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 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 - 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 February half term edition!

A very quick one from me as I'm just cobbling a plan together ahead of going away to Cadbury World on Tuesday. It's half term so nothing is going to be fancy and I'm going to rely on the fridge and freezer as much as possible.

Monday - away
Tuesday - Freezer dive (probably chicken kievs)
Wednesday - Chicken drumsticks in BBQ sauce, corn on the cob, peanut slaw
Thursday - Cauliflower cheese
Friday - Roasted butternut squash, sage and garlic risotto
Saturday - Pizza
Sunday - Roast dinner probably

Enjoy half term if you've got the week off! Don't forget to visit Mrs M's for more meal planning mayhem or something like that.

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 getting back to it edition!

Monday is the start of the first week of the New Year and the children go back to school. I'd have loved an inset day but seeing as the official start of term was 2nd, school has already had two last week (yes, really!) so a third is bit beyond the pale.

Why would I like an inset day? Because it is my birthday and now the children are at an age where they feel they are missing out on things. Especially as husband and I are going out for lunch. They've made me a cake too but they want to be there and to be honest, it would be lovely to have them around. To make up, we're going for ice cream after school. Hey ho.

Apart from that, the week's plan is all about getting back into varied and mostly healthy eating. There are lots of healthy recipes in Good Food this month which is where most of this week's meals comes from. I try to get them to eat as many vegetables as possible but today is all about speed, so it's back to it tomorrow. Apart from that, the week is back to normal - well, apart from the fact that the children have nothing on Mondays this term (for now) and Monkey's swimming is now on Sunday, meaning Thursdays are no longer quite as rushed as last term. Yes!

Here's the week

Monday - Chicken kievs for the children, sandwiches for grown ups (and cake!)
Tuesday - Sweet potato shepherd's pie
Wednesday - Turkey meatballs and pasta
Thursday - Curried squash, lentil and coconut soup
Friday - Squash, mushroom and gorgonzola pilaf
Saturday - Sausages with aligot
Sunday - Roast dinner with the usual stuff

That's it for this week; I'm off to do nothing. It's my birthday, you know! PS Click on the badge above to go over to Mrs M's, where there will be much more meal planning loveliness.

Meal Planning Monday - the play that one again edition!

Bit of a strange title, I know, but this last week, my meal plan went out of the window several times so I have lots of carry over dishes. This week might look a lot like last week's in places. And Saturday is Nearly New Sale day so, as usual, we always have Chinese takeaway.

Monday - Mushroom tagine
Tuesday - Salmon, broccoli, and potato bake
Wednesday - Sweet potato with citrus cream
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Sausage plait
Saturday - takeaway
Sunday - either roast or burgers

That's it for this week. Lots of things to do with the children going back to school. Don't forget to visit Mrs M's place for more meal plans.

Meal Planning Monday - the family choice edition!

Another week, another dollar. Or something. Not wanting to hunt out lots of meals for my plans this week, I opened it up to the children and husband who made a few suggestions and I dropped in a couple of extra things. I've even been to the supermarket on Sunday to buy it all so the week will start with me vaguely organised.

Here we go for this week. 

Monday - Fried eggs with chorizo, onions and potatoes

Tuesday - Lasagne

Wednesday - Ribs and coleslaw

Thursday - Sandwiches

Friday - Cauliflower cheese

Saturday - Italian spiced chickpea burgers

Sunday - Roast beef

Nothing particularly fancy there; my kids are fairly traditional in taste. Missy Woo loves cauliflower cheese, Monkey wanted roast dinner and they both adore pasta! Husband wanted chicken or ribs and the kids chose ribs. Who am I to argue?! 

When you're done reading this (all of 30 seconds probably), hop on over to Mrs M's to find more MPM posts - click on the badge for further details. 

Have a good week! 

Meal Planning Monday - the Wembley edition?!

If only it were me that were going to Wembley but the male half of the household is going on Saturday to see Blackpool play in the play-off final against West Ham, leaving the female half at home. Actually, I'm going to a conference on Saturday morning and Missy Woo is going to a friend's house to play, and in the afternoon, we may watch the match on telly and go out for tea. The rest of the week is still quite busy in that kind of post-sale way - catching up with things that went by the wayside last week. We're actually having something that is not sandwiches this Thursday, because Monkey has no football so I can bring them both home after school - so happy about that! 

So, here we go with this week's plan - links where available. Some recipes are from this month's BBC Good Food magazine and therefore not yet on their website but they might be in a few weeks. 

Monday - Sweet chilli dogs

Tuesday - Aubergine, tomato and lemongrass curry (original and full recipe from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries)

Wednesday - Sticky marmalade chicken with mash and broccoli

Thursday - Herbed lamb cutlets with roasted veg

Friday - Healthy salad nicoise

Saturday - keeping free

Sunday - Roast chicken (this will either be a celebration or comfort food for the Wembley wanderers). 

What are you eating this week? Is your menu becoming more summery or are you sticking with warming meals?

Meal Planning Monday - the Easter edition

Oh yes. It seems about a month since our last holiday but Easter is this week! Husband is off this week but we're not planning to do much - and he's working bank shifts on the bank holidays to earn money to pay for our summer holiday. I've picked out a few new things to try - they seem vaguely summery actually, even though it looks like a wet - and cold - start to the week. Damn.

Meal Planning Monday

So, I survived the first week of the summer holidays and mealwise, everything went pretty much to plan. The children especially liked the honey and mustard pork I made for them on Sunday (recipe - mix runny honey and wholegrain mustard, spread on pork chops or pork steaks and bake in the oven!) so that was good as it was a first for them. They've asked for it again soon. I could easily have given them more, it was pleasingly gone in just a few minutes. 

Meal Planning Monday

Yet another week of meals! Last week's plan ended up altered slightly - the chilli bean bake got bumped when we went out on Monday afternoon and got home late, so we needed to have a quick tea. We also swopped a couple of things around - Wednesday, we ate a picnic in the garden for lunch and had fajitas picnic style for tea too. Lovely and totally unheard of in April in Lancashire!

So, onto this week, which I've planned on my child free Saturday afternoon, along with making a birthday cake for my husband. Yes, I do know how to live!

Monday - Chicken biryani bake
Tuesday - Moroccan spiced supper and couscous
Wednesday - Chilli bean bake and sour cream mash
Thursday - Sausage, bean and cheese pasties
Friday - Persian cauliflower kuku
Saturday or Sunday - Roast dinner (going to see what's best value)

No fish this week, but other than that, it's fairly balanced, I think.

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.