week felt like a omplete whirl of events and commitments. Now, we're just down to the last 3 days of school. No school commitments other than getting them to school and back, no more dancing lessons - only swimming lessons for one more week and cricket throughout the summer. Hurrah!

My week kind of looks like end of year, in a kind of stumbling over the line way too.

Monday - Cheesy lentils
Tuesday  - Slow cooker lamb and mango pilau
Wednesday - Sweetcorn and ham salad
Thursday - Smoked cheese, onion and mushroom quiche
Friday - Cheesy beans and bacon quesadillas
Saturday - Chicken wings, sweet potato and coleslaw
Sunday - Roast pork

Happy holidays everyone! Don't forget Mrs M has the MPM linky.

Meal Planning Monday - the real Easter holidays edition!

I know, I know.  I didn't post last week. No idea why - just insanely busy. I did a meal plan though and we ate well. Nothing special - toad in the hole was the children's highlight of the week.

I have cobbled something together for this second week of the holidays. And we are all off. Husband is off work, I'm off work and the children off school. They spent 4 days of last week back at school at a holiday club, whilst I got through a week of year end. They had a ball but it did make them very tired as they played about 4 different sports every day. It was like a week full of PE lessons! This week is going to be quiet, home time and down time.

The plan is writ and the food is all bought, courtesy of a trip to the supermarket with Missy Woo on Sunday afternoon.

Monday - Boerenkool Stamppot
Tuesday - Chicken pasta bake
Wednesday - Beef enchiladas
Thursday - Sweet potato and ginger soup
Friday - Slow cooker bacon joint, probably with egg and chips
Saturday - Keeping free (also known as making it up)
Sunday - Roast dinner

Don't forget there are more meal plans over at Mrs M's which you can discover by clicking on the badge top right.

Meal Planning Monday - a birthday week edition!

I'm shattered after my weekend away working but I've just cobbled my plan together. I'm not cooking much over the weekend as Monkey is 9 on Sunday. How'd that happen? He's having a party Saturday afternoon so Saturday is likely to be frozen pizza.

The rest of the week is planned, mostly from this month's Good Food which landed on my doorstep this weekend. If you want a recipe, wait a few weeks and it will appear on their site.

Monday - Spring chicken paella
Tuesday - Lamb and chickpea fritter wraps
Wednesday - Smoky bacon and tomato spaghetti
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Boerenkool Stamppot
Saturday - Freezer stuff
Sunday - Out for birthday tea

That's my week. More meal plans will be at Mrs M's. (Badge above).

Meal Planning Monday - the quiet February week edition!

At least that's what I'm hoping!

Last week felt insanely busy and I ended it feeling meh for lots of reasons. I've got a bit of a cold that comes and goes, and on Saturday, my foot started hurting periodically without doing anything (other than a bit of jogging). So I sat down that afternoon, planned the week and stuck in a grocery order (motivated just a bit by a 10% off code in my email) so I could have a quiet Sunday, mostly child free as they went off to visit the in-laws. I had a morning of doing nothing, putting away said groceries and an afternoon of making a roast and some bread.

I'm hoping the week continues in this calm vein, although it's parents evening this week (for me, afternoon...) and Friday is the end of this half term, which is the halfway point in the school year. Wow. Nothing else special on so I've got some new things to try and one carry over from last week because I gave up and went to find a new chippy.

Monday - Bhaji frittata
Tuesday - Slow cooker Thai coconut chicken soup
Wednesday - Cheesy lentils
Thursday - Slow cooker bacon, smoked cheddar and egg casserole
Friday - Arabian lamb mince
Saturday - Cauliflower and broccoli cheese
Sunday - keeping free for now

That's it. Next week will of course be the half term edition, which will only be half a week as we are away for one night and late back another.

And in the meantime, you go over to Mrs M's and see the other entries in Meal Planning Monday. Click the badge above to enter a world of meal plans.

Meal Planning Monday - the February at last edition!

You know I thought January went on forever. I won't go on about it anymore except to say "February, yay!" I don't know why I am saying that because this week appears to be stupidly busy. Tonight, the children are taking part in a Young Voices concert in Manchester so are going on a coach there at lunchtime with the rest of the school choir, rehearsing then staying for the concert. We're going of course, then going home and picking them up. It will be a late night for them and then Missy goes on a school trip to Salford on Tuesday. And to top it all off,  Monkey starts back at cricket nets on Tuesday evening. Eventually, life returns to normal somewhere around Wednesday (ish) and I think hoping for a fast arrival of the weekend. I don't usually wish the week away but tired children usually equals grumpy children in our house.

This is what we are having this week.

Monday - bacon butties for the grown ups, kids are taking a packed tea with them
Tuesday - Cauliflower cheese and jackets
Wednesday - Chilli and cornbread (held over from last week)
Thursday - Roasted butternut squash and carrot soup
Friday - Bhaji frittata
Saturday - Salmon, dill and mushroom lasagne
Sunday - Roast dinner (not sure which yet, we went shopping in Waitrose and I can't afford 90% of their joints)

Mrs M's is open for business (or should be soon) and you can see lots and lots other interesting meal plans. Click on the badge above to discover lots of meal planning loveliness.

Meal Planning Monday (Tuesday?) - the extremely late summer edition!

Yes, OK, I'm late. A whole day, in fact. I have an excuse - we were down south until Monday morning, and having called in to see some of my family on our way home, we didn't get home until Monday evening. I wasn't organised enough to have a plan ahead of time, let alone do a post, so I had to scribble one down with Missy Woo offering me suggestions from a summer book the children managed to acquire this weekend.

This week is a big one for husband - he's competing in the Ironman at Bolton on Sunday so he's off this week preparing for it. Hence the pasta on Saturday night. Apart from that, it's a normal summer holiday week. Oh yes, not quite - the children are running 1.2km for Ironkids on Saturday morning.

Here's the week (obviously, starting on Tuesday - we ate at services on the way home) in meals.

Tuesday- BBQ chicken and sweet potato
Wednesday - Sausage and roast veg couscous
Thursday - Leek and bacon frittata
Friday -  Asian chicken, mandarin and cashew salad
Saturday - Veggie macaroni cheese
Sunday - Homemade fish fingers

If you are still after some meal planning inspiration, get yourself over to Mrs M's. Click the badge above to find it.

Meal Planning Monday - the Monkey birthday edition

As the title suggests, it's Monkey's birthday this week. Friday to be precise, when he turns seven and obviously, this week's meal plan reflects the change to usual routine that this will provide. We're having a party at home, which I have not done in years for him and so, Saturday is a bit of a write off. He's asked to go out to Pizza Hut for tea on the Friday so we're going to be very pizza-ed out! That leaves us only 4 meals to plan this week as Thursday is always a riot of after-school activity so we just tend to have sandwiches for simplicity and speed.

Here, in meals, is our week. The recipes I'm using are from the latest edition of Good Food, which landed on my doorstep just as I was doing an online shop. None of the recipes are currently on their site, so I can't link to them but they will be there in a week or two.

Monday - Cod (well, white fish) with bacon, lettuce and peas
Tuesday - Smoky bean, bacon and eggy bread bake
Wednesday - Singapore noodles
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Pizza Hut
Saturday - party so leaving free - probably leftover pizza but we'll see.
Sunday - Potato frittata with pesto and goats cheese

I also have some ideas in my locker for next week already, but you'll have to wait until next week for those. In the meantime, let me know what's on your menu and don't forget to check out Mrs M for MPM entries.

Meal Planning Monday

Third week of the holidays! My, it's flying. Last week's plan went OK but the campers brought some sausages home which went in the slow cooker, meaning we never got round to having burgers and we never got to have the roast on Sunday as we were invited to a very last minute family get-together on Sunday. Whilst the children were saway, I found some paneer in Asda and made a fantastic paneer and spinach curry.

As I'm writing this on Sunday night and I don't feel overly enthused with eating as I'm stuffed from the party. Do not expect miracles! Here's this week's plan: