Well, it's all done and dusted for another year, 2011 is so last year, and we're all about 2012 so now it's time to get back to normal and thank God for that! Last week, there wasn't a meal plan - shock, horror- largely because the plan was to survive on leftovers as much as possible. One day, we were short of something to eat and I was convinced to buy a jar of sauce and to make a pasta bake with it. Everyone loved it. Except me. The smell of it was rank, so much so I couldn't bring myself to eat it. Now I know why I cook my own things. I will have to make my own tuna pasta bake soon to erase the memory.
So, it's back on the meal planning wagon this week. I've chosen all the meals and I think it really shows that I'm sick of rich food. I've been feeling really full in the afternoons, then eating my tea and not enjoying it (or eating it later) and then getting hungry in the evenings. I need to be back on the straight and narrow so went through the healthy eating issue of BBC Good Food that they always bring out at this time of year and picked most of the recipes - none of them have reached their website yet so I can't link to them.
I tend to do my shopping list as I pick each dish, then looked back and realised how much veg I'm planning to buy! Anyway, it's a healthy start to the year so that's good. Having said that, it's my birthday on Friday so I won't be cooking. I think the plan is to go out for lunch, but that means we're not going out in the evening and I'm not cooking tea for the children or us, though I guess we might going out for tea as well. There are things in the freezer I can just stick in the oven if I need to feed the children. And no, I'm not going mad doing a roast on Sunday - I've got a chicken I bought reduced stuck in the freezer, I'm planning to cook it and then the leftovers can form the basis of next week's meal plan. Also, we enjoyed eating a proper roast and sitting in the conservatory to do it so I'm going to try and do it regulary
Finally (stop talking, Kate), here is this week's plan:
Monday - Lemony prawn and chorizo rice pot
Tuesday - Winter vegetable pie
Wednesday - Chicken tagine with apricots and almonds
Thursday - Sweetcorn and chilli soup
Friday - nothing!
Saturday - Vegetable lasagne
Sunday - Roast chicken
Why not join in with Meal Planning Monday? It's really not hard, you get some great ideas from others and the discipline of having to publish a blog post helps to ensure you actually plan your meals every week. And believe me, it is SO much easier to have a meal plan than try to figure it all out daily. I certainly got stressed last week without one.
You can find more meal plans over at Mrs M's blog. Do take a look!