Meal Planning Monday - the yes I am still blogging edition!

So I haven't blogged in a month. I've still been meal planning although I didn't on our week's holiday. Time has just ran out on me on turning my plan into a blog post.

Not this week. Hurrah, I hear you cry. Well, I can dream.

This week. There's only 5 days on the plan because we are going to a wedding in Devon on Saturday. And yes, we got back from Devon only 9 days ago. That's how it goes sometimes. Apart from that, it's a normal school week, peppered with swimming on Wednesdays after school now - I thought I'd got them in at exactly the same time, until Monkey went to his first class with the new teacher and she decided he was so good he has to move up again and now has a lesson straight after Missy. We're also now looking at secondary schools, although we don't have to apply until next year, but I think there are none to go see next week.

Here's the plan.

Monday - Quick prawn, tomato and coconut curry
Tuesday - Lentil shepherd's pie
Wednesday - Cheesy cannelloni
Thursday - sandwiches (it's traditional!)
Friday - Sticky sesame chicken wings with roasted mini corn cobs
Saturday - wedding
Sunday - travelling home

Don't forget that Mrs M has the Meal Planning Monday linky. Go see her, she's having a tough time right now and I'm sure a visit and a friendly comment will give her a bit of a boost.

Til next week. I hope!

Meal Planning Monday - the spring is sprung edition!

Now Monkey's birthday stuff is all over and done with, we're well into March and the weather is beginning to feel springlike. The nights are lighter (which the children love as they can play out after school with friends) and everything just feels better.

I don't know if my meal plan reflects this change in weather but the children have been involved in this week's plan as I asked them what they wanted to eat. "Chicken kievs" came the reply. Great! The one thing I don't make from scratch too.

They did come up with one or two other things which I've added. I've also been going back through my mealplans and picking out things we like so that I can quickly pick them out instead of having brain freeze when faced with a blank sheet of paper. I came up with 100 different things (and some of them have variations!) so I think I should be OK for a while.

This is our week then.

Monday - Mexican lasagne
Tuesday - Pizza baked potatoes
Wednesday - Kedgeree with poached egg
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken kievs
Saturday - Prawn and coconut curry
Sunday - Roast dinner

Mrs M has all the Meal Planning Monday posts. Click the badge top right to discover what everyone else is eating.

Meal Planning Monday - the October half term edition!

Yes, it's finally here. A week off. A busy one for us, if the weather lets us do all the things we've got planned. The children and I are off to London on Wednesday, the day before we're all going to the ballet and we have another day out over the weekend.

So, a short week of cooking, and I already have a carry over from last week. Not a lot to buy at the supermarket. Hurray.

Monday - Prawn and coconut curry
Tuesday - Eating out
Wednesday - London
Thursday - Burgers
Friday - Salmon, broccoli and potato bake
Saturday - Sausage plait
Sunday - Out

Short and sweet because well, I have family time to do. Catch more Meal Planning at Mrs M's, click the badge.

Meal Planning Monday - the why is not half term yet edition!

Even going back to school later has made no difference, and we're all feeling a bit tired today. Maybe it's the 400 mile round trip to Buckinghamshire for a party this weekend that is at fault, but I'm thoroughly looking forward to the children not having anything to go to for a week (although we do, just not school stuff).

This plan was kind of cobbled together (as it always is, it gets rejigged so many times!) before and after my weekend. I expect it to fail! Eyes down, look in, here we go. 

Monday - Thai chicken and sweet potato soup

Tuesday - Beef and mushroom meat loaf

Wednesday - Sausage and bean crumble

Thursday - Butties

Friday - Spiced rice and lentils with cauliflower

Saturday - Prawn and coconut curry

Sunday - Roast pork

So, that's me for the week. Can I sleep now? 

Meal Planning Monday - the May half term edition!

So, yes, half term is upon us all too quickly. This was hastily put together with the help of the children. Well, we rapidly chose some things to eat, then I've organised them into set days to fit into our week. Not that we are up to much - we're not going away anywhere, we can't take Monkey swimming (he's in a cast until 5th June), and all we are doing is chilling out, and having friends over one day. That's all that's planned, apart from the odd party the children have to go to - this time of year is busy for friend's birthdays for both children.

This is what we have planned.


Monday - Prawn risotto
Tuesday - Corned beef pie
Wednesday - Mushroom stroganoff
Thursday - Lasagne, salad and garlic bread
Friday - Fish fingers
Saturday - Roast chicken
Sunday - Quesadillas (with leftover chicken possibly)

More meal planning loveliness is at Mrs M's which you can find by clicking the badge above. Have a good week.

Meal Planning Monday - the busy pre-bank holiday edition!

Yes, I know - we seem to be busy all the time at the moment but this week, we've had some added complications, which I'm sure you'd know about if you followed me on Twitter. On Monday evening, Monkey broke his arm. Well, we think it's broken - the hospital aren't actually sure but he's got his arm in a cast until at least this Wednesday when he returns to fracture clinic for his temporary cast to be removed, be x-rayed again - without swelling this time - and then they will decide if there is a break and if so, he'll have a proper cast put on which will probably be easier than the one he's got on at present. Needless to say, I could have done without a 3 hour trip to A&E on Monday, and having been there with Missy, I know that fracture clinic can eat up a day very quickly. On top of that, I'm spending most of the day at school today as I'm one of the governors on an interview panel to appoint a new teacher, plus I'm still working extra hours. And it's nearly half term, how did that happen?

The only positive I can find so far about Monkey having his arm in a cast is that he can't go swimming, meaning Thursday afternoons are a little less fraught right now.

I gave everyone an opportunity to choose food and only Monkey came up with something definite - his favourite dish, something we haven't had for ages so that was allowed. Later, husband chipped in with a choice of a risotto. You'll note the chicken stew is on there - I completely forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer on Thursday night and then spent a good chunk of Friday morning in school (see above) so we ended up with steak pudding with chips all round! I WILL get it made this week, I truly will. Missy vaguely said she wanted some pasta and that stew will go with it.

After much waffling from me, here is the meal plan for this week.


Monday - Salmon with butterbean mash (as it can be done in 10 mins flat)
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork with mash
Wednesday - Prawn and pea risotto
Thursday -  Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken, pancetta and mushroom stew
Saturday - Corned beef and beans pie
Sunday - Slow cooker lamb and sweet potato curry

That is the plan anyway, assuming that children stop breaking limbs, of course.

I must be going, I have too much to do! Go see what else lies in store meal planning wise by visiting Mrs M's, by clicking on the badge above.

Meal Planning Monday - the birthday and Mother's Day edition!

The short weeks are coming thick and fast at the moment.  On Saturday, Monkey turns 8 (how the hell did that happen?) so is having a tennis party and then on Sunday, it's Mother's Day and I am not cooking. I'm not sure WHAT we are doing yet but I did suggest to husband that he and the children made a roast for us to have at home. We'll see.

The weekend is therefore busy. On top of that, Monkey is taking part in a ukulele concert at a small music festival on Thursday night, on top of doing badminton AND swimming after school. I don't know when he's going to fit eating in. For now, I'm sticking to soup and might finally get around to making the soup I keep putting on the plan and then it not happening.

Here is what I have so far.

Monday - Prawn and coconut curry
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork
Wednesday - Corned beef and beans pie
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup
Friday - keeping free
Saturday - keeping free (and party food)
Sunday - keeping free

What about you, oh wonderful meal planners? My plan was done in a rush, and I'm hoping I can return to normal next week. In the meantime, Mrs M has more meal planning marvellousness.

Meal Planning Monday - the fairly late but feeling almost summery edition!

Yes, yes, yes. I'm late with this. I actually worked out WHAT meals we were going to eat this week but didn't work the when. This was because we were away and when I arrived home, I had to make sure I'd done my online food shop.

So, having not picked up the food until this afternoon, I've just gone through what we're having and asked the kids when we were going to have each thing. This week seems to have a summery feel to it in places and the weather since the weekend seems to reflect that - it might not be the warmest but it's dry and sunny.


Monday - pizza (which we've just had!)
Tuesday - Homemade fish finger sarnie
Wednesday - Bean burgers with lime yogurt and salsa
Thursday - Summer vegetable curry
Friday  - Lemony prawn and pea risotto
Saturday - Baked chicken masala with almond pilaf
Sunday - Chilli beef shepherd's pie

So that is us. Over at Mrs M's place, you might find some much less cobbled together plans. 

Meal Planning Monday - the no snow edition!

(OK, so the weather forecast decided to make a fool of me. I wrote this late last night and overnight, we unexpectedly got 2-3 ins of snow and it's kept snowing today. Still, school is open so it is not a snow day officially here, just snow-y. )

Yes, what seems like everyone is going on about snow. We, on the other hand, have very little. It snowed on Friday, true, but not a massive amount. Where we live, we seemed to have more than the rest of the local area because we are that bit higher up and exposed but down at school there was much less so that remained open, and as you head to Preston, the snow all but dies out. I really don't mind - the children had enough snow to play in for a while, but everything continued to function. And it's been cold but not too bad - really, Friday was the worst day and on Saturday, I didn't even have to turn the heating up or back on.

It's a bit odd, really. I know it's going to continue to be cold this week so I have tried to keep warming stuff on the menu. I've just realised that I'm meant to be going out for lunch on Thursday so have done a quick last minute reshuffle so I'm not cooking lots in the afternoon and this now means a full week of meals. We have nothing special this week - no parties, events or anything. Sounds boring but it's nice to have a quietish week from time to time. A couple of these recipes, I have snaffled from reading other people's meal plans last week. If that's you, then thanks for the idea. I have a few more lined up for future weeks as I couldn't fit it all in.

Our week looks very much like this.

Monday -  Carrot sesame and chickpea burgers
Tuesday - Lamb meatball and pea pilaf
Wednesday -  One pot prawn pilau
Thursday - Potato and parmesan soup
Friday - Root veg and pancetta toad in the hole with gravy
Saturday - Cheesy chicken pot pie
Sunday - Sausage cassoulet

What about yours? Mrs M is the place to go if you want more Meal Planning Monday magic. 

Meal Planning Monday - the MAD edition!

Yes, it's MAD. I'm off to the MAD Blog Awards on Friday so yet another week of me planning to pack, travel and unpack afterwards, but I can't wait. This week has to be pretty easy meals wise and I've planned in a meal I can make in advance for my night away and can simply be plonked in the oven. It certainly reduces the likelihood of them ending up in the chippy.

Still, I've managed to find some nice things to make this week!


Monday - Paxos Fish Stew (More of which later in the week)
Tuesday - Mexican Chilli
Wednesday - Easy Ratatouille with poached eggs
Thursday - Prawn Laksa
Friday - Tomato Chorizo and Two Cheese Pasta Bake 
Saturday - keeping free
Sunday - Roast Chicken, possibly.

As usual, Mrs M has the linky where you can find lots of other meal plans.

Meal Planning Monday - the May bank holiday edition!

Yes, even on a bank holiday week, I get planning (although I won't be for the next one). I could have subtitled this the busy week edition as it seems that way. Even though today is a bank holiday, my husband is working a bank shift so it's just me and the kids (joy!). Then, on Wednesday, he's working a late shift so he can go into school in the morning, then I'm out in the evening. And at the weekend, I'm helping at our NCT branch's nearly new sale all day so I don't cook. I think I might be exhausted by Sunday! 


Here's my week with links where possible; Tuesday and Wednesday are from the latest edition of BBC Good Food and often don't make it onto their website for a few weeks afterwards, so try looking in a few weeks if you don't want to buy the magazine. 

Monday - Chicken, sweet potato and coconut curry
Tuesday - Chorizo pilaf
Wednesday - Halloumi aubergine burgers
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Quiche sans pate with salad - I have an English recipe (or at least I think I have!).
Saturday - Chinese take away (it's traditional!)
Sunday - Prawn pasta bake

Don't forget Mrs M is the place to go for Meal Planning Monday entries.

Meal Planning Monday

Well, it's time to plan another week's meals. This week is an odd one for me as I'm going to be on my own with the children from Thursday until Monday. Husband is off running the Druid Challenge, the length of the Ridgeway Path from Buckinghamshire to Wiltshire over the course of three days. No, I don't know either but he likes to do these mad things occasionally and he's using it to raise funds for the school's PTFA. (So, if you want to sponsor him, do get in touch!) Some of the early part of the week is therefore given over to pasta and rice dishes, hence the re-appearance of one dish from last week.

It's also Nearly New Sale weekend. We have two a year in our branch and I have volunteered to help every time. I'm not sure yet how much time I can give on Saturday because of possibly not having anyone to look after the children, but I will be there at some point. I spent a good chunk of Sunday labelling up unwanted toys to sell as well so it's in my interest for it to be a successful. The tradition for us is to have Chinese after a sale but with there only being 3 of us, I don't know if we will as the children prefer fish and chips. Handily, the local takeaway does both!

Meal Planning Monday

I'm back! Returned from our holiday this evening and the unpacking is done. Time to plan a week of meals for getting back into the routine. My BBC Good Food arrived and I managed to get a read of it whilst I was away on holiday and there were lots of things I wanted to try so there are a few recipes from there that I'd like to try.

Monday - Baked eggs with spinach tomato and chorizo
Tuesday - Wild mushroom and chestnut cottage pie
Wednesday - Honey mustard pork, mash and broccoli
Thursday - Pea pesto and prawn spaghetti
Friday - Sausage and bean casserole
Saturday - Onion pie
Sunday - keeping free

Seems like a reasonable mix. Two complete veggie dishes in a week and some seafood back on the menu. Sorry there are no links - either Good Food haven't added them to their database yet or they are likely to be copyrighted and not placed there, which is a shame.

Have you planned your week's meals? What are you eating next week? Why not pop to Mrs M's blog to see what other people are eating?