Meal Planning Monday - the breathing space edition!

Lord, it's been a month. (Nearly). Don't ask. Too much to do, too little time. From today, life gets a little easier for a while. Well, maybe. At least I have time to blog my meal plan.

Of course, an easier week doesn't mean we're doing nothing. Oh no! Parents' evening tomorrow, although I am going early afternoon. The children have stuff every evening except Tuesday (when I take them to the gym anyway) and Friday, when we do homework. Saturday, I've got cake club but determined not to get cakeache. Just no meetings in the evenings. No trips to London. No do three things in a day, going from one to another and just making it.

So this is what our week looks like.

Monday - Chicken chow mein
Tuesday - Kale hash
Wednesday - Curried pumpkin soup
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Cottage pie
Saturday - Baked potatoes with some kind of random filling
Sunday - Roast dinner

Don't forget that Mrs M has the Meal Planning Monday linky going on here. Join in and get inspiration from others!

Meal Planning Monday - the last week of Spring term edition!

Yes, really. If you're not up on how this year is panning out schoolwise, a lot of areas finish this week and go back straight after Easter, due to it being so late this year. In fact, I can only think of one time when it was later as husband's 40th fell on Easter Sunday and his birthday is 24th April.

Added to that, I've got year end to contend with for the next month or so. So I'm busy at work and the end of term brings lots of things going on whilst gearing up for the holiday.

I'm late posting this but my plan came first and was all done and dusted in time for Mother's Day yesterday. This week, we're at a school event on Thursday night and I'm going to Manchester for The Cake and Bake Show on Saturday.

Without further ado, it's over to the plan.

Monday - Chicken, sweetcorn and mushroom tagliatelle
Tuesday - Slow cooker vegetable biryani
Wednesday - Pizza baked potatoes
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken and sweetcorn soup
Saturday - Fishfingers or pizza
Sunday - Salmon with new potatoes and green beans

More plans over at Mrs M's. (Badge above will take you there.)

Meal Planning Monday - the make ahead weekend edition!

Hope you had a good half term if you were off like we were last week. We're back to school today and into a school Arts Week. I'm away all weekend with work so I'm making a few things ahead of time for them to eat whilst I'm away. The kids are looking forward to it because, in their own words, "Daddy always spoils us when you go away." Daddy has been made aware of this.

The rest of this week mostly consists of stuff I know we like and is easy to do. A couple of slow cooker things - I like my slow cooker but I'm conscious I've not used it as much as I usually would this winter.

This is what we're having this week.

Monday - Sausages in onion gravy
Tuesday - Pizza baked potatoes
Wednesday - Lentil loaf
Thursday - Slow cooker all-butter chicken
Friday - Lasagne
Saturday - Chicken and mushroom pie
Sunday - Keeping free

Have a good week, and don't forget to visit Mrs M's for more meal planning loveliness.

Aunt Bessie's - great timesaver or the cheat's way?

Aunt Bessie's recently sent me a whole host of things to try and I've gradually been working my way through them. Truth be told, I've got one or two things left to try, as they generously sent me so many different things.

These days, Aunt Bessie's have a massive range of frozen products. We have had quick toad in the holes with boat shaped Yorkshires filled with sausages I cooked separately, Yorkshires on their own with more sausages (the children like them *cough*), apple pie, stuffing balls, even casseroles.

Now, it got me thinking - what is your opinion on using frozen products like this? Are they a fantastic timesaver or are they just cheats which makes people lazy about cooking? I'm torn, I will admit. I use frozen veg all the time, particularly peas and sweetcorn. When I was trying everything, I particularly liked the Yorkshires because my own efforts to make them from scratch are hit and miss - and yes, I know all the rules, it just sometimes doesn't work. In addition, they took a few minutes whereas cooking my own take nearly half an hour. That means if you were doing a roast and space in your oven is at a premium - as it is in our house - you could pop them in whilst you were carving your joint. Stuffing balls, however, felt like a huge cheat - mixing up stuffing mix and rolling them into balls takes seconds and is hardly complicated or lengthy. In addition, when we tried them, husband and I felt they were a bit gloopy although the children loved them.

Then we tried the apple pie. Now, pastry is not my strong suit so I wouldn't think twice about buying shop bought pastry so as not to have to do the rubbing in, kneading, resting, rolling out, and so forth. I can live with that. If you wanted a weeknight pudding, the apple pie is great. But gravy? Hmm, not sure. Especially as I've just made my own gravy for Christmas Day and stuck it in the very same freezer. I guess it's not a massive step away from gravy granules.

Sadly, the one thing they didn't send me was some of their famous roasties. This was a shame because I can't get my head around the fact that frozen roast potatoes could make a better roastie than home made ones from fresh potatoes. It might just save on the peeling, I guess.

Another product I really liked was the homestyle casserole. Cheat, yes, but a massive timesaver. They are a bag of beef or chicken with chopped vegetables and seasonings - saving on all that chopping and prep is bound to be bonus. To cook them, you place the contents in a dish with some water and put in the oven. I cooked mine in a slow cooker and it took me literally seconds to get the dish on and cooking. It tasted nice but the downsides were that a) the pack only serves 2 so not as good for families and b) even then, the portions were a little light and I had to add some frozen veg near the end to bulk it out.

I think in the end, I came to this decision - a cheat's a cheat, but it's not always a bad thing. Most of Aunt Bessie's products are normally eaten alongside other things you've cooked yourself. It's there to make your life a bit easier and save you a bit of time. One man's meat is another man's poison - I bet there is someone reading this thinking, "I can't make roasties to save my life but I'm not sure about using frozen Yorkshires". If it saves you stress, especially when you are doing a roast (or Christmas dinner, keeping it topical), then surely, that has to be a good thing, yes?

Feel free to tell me your opinions.

(Aunt Bessie's sent me a range of their frozen products to try, for which our stomachs are truly grateful.)

Meal Planning Monday - the back-to-school Paralympic edition!

Yes, this week was meant to be a quiet one, with the children back in school on Wednesday. That was until we managed to get tickets for the Paralympics on Saturday, morning and afternoon and a pass to the park on Sunday. This means we will be away Friday night, Saturday night and late back Sunday, so in terms of meal planning, they are out of the window.

 Then, on top of that, I realised that my sister was coming up to North Yorkshire this fortnight for a holiday. Talking to her last week, we worked out that Tuesday would be the best day to meet up as the children are still off school and husband is off too. So that probably throws Tuesday out of the window too.

This week is becoming a bit of a write off really, isn't it? Anyway, I still have a plan. And oh yes, one of them was from last week. (You hate me, don't you?)

Don't get excited then - this is our week.

Monday - Pesto crusted fish
Tuesday - keeping free
Wednesday - Jacket potatoes with ham and honey-mustard slaw
Thursday - Slow cooker lasagne
Friday - away
Saturday - away
Sunday - away

I'm sure you're all making plans to get back to normal this week, so head on over to Mrs M's to see what others with fuller meal plans than this are doing.

Meal Planning Monday - the last week of holidays edition

This is very late for me, as I usually have this post done and dusted by Sunday night at the latest, sometimes on Saturday but we were away at a wedding until yesterday afternoon and we unpacked and relaxed last night. We cobbled together a meal plan this morning and headed off to Asda, husband taking the kids to browse the toys whilst I shopped (works for me). I've picked some recipes from a speedy suppers booklet that came with BBC Good Food this month, and one of the recipes is from the Hairy Dieters series that I wanted to try. They're fairly cheap meals too - I have some stuff in the freezer, I managed to get some chicken reduced for the freezer today and even with buying extra stuff for lunches, I still only spent a few pennies over £40.

Here we go.

Monday - Tuna and sweetcorn burgers
Tuesday - Thai satay stir-fry
Wednesday - Barbeque chicken pieces with coleslaw and corn on the cob
Thursday - Chilli salad bowls
Friday - Broccoli baked potatoes
Saturday - Pesto crusted fish (olives removed because I'm the only one that likes them!)
Sunday - kept free

So that's us. What's on your menu this week? Don't forget that, even though she's on holiday, Mrs M has all the Meal Planning Monday entries over at her place.

Meal Planning Monday - the uber organised (and 5 for £20 review) edition

So last week, we were trying out the latest Sainsbury's evening meal plan which provides a whole working week's worth of meals for £20. Here's how we got on.

First, I went shopping. (I know, amazing, huh?!) I left off some of the things on the shopping list that I already had in but I did substitute along the way too and the bill for those items was around £17. With usual things I buy (like milk etc) my week's bill came to £32 and I only went back once for some more mushrooms as I didn't have as much in as I thought. Still, pretty amazing, although it was possibly helped by the meat being on special offer -  the meat took up half of the budget!

Meal Planning Monday - the not cooking much and we're going away edition

I think the title says it all today. We're going away this weekend (which you'll be able to read about after we get back), and so I won't be cooking Friday to Sunday. Also, because we'll be away and spending money, I want to keep the food bill down and nothing be too much trouble as we have a busy week with Christmas plays at school and that sort of stuff that goes with the last but one week of term before Christmas. I went on a bit of a rummage (it certainly wasn't a forage) and dug out from my cupboard and the depths of my freezer stuff I can turn into family meals with minimum effort.

Prepare to be underwhelmed by this week's meal plan.

Monday - Salmon and butterbean mash (an old favourite I can make in ten minutes)
Tuesday - Chicken fajitas (using the smokey BBQ fajita kit I got in my goody bag from Sainsbury's last week)
Wednesday - Jacket potatoes (which is fast becoming a top favourite with the children)
Thursday - Fridge bottom vegetable soup and sandwiches (to use up what's left in the fridge)
Friday - away
Saturday - away
Sunday - away

I bet you cannot wait now, can you? I can't - my shopping list this week is very short indeed!

So, are you having anything more exciting than I am rustling up this week? Share your menus with me, and when you're done, visit At Home with Mrs M to find links to more meal plans, hopefully a bit more exciting than mine!

Meal Planning Monday

This week is a bit of a rush job as the meal plan was put together hurriedly when I got sent a 25% off voucher from Ocado on Saturday morning for delivery yesterday. As I was at the Good Food Show yesterday (more of which soon!) and staying over in Birmingham the night before, it seemed like a good idea to put a meal plan together and get shopping. Result - one meal plan and a delivery booked! Some of the days are a bit thin on inspiration - but for example, on Friday, it's the school Christmas fair in the evening and so there won't be a lot of time for anything as I usually help to set up. This week is very busy anyway for me, with some work I'm doing on a work assignment, plus the children are off school on Wednesday as expected and it's the start of Christmas madness!