Meal Planning Monday - on Tuesday!

Yes, yes, yes. I know. Don't ask.

I didn't make last week at all as we were out one night and on Thursday, we went to Wimbledon which was uh-mazing.

I have a plan for this week but just not got round to it due to some stuff I need to sort out this week. This week is Missy Woo's 8th birthday. Oh my God! We're also planning to go to see the Tour de France although Monkey currently wants to play cricket on Sunday. Oh and it could be Sports Day on Friday but rain is forecast.

So, that's two days sorted!

Here we go.

Monday - Tangy Asian meatballs (these were fab, try them!)
Tuesday - Warm new potato and smoked mackerel salad
Wednesday - Ham with maple mustard slaw
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Slow cooker barbeque drumsticks
Saturday - out for tea
Sunday - out

Don't forget Mrs M's blog is now here

Meal Planning Monday - the oh heck I haven't blogged yet edition!

This Easter lark has thrown me out. I have a meal plan, I have a shopping list but I forgot to blog about it. This therefore is a very rushed post.

We're back to normal as of Tuesday, although it is husband's birthday on Thursday although we are only getting pizza in as we are away the May bank holiday weekend and want to save our pennies for there.

Here is our week in meals.

Monday ­­- Zingy chicken stirfry 
Tuesday - Sweet potato and ginger soup
Wednesday - Fish and chips
Thursday - Takeaway pizza
Friday - Meatballs and mash
Saturday - Curry lentil stew with tomatoes
Sunday - Keeping free for now

More meal planning over at Mrs M's. Badge top right takes you there.

Meal Planning Monday - the last leg (of January!) edition

It's finally here (well nearly) - the end of January and the nights are beginning to feel a little lighter. Hurrah, I say. Our usual busy week is ahead of us - children singing, dancing, swimming (thankfully not all at once) and a busy work week for me as a quarterly deadline approaches.

The week is made up of a soup to use up leftovers, an easy meal to cope with the fact that I am watching them sing in Asda on Tuesday after school, a slow cooker meal and some random other stuff chosen by me or Monkey. Nothing outrageous.

This is it then.

Monday - Chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup
Tuesday - Meatballs, mash and gravy
Wednesday - Lamb and lentil crumble
Thursday - Slow cooker Caribbean chicken with rice and peas
Friday - Chilli with cheesy cornbread
Saturday - Mushroom stroganoff
Sunday - keeping free for now

Enjoy your week. Don't forget to visit Mrs M's place by clicking the badge above and seeing what others are having this week.

Meal Planning Monday - the winter blues edition!

So I had a week off last week but didn't stop. When I wasn't doing things out of the house, I was trying to sort out the spare room and spent most of the week shredding, it seemed. It's done now but I didn't get half of the things I wanted to get done in order to get ready for Christmas.

I have a stack of things to do and so I'm a bit dreading this week. Christmas prep, work, baking and so it goes on. I feel like I have a dose of the winter blues. I seriously need to give myself a kick.

Anyway, I have made a plan but it's taken me hours. So I'd better share it with you, hadn't I?

Monday - Slow cooker hutspot with Swedish meatballs
Tuesday - Lamb, coconut and mango pilau
Wednesday - Mushroom soup
Thursday - Slow cooker butter chicken
Friday - Keeping free (school Christmas fair)
Saturday - Meatball pasta bake (Monkey is allegedly cooking this)
Sunday - Winging it.

Hopefully, next week will be calmer. Some hope, I feel.

Don't forget - Mrs M host the linky where you can find a myriad of meal plans.

Meal Planning Monday - the emptying my freezer edition

I have these moments every now and then when I decide that some things have been in my freezer for far too long so get round to planning in meals that will use them up. Not that I ignore what's in my freezer, it's just there are a few bits that have been languishing for a while and need using up. It also keeps the food bill down for the week. It's a fairly standard week for us, apart from the fact that Missy Woo has a friend coming for tea on Friday and I'm off to Blogcamp in Manchester on Saturday.

Here's what I've cobbled together.

Monday - Red lentil loaf with mash and peas
Tuesday - Slow cooker lamb chops
Wednesday - Pea and pesto soup with fish finger croutons
Thursday - Crock pot hoisin chicken
Friday - Meatball pasta bake
Saturday - Green pork chilli tacos
Sunday - Ham hock with pinto beans (if I can get a ham hock!)

That is our menu, in a nutshell. What does yours look like? Remember I'm after some nice things to make that can be reheated now that husband is working twilight shifts Monday to Thursday.

And don't forget - Mrs M has all the Meal Planning Monday entries over on her blog.

Meal Planning Monday - the last week of term edition!

Another week flies by. Time to meal plan again. This time, it's the last week of school term for the children, a week I view with relief and a bit of trepidation. The relief of not having to dash about for school in the mornings is lovely, but at the same time, everything is thrown out and I worry about getting work done whilst keeping the children amused. Still, that's for next week.

Being last week of term, we have an evening event on at school which affects tea one day (more that I just have to have it ready on time than anything), but on Thursday, which is normally mad after school, Missy Woo has no dancing so all I have to do is deliver Monkey to football which means I can get on with making tea when I get home. Hurrah! The weekend is quiet though. Oh, and I'm out most of today so an old favourite is getting bunged in the slow cooker by me after school run to be ready when everyone else gets home (oh, and yes, potatoes are also cut into wedges and in a bag drizzled with some oil ready to be bunged into the oven.

On we go with the meals for this week.

Monday - Sausages in onion gravy (slow cooker) and potato wedges
Tuesday - Veg curry
Wednesday - Minced beef and onion pie (using bought pastry), mash and peas
Thursday - Fragrant chicken curry with chickpeas (it never got made a few weeks back!)
Friday - Moroccan meatballs with eggs
Saturday - Fishcakes
Sunday - keeping free

I'm looking forward to some of these this week, as some of them are interesting or new to me and that's what I like to do - make things that keep my interest. I rarely sit in my comfort zone these days.

Don't forget to do two things - first, tell me what you are eating this week and then, pop on over to Mrs M's to discover more wonderful entries in the MPM linky.

Meal Planning Monday - the nearly March edition

You may remember last week, I tried out the BBC Good Food weekly meal plan for £22. Quite frankly, I was rubbish at remembering to take photos of everything. In fact, I remembered a sum total of once. And that was the recipe on the first day when I managed to do everything wrong, including opening a tin of cannellini beans instead of chickpeas so ended up with both in it, burned flaked almonds whilst toasting them once and coming close a second time, then dolloping yogurt on the top which turned out to be mouldy. Luckily, it made industrial quantities, so I could start again with fresh yogurt and the children loved their new meals. Husband was not so keen on that one but he loved the onion and tomato bake, which I must admit was easy and tasty. We also loved the potato, pepper and chorizo stew with fried eggs. The soup was OK but turned out a bit salty for me, and the jerk beefburgers were good but the relish was too much really. It was quite nice but honestly? I could have done without it and just put cheese on top instead. But overall, for a week's worth of meals, they were pretty good. Five inexpensive meals from fresh ingredients is pretty good going. 

A special week this week as we have a whole extra day to enjoy! And of course, the start of March, which in this house, will mean one thing. Monkey's birthday. But more of that next week. 

The meals this week again come from Good Food - as I was looking through, I spotted several recipes I wanted to try and as I was doing an Ocado order last week which had to be a larger minimum spend, I added in extra items so most of it was bought and frozen then. I did a quickish shop yesterday to pick up the fresh stuff I needed so I'm completely organised and and ready to start my week. Today's was going to be herby lamb burgers but Monkey has been asking to have the lamb pilau again, so I'm going to do it using lamb mince. 

Here are the meals, with links

Monday - Lamb, coconut and mango pilau (possibly done slow cooker style)

Tuesday - Springtime spaghetti and meatballs

Wednesday - Leek, cheese and potato pasties

Thursday - sandwiches again

Friday - Better than baked beans with spicy wedges

Saturday - Crispy topped Cumberland pie

Sunday - keeping free

That's our menu this week, what is yours? And don't forget, Mrs M hosts the linky on her blog, so do take a look at all the other meal planning entries. 

Meal Planning Monday - the reality bites edition

So, my birthday has been and gone, the kids are back at school and reality hits home. It's January and I want to eat as healthily as I can. The month feels like it goes on for ever too so let's hope this one passes quickly.  The healthy eating well explain why there are three dishes containing poultry on the menu this week. Again, all the recipes (apart from the risotto, which is just made up) are from BBC Good Food this month but none of them have reached their website. And excuse the chicken pies - they are in my freezer and I've actually checked, they're not too bad in the calorie department. 

Here is next week then. Nothing out of the way, I'm leaving Saturday free because I am not currently sure what we are doing. 

Monday - Chicken risotto

Tuesday - Baked turkey meatballs with crispy potatoes and broccoli

Wednesday - Mushroom stroganoff with rice

Thursday - Chunky pea soup with bread

Friday - Chicken pies, mash and mixed veg

Saturday - left free

Sunday - Salmon and broccoli cakes with salad. 

Are you planning your meals this year? What are you planning to eat this week? Tell me, and then visit Mrs M's  place to visit the other entries in this week's linky. 

Pick your own? More like spot the raspberry!

The first week of the summer holidays have gone well, thanks to the (mainly) dry weather. This has meant I've been trying to think of things to do that means we get outside, to make the most of the weather before it (inevitably) turns rubbish again.

On Wednesday, I came up with the idea of going to a Pick Your Own - our fruit yield has not been good this year, thanks to the birds discovering the blackcurrants and the intermittent torrential rain getting to the raspberries. So, picking some fruit to take home sounded like a nice way to pass an afternoon. There are no PYOs in the local area so it meant a half hour car journey. I looked at the farm's website to see what was still available to see they were on their last few strawberries, but that raspberries were still available. It certainly looked like it was worth the trip as it also had a farm shop and a cafe.

Meal Planning Monday

Another week, another meal plan. Last week's went well but I did swop two meals round for practical reasons. This week's is going to be a bit different because it's school holidays and we're visiting family for part of it, but still, I need a plan - and to do a shop before I go! I've deliberately chosen pizza for Thursday as I know that is when I am on my own with the children all day and they like to help. 

This week will therefore consist of: 

Monday - not cooking

Tuesday - Swedish meatballs, mash and peas

Wednesday - All in one lentil and sausage casserole

Thursday - Homemade pizza and salad

Friday - Chickpea, tomato and spinach curry and rice

Saturday - Sticky marmalade chicken, mash and green beans

Sunday - Mediterranean vegetables with lamb

Reasonably balanced - and hopefully lots of veg. Lunchtimes will mostly consist of soup, sandwiches or wraps, scrambled eggs or omelettes. 

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.