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What's your meal plan dinners this week?

  • 25-10-2020 7:29pm
    #1
    Administrators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,947 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭


    Does anyone else here meal plan? Looking to share my usual go-to ideas and also steal yours as I'm feeling our menu rotation is a bit staid...



    Mine are:

    Sunday: Bacon & cabbage

    Monday: Lasaange (spagetti for the young lad)
    Tuesday: Seafood Chowder and crispy rolls
    Wednesday Chicken Curry & rice
    Thursday: Homemade beef burgers
    Friday: mom's night off - takeaway.


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 1,221 ✭✭✭wally1990


    No particular order

    Roast chicken and potatoes with veg
    Pasta bake with chicken and chorizo
    Spaghetti carbonara with chicken and bacon bits
    Lasange homemade or else spaghetti bol
    Takeaway some night
    Roast beef with potatoes and veg


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,322 ✭✭✭Loveinapril


    Tomorrow is roast chicken with roasted mediterranean veg.
    Tuesday is chicken and veg fried rice with chicken leftover from Monday
    Wednesday is quorn fajitas
    Thursday is vegetable and lentil lasagne and chips
    Friday is quorn enchiladas with egg fried rice and homemade garlic sauce
    Saturday is butternut squash risotto with a panfried fillet of hake.


  • Registered Users Posts: 850 ✭✭✭tickingclock


    Today was salmon, roasted carrots, butternut squash and parsnips with mashed spud.
    Tomorrow is shepards pie with brocolli
    Tuesday will be left over shepards pie with green beans
    Wednesday is chicken fajitas with homemade wedges.
    Haven't got further!!
    Also have the same dinners on rotation like most people


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,309 ✭✭✭✭Dial Hard


    I'm not sure I've ever *actually* stuck to my meal plan for the full week, but this is the intention:

    Mon: Pulled tandoori chicken with Bombay spuds and spiced, roasted cauliflower

    Tues: 'Nduja Buffalo mac & cheese

    Wed: Tuesday leftovers

    Thur: Chorizo & chickpea stew

    Fri: Thursday leftovers

    Sat: Steak & blue cheese broccoli gratin

    Sun: Day off. Takeaway of some description.


  • Registered Users Posts: 531 ✭✭✭Springwell


    In no particular order...

    Venison shoulder Senegalese style with sweet potato mash
    Fish Tacos
    Sole Meuniere
    Bangers and Mash
    Spag Bol
    Fish cakes
    Thai curry with tofu


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  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 4,662 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tree


    Tomorrow is leftovers from today's roast chicken.
    Then some freezer deep diving (chest freezers are simultaneously a godsend and a curse)
    Chickpeas and rice (with a little curry powder, lemon juice, shredded carrots)
    Burgers and chips (or spice bag with the left over spice bag powder from last week)
    and Friday is always Pizza. homemade and delicious.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭ellejay


    Bank Holiday Monday: Fishfingers, bean and mashed potatoes.
    Tuesday: Grilled Lamb Chops, Carrots Broccoli and Potato and Gravy
    Wednesday: Roast chicken, mashed carrots and parsnips, broccoli, stuffing marrowfat peas and Raost potatoes.
    Thursday: Poached Salmon, salad and baby boiled potatoes.
    Friday: Spaghetti bolognaise garlic Bread
    Saturday: Chicken Fajitas
    Sunday: Roast Pork and trimmings.


  • Administrators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,947 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Neyite


    I'm getting a lot of inspiration from this thread, thanks everyone!


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,231 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Far too many organised people here. :rolleyes: ;)

    I don't usually know what were having for dinner until I'm sitting in Aldi's car park in the morning - deciding factors - What's in the fridge that needs using up? What did we have yesterday? What day of the week is it? How much time will I have to prepare it?


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 4,662 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tree


    Far too many organised people here. :rolleyes: ;)

    I don't usually know what were having for dinner until I'm sitting in Aldi's car park in the morning - deciding factors - What's in the fridge that needs using up? What did we have yesterday? What day of the week is it? How much time will I have to prepare it?
    I didn't say I was going to totally execute on it :D

    90% of meal planning is to stop one of us finishing work, having no inspiration, waiting for the other, by which stage everyone is ratty and no deciions are made...


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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,409 Mod ✭✭✭✭woodchuck


    Great idea for a thread!

    Saturday: burgers and chips

    Sunday: Chicken breasts on the bone, stuffed with black pudding and marinaded in a red wine sauce*. Served with mash and peas.

    Monday: cubed chicken breasts in a creamy onion sauce, served with rice and broccoli.

    Tuesday: Garlic chicken encroute* served with mash, peas and broccoli.

    Wednesday: Butternut squash dahl served with rice and naan bread. And fresh coriander.

    Thursday: Leftovers from Wednesday.

    Friday: Mango and pineapple marinaded chicken breasts*, with mash and peas.

    *from the butcher. Known as "dinner meat" in this house when I'm doing up the shopping list and just pick whatever looks good :P


  • Administrators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,947 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Neyite


    Far too many organised people here. :rolleyes: ;)

    I don't usually know what were having for dinner until I'm sitting in Aldi's car park in the morning - deciding factors - What's in the fridge that needs using up? What did we have yesterday? What day of the week is it? How much time will I have to prepare it?


    I used to be like that when I lived right beside a supermarket. It made sense to pop in on my way home from work with my dinner idea. But then we moved to where the nearest shop is 10k away, with a massively increased commute so I can't live a culinary life on the edge any more.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,629 ✭✭✭jrosen


    Chicken pie with veg
    tacos
    Baked salmon with rice/veg fried with some spices
    Stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon, honey carrots, roast potatoes and other veg,
    Spaghetti bol,
    beef stew
    Chicken burgers, corn on the cob

    This is a great idea.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,409 Mod ✭✭✭✭woodchuck


    Far too many organised people here. :rolleyes: ;)

    I don't usually know what were having for dinner until I'm sitting in Aldi's car park in the morning - deciding factors - What's in the fridge that needs using up? What did we have yesterday? What day of the week is it? How much time will I have to prepare it?

    When I first met my OH, he'd call to the supermarket on the way home from work every day. Only then would he decide what he was having for dinner that night. I just can't live like that :P To me, that's wasting far too much of the week in supermarkets and it means eating later each night too. I prefer to do one big shop every week. It means the meal planning and shopping list is inevitably left up to me, but that's fine, I'm a control freak anyway. I always throw in a couple of easy dinners though that I know he can take the lead on :P


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,432 ✭✭✭SusanC10


    I meal plan every week. Tesco delivers on a Thursday so I go Thursday to Wednesday.
    This week is MidTerm so a lot more treat dinners than usual.

    From last Thursday -

    Thursday - Pasta with Chorizo in Creamy Tomato Sauce (Rachel Allen recipe)

    Friday - Homemade Pizza

    Saturday - Falafels with Couscous (BBC)

    Sunday - Roast Beef with all trimmings

    Monday - Leftovers from Sunday

    Tuesday - Pork Escalopes with Rice

    Wednesday - Homemade Fish Fingers & Chips

    Have just done my Meal Plan for next week as finalising Tesco order for tomorrow.

    Thursday - Pasta with Pancetta, Spinach, Feta, Roasted Baby Tomatoes and Pine Nuts.

    Friday - Homemade Burgers and wedges

    Saturday - Prawn and Chorizo Pasta

    Sunday - Moussaka

    Monday - Leftovers from Sunday.

    Tuesday - Baked Salmon Fillets (Jamie)

    Wednesday - Baked Chicken Fillets with Tomato sauce (BBC)


  • Registered Users Posts: 668 ✭✭✭Coopaloop


    Great idea for a tread and already stealing some of your meal plan ideas:

    Monday - roast chicken, veg and mash
    Tuesday - spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread
    Wednesday - chilli with rice and mini wraps (salad too)
    Thursday - creamy cajun chicken, roasted baby potatoes, broccoli and mex rice
    Friday - homemade burgers and homemade chunky chips
    Sat- takeaway
    Sunday - roast of some kind.


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,005 ✭✭✭✭Toto Wolfcastle


    Far too many organised people here. :rolleyes: ;)

    I don't usually know what were having for dinner until I'm sitting in Aldi's car park in the morning - deciding factors - What's in the fridge that needs using up? What did we have yesterday? What day of the week is it? How much time will I have to prepare it?

    We do an online grocery order every 6 days and don’t go to the shop in between so meal planning is a must. I get hangry if I don’t know what’s for dinner too.

    We always start the meal plan with takeaway and pizza and sometimes steak. Then we just have 3 days to plan. We don’t plan specific meals for specific days though because pizza night depends on dry weather and some vegetables might need to be used sooner than others etc. We ordered our groceries last minute this week so our plan isn’t very inspiring and relies heavily on what we have in the freezer.

    Sunday: Takeaway

    Monday: Steak, potato gratin because we had some cream to use up and peas

    Tuesday: Homemade fresh pasta from the freezer (it freezes so well) with smoked pancetta, broccoli and spring onions

    Wednesday: Pizza with whatever we can forage from the fridge

    Thursday: Chicken breasts topped with the leftover mozzarella and whatever else we fancy from the fridge with crispy roasted cubes of potato and charred broccoli

    Friday: Smoky stout chilli from the freezer with brown rice

    Doesn’t look to bad written down actually!


  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 7,920 Mod ✭✭✭✭cee_jay


    woodchuck wrote: »
    When I first met my OH, he'd call to the supermarket on the way home from work every day. Only then would he decide what he was having for dinner that night. I just can't live like that :P To me, that's wasting far too much of the week in supermarkets and it means eating later each night too. I prefer to do one big shop every week. It means the meal planning and shopping list is inevitably left up to me, but that's fine, I'm a control freak anyway. I always throw in a couple of easy dinners though that I know he can take the lead on :P

    Same for me! It used to drive me crazy! It is one of the good things to come out of Covid for me - we are doing one big shop to reduce our outside contacts since March, and it has made it so much easier.
    I started doing online delivery, and we have a shopping list he can add stuff to in Keep notes - I also keep the meal plan in there so he can see what is on whatever night to cook it when it is his turn.

    My meal plans often revolve around what is on special offer, and I try to pop in one or two new meals to try, with a few old favourites. I also try to make sure everything is used up - for example we have too many potatoes left at the end of this week, so the following week will revolve more around dishes to use those up.
    There is a fussy teenager here, so sometimes it is a new meal for the adults, and the teenager gets a variation that is simple to cook.
    A lot of my recent meals are using the one pan cook book, especially mid week. Weekends are more likely to involve more involved dishes that take longer to cook.

    This week:
    Sunday - Roast leg of lamb (on offer in Supervalu) with hasselback potatoes and carrots & parsnip mash (not a regular dish)
    Monday - Chicken parmagiana (new dish this week)
    Tuesday - Crispy gnocchi with tomatoes and basil (one pan recipe on regular rotation)
    Wednesday - Diet Coke chicken (himself requested this!)
    Thursday - Chilli peanut beef (one pan recipe that is on regular rotation)
    Friday - Takeaway night this week
    Saturday - Turkey joint with brussel sprouts and roasties (not a regular dish)
    Sunday - Corned Beef and cabbage (influenced from the ongoing thread here on corned beef)


  • Registered Users Posts: 223 ✭✭Glinda


    Great idea for a thread!

    From Saturday:

    Chilli with nachos and rice
    Roast beef with trimmings
    Traditional Irish stew
    Bacon, new potatoes and veg
    Takeaway
    Homemade meatballs & tomato sauce with pasta
    Steak with homemade chips

    Just realised that's an awful lot of beef compared to a normal week! We usually eat mountains of chicken and red meat is limited to the steak on Fridays. Think we're all feeling the cold, so craving traditional and warming foods :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 85 ✭✭Pflano


    Great thread!! I'm always looking for dinner inspiration and getting some great ideas here :) My current go-to dinners are:

    Shepherd's Pie
    Chilli con Carne
    Chicken Curry (using Mr Curry Extra Hot sauce/paste)
    Salmon parcels baked with cherry tomatoes and green beans or tenderstem broccoli and mash
    Turkey burgers and oven chips
    Roast chicken, roasted veg (red onion, red & yellow pepper, courgette, carrot and or parsnip), mash and/or roast potatoes
    Homemade pizza
    Steak with potato gratin, pan fried asparagus and/or tenderstem broccoli or with fried onions & mushrooms and mash
    Fish pie
    Bone-in pork chops with carrots, sprouts and mash

    I try to cook from scratch every day but usually have a couple of emergency "can be cooked from frozen" bits in the freezer. The fresh filled pasta is a Godsend for the OH too.

    Also, I recently downloaded a Best-Before app that alerts you when food is approaching its Use-By date. Might be a pain in the hole adding a huge amount of foods in there after a big shop and I've only been using it a week but hopefully it's going to get rid of that feeling of self loathing when I discover something at the back of the fridge that's only good for the bin now!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 850 ✭✭✭tickingclock


    Also, I recently downloaded a Best-Before app that alerts you when food is approaching its Use-By date. Might be a pain in the hole adding a huge amount of foods in there after a big shop and I've only been using it a week but hopefully it's going to get rid of that feeling of self loathing when I discover something at the back of the fridge that's only good for the bin now![/quote]

    I refuse to throw out food. When I do a big food shop I move everything in my fridge that needs to be used up to the one shelf and that makes me take stuff from that shelf before starting the new shelves. Same with fruit.
    The fruit bowls have to be empty before new fruit is put in them


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,630 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    I can safely say that I have never in my life planned more than about 3 dinners in advance.
    Fair play to the organised people, though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,287 ✭✭✭Dave_The_Sheep


    The last week has been:

    Friday - Salmon, mash and sauteed greens (chard, kale and ... something else weird).
    Saturday - Pasta, truffle pesto (got it in Lidl, not really great if I'm honest).
    Sunday - Goose fillets (Lidl, recommended) with roast potatoes, leeks and mushroom/garlic sauce.
    Monday - Pasta alla e olio.
    Tuesday - Leftover tomato soup + grilled cheese.
    Wednesday - Chilli con carne loaded baked potato.

    More meat than we usually do, but it's been pretty tasty. Going to try for a bit less calorific for the next week though.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 12,108 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dizzyblonde


    I've never planned more than a day in advance! I'm finding lots of inspiration in this thread though, which is great because I get into a rut and tend to cook the same dinners on rotation.


  • Registered Users Posts: 591 ✭✭✭Garlinge


    Other half is a fussy eater so no pasta, no salad, no eggs, no fish save Donegal Catch and few vegs save peas and carrots :mad:

    I try to rotate 'favourites' over a week and have some cooked meals in freezer.

    So meat sauce to go with mash/veg maybe snazzy up to cottage pie topped with cheese.
    Cassarole Beef done in Slowcooker then extra portions frozen...
    Lamb Tagine done in Slowcooker and extra portions frozen
    Ham joint served with onion sauce.
    Fish 'n chips with salmon done in foil wrap for me.
    Pork escallops unless porksteak into oven with BBQ sauce over
    Home made pizza from bought GF base for me, Goodfellows for others.
    Chicken portions on bone with bacon, sausages, stuffing, gratin potatoes = all done in oven
    Lamb burgers homemade with mustard/garlic/tomatoe k/bread crumbs mixed in. Extra burgers frozen... bake in oven as crumbly, serve with mint sauce.
    Chicken curry with selection of veggies and a jar of sauce with dry spices and rice.

    Some sort of potato at each meal save for curry meal so boiled, mash or gratin. Roasties over christmas! Vegs tend to be broccoli and peas once summer crop of runner beans is done.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,287 ✭✭✭Dave_The_Sheep


    Garlinge wrote: »
    Other half is a fussy eater so no pasta, no salad, no eggs, no fish save Donegal Catch and few vegs save peas and carrots :mad:

    2295_disgusted_ramsay.png

    But seriously, fair play for adapting, those options sound great.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,906 ✭✭✭Cazale


    This week so far. I make everything from scratch.

    Saturday - Creamy chicken pasta. My wifes favorite. Recipe below.

    Dice chicken breast and marinate in sweet chilli sauce and garlic for a few hours. Cook and drain penne pasta. Season and fry chicken. Add a splash of white wine and some diced sundried tomatoes and cook for a minute. Add some cajun powder and 400ml of double cream. Reduce sauce down. Throw pasta in and heat through. Serve with garlic bread.

    Sunday - Slow cooked Beef with cauliflower cheese, creamy mash, stuffing, gravy made from beef juices and oven roasted carrots.

    Monday - Homemade burger and chips.

    Tuesday - Fillet steak with creamy mash, carrots and tenderstem broccoli tossed in olive oil/garlic and topped with parmesan. Served with pepper sauce.

    Wednesday - Chicken fajitas, rice and bombay potatoes. Served with guacamole and salsa.

    Tomorrow - Spatchcock chicken

    Friday - Venison and potatoe madras with Pilau rice.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,358 ✭✭✭Ryath


    Can't say I meal plan either. Usually do one big shop a week and a smaller top at some stage. I'll buy a core of veg and meat and I'll have a rough idea of meals I might do. A lot can depend on whats on offer. I can cook a good variety of meals from memory or just instinct/knowledge of what works so don't need a list of ingredients. I might have a short list of thing the wife wants or if I'm out of a larder staple like garlic or peppercorns/spices that I don't buy often that I might forget. But a full shopping list for meals, only at Christmas time.

    I've a fairly well stocked larder and freezer. I tend to freeze portions of dinner so what we have can change a lot or least have an option if someone doesn't want what the rest of us are having. Some thing like Lasagne, cottage pie, soup etc I'll batch cook a freeze several portions.

    Day to day I'll cook meat in order of shortest date but what I decide to do with it depends on the time I have and what needs to be used up. Steak could be fried, used for a stir fry a cheaper piece minced for burgers if fatty enough. Chicken is usually for curries but do a good else with it to, main meat we eat as the rest of them are fussy. Sausages: hotdogs, pasta, toad in the hole.

    Tonight was meant to be bangers, onion gravy and mash but I was home late and couldn't be arsed peeling spuds so I threw together a tray bake with sausages, chorizo, baby potatoes, onion, garlic and peppers. Even the kids said it was delicious. (Though one only ate the chorizo, peppers and potato and the other sausage and potato! :rolleyes:) Meals are a daily battle of trying to please everyone they're a fussy lot with wildly different tastes then me who literally will eat anything. Maybe meal planning would be easier! :p


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,287 ✭✭✭Dave_The_Sheep


    I find meal planning leads to a lot less waste, and less money spent on shops (over the course of a week). It's why we started doing it.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,432 ✭✭✭SusanC10


    I find meal planning leads to a lot less waste, and less money spent on shops (over the course of a week). It's why we started doing it.

    Pre-Pandemic, I did meal plans but would grocery shop twice a week. We also got Deliveries once a month on average.
    But we would have been a little more flexible with the plan.
    Since early March we shifted to a delivery once a week with no top up shopping and we have stuck to the plan 99% of the time.


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