Meal Planning Monday - the mad March edition!

When do I ever post serene ones? Life is never simple when you have children at school, it seems. This week, we have a day off for the teacher's strike to deal with - I cannot complain as we have been largely untouched by strike days in the time they've been at school. On top of that, all their usual activities - cricket, dancing, swimming - and somewhere in all that, I have work to do.

Anyway, one thing stays constant - my meal plan is done and the shopping done yesterday, by virtue of the fact Missy Woo went to a party at Blackpool Zoo and I went food shopping whilst she was there, rather than me pay £10.50 to go round with her. As I had a spare 3 hours (yes, 3) I headed to the nearest supermarket with a cafe, wrote my shopping list and away I went. I love starting the week feeling organised!

So, here's what we are eating

Monday - Vegetable pie (no recipe link as I'm making it up based on a couple of recipes)
Tuesday - Slow cooker beef massaman curry
Wednesday - Pizza
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Honey mustard pork
Saturday - Chicken and mushroom tagliatelle
Sunday - Mother's Day. I'm not planning to cook!

That is it. Oh yes it is. But you might want to mosey over to the home of the lovely Mrs M. Click badge above to find more coherent meal planning posts than this.

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 keeping warm January edition!

Gosh, tomorrow is pretty much the middle of January but I'm feeling the chill. This is partly a good thing, because it's been so warm recently, I've been boiling in bed at night, but I dislike the cold, I'm not great with ice or snow. We're still trying to eat as healthily as possible and the dishes I've chosen reflect that. I've left one day free, because husband's niece is 21 on Sunday and has invited all of us to her party on Sunday but as she lives in Cumbria, down a twisting, hilly road from the M6, we might be taking a rain check on that one if the weather gets really grotty. Other than that, it's stuff that warms - pilaf, bakes, soup and two stews. Oh, and burgers.

The good thing about it being the middle of January is I'm feeling the days lengthen already - we got back from school later than normal on Friday and it was really noticeable that we didn't have to have the lights on straight away. Soon be summer, won't it? (Please?!)

Our week in meals looks like this.


Monday - Spiced vegetable pilaf
Tuesday - Lemon and thyme turkey burgers with vegetable chips
Wednesday - Gnocchi and tomato bake
Thursday - Fresh and light chowder with crusty bread
Friday - Chicken and veg stew with couscous
Saturday - Keeping free
Sunday - Hearty lamb and barley stew

How does your week look foodwise? And have you been to see what other people are doing over at Mrs M's?

See you next week!

Meal Planning Monday - the almost December edition!

Almost December. Well, it will be by the weekend. I'm still keeping the shopping down but I have done a shop already. I lasted 13 days between big shops by the way! I only had a Saturday night delivery because I had a discount code from Ocado and it was cheaper for delivery than Sunday.

I've picked out a couple of new things to make this week but I'm still trying to be vaguely frugal and not buying too much so that the freezer level keeps dropping. I'm using up some things in my freezer and fridge and I'm making lasagne again because, well, everyone really enjoyed it. Friday is being kept free because my good friend Lynne is finally getting married and we're all going to the party in the evening and I'm going for the day. On Thursday, we not only have dance lessons, we also have a meeting afterwards at school so that makes that afternoon and evening a little chaotic.

Here we go.

Monday - Slow cooker vegetable hotpot (my own recipe)
Tuesday - Paprika chicken
Wednesday - Lasagne
Thursday -  Bean burgers
Friday - keeping free
Saturday - Sweet and sour pork
Sunday - keeping free

Don't forget Mrs M has the Meal Planning Monday linky.  And tell me what you're having this week.

Meal Planning Monday - the post-marathon edition

So, we are post-marathon. Husband ran the Greater Manchester Marathon yesterday in shocking conditions in 4:37, seven minutes faster than he ran his first one last year. He reckons he could have shaved off 15 to 20 minutes off that time if the wind hadn't been so bad, which would have been great. In fact, he went through a half marathon in 2:07 which displays how well he was doing until he hit the really hard bit. We're all so proud of him, Missy Woo drew him a picture with the words "Winner" along the top and she's desperate to take his medal into school.

Onto this week. It's a mixed week - I have cake club tomorrow night so I will mostly not be eating for a day before or after and husband has a meeting and possible social event on Thursday. Plus, it's our wedding anniversary on Saturday so will probably be going out on Saturday as a family as we are a bit short on babysitters at the moment. We have, therefore, a few old faves to make to use up freezer stocks and a couple of new things to try.

Onto our plan.

Monday - Turkey and cranberry meatloaf (from My Daddy Cooks)
Tuesday - Pizza
Wednesday - Lamb coconut and mango pilau
Thursday - Sandwiches (possibly pizza if Missy Woo's friend comes for tea)
Friday - Sticky chicken wings - without the noodles!
Saturday - keeping free
Sunday - Roast vegetable and goats cheese penne (also from My Daddy Cooks)

So, what are you having this week? Mrs M has more Meal Planning Monday entries on her linky.