Tag: food

A Place to Eat

This Weeks Menu and we have a Boring Food Alert

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I hate boring food. I want to cook new recipes and enjoy new things, but my family are so stuck in their ways. I really look forward to our Mindful Chef boxes as I know it means we are going to try something new, but I can only afford them fortnightly and there is only me and my eldest son that are willing to try them. Last week we had a Madras fish curry which was a little too spicy for my liking. I guess having Madras in the title should have given me a hint. The other recipe, Chicken and quinoa with slaw was really nice though.

So here we are onto a non Mindful Chef week and it’s going to be boring.

This Weeks Menu Boring Food

weekly menu poster
  • Monday – Pizza and garlic bread (Monday Staple)
  • Tuesday – Apple and Pork sausages and mash
  • Wednesday – Lasagne
  • Thursday – Burgers (selection of vegetarian, chicken and fancy beef burgers)
  • Friday – Maybe chip shop dinner…or chicken and chips
  • Saturday – home made curry and rice with naan bread
  • Sunday – Roast Chicken dinner

Has anyone else noticed the spike in food shopping? I try to be frugal but even just buying the basics seems to cost so much. We may have to resort to beans on toast. I have cut down on take outs but we still end up having one a week. Chip shop is the cheapest closely followed by a party bucket from KFC, but they don’t do enough fries so we have to pop some oven chips in.

If you are looking to save money on your shopping you can check out Katy’s 7 Fantastic Tips to Help You Save Money on Your Food Shopping.

Next week I hope to have less boring food on our menu

Lunch Times

The kids are (supposedly) back at school this week. My Little Man has decided he wants packed lunches rather than school dinners. I asked him what he wanted and he said, sandwich, crisps and chocolate cake…ah yes, very healthy!! I have persuaded him to have a bread roll, Quavers, a banana or pear, and a fruit bar. I hope that’s a bit better for him. He doesn’t like yoghurts or fromage frais. He really wanted crisps so the Quavers are a compromise although I’m not sure how much healthier they are.

The girls will be having lunch at home for a few more weeks as they are not back full time yet.

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Weekly Meal Plan, Back in the Oven!

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Guess what? We have our oven fixed…over two weeks without an oven and I can honestly say it’s not been good. I was so pleased when the technician turned up this morning and fixed it. I can finally start cooking things in my oven again.

Last week went okay. We didn’t get our toad-in-the-hole thanks to not having an oven. We did have our lamb roast but we had to cook the joint in the slow cooker.

This Weeks Meal Plan with an Oven

weekly meal plan

This is possibly the last week of doing the kids lunches for a while. I certainly won’t miss that. It’s not so bad when they are on holiday but when we are doing home school I have to get lunch done at a particular time.

  • chicken nuggets and fries
  • cheese or ham (or even cucumber) sandwiches
  • salad bar with soft tortillas
  • sausage rolls and cheese and crackers
  • toasted cheese sandwiches
  • fish cakes/ turkey dinosaurs and waffles
  • eggy bread cheese sandwiches
  • sausage sandwiches
  • sausage and beans and waffles
  • quesadillas
  • chicken burgers

Now we have the oven working again we can hopefully start thinking about some different foods. Possibly use up our load in the freezer. It’s amazing how much we’ve not been able to cook because it needs oven cooking.

Katykicker

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This Weeks Menu – Winter Blues

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I feel like I’m winging it again this week. I logged on last week to find that there were no grocery slots until Wednesday so I don’t even have my weekly shop yet!! I’ve booked next weeks shop already, got to get in quick these days. Last week went well though, despite all the pork and tofu. The Winter blues are settling in here and I want to choose food that makes us feel comforted and happier.

We are also under a fair amount of stress with mock exams and worrying about COVID. According the the Mindful Chef cookbook we should be avoiding sugar, caffeine and processed fats and focusing more on fruit and vegetables, brown rice, buckwheat and vitamin C. I’m also taking magnesium supplements which help with leg pain.

I’m not sure my menu this week reflects this well, but I’ve added a fair bit of fruit into the shopping (we’ll pretend I didn’t add the doughnuts!) We have also swapped white rice for brown which has gone down well so far.

This Weeks Menu – Winter Blues

Image shows text Weekly Meal Plan and some bowls of healthy food.
  • Monday – Take Out (we had Chinese food)
  • Tuesday – Pizza for most, duck breasts for me and daughter
  • Wednesday – homemade turkey meatballs in tomato sauce
  • Thursday – Chicken and curly fries
  • Friday – veggie chilli with brown rice
  • Saturday – thai curry
  • Sunday – Toad-in-the-hole with mash

I hope everyone is well and staying happy and coping well in these difficult times. Let’s hope this winter passes as quickly as the summer seemed to go.

Joining in with Katy Kicker and her meal planning linky

Katykicker

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Meal Plan – Missing Shopping

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I had a bad week last week and to be honest, I don’t know how we managed with our missing shopping. but we did. I did my online shop on Sunday like I normally do and fell asleep halfway through. Urgh, it’s something that happens to me frequently. I’ve even been known to continue typing on my laptop after falling asleep. My husband or son will take it away until I wake up.

Anyway, I had managed to save the shop and even check it out before nodding off, I think I knew it was going to happen. So, it was still there and all I had to to was finish it off. Only, despite being awake this time I didn’t complete checkout and was only sent my first half of the order, the rest of my shopping was missing.

It took a day or two to realise that I was missing shopping that I was adamant I’d bought, but as I don’t put the shopping away I hadn’t noticed. So, meal plans went out the window and we managed with what we already had. In fact we managed fairly well and I even stuck to my No Take Away plan.

This week I went to log on to my usual Sainsburys but they had zero spots for Monday delivery. It was the same with Morrisons. So I went to the Asda site and managed to get a slot. Then I booked a slot for Sainsburys for Tuesday. It takes so long to shop somewhere new. And now I’m not sure that I’ve not replicated shopping in both trolleys despite my constant checking. I’m beginning to think that I shouldn’t be allowed to do the shopping at all!

This Weeks Meal Plan – with no missing shopping

  • Monday – lasagne/bolognese
  • Tuesday- fajitas or enchiladas
  • Wednesday – gammon and chips
  • Thursday – pasta bake
  • Friday – fish/chicken and chips
  • Saturday – curry
  • Sunday – lamb roast

I’m currently £50 under budget so that will help if the meals are not welcomed. But it will be a trip to the local supermarket.

I wonder if I can make it through to the end of March without buying a take away…wish me luck! Lining up with Katy Kicker’s meal planning linky See what everyone else is cooking this week

Katykicker

My previous meal planning post

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Getting back on track with a new planner

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Avon meal planner

I bought a planner…bit of a plug as I’m an Avon Rep and I got this lovely magnet planner from my Avon Store. It was just what we needed and it also comes with a magnetic pull off shopping list book.

We argue a lot about food in our house, it’s one of our biggest problems. It’s difficult finding food for four adults and three children. Life used to be so much simpler.

Anyway, now I can jot down the meals on this planner and if anyone has an issue they can rub it out and replace it. I don’t mind so long as everyone is happy.

Breakfast is pretty much the same every day, a choice of toast, crumpets, croissants or cereal. Whatever they fancy, they generally get it themselves. The lunch section on the planner will probably only be used when the kids are off school.

Then there is a snack section on the planner, which will be handy to keep a track of the goodies that can be all eaten in one day if I’m not careful. Seriously, I can have doughnuts, cakes, biscuits, crisps etc and they’ll all be eaten within a day, or maybe two.

Anyway, let’s get on to this weeks meal Plan.

Weekly Meal Plan

  • Saturday – Curry (usually from a jar!)
  • Sunday – Lamb roast dinner
  • Monday – pies and mash (or roasters)
  • Tuesday – chorizo and Mozzarella Gnocchi Bake
  • Wednesday – fajitas
  • Thursday – Brinner (fry up)
  • Friday – Something light as we are going out (pizza maybe?)

With the option of wiping off and swapping around on the planner I’m sure this will be happening a lot. I always have a back up food in the freezer for those days. It’s generally chicken or fish and chips!

Linking up with Katy Kicker’s Meal planning linky.

Katykicker
A Place to Eat

Weekly Meal Plan – Sweet and Sour

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I think sweet and sour sums up last week too. I was so bored of the same meals that I wrote my meal plan with the idea what I already had in the cupboards, fridge and freezer. We did stick to most of it, and my shopping bill was only £130. Also, I didn’t spend much during the week either. So, I might have been bored of food but it was cheap. The only meal I swapped was on the Wednesday, I’d put fish or pork, and we ended up having toad-in-the-hole.

This weeks Meal Plan

I’m doing a sweet and sour this week as my son has been asking for months. I love it made in the slow cooker, it’s so easy, just through it all in and let it cook. Then make some rice to go with it. I’m thinking about making some battered quorn or tofu and straining off some of the sauce for my daughter. She likes the sauce but won’t eat chicken or most of the vegetables.

Let’s get on to this weeks meal plan

  • Saturday – Take out
  • Sunday – Stir Fry
  • Monday – Sweet and Sour Chicken
  • Tuesday – Sausage ragu (or sausage pasta bake)
  • Wednesday – pies and mash or chips
  • Thursday – quiche / salmon parcels.
  • Friday – pasta with spinich and stilton.

We are already on Sunday and we started with a Take Out because Graham went out and I didn’t feel like cooking, plus we had kind of ate everything we had.

Today, Sunday, we are having a stir fry because I really fancy it. I cook the chicken, noodles and vegetables and keep everything seperate. Then everyone can choose what they actually want in their stir fry and it takes a minute to fry it up with their chosen seasoning or sauce. Star doesn’t eat noodles so I’ll make her a little mash and she can have chicken and vegetables with mash instead.

I’m a bit worried about the sausage ragu, but we’ve had sausage pasta bake before so I’ll just make sure it’s got ingredients that will please everyone. I’ll add the pasta last, so Star can have mash again.

The sweet and sour can be served with rice, or noodles or even chips (star doesn’t eat rice either!)

I’m actually beginning to look forward to food again and I love all the inspiration I get from reading the other weekly meal plans in Katy’s meal planning linky.

Katykicker
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Weekly Meal Plan

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Last Weeks Plan and what was Eaten

Last weeks meal plan went okay although we may have swapped the days around. Thats not a problem though, so long as the meals get eaten and I don’t have to fork out on Take Outs…Yay, we managed no take out’s last week. With our holiday looming closer I’m looking to saving as much as possible and take outs for 7 are not cheap!

This week I have to budget in kids lunches, we’ve had a talk about this and some of the things we have come up with are, chicken dippers, fish fingers, pasta, noodles, enchiladas and savoury pancakes. Not a bad start, I’ll see how we get on. I’m treating them to a chip shop lunch tomorrow as I will be in hospital all day and their Dad is taking them to visit his mum. Our evening meal will have to be quick and easy because I can’t do much when I get home from hospital, so it’s probably going to be pizza.

This Weeks Meal Plan

  • Saturday – Curry, rice and poppadoms
  • Sunday – Meatballs and spaghetti
  • Monday – Pizza
  • Tuesday – Peri Peri Chicken (from a kit in our Degustabox)
  • Wednesday – Tacos
  • Thursday – pasta bake
  • Friday – Fish and Chips

The Peri Peri Chicken is a 3 stage cooking kit from Simply Cook which we had in last weeks Degustabox. It looks quite interesting but I doubt I would buy it again unless it became available in my regular supermarkets. I guess we’ll see how it goes. I do like the Nando’s peri per sauce though.

I’m not sure what kind of pasta bake I will do yet. I need to finish my shopping first so I’ll be looking for inspiration.

Next Saturday is Boo’s birthday and she’s having some friends over for a tea party. I’m hoping to extend the food into something we can all have for dinner. My older kid’s complain about party food, just like they do about BBQs saying it’s not enough and doesn’t feel like a real meal! I believe we eat twice as much as we normally would. I mean when would you ever dish up a burger meal with more than two burgers, a hot dog, a kebab stick, corn on the cob and salad? (which is the average amount eaten by them at a BBQ)

I can’t wait to read what everyone else is cooking this week on Katy’s link up.

Katykicker
A Place to Eat

This Weeks Meal Plan

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Last weeks meal plan went ok, again apart from the slow cooker lamb curry which as I speak is in the slow cooker! I also have some naan bread, although I didn’t make it, I’m being lazy again, but although I love making bread it can be time consuming and you can buy it ready made so cheaply.

Also we swapped our tacos for Chicken Souvlaki which were really tasty. I didn’t make my own pitta bread though, I bought some flat breads from Sainsburys. I have made pitta bread before though.

Instead of the curry we just had burgers and that’s why the curry is on the list today.

Bread

I’m keen to have a go at making some bread in my breadmaker. I bought it a while ago and as with most new kitchen gadgets it got used all the time at first, but now it’s gathering dust. I’m thinking of maybe a nice desert type of bread, chocolate and orange maybe? I’m off to look for a recipe now.

Oh, and the freezer is nearly empty so I’m hoping to defrost it tomorrow 🙂

This weeks Meal Plan

  • Saturday – Slow cooker lamb curry
  • Sunday – Lasagna
  • Monday – Tacos (because we didn’t have them last week)
  • Tuesday – chicken and chorizo paella
  • Wednesday – chicken and chips
  • Thursday – pizza
  • Friday – Toad-in-the-hole

I hope it goes well. I’m also hoping to do just one shop this week. Last week I did a shop at Sainsburys, but there were some things I could only get from Morrisons, so I split the shop between the two, taking forever to see which items were cheaper. I believe that Sainsburys is cheaper than Morrisons for so much more!

I still spent less than £200 though…and not one single take out. yippee!

We did go out for my brother’s birthday last Saturday and the bill for six of us was £55, which I think is amazing. We didn’t order desert because my brother had his birthday cake (Which I made.)

Katykicker

A Place to Eat

My Weekly Meal Plan

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I didn’t write a meal plan for the last week because I was away and since getting back I’ve been really overwhelmed with things to do, never mind writing down our menu.

Good news is, we managed our BBQ (which was on my last published meal plan) and got to use my new garden table. I’m a bit fed up of regular BBQ food though, I may have to look for some alternatives.

I’m in hospital this Tuesday for treatment so I’ve opted for something quick and easy to add to the menu, pizza!

A dish of colourful food to illustrate our weekly meal plan menu

This Weeks Meal Plan Menu

  • Monday – pasta bake
  • Tuesday – pizza
  • Wednesday – Hot Dog sausage rolls
  • Thursday – Lasagne
  • Friday – Fish and chips
  • Saturday – Curry
  • Sunday – pie and mash

I spent a total of £160 on this weeks shopping which I think is really good, so I’m hoping I can stick to that in the future. Next payday, I’m thinking of a little trip to a cheaper store to stock up on things like washing liquid and other cleaning products as well as cat food and maybe even a few freezer things for back up. It’s always good to have a well stocked freezer just in case no-one fancies what’s on the menu. I like a good stack of tins and packets too.

If I’m honest, we could probably manage a week or two on buying nothing but perishables (milk, bread etc.) I know my Mum used to have to do this sometimes. We do get lazy with cooking though. I also have a store cupboard of herbs and spices and it’s just a case of adding fresh meat, fish or quorn for a delicious meal. I really need to cut down on take outs because we can’t be bothered to cook. It makes such a huge difference to my meal budgeting. A take out for 7 people is very expensive.

Linking up to Katy and her Meal Planning linky

Katykicker
A Place to Eat

Weekly Meal Plan

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My meal plan, a photo of a plate of colourful food

This weeks Meal Plan

  • Monday – BBQ
  • Tuesday – lasagne
  • Wednesday – Mediterranean fish
  • Thursday – pizza
  • Friday – chicken and chips
  • Saturday – Take out
  • Sunday – Pies

Last week’s meal plan went okay, apart from not having the Mediterranean fish, so I’ve put that again this week.

We may have a move around of meals this week as we’ve been promised warmer weather and I’ve a freezer full of BBQ food. I guess we’ll have to wait for the right day though. I’ve also got a new garden table that I’m itching to use…so please weather, be kind this week.

Also, we won’t be home on Friday and Saturday. My plan is to treat the older two left behind to a take out. Hopefully it won’t cost too much for just the two of them. Friday they can stick in some chicken and chips from the freezer, or have whatever they can find. They are old enough to fend for themselves.

Shopping last week was a bit of a nightmare as I had a ‘funny turn’ while doing the online shop and had to give up. I wasn’t even sure if I’d been through the payment page, but I did and the shopping arrived on Monday…well, about three quarters of it did. We still managed up until the weekend though, then I had to do a quick top up shop at Iceland. Total shopping this week works out at £160, plus little extras for milk, bread etc. As there are seven of us, I call that a good week.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do next week as I will be away the weekend. I may have to forward plan and get the shop done early but still to arrive on Monday. I just hope I don’t forget!

Linking up with Katy’s Meal Planning Linky.

Katykicker