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 - the Easter holidays edition!

So yeah, Easter holidays. Husband has just worked the whole of the Easter weekend so this week, we are off with a vengeance. We have a few things to go out and about to but we're not off anywhere so it's a pretty normal week of meals. Despite that, I've had various requests from the children and husband for different things so I have gone with them - couldn't be bothered to fight and we might as well have something different.

This is it.

Monday - Fish fingers (children's choice!)
Tuesday - Pizza (possibly, we're out in the afternoon)
Wednesday - Vegetable chilli and rice
Thursday - A curry of undetermined type
Friday - Keeping free
Saturday -  Bacon and ricotta oven baked frittata
Sunday - Tandoori chicken

Certainly not that inspired but the children will be (mostly) happy. What about you? What's on your menu this week? Click on the badge to discover more meal plans over at Mrs M's.

(PS and no, this is not an April fool!)

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 - the mid-January doldrums edition

I'm not really sure why I called this the "mid-January doldrums" - because I'm in a relatively good mood but January seems like such a long month, doesn't it? I've chosen, mostly from Good Food again because the February edition seems to have some lovely recipes in this month and I want to try all of them. This menu was cobbled together quickly when we got a 25% off Ocado voucher in an email but it wasn't difficult this week. I may have to change Friday but apart from that, we're good to go and as the food is already here, all I have to do is cook it, and I'm looking forward to trying some of these.

Monday - Full English frittata with smoky beans
Tuesday - Light chicken korma
Wednesday - Fish pie
Thursday - Soup and sandwiches
Friday - Spinach and chickpea curry with naan
Saturday - kept free
Sunday - Pork stir fry with honey and ginger

Another week of meals done! So, what's on your menu this week? Tell me and don't forget to check out At Home With Mrs M for more Meal Planning Monday entries.

Meal Planning Monday

Time to plan those meals again! We're just recovering from half term; in fact, the children don't actually go back to school until tomorrow, but I'm planning a quiet day as we've had a busy week and we could do with some down time.

No special theme for the week; just a few things we like with the odd twist on old favourites. A few are from the Netmums "Feeding kids" book which I've had for a few years and find really useful for family meals, especially in the colder parts of the year. Honey and mustard pork rears its head again, because Monkey insists on having it every few weeks as he absolutely loves it. Seriously!

Meal Planning Monday - the half term version

Yes, it's half term but you already knew that, didn't you? The children are off school and off on adventures. We've already had one or two and we have a few more lined up for them. One of them is the children are going to Blackpool tonight to stay with their grandparents so they can go see the illuminations. We're off to London on Friday too. I'm trying to ensure we eat well but some of the time, cooking might not be top priority. I've been asked to provide carbs as my husband is in his final stages of preparing for a 3 day run along the Ridgeway in November and is doing some long runs. It's also high time I started breaking out the slow cooker a lot more so a couple of slow cooker dishes make it in this week.

Here's this week's meals anyway.

Monday - Salmon pesto pasta
Tuesday - Lightly spiced slow cooker beef with mash
Wednesday - Mexican Ranch style eggs
Thursday - Slow cooker lamb curry with naan
Friday - Leaving free
Saturday - Bacon and pepper frittata
Sunday - Roast chicken

Now all you have to do is tell me what you're having this week, then pop over to Mrs M's blog to check out the other entries in this week's Meal Planning Monday.

And happy half term!

Meal Planning Monday - with a difference!

This week, my meal plans are a bit different. This is because this week, my meal planning and shopping have been done for me! I'm taking part in the Sainsbury's Feed your family for £50 campaign which includes a week's meal plan to feed four people three meals a day for £50. On Friday, absolutely piles of food turned up  and I can verify that they indeed cost around £50. The total cost was actually around £57 but deduct the £5.50 delivery charge and the £2 odd extra cost for some substitutions, the cost was £50.55. My fridge is now packed to the rafters!

Another reason I've been sent the food is so we can film ourselves making one of the meals, and the footage might get used in their ads that are running during Britain's Got Talent. However, in order to meet the deadline, we've already done that on Sunday. I'm not going to stick to the meal plan religiously so that it works for us and our lifestyle. In addition, the rest of the family might be going camping for a couple of days so I might be making some of the dishes for me or postponing them for a day. So, here, based on Sainsbury's meal plan is my plan for this week:

Monday - Tuna, mushroom and mozzarella pasta bake
Tuesday - Roasted vegetables with chicken and rice
Wednesday - Tomato, spinach and red onion frittata
Thursday - Sweet and sour chicken
Friday - Spaghetti carbonara

Saturday - left free

Sunday - Roast pork, roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli

(If you haven't already guessed, we filmed ourselves making sausage, tomato and cannellini pot with mash)

I think that's not a bad mix. They have included enough to make a cooked breakfast at weekends, and sandwiches or pittas for lunch mostly. The £50 is a lot of food, mostly from their basics range but it's all good fresh and healthy food. Possibly a little too healthy - as there are no treats included, not even small ones. Also, it includes no drinks at all, nor any cleaning products or toiletries. As my approximately £50 weekly food bill  includes these things, I don't think I am doing bad at all! The site includes tips for small variations or for making some of the dishes veggie so it's worth a look, even if it's just to get some ideas.

Come back next week to see how we got on with it!

Why not pop over to Mrs M's blog for more meal planning entries?

Meal Planning Monday

Oh yes, it's that time of the week again! A week comes around so fast. Last week, we had all the meals as planned, apart from a change of accompaniment to the Sausages in Onion Gravy -  homemade chips in the oven instead of mash, the kids had peas and we had broccoli. Everything went down well - especially the roasted veggie pasta I made on Saturday evening, which elicited the question from Monkey of whether we could have it again and if so, when - always a good sign!

And we had a fabulous time at Parkers Arms yesterday for Mother's Day lunch. Thanks so much to Stosie and the team for a lovely meal.

Enough of that, this post is about my plan for this week, which I managed to do on Saturday when I was lucky a bit of peace and quiet.

So here we go for the week commencing 4th April.

Monday - Lentil and Lamb Moussaka
Tuesday - Paprika Chicken
Wednesday - Salmon with Leeks and Parsnip Mash
Thursday - Pizza Pinwheels for the kids, Ricotta, Tomato & Spinach Frittata for us
Friday - Beef and Bean Crumble
Saturday - Pancetta, Mushroom and Leek Risotto
Sunday - We're away so I won't be cooking. 

A lot more balanced this week - something different every day - and no curries! Instead, it seems to have a more Italian feel with a frittata, a risotto, and the pizza pinwheels.

Why not pop over to Mrs M's blog and check out more entries for Meal Planning Monday? You might get some fab new ideas. Feel free to join in if you like.