meal planning monday – CraftyGuider

Meal Planning Monday – 22nd February

No Meal Planning Monday post last week as I was having a bit of a blogging break. I did have a meal plan though, and we had a freezer dive week. As I’ve mentioned before, I store a lot of things in my freezer so I can batch cook meals and get longer shelf life from food. Unfortunately this led to a lack of space for staples like bread and frozen veg, so a purge was in order. We’ve feasted on pizza, fish, sausages, pie and all sorts of yumminess, so although my slimming world plan has gone to pot, I can now see what I’ve got in there.

This week we are going for something simple again. After a calm half term, volunteering and mum cabs duties are ramping up again, and I need to get my organising back on track.

And to all my Guiding followers, a happy World Thinking Day to you all!

Monday: Vegetable Pasta Bake
Tuesday: Paprika Chicken/Vegetable Curry
Wednesday: Cottage Pie/Vegetarian Chilli
Thursday: Sausages
Friday: Beef and Vegetable Hot Pot/Quorn Bolognese
Saturday: Freezer Dive
Sunday: Use up whatever is hanging around in the fridge

Linking with At Home with Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday. Pop by and see what everyone else is having this week to get some inspiration.

Meal Planning Monday – 8th February

So far my Slimming World Challenge has been a bit up and down. I try and limit myself to one bar of Green & Blacks 70% dark chocolate a week and normally fail, but this week I still have some of last week’s bar left. I’ve also put more vegetables into the family’s diet and added a bit of variety to my lunch and dinner menus.

On the down side, I did eat a piece of chocolate birthday cake at Rainbows that was brought in by our resident Brownie, and it was the school quiz on Friday which meant a fish and chip supper. Never mind. On the whole I’ve been a good girl so hopefully I’ll see progress on Wednesday at my weigh in. Last week I recorded a ½lb loss, but I was just starting to get into the swing of things, and it’s still a move in the right direction!

The menu was mainly a success. The girls turned their noses up at the fish cakes though, even though they eat salmon and mash quite regularly. They were made to eat their dinner, although Daddy helped eldest Craftyguidelet with the crispy outside of her fish cake.

This week our menu is as follows:

Monday: sausage and mash
Tuesday: salad
Wednesday: fish fingers/beef casserole from the freezer
Thursday: bolognese
Friday: tuna
Saturday and Sunday: making it up as I go along! It worked last week to use up food we already have so there’s less going to waste.

Linking with At Home with Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday. Pop by and see what everyone else is having this week to get some inspiration.

Meal Planning Monday – 1st February

Wow! January is over already and my new challenge is beginning.

I’ve been an online Slimming World member for some time now. I say ‘member’ in the loosest terms as I pay to weigh myself every week and only vaguely think about what I’m eating. Not only is it a waste of money, I’m not getting any thinner! Time to knuckle down and count those syns. The rest of the family can carry on eating normally but I’m going to try and get my act together.

Monday: egg/chicken salad (which came first? tee hee!)
Tuesday: veg bolo/mac n cheese
Wednesday: veg curry/gammon
Thursday: veg chilli/slow cooker sausage pasta
Friday: salmon fish cakes
Saturday: veg goulash
Sunday: see what’s left in the fridge and invent something!

Linking with At Home with Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday. Pop by and see what everyone else is having this week to get some inspiration.

Meal Planning Monday – 25th January

I decided to concentrate on my lunches this week. I go through phases of having the same things every day – baked potatoes with beans and cheese, cheese omelette with rice. Other times I run so late I just grab a bowl of rice krispies with soya milk. When I put my supermarket food order on, I concentrate on what to have for dinner and not what would be good for lunch. I have now baked some baps, I have a variety of fruit and veg and I’m going to give it a go.

Monday: egg bap
Tuesday: frittata
Wednesday: jacket potato with beans
Thursday: cheese and pickle baguettes
Friday: soup

For dinner, I’ve got a lot of evenings where I can’t spend time cooking, so it’s lots of quick meals or ‘Here’s one I made earlier’ dishes.

Monday: cold roast beef and bubble and squeak
Tuesday: pork medallions and veg
Wednesday: salmon
Thursday: bolognese
Friday: baked potatoes and salad
Saturday: Mr CG and the Craftyguidelets are fending for themselves as I’m on a residential Guiding training
Sunday: sausages

Linking with At Home with Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday. Pop by and see what everyone else is having this week to get some inspiration.

Meal Planning Monday – 11th January

I love my freezer. As well as the usual ice cream and frozen veg, I store as much as I can in there. All my butter and any other multibuys go straight in so I can bulk buy when it’s on special offer. I don’t eat much bread so when I bake a loaf, I slice it up to go straight into the freezer to use slice by slice so there’s no waste. I also cook batches of vegetarian meals for me so I just need to defrost something for me and cook a meat version for everyone else. Cheaper food, less waste and convenience – I’ll go for that!

It is important to freeze, defrost and reheat food safely so take care!

This week I’m batch making a vegetarian chilli to add to the bolognaise in the freezer. If I can do one meal a week, it gives me a selection to pull out of the freezer.

Vegetarian Chilli – serves 6
225g dried white haricot beans
125g dried red kidney beans
1 tbsp oil
2 large onions, quartered and sliced
14oz tin chopped tomatoes
3-4 bay leaves
1 veggie stock cube made up into 850ml stock
2 red and 2 green peppers, cut into medium strips
chilli powder to taste
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

Soak the beans for 8-12 hours or overnight in plenty of cold water.
Drain the beans and rinse really thoroughly.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onions until they are just turning golden.
Add beans, tomatoes, bay leaves and stock.
Bring to the boil uncovered, and once boiling, boil rapidly for 10 minutes (very important when dealing with dried beans to kill toxins).
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add peppers, garlic and chilli.
Cook slowly for 45 minutes.
Remove bay leaves and serve with rice.
I have been freezing this in individual portions for years. I just defrost a portion the night before in the fridge and microwave it until it is completely reheated throughout.

Our weekly meal plan is as follows:

Monday: Jacket potatoes and salad – should have had this last week, but after a day of cleaning and decluttering the kitchen, we had a celebratory takeaway pizza so we didn’t get it dirty again!
Tuesday: Veggie chilli/Chicken and Vegetable Stew
Wednesday: Creamy Haddock and Broccoli
Thursday: Vegetarian Goulash
Friday: Sausages
Saturday: Fish Pie
Sunday: Beef Hotpot/Veggie Bolognaise

Linking to At Home with Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday. Pop by and see what everyone else is having this week to get some inspiration.