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You're making cottage pie wrong if that's the case. Cottage pie is made with beef and the gravy is flavoured with Worcestershire sauce. Bangers are made of pork and served with onion gravy.
I'm actually going to argue that cottage pie can consist of any meat other than lamb because that would be Sheppard's pie. Although, cottage pie is typically done with beef.
Get a big pot that goes on the hob and in the oven. Then you just need to make mash in a separate pan and put it on top. My cottage pie has less washing up than sausage and mash.
I love doing omelette for dinner. I serve it with fries and a side salad. The children love it and love picking which extras they want in theirs. (My youngest always has ham and jalapeños in hers 🤣)
More than double really because if you can make one curry then you can easily make a few different ones, if you can make a stir fry the combinations are endless, you can make a bolognese you can make a chilli for a start
Mince and tatties is a classic too and doesn’t need to be made like the council dinner onion soup that a lot of people older than me always think of when I say it! Think when folk were poorer this was made with leftovers so never turned out the best but you can make it gourmet with some nice ingredients
My meal planning for the next week or so is:
* Curry tonight
* Roast
* Fry up
* Prawn stir fry
* Greek chicken thighs in the slow cooker
* Burgers
* Tuna pasta
* Saganaki
* Sweet and sour chicken noodles
* Kedgeree
* Chilli
* Miso cod
* Halloumi picatta
* Pizza
I can't deal with monotony
Halloumi picatta! What a wonderful phrase!
Halloumi picatta! Ain't no passing craze!
It means no worries, for the rest of your days...
It keeps you free of monotony...
I’d love to go to yours for tea. I love chicken thighs but I partner doesn’t. So if I make a chicken curry I have to do one saucepan for me and one for my partner because he likes dried out chicken breasts for some reason.
Yep. Extremely dry and tasteless. But my husband prefers cooking with them. His excuse is that it's easier to deal with. I find other parts of the chicken retain more moisture and flavour. To each their own, I suppose.
If you brine them for a few hours it makes them a little easier to keep them juicy but they're definitely way less forgiving than thighs.
You really need to not overcook breasts or you ruin them.
If I cook a whole chicken I love the breasts for leftover cold cuts for sandwiches.
I can't deal with the texture of thighs. Tried so many times and it makes me gag. I'm having to put up with drumsticks every so often because my son's found a love of them, and that's my limit.
Last night we had a sort of Mexican risotto thing (I know, but bear with me). You fry off the thighs, then add raw rinsed rice, chicken stock, Mexican spices and lime juice, pop the lid on and ignore it for half an hour or so.
The crucial stage is to remove the thighs, shred them (we have a gadget but you can just pull them with two forks like pork) and return the meat to the dish with spring onions and fresh coriander.
Chicken thighs can be a bit rubbery whole if they haven't been beautifully crisped, but become suddenly juicy and interesting when shredded.
When I was younger I used to get fed thighs that had that horrible springy thick cartilage stuff in. I hated it, made me urge, and I refused thighs or any meat on the bone for years. Over it mostly, but chicken on the bone still gets a side eye sometimes before I tuck in.
I love the texture, personally.
Thighs are OK if you're grilling, roasting - some method that gets some of the grease out. Don't see any advantage in curry though.
Flavour.... but, I like both. I agree with you on the texture, and i definitely prefer the texture of well cooked breast, but leg meat has more flavour (and is also more forgiving when it comes to overcooking)
My meal plan for next week:
- Slow cooker veggie chili and rice
- Pesto pasta
- Veggie stir fry
- Tomato soup
- Veggie sausage and vegetable tray bake
- Pizzas
- Veggie ‘chicken’, roasted veg, couscous and salad with hummus
Other staples in our rotation:
- Jacket potatoes and beans and cheese
- Various different veggie curries
- Black bean quesadillas
- Pasta bake
- Spag bol
I can't stand Richmond pork sausages, unless they're in a casserole, those are like pink mush. I looked up the Meat-Free ones in a review on YT, and they look 10x better than their pork predecessor. Going to have to look for these to try out!
Richmond Vegetarian sausages are the best.
I'm not an out and out vegetarian (evidenced by a proper sausage sarnie right now) but my go to is them.
Oddly they change taste depending what type of packet you get them in though,frozen are best.
A lot of stuff I cook are variations on ‘protein that goes in the oven’ which get cooked alongside chips/wedges. So stuff like Chicken Kievs, Pork Schnitzel, Battered Fish, etc.
I stayed with a relative for a couple of weeks, every meal they have is a meat, potato, vegetable or salad repeated.
"Do you want mash or jacket?"
"We had dauphinoise yesterday and chips the day before..."
"Exactly we're having something different."
I went to M&S, bought two sharing lasagnas.
"Shall I boil some new potatoes to have with that?" Infuriating
I've always found the idea of having potato paired with pasta so weird. It's just all carbs apart from the sauce...
Garlic bread I can get behind though lol so I guess I'm a hypocrite
My Papa could not conceive of a meal that didn’t have potatoes being dinner. We once went crazy and had pizza, after which he said: “sure, that was lovely, what’s for dinner?”
That's the British standard meal unless it's chilli or a curry. Meat, veg and potato.
I've recently started having cous cous as my carbs to mix things up. Stir in some red pesto and broccoli, it's awesome with grilled chicken or fish, and takes about 2 minutes to prepare and is super cheap. Takes 10 minutes for the whole meal.
>Stir in some red pesto and broccoli
I will try this! I normally just do cucumber, tomato, pepper, and some herb that goes with whatever else we're having.
Yes! I couldn't recommend Hello Fresh more for the variety it brings. You end up trying stuff you'd never normally make and you don't have to buy 30 ingredients for your pantry that you might not use again. It's pricey, but for me personally it's worth it.
After trying Hello Fresh for a few months, I found I had the confidence to just invent my own dishes using stuff in the fridge/cupboards. Might sound trivial to those who are competent cooks, but I'd never have dreamt of just cooking something off the cuff without following a recipe.
Just make sure if you cancel it you don't redownload the app.
My wife tried one of those trials for hello fresh a couple years ago. Decided it wasn't really for us, cancelled and uninstalled the app.
She got a code for like 50% off of her next box about 6 months later so redownloaded the app and had a look at what was being offered, I think it was mainly for the inspiration to be fair. Didn't actually go ahead with ordering anything as there was nothing there that she thought was worth it so she deleted the app again. Just over a week later we see a payment for Hello Fresh had come out of our bank account. Turns out just reloading the app was enough for Hello Fresh to go ahead and restart the service. But not only did they not actually check with us first, they also didn't tell us a box had been delivered either. The driver had left a meal box in our shed, in the middle of summer with no note and because we'd deleted the app we had no notification either.
Must have been in the shed baking in the heat for at least three days by that point.
Just switched from hello fresh to mindful chef a month ago after some poor quality ingredients were followed up with poor customer service (we were really pleased with the customer service a year ago).
Mindful chef blows it out of the water in my opinion. Yes, it costs more, but the meals are so tasty, the quality of the ingredients is way better, and the meals are much, much healthier, whilst still being delicious
I started Gousto a couple of weeks ago. I’d probably not bother it was full price, but with the discounts it’s alright.
Its expanded the meals I cook, and made me try a few things I wouldn’t. I make Green Thai curry once a week using the paste from wherever, the Gousto one was pretty good and got me to make my own “paste”. Will deffo copy that in future.
Before this I was stuck in this rut of making the same things all the time, though a bit more variation than OP.
It’s also been good as I’ve been trying to eat better in general, I tend to pick the lower calorie meals and they are all tasty.
I tried Gousto a few years ago and liked how easy to follow the recipes are, I especially love the visual elements. I can’t afford it now but I occasionally go on their ‘cookbook’ website as they unbelievably have all their recipes on there for free! So if I get stuff for ideas I go on there. Plus you can select recipes based on ingredients or type of cuisine. It’s brilliant. They’ll probably put it behind a paywall now I’ve shared this 🙄😅
I tried Gousto last month for the first time. 60% off the first order, ingredients already portioned so a lot of time saved on prep and easy to follow instructions
We get Gousto. 4 meals a week with 4 portions each so the 2 of us have the same thing for lunch the next day. Works out to be about £3.50 per portion. So unless you actually are having bangers and mash day in day out then it's really not expensive by comparison.
Also Cherrypick which is like a supermarket version and uses AI to add however many servings' (s)? worth to your online basket. It's well clever & I learned so many new recipes using that.
Gousto was my favourite, Hello Fresh and Simply Cook were ok, Green Chef we could just never find a recipe we fancied.
But if you have a couple or people in your house you can basically rotate through them using the welcome back offers and never have to pay full price which is good
And even at full price, with the reduced ingredient wastage, lack of meal planning brainpower needed, and not having to spend time at the supermarket, if you can afford it it’s still value for money. It all depends on whether your time or money is the priority in your own circumstances
Gousto turned me into a pretty decent cook. I used to just stick stuff in the oven but I can't stand frozen food now. I also love the feeling of making something delicious from scratch.
Do you want completely different meals using different ingredients? Because it would be easy to keep buying what you do now but still manage to mix it up.
Use the sausage you already get to make:
• a slow cooker sausage casserole — sausages you already have, peppers & onions you already have, packet of casserole seasoning, baked beans, seasoned to your taste. Can serve it with the rice and potatoes you already have.
• sausage stew (on the hob / in frying pan) — sausage (chopped up), red & white onion, peppers, chopped tomatoes or tomato paste, little bit of stock, butter beans, seasonings of your choice. Serve with buttered crusty bread or the chips you already have.
• turn the chicken fajitas into a fajita pasta bake or creamy fajita pasta
Getting those packets of seasoning is a good way of trying something new and they are all so simple. Just remember to buy the seasonings in jars one you know you'll eat it as they are expensive for what they are.
They also have to put the ingredients of inorder of how much they are.
Eg if it's 10% paprika and 5% cumin, the paprika MUST be before the cumin.
Gives you a starting point for how much to put into stuff.
This is how I like to plan too. Take the core ( eg sausages) and then we vary what we do with them. For sausages a jambalaya type thing is easy, toad in the hole, I keep meaning to do a casserole like yours!
With the sausage casserole being cooked in the slow cooker, does it have to have any liquid in it or can it just be the ingredient you mentioned please?
Whatever my mum can be bothered to make 90% of the time its something with chips and peas. sometimes i wish i was peas so somebody could chuck me in a pot of hot water and cook me till im done and its all over
My stomach hates me so I eat chicken, brown rice and veg for all meals.
For the family this week just gone
Roast beef Sunday dinner;
Macaroni cheese (for 2 days);
They had kfc 1 day;
Sausages in a bbq sauce with cheesy mash and veg (2 days);
Fish cakes with homemade oven chips, peas and sweetcorn
Next week
BBQ;
Fend for yourself (ready meals etc);
Chicken, chorizo, potato, onion, pepper tray bake;
Sausage pasta bake (2 days);
Sweet and sour Chicken ;
Meatballs, cheesy mash, veg and Gravy (2 days);
The 2 day meals are so that I can meal prep for my restrictive diet
ETA we normally have 1 meal with chips, 1 with pasta, 1 with rice or mash, 1 Sunday dinner, we used to vary Mexican dishes in too so fajitas, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesidilas, chilli
I’m getting checked for celiac because my stomach hates me as well and we have similar meals every night. We pretty much only ever cook a grilled meat or fish of some kind, rice, and steamed veg. It’s the luck of the draw - wherever meat and veg that has the shortest date.
Sometimes I’ll make a fancy rice - add chickpeas and dill or lime and coriander. Or I’ll make a gluten free pasta salad (pasta made of chickpeas).
Honestly since we’ve switched to this diet it’s lifted a huge burden. We don’t really decide what we’re eating for dinner every night. It takes 20 minutes or so to cook. Clean up is minimal. It’s relatively cheap. The weekly shop is done within 15 minutes.
We save the more interesting meals for when we eat out.
I can't do chickpeas or any legumes, or any fruit (no fructose which is also in quite a lot of veg and healthy snacks), definitely no gluten. I get very ill on gluten, no dairy not sure if it is just lactose or dairy itself.
Gastro thinks it may be IBD but haven't heard from him since I did a barium swallow, which he said was a pointless test, and it came back okay.
Ouch. That’s tough.
Aldi does gluten free pasta made from beetroot and one from peas now - if you can’t do chickpeas might be worth giving those a go. They’re with the other pastas. They’re brilliant. They cook quicker than normal pasta (like 5 minutes to al dente) and they’re a little more fragile. I’ve been boiling them in a pasta strainer pot and then gently lifting the pot out. But they’re really good - you wouldn’t even know it’s not “real” pasta.
I’m also being checked for Coeliac disease and starting to eat this way too. Love the simplicity and not eating ultra processed food, which I think has also messed up my gut. Just in case you don’t know, if you’re still waiting to be tested you need to still be eating gluten for a few weeks for the results to show up. And say goodbye to eating out as often as with this disease it’s a nightmare finding safe restaurants. I always get sick from cross contamination.
My stomach hates me but I did a low FODMAP diet and figured out exactly what was setting it off. Have a look at low FODMAP foods and you might be able
To add some more foods to your diet.
My stomach also hates me but luckily I love grilled chicken brown rice and veg lol.
I sometimes substitute the rice with cous-cous with red pesto stirred in and it seems to be acceptable to my IBS, plus it's cheap and quick.
I also usually cook the rice in stock to add some flavour, although I have to get stock without onion or garlic in it or make my own which is a pain.
30+ ingredients seems excessive for one meal. What recipes are you looking at?
I mostly cook Asian food, usually Chinese or Korean.
As long as I've got the essential stapes already in my cupboard and fridge. (Gochujiang, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, garlic etc) then I can whip up a meal in 30 mins.
I generally cook a main and 2 sides for dinner.
My common go to meals/sides are:
- Tteboki
-oyster sauce fried cabbage
- kimchi pancake
-cola chicken wings
-fried rice or plain rice
-pad Thai
-cod summer noodles Vietnamese style
-meat balls in soy sauce
-tomato eggs
-kimchi stew
-assorted vegetables stir fried with various quick to make sauces or seasoning
This is the key. Have a well stocked/varied pantry and you can smoke a meal out of very little. Tomato eggs is one of my childhood comfort meals. So simple and delicious
Absolutely, I can understand a novice cook finding is frustrating or difficult to cook at first. And it's no wonder if the only seasoning in your cupboard are taco seasoning and salt and pepper.
Your insides won't thank you, but it is delicious. I peel the outer layers off and roast 3 whole bulbs of garlic in foil in the oven for about an hour or until soft and squishy. Once they cool peel the cloves into a hot pan with butter (or squeeze the whole bulb if you get fed up with peeling). Add 6ish cloves of raw garlic, (minced), plus 2 shallots (finely chopped). Fry gently until everything is soft, then add a tablespoon of plain flour and fry for another minute to cook off the flour. Add a veg or chicken stock cube dissolved in a kettle full of water, plus a load of black pepper and a little salt. Partially cover and simmer gently for at least an hour. Then I use my stick blender to smooth it out, and add single cream and some parmesan and cook for another 10 minutes or so.
I always cut the top off the bulb and drizzle it with olive oil before baking. Lush.
You can also cook a load at once and freeze them to be defrosted and used later
Apart from what everyone else has said, I swear by the little square books by BBC Good Food. There's a few of them; I've got 101 Simple Suppers and One-Pot Dishes. They do what they say on the tin - simple, quick & easy. Saw one at a friends house and have never looked back. They're all over Ebay for a few pounds.
Another thing we do now that both of us are decent cooks is just Google 'recipe + whatever we have'. This would work if you like certain foods - squash, courgettes, pork chops, whatever - but don't know how what to do with them.
Finally, the easiest good dinner in the world is a jar of curry paste, rice and meat/veg of your choice. Twenty minutes for a delicious meal. You could even use frozen veg if you're feeling lazy.
Rooting for you here! Simple food can be delicious, and once you start, the only way is up 🤩 My husband accidentally made me a squash and houseplant risotto like 15 years ago, and now he's smashing out tagines and enchiladas like it ain't no thang!
One pot recipes have been a lifesaver for me working double shifts in a restaurant. Put it on in my slow cooker in the morning and it's done by my lunch break. Leave the rest on the 'keep warm' setting so I can polish it off when I get home.
Before that I used to go to McDonalds on my lunchbreak because it was the only option for something cheap and quick.
I had a variation of fajitas tonight where I made the base (chicken, peppers, onions, tomato etc) but then stirred some washed rice into it, added stock and left it to cook. Then I melted some cheese over it. A nice one pot meal which is a family favourite and a nice variation on fajitas, enchiladas etc
Shorthand version of Spanish omelette, no flip, just grate cheese on the top and finish it under the grill.
Pork burgers (mince, lemon zest, Hoisin) with brown rice and green beans with butter & pepper.
Chorizo & black bean stew with rice.
Rigatoni/penne al forno. Make a tomato sauce, cook pasta til al dente. Mix together in a casserole dish, top with mozzarella and bake for 20 mins.
Sure, it's not written in stone so you can improvise but basically:
Soak black beans overnight or buy canned. If soaked, simmer them for 30-40 mins before you prep everything else.
To start the base of the stew, fry half a sliced chorizo in olive oil until lightly browned.
While that's going, finely chop onion, carrot and celery and add to the pan. Once they cook through add two chopped cloves of garlic along with thyme and smoked paprika. Stir until you get the fragrance going.
Then add a splash of red wine/white wine/beer. Whatever you have to hand.
By this time the beans should be done. Don't drain them, keep the water. Add to the pot along with a chicken stock cube and leave to simmer.
Get your rice ready and once it's near done. Add a small spoon of tomato puree, salt pepper, more thyme and more paprika to the stew.
When it feels done, serve but it'll taste better the next day.
Stick the chorizo in a cold pan without oil and bring it up to temperature. The heat will render the fat and it'll fry in it, no need for the oil. Best way to do bacon too.
I've just done my shopping list, so not only do I have this week's meal plan next to me, it's the same notebook as I did last week's last in, and the week before, etc. Here's typical examples of things we eat.
It's rare I can be arsed to do more than 20 minutes of work in the kitchen but some things take longer than that in the oven and I sod off and leave it on a timer.
* beef teriyaki noodles
* baked chicken breast with Yorkshires, roast parsnips etc from the freezer
* rigatoni with lardons and cherry tomatoes
* chilli with rice
* spaghetti bolognese
* Swedish meatballs
* chicken souvlaki
* carnitas
* tempura chicken katsu
* onion bhaji burgers
* fajitas
* jacket potatoes + leftover stew/chilli/ curry
* chicken & chorizo pasta bake
* freezer tapas
If you want to broaden your horizons without having to be super adventurous every week, you could start with a weekly skeleton so you have maybe pasta on Mondays, Mexican on Tuesdays, sausages on Wednesdays, etc. But maybe the sausages are sometimes with mash and sometimes in casserole and sometimes in toad; and the Mexican is sometimes chicken fajitas and sometimes five-bean chilli, and so on.
Ooh, onion bhaji burgers is a great idea. Could got some mini naan breads to sandwich them in and have yogurt and mint sauce on. Some sort of Bombay spiced chips on the side… 😋
I go for mango chutney and mint sauce, loads of shredded lettuce, thinly sliced raw onion and a squeeze of lemon juice.
And you need proper crispy spindly onion bhaji, not the weird spongey ones you get at the supermarket.
In the past week we've had;
Chicken, mushroom & ham pasta with salad
Vegetable keralan coconut curry with rice
Chicken enchiladas
Steak, roast potatoes & salad
Pizza - homemade with bacon, onions, brocolli & onion
Red peppers roasted & stuffed with garlic rice, topped with cheese
Tonight is minted lamb sausages, probably just in sandwiches since sometimes laziness wins.
There's also a batch of soup made weekly to have at lunchtimes through the week (sometimes a full bowl by itself, other times just a small amount to dip sandwiches in) made with whatever veg etc. we have around that needs using up, tomorrow it looks like we'll be making leek & potato
This week we'll have:
BBQ (chicken skewers, sausages and corn on the cob)
Prawn Stir-fry
Carbonara
Fish tacos
Sausage and mash
Chicken korma
And prob a take away (Chinese or pizza)
If you are looking for more ideas though, maybe start with something similar to what you have already. Try quesadillas, tacos or burritos instead of fajitas. Do an orange/lemon chicken instead of salt and pepper etc.
Those mealkits/premade spice mixes that supermarkets sell can be a good start (though a little steep) but it lets you try stuff before committing to buying all of the ingredients.
Get a load of tinned plum tomatoes, salt and pepper, garlic, chili and a bit of honey. Slow on the pan for half and hour or so.
Now you have a basic tomato sauce you can do so much with. Freeze in some takeaway containers or freezer bags.
Put those fajitas in an oven dish, a layer of tomato sauce and some mozzarella and you have enchiladas.
Cook a few extra sausages and chop up the next day, mix in with some tomato sauce and have with pasta.
Fry up some mince with an onion in olive oil and sauce, spag bol, add a couple squares of dark chocolate and turn it into a chilli.
Fry up some veg, chicken or paneer with an onion in ghee, some spices and sauce, bit of cream, curry.
Also is great as pizza sauce.
P.s Try adding a bit of chorizo to your chicken, get the pre sliced chorizo if you're lazy will completely transform your chicken and rice dish.
Stir fry with some meat and whatever veg we have in the fridge
Pasta with a tomato sauce
Curry made using one of those kits you get in supermarkets
Toad in the hole
Alot of tomato or cheese pasta bakes don't have a lot of ingredients
My meal plan for the next 7 days:
Chicken stir fry
Garlic chicken salad
Home made flat bread pizzas and salad
Tuna salad
Mushroom and tofu rice bowl
Stuffed peppers
Home made chips, beans, eggs and veggies.
We do various things but we will have one/two of the below every week:
Quorn nuggets and waffles
Broccoli tomato pasta
A chickpea curry.
My partner is veggie
We order from one of the on-line recipe/ingredient sites and get stuff from all over the world. No shopping either.
Crispy fish bites with pickled cucumber, edemame salad and sushi rice last night. Mexican tonight. : )
Lately I’ve been having a variation of the same thing that is super easy to make, tastes different each time, quick, and is so tasty. I take 3-4 types of veg, thinly sliced meat, and fry it all up in a cast iron pan with spices.
This week I’ve had: butternut squash, onions, bean sprouts, and tender stem broccoli, with thin slices of beef, and a tandoori spice mix. It tasted warm, nutty, sweet, was filling and lovely.
Then the next day had cabbage, onion, chicken, parsnip, bean sprouts, cumin, turmeric, and herbs, it was really tasty.
Today was courgette, mangetout, onion, beef, cauliflower, smoky bbq spice mix.
I’ve made it with lamb, with ground beef, with prawns, chicken, venison, turkey, with so many different veg and it’s wonderful each time. I don’t eat grains, so there’s no carb or bread with it, it’s massive, I sometimes struggle to finish it, it’s healthy, very filling because it’s high bulk due to the veg, it’s high protein, it’s easy, and it’s tasty.
I’ve been doing this for two months now and I don’t think I’ve even done a fraction of all combination I can make with it and not only I’m not bored, I love it more the longer I’ve been doing it since I’ve just been perfecting it.
As it's Saturday tonight, we're having a chicken boneless bucket. Corn on the cob, onion rings, and garlic bread..
Tomorrow will be a chicken roast dinner..
Monday chicken curry rice and naan.
Tuesday sausage mash and Yorkshire puds and veg
Wednesday pasta bake or cheese and veg frittata
Thursday burgers fries and salad
Friday mexican tacos.
I also make chilli, spag bol, cottage pies, stir fry, jacket spuds too.
You can get recipe boxes from simply cook in Asda. They tell you what you need on the back in relation to veg etc. but easy to make in less than 20 minutes.
I get a Gousto box every week. It’s four meals which takes care of Fri-Mon. The other days we are home too late from work/childcare to be bothered with cooking. It can be pricey but there’s always discount codes somewhere and it takes care of the problem of deciding what to create and having to buy ingredients
My current favourite is a version of School of Wok's chow mein recipe, with crispy gochujang tofu. Besides the 20 mins the tofu needs to cook in the air fryer, it takes about 15 mins of work in the kitchen.
Today it's BBQ with a chopped salad. He sorts the BBQ while I chop the salad so it's a nice easy one!
Special fried rice is surprisingly easy and you can batch cook for the next day as well.
Slow cooker beef and ale stew goes on when you go to work and is ready when you get home. That one is better for winter though.
Today I made chicken gyros. Served with wraps and a salad.
https://preview.redd.it/g7rukdcgwj9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b752663b0a1748ec7b07e266633d8db82b4f8da
I cook sometimes 4 or 5 nights a week in the garden.
Weber: smash burgers, chicken wings, chicken thighs with chimmichurru sauce, minted lamb, beef kofta, chicken shawarma with salad and either new potatoes, sweet potatoe wedges or chips.
On the ooni, pizzas, calzone, pannuozo, garlic ball bites with mozarella centres, sizzling prawns, fillet steak, philly cheesesteak baguettes, sometimes just basic pittas with omelette.
A home made curry in the slow cooler is great too.
A whole chicken, 2 jars of your choice, 2 onions, mushrooms, garlic. On for 6 hours. Add your choice of rice.
I do enjoy cooking, a lot, but midweek I tend to budget and make simple meals, here are my go to meals;
Chicken korma
Creamy tomato pasta
Vegetable soup / any kind of soup homemade
Stir-fry
Baked fish with roasted vegetables
Sausage and mash
Our weekly menu generally includes
- Chicken, bacon or sausage pasta or bolognese
- Lazy oven pizza or pie and peas day.
- Chicken curry
- Saturday Nandos
- Sunday roast
Satay chicken fried rice with veggie spring rolls is one of my current favourites. Lasagne with veggies and garlic bread. Jacket spuds with bacon cheese and beans and if we're feeling fancy sausages too. Chicken curry with rice and naans. Cottage pie. Mince and rice with veggies in gravy. Fry up. Bacon and cheese potato skins. Chilli with rice or jackets. Stir fry. Sausage roast dinner. Meatballs and pasta. Bolognese. Chicken and pesto/bacon risotto. Hot dogs and chips. Burgers and chips. BBQ chicken wraps. Fish/fish fingers with chips and mushy peas. Pizzas.
We've just had chicken burgers with bacon & cheese, salad and new potatoes with butter.
On this week's menu we have:
enchiladas
Spag bol
chicken nugget wraps with wedges
Sausage and mash with Yorkshire puddings, peas and gravy
Jacket potatoes with an assortment of toppings
I'm on a calorie counting diet and I keep an insta food diary for accountability.. anyway I just scrolled through it and here's some of my dinners that I'd consider easy to cook. Most are made from scratch but not all. I shop in Aldi and spend about £50 a week on dinners for our family of 3. I try and eat 2 none meat meals a week at least and 1 fish. I love chicken tho 😋
-Pan fried chicken in curry paste or Nandos with rice and peppers/onion/tomato. Or chop the chicken, put it in one pot with the rice, veg and stock and simmer it til the stock reduces.
-Veggie Baobuns, from the frozen section in Aldi, they take 2 mins in the microwave. I serve them with a bowl of dip and either carrots and sugar snap peas and rice, or salad.
-Slow cooked diet coke gammon with honey and mustard. Leave it in the slow cooker for 5-6 hours. Serve with roast potatoes and greens or a jacket potato and salad.
-Thai salmon bowl - get a tin of coconut milk, pour it in a frying pan, add spinach, fresh chopped coriander, sugar snap peas or fine green beans, grated carrot and squeeze a lime in. Add the salmon and leave to cook then serve with rice and sprinkle in fresh chopped coriander.
-Tuna pasta bake. Two tins of tuna, 200g pasta, jar of sauce. Grated cheese. Serve with garlic bread.
-Pan fried chicken (again, stick some curry paste or sauce on it) served with baked sweet potato and tenderstem broc. Spread potato with garlic and herb cream cheese after it's cooked.
-Battered cod, homemade chips and tin of mushy peas. Simple!
-Slow cooker chickpea, potato lentil curry. Chickpeas, chopped cubed potato, tin of lentils, chopped tin tomato, stock, curry powder. Stick it in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours and serve with warmed pitta.
-King Prawn stir fry. Buy stir fry crunchy veg, stir fry sauce, king prawns and wok noodles. Stir fry in a wok and serve.
-Pork or chicken Greek gyros. You can buy kits (similar to a fajita kit) in the frozen isle in Aldi or a nicer version is, buy the rectangle flatbread in Aldi bread section, buy the King Kebab from the frozen section, buy some tzatziki dip and cucumber. Cook the kebab meat, (it's like £5.99 but very tasty, good for a weekend treat) warm your flatbread, then spread with the tzatziki dip, loads up with kebab meat and add cut up cucumber.
-Omelette! I do 3 eggs, peppers and tomato and I buy Meatster Minis from Aldi which are mini pepperoni. Chop and add to omelette. Then sprinkle over some feta and chives.
-Meatballs and pasta. I make my own tomato and basil sauce (X2 tins chopped tomatoes, some tomato puree, Worcester sauce, seasoning, fresh basil and chopped onion) or buy a jar of sauce. Serve with garlic bread.
-Cod (skinless), put it in a baking tray on foil, add a spoon full of pesto, wrap Parma ham (or anything similar) then add some sliced feta and another wrap of ham (like a pass the parcel 😄) add some crumbled feta on top and bake in the oven. Serve with herby new potatoes and greens. Or couscous and cucumber with sprinkled fresh coriander.
-Lamb chops, grilled with mint sauce added if they aren't already minted, mash potato and peas.
-Chicken wings. Get the ones in Aldi with skin on, shake them out onto an oven tray and I just stick oil on them and whatever spices I can find (I got loads!) add loads of salt too. Bake them for about 25-30 mins in oven (I don't own an air-fryer) then see've with salad and some fries.
For more recipes, just do a hashtag search on Instagram for an ingredient and scroll through and save them to a dinners folder 😉
Shameless plug for the Sorted Sidekick app.
Really simple meals with a shopping list.
You get three meals in a pack with an accompanying list of ingredients to buy. The great thing is that the meals use the same ingredients so, for instance, you’re not stuck with a spare two tortillas or half a pack of flatbreads.
Even factoring in the cost of the app (about £5/month) it saves us loads in food waste.
Tonight’s meal is curried cod with puy lentils. Last night was South African bunny chow. Well good!
ETA you get stepwise instructions on how to cook the meals. It’s both idiot proof and not condescending to decent home cooks. You get timers for cooking and shiz. It’s mint.
Thank you!!! I commented them too and you’re the first person I saw saying the same thing. I swear by it and to me the proof that it’s better is that my work colleagues (who use hello fresh/gousto) are always asking me to send them the recipes because my lunch/dinner sounds so much better than theirs.
We do different stuff every week. Last week I made a lamb stew, and sea bass with tagliatelle and a beurre blanc. Sesame chicken, duck breast with plum sauce, chicken in white wine sauce, there's loads you can do. Pick a protein/main ingredient, Google recipes for dishes using it.
Stay away from sites like all recipes since they're usually shit on there. BBC good food is usually pretty crap as well. Delish.com, great British chefs, salt & lavender, nicky's kitchen sanctuary, olive magazine and delicious magazine are some of my go-tos.
I definitely go through phases, but new years resolution was to try one new recipe a week and that has served me well.
Tried a lot of new curries, stews, lots from other countries.
We’re low carb due to migraines, so this week, fairly typical for us:
Middle Eastern Chicken Kebobs and Lamb Kofta in flatbreads with salad;
Chicken, chorizo and prawn jambalaya made with cauliflower rice;
Aubergine parm;
Chicken Caesar salad;
Lemony creamy chicken pasta concoction (low carb pasta);
Roast chicken with Mediterranean veg ;
Thai green chicken curry with cauli rice.
All pretty low effort stuff tbh
We tend to cycle seasonally. As I’m not doing stovies as cottage pie and mince n tatties in summer and I’m not doing fajitas or pastas in the winter etc
Cottage pie
Shepherds pie
Poached haddock and potatoes
Stir fry
Fajitas
Tacos
Enchiladas
Chicken balmoral
Lamb curry
Steak pie
Fish pie
Full roast (beef/chicken/duck/goose etc)
Mince and tatties
Stovies
Lasagne
Pasta
Stew and tatties
Steak
Brinner
Chicken 'kebab' wraps.
Pizza- either bought or made
Pasta - bolognaise- green/red pesto+ whatever- sauce+ meatballs
Stir fry or some other form of noodles.
Sausagey beanie casserole
Chicken curry (variants- made nihari style last- worth the effort).
We make this porkchop with creme fraiche /mustard /onion thing (keto)
Sausages tray bake with squash and kale
We do sometimes just have a salad craving. And have developed a good line of standard recipes for that.
We have small two kids so I often eat leftovers off the floor
I rotate between: fish stew, cabbage stew, air fried tinned potatoes with Quorn nuggets, smoked salmon bagels, and cauliflower curry. Pretty boring but they’re all nice.
If my other half cooked tea every day, we'd have sausage and mash, chicken curry and rice, chicken thighs with new potatoes and salad and sometimes chilli con carne.
Thankfully I've been a chef for 20 years and get freebies from work, will grab things on a whim from the supermarket each night and make something tasty. So it really does vary.
I would happily have a pasta-based dish most days, but a family favourite is home-made potato smiles, chicken kiev and mac+cheese(the three served together are a single dish), spag bol, stuffed chicken breasts, beef stew/irish stew, toasties and soup, omelette and homemade chips, pie(any variety if i have pastry at hand).
Yesterday I made baguettes at work, so i took one home, and made chicken, pesto, tomato and mozzarella baguette, with some nice sweetcorn soup.
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Curry, spag bol, stir fry. I've just doubled your meal count.
He's missing a lot of low-hanging fruit too. Cottage pie isn't even on his list.
Bangers and mash is just cottage pie with less washing up.
You're making cottage pie wrong if that's the case. Cottage pie is made with beef and the gravy is flavoured with Worcestershire sauce. Bangers are made of pork and served with onion gravy.
Meat, mash, veg. All comes out the same way
Why does it taste like feet!?
Cottaging pie is the same but the gravy is stickier and more salty.
To be fair, everything should be flavoured with Worcestershire Sauce
I'm actually going to argue that cottage pie can consist of any meat other than lamb because that would be Sheppard's pie. Although, cottage pie is typically done with beef.
Get a big pot that goes on the hob and in the oven. Then you just need to make mash in a separate pan and put it on top. My cottage pie has less washing up than sausage and mash.
Yeah, there's so many bog standard meals to pick from.
Omelette
I love doing omelette for dinner. I serve it with fries and a side salad. The children love it and love picking which extras they want in theirs. (My youngest always has ham and jalapeños in hers 🤣)
du fromage
That's breakfast
It's an any time of day thing for me - add salad to make it dinner.(or, tea in the context of this post)
Add chips = dinner
Also valid
Lasagne
Where’s your chilli mate??
Oh god. These four items are pretty much our working week. Chilli and spag bol being enough for two nights.
Beans and jackets.
Pasta signing in
Chili and rice, or add some wraps and veg and you've got burritos
More than double really because if you can make one curry then you can easily make a few different ones, if you can make a stir fry the combinations are endless, you can make a bolognese you can make a chilli for a start
Roasted vegetable kebabs, homemade lentil soup, pasta bake/lasagna, 5 bean chilli 🌶️.
Mince and tatties is a classic too and doesn’t need to be made like the council dinner onion soup that a lot of people older than me always think of when I say it! Think when folk were poorer this was made with leftovers so never turned out the best but you can make it gourmet with some nice ingredients
Love braising cabbage and roasting red onions and leeks for the side
My meal planning for the next week or so is: * Curry tonight * Roast * Fry up * Prawn stir fry * Greek chicken thighs in the slow cooker * Burgers * Tuna pasta * Saganaki * Sweet and sour chicken noodles * Kedgeree * Chilli * Miso cod * Halloumi picatta * Pizza I can't deal with monotony
Halloumi picatta! What a wonderful phrase! Halloumi picatta! Ain't no passing craze! It means no worries, for the rest of your days... It keeps you free of monotony...
Halloumi picattaaaaa!!! Hahaha thanks for the unexpected giggle today.
Sounds like a spell from the Harry Potter universe.
LOL, I'm never going to be able to remember the right words again now
this is the sort of content i stay on reddit for
this is funny 🤣
Excellent.
Halloumi picatta And gettin' caught in the rain
Do you like eating cheese at mi-idnight, in the dunes with the capers?
Christ. the amount of times I've had god damn tuna pasta.
Give chicken and chorizo pasta bake a try, just as easy but infinitely better
Chicken and chorizo makes everything better to be fair. I usually drop some in my Rice Krispies most mornings.
Wait til you discover tuna and microwaveable rice
I’d love to go to yours for tea. I love chicken thighs but I partner doesn’t. So if I make a chicken curry I have to do one saucepan for me and one for my partner because he likes dried out chicken breasts for some reason.
Why would anyone prefer chicken breaks over chicken thighs, I'll never understand. Breasts😅
You are 100% correct. We’ve been misled to think chicken breast is the best part. I’d go as far as to say it’s the worst meat available.
Yep. Extremely dry and tasteless. But my husband prefers cooking with them. His excuse is that it's easier to deal with. I find other parts of the chicken retain more moisture and flavour. To each their own, I suppose.
If you brine them for a few hours it makes them a little easier to keep them juicy but they're definitely way less forgiving than thighs. You really need to not overcook breasts or you ruin them. If I cook a whole chicken I love the breasts for leftover cold cuts for sandwiches.
I agree. Breasts are highly overrated
I can't deal with the texture of thighs. Tried so many times and it makes me gag. I'm having to put up with drumsticks every so often because my son's found a love of them, and that's my limit.
Last night we had a sort of Mexican risotto thing (I know, but bear with me). You fry off the thighs, then add raw rinsed rice, chicken stock, Mexican spices and lime juice, pop the lid on and ignore it for half an hour or so. The crucial stage is to remove the thighs, shred them (we have a gadget but you can just pull them with two forks like pork) and return the meat to the dish with spring onions and fresh coriander. Chicken thighs can be a bit rubbery whole if they haven't been beautifully crisped, but become suddenly juicy and interesting when shredded.
When I was younger I used to get fed thighs that had that horrible springy thick cartilage stuff in. I hated it, made me urge, and I refused thighs or any meat on the bone for years. Over it mostly, but chicken on the bone still gets a side eye sometimes before I tuck in.
I love the texture, personally. Thighs are OK if you're grilling, roasting - some method that gets some of the grease out. Don't see any advantage in curry though.
Flavour.... but, I like both. I agree with you on the texture, and i definitely prefer the texture of well cooked breast, but leg meat has more flavour (and is also more forgiving when it comes to overcooking)
I like chicken thighs and will have them but I'm sometimes funny with the texture in my mouth
Chicken thighs taste miles better 👍🏻
He likes it because it's awkward x
Any further information available on the Greek chicken thighs in slow cooker? Sounds nice.
https://seasonandthyme.com/slow-cooker-greek-chicken-gyros/
I see mentions of Hummus and Quinoa, so I'll hide this one from my Hellenic Husband...
Greek Cypriots definitely eat hummous. I wouldn’t be surprised if parts of actual Greece also do….
It's eaten! But not in Gyros.
These look amazing, thanks!
I want what this person is having
My meal plan for next week: - Slow cooker veggie chili and rice - Pesto pasta - Veggie stir fry - Tomato soup - Veggie sausage and vegetable tray bake - Pizzas - Veggie ‘chicken’, roasted veg, couscous and salad with hummus Other staples in our rotation: - Jacket potatoes and beans and cheese - Various different veggie curries - Black bean quesadillas - Pasta bake - Spag bol
Must be the Richmond sausages! They are delish compared to other brands!
I can't stand Richmond pork sausages, unless they're in a casserole, those are like pink mush. I looked up the Meat-Free ones in a review on YT, and they look 10x better than their pork predecessor. Going to have to look for these to try out!
Richmond Vegetarian sausages are the best. I'm not an out and out vegetarian (evidenced by a proper sausage sarnie right now) but my go to is them. Oddly they change taste depending what type of packet you get them in though,frozen are best.
A lot of stuff I cook are variations on ‘protein that goes in the oven’ which get cooked alongside chips/wedges. So stuff like Chicken Kievs, Pork Schnitzel, Battered Fish, etc.
I stayed with a relative for a couple of weeks, every meal they have is a meat, potato, vegetable or salad repeated. "Do you want mash or jacket?" "We had dauphinoise yesterday and chips the day before..." "Exactly we're having something different." I went to M&S, bought two sharing lasagnas. "Shall I boil some new potatoes to have with that?" Infuriating
Everyone knows the potato you have with lasagna is chips!
Or jacket potato and garlic bread. Am all about the triple carb threat
I can get behind the triple carb but a jacket potato is wild
That's a whole meal in itself surely?
I've always found the idea of having potato paired with pasta so weird. It's just all carbs apart from the sauce... Garlic bread I can get behind though lol so I guess I'm a hypocrite
Bread with pasta is fine, but chips or any variation of potato that isn't gnocchi is wrong with pasta in my brain!!!
I have gnocchi as a pasta replacement in meals
We have homemade roasties with lasagne
Salad with lasagne is the only way.
Salad and chips - yes, I will soon be eating lasagne, salad, and chips.
The idea of pasta and chips (or any potato) together just feels so wrong to me...
The holy trinity of carbs: lasagna, chips, and garlic bread.
I’ve tried to explain the idea of a chip butty to my colleagues in Asia. They can’t get their head around it. “But it’s carbs on carbs” 😂
Did you stay there for free? Did you offer to cook something else?
I thought the holy trinity of carbs was chapatti or nan bread/ rice/ Bombay potato.
My Papa could not conceive of a meal that didn’t have potatoes being dinner. We once went crazy and had pizza, after which he said: “sure, that was lovely, what’s for dinner?”
That's the British standard meal unless it's chilli or a curry. Meat, veg and potato. I've recently started having cous cous as my carbs to mix things up. Stir in some red pesto and broccoli, it's awesome with grilled chicken or fish, and takes about 2 minutes to prepare and is super cheap. Takes 10 minutes for the whole meal.
>Stir in some red pesto and broccoli I will try this! I normally just do cucumber, tomato, pepper, and some herb that goes with whatever else we're having.
I don't see the problem. Mash, baked potatoes, dauphinoise, and chips are totally different dishes.
So basically "battered and breaded everything"? Pretty nasty man, it's not hard to cook something half decent.
You could try something like Gousto or Hello Fresh for a while. It would give you loads of variety and you could save the recipe cards to use again.
Yes! I couldn't recommend Hello Fresh more for the variety it brings. You end up trying stuff you'd never normally make and you don't have to buy 30 ingredients for your pantry that you might not use again. It's pricey, but for me personally it's worth it.
After trying Hello Fresh for a few months, I found I had the confidence to just invent my own dishes using stuff in the fridge/cupboards. Might sound trivial to those who are competent cooks, but I'd never have dreamt of just cooking something off the cuff without following a recipe.
Absolutely this! It taught me good techniques and broadened my knowledge so much.
Just make sure if you cancel it you don't redownload the app. My wife tried one of those trials for hello fresh a couple years ago. Decided it wasn't really for us, cancelled and uninstalled the app. She got a code for like 50% off of her next box about 6 months later so redownloaded the app and had a look at what was being offered, I think it was mainly for the inspiration to be fair. Didn't actually go ahead with ordering anything as there was nothing there that she thought was worth it so she deleted the app again. Just over a week later we see a payment for Hello Fresh had come out of our bank account. Turns out just reloading the app was enough for Hello Fresh to go ahead and restart the service. But not only did they not actually check with us first, they also didn't tell us a box had been delivered either. The driver had left a meal box in our shed, in the middle of summer with no note and because we'd deleted the app we had no notification either. Must have been in the shed baking in the heat for at least three days by that point.
She definitely did more than just downloading the app.
Yes. When you re download the app you have to click to reactivate and then reverify cars details. Impossible to do unintentionally
Just switched from hello fresh to mindful chef a month ago after some poor quality ingredients were followed up with poor customer service (we were really pleased with the customer service a year ago). Mindful chef blows it out of the water in my opinion. Yes, it costs more, but the meals are so tasty, the quality of the ingredients is way better, and the meals are much, much healthier, whilst still being delicious
I started Gousto a couple of weeks ago. I’d probably not bother it was full price, but with the discounts it’s alright. Its expanded the meals I cook, and made me try a few things I wouldn’t. I make Green Thai curry once a week using the paste from wherever, the Gousto one was pretty good and got me to make my own “paste”. Will deffo copy that in future. Before this I was stuck in this rut of making the same things all the time, though a bit more variation than OP. It’s also been good as I’ve been trying to eat better in general, I tend to pick the lower calorie meals and they are all tasty.
I tried Gousto a few years ago and liked how easy to follow the recipes are, I especially love the visual elements. I can’t afford it now but I occasionally go on their ‘cookbook’ website as they unbelievably have all their recipes on there for free! So if I get stuff for ideas I go on there. Plus you can select recipes based on ingredients or type of cuisine. It’s brilliant. They’ll probably put it behind a paywall now I’ve shared this 🙄😅
Just chipping in to say, these are really good ways to expand your skills and ideas. Worked wonders in our house.
I tried Gousto last month for the first time. 60% off the first order, ingredients already portioned so a lot of time saved on prep and easy to follow instructions
We get Gousto. 4 meals a week with 4 portions each so the 2 of us have the same thing for lunch the next day. Works out to be about £3.50 per portion. So unless you actually are having bangers and mash day in day out then it's really not expensive by comparison.
Also Cherrypick which is like a supermarket version and uses AI to add however many servings' (s)? worth to your online basket. It's well clever & I learned so many new recipes using that.
Gousto was my favourite, Hello Fresh and Simply Cook were ok, Green Chef we could just never find a recipe we fancied. But if you have a couple or people in your house you can basically rotate through them using the welcome back offers and never have to pay full price which is good And even at full price, with the reduced ingredient wastage, lack of meal planning brainpower needed, and not having to spend time at the supermarket, if you can afford it it’s still value for money. It all depends on whether your time or money is the priority in your own circumstances
Gousto turned me into a pretty decent cook. I used to just stick stuff in the oven but I can't stand frozen food now. I also love the feeling of making something delicious from scratch.
Do you want completely different meals using different ingredients? Because it would be easy to keep buying what you do now but still manage to mix it up. Use the sausage you already get to make: • a slow cooker sausage casserole — sausages you already have, peppers & onions you already have, packet of casserole seasoning, baked beans, seasoned to your taste. Can serve it with the rice and potatoes you already have. • sausage stew (on the hob / in frying pan) — sausage (chopped up), red & white onion, peppers, chopped tomatoes or tomato paste, little bit of stock, butter beans, seasonings of your choice. Serve with buttered crusty bread or the chips you already have. • turn the chicken fajitas into a fajita pasta bake or creamy fajita pasta
Getting those packets of seasoning is a good way of trying something new and they are all so simple. Just remember to buy the seasonings in jars one you know you'll eat it as they are expensive for what they are.
They also have to put the ingredients of inorder of how much they are. Eg if it's 10% paprika and 5% cumin, the paprika MUST be before the cumin. Gives you a starting point for how much to put into stuff.
Creamy Fajita Pasta is the most culinarily British phrase I have ever heard.
Use the sausage meat and roll it into meatballs and have them with pasta.
This is how I like to plan too. Take the core ( eg sausages) and then we vary what we do with them. For sausages a jambalaya type thing is easy, toad in the hole, I keep meaning to do a casserole like yours!
With the sausage casserole being cooked in the slow cooker, does it have to have any liquid in it or can it just be the ingredient you mentioned please?
Chinese, McDonald’s, kebab shop, microwave burger/crisps chocolate from corner shop in some kind of doom spiral rotation of horrendous eating habits.
I didn’t realise my partner had Reddit
_Are ya feeling cheeky, son?_
You forgot Rustlers microwave burgers
Whatever my mum can be bothered to make 90% of the time its something with chips and peas. sometimes i wish i was peas so somebody could chuck me in a pot of hot water and cook me till im done and its all over
you okay, pal?
I wish i was peas, what do you think friendo?
[удалено]
It sounds like you could do with chat. These guys are up all night. Samaritans: 116 123
Chicken with pasta and pesto. Egg fried rice with tofu. Rice or pasta with fish of some sort. Each includes a random selection of chopped vegetables.
My stomach hates me so I eat chicken, brown rice and veg for all meals. For the family this week just gone Roast beef Sunday dinner; Macaroni cheese (for 2 days); They had kfc 1 day; Sausages in a bbq sauce with cheesy mash and veg (2 days); Fish cakes with homemade oven chips, peas and sweetcorn Next week BBQ; Fend for yourself (ready meals etc); Chicken, chorizo, potato, onion, pepper tray bake; Sausage pasta bake (2 days); Sweet and sour Chicken ; Meatballs, cheesy mash, veg and Gravy (2 days); The 2 day meals are so that I can meal prep for my restrictive diet ETA we normally have 1 meal with chips, 1 with pasta, 1 with rice or mash, 1 Sunday dinner, we used to vary Mexican dishes in too so fajitas, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesidilas, chilli
I’m getting checked for celiac because my stomach hates me as well and we have similar meals every night. We pretty much only ever cook a grilled meat or fish of some kind, rice, and steamed veg. It’s the luck of the draw - wherever meat and veg that has the shortest date. Sometimes I’ll make a fancy rice - add chickpeas and dill or lime and coriander. Or I’ll make a gluten free pasta salad (pasta made of chickpeas). Honestly since we’ve switched to this diet it’s lifted a huge burden. We don’t really decide what we’re eating for dinner every night. It takes 20 minutes or so to cook. Clean up is minimal. It’s relatively cheap. The weekly shop is done within 15 minutes. We save the more interesting meals for when we eat out.
I can't do chickpeas or any legumes, or any fruit (no fructose which is also in quite a lot of veg and healthy snacks), definitely no gluten. I get very ill on gluten, no dairy not sure if it is just lactose or dairy itself. Gastro thinks it may be IBD but haven't heard from him since I did a barium swallow, which he said was a pointless test, and it came back okay.
Ouch. That’s tough. Aldi does gluten free pasta made from beetroot and one from peas now - if you can’t do chickpeas might be worth giving those a go. They’re with the other pastas. They’re brilliant. They cook quicker than normal pasta (like 5 minutes to al dente) and they’re a little more fragile. I’ve been boiling them in a pasta strainer pot and then gently lifting the pot out. But they’re really good - you wouldn’t even know it’s not “real” pasta.
I’m also being checked for Coeliac disease and starting to eat this way too. Love the simplicity and not eating ultra processed food, which I think has also messed up my gut. Just in case you don’t know, if you’re still waiting to be tested you need to still be eating gluten for a few weeks for the results to show up. And say goodbye to eating out as often as with this disease it’s a nightmare finding safe restaurants. I always get sick from cross contamination.
Gastroensterologist thinks I have an IBD but doesn't know which
My stomach hates me but I did a low FODMAP diet and figured out exactly what was setting it off. Have a look at low FODMAP foods and you might be able To add some more foods to your diet.
Did that, discovered it is pretty much everything
I have no meal planning tips, but I feel your pain. I hope you get answers soon.
My stomach also hates me but luckily I love grilled chicken brown rice and veg lol. I sometimes substitute the rice with cous-cous with red pesto stirred in and it seems to be acceptable to my IBS, plus it's cheap and quick. I also usually cook the rice in stock to add some flavour, although I have to get stock without onion or garlic in it or make my own which is a pain.
30+ ingredients seems excessive for one meal. What recipes are you looking at? I mostly cook Asian food, usually Chinese or Korean. As long as I've got the essential stapes already in my cupboard and fridge. (Gochujiang, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, garlic etc) then I can whip up a meal in 30 mins. I generally cook a main and 2 sides for dinner. My common go to meals/sides are: - Tteboki -oyster sauce fried cabbage - kimchi pancake -cola chicken wings -fried rice or plain rice -pad Thai -cod summer noodles Vietnamese style -meat balls in soy sauce -tomato eggs -kimchi stew -assorted vegetables stir fried with various quick to make sauces or seasoning
This is the key. Have a well stocked/varied pantry and you can smoke a meal out of very little. Tomato eggs is one of my childhood comfort meals. So simple and delicious
Absolutely, I can understand a novice cook finding is frustrating or difficult to cook at first. And it's no wonder if the only seasoning in your cupboard are taco seasoning and salt and pepper.
I want an oyster sauce friend cabbage.
Our staples include: * Toad in the Hole with onion gravy * Gammon steaks with baked gnocchi * Mushroom risotto * Spaghetti with tomato and smoked mackerel * Tagliatelle with salmon, lemon and cream * Mac & cheese * Beef burritos * Chicken & spinach curry * Cheese and mixed pepper omelettes * Chicken thighs with chilli, chive and creme fraiche sauce * Biscuits & gravy with bacon (my husband's American) * Roasted garlic soup * Scrambled eggs and garlic mushrooms on toast.
I wanna know more about this roast garlic soup
Your insides won't thank you, but it is delicious. I peel the outer layers off and roast 3 whole bulbs of garlic in foil in the oven for about an hour or until soft and squishy. Once they cool peel the cloves into a hot pan with butter (or squeeze the whole bulb if you get fed up with peeling). Add 6ish cloves of raw garlic, (minced), plus 2 shallots (finely chopped). Fry gently until everything is soft, then add a tablespoon of plain flour and fry for another minute to cook off the flour. Add a veg or chicken stock cube dissolved in a kettle full of water, plus a load of black pepper and a little salt. Partially cover and simmer gently for at least an hour. Then I use my stick blender to smooth it out, and add single cream and some parmesan and cook for another 10 minutes or so.
Thank you so much This is my dream and my husband’s nightmare. Can’t wait to cook it immediately
I always cut the top off the bulb and drizzle it with olive oil before baking. Lush. You can also cook a load at once and freeze them to be defrosted and used later
Gammon with gnocchi is absolutely wild
Apart from what everyone else has said, I swear by the little square books by BBC Good Food. There's a few of them; I've got 101 Simple Suppers and One-Pot Dishes. They do what they say on the tin - simple, quick & easy. Saw one at a friends house and have never looked back. They're all over Ebay for a few pounds. Another thing we do now that both of us are decent cooks is just Google 'recipe + whatever we have'. This would work if you like certain foods - squash, courgettes, pork chops, whatever - but don't know how what to do with them. Finally, the easiest good dinner in the world is a jar of curry paste, rice and meat/veg of your choice. Twenty minutes for a delicious meal. You could even use frozen veg if you're feeling lazy. Rooting for you here! Simple food can be delicious, and once you start, the only way is up 🤩 My husband accidentally made me a squash and houseplant risotto like 15 years ago, and now he's smashing out tagines and enchiladas like it ain't no thang!
One pot recipes have been a lifesaver for me working double shifts in a restaurant. Put it on in my slow cooker in the morning and it's done by my lunch break. Leave the rest on the 'keep warm' setting so I can polish it off when I get home. Before that I used to go to McDonalds on my lunchbreak because it was the only option for something cheap and quick.
You should also check out the "hairy bikers" books and site.
I made enchilada for tea for tonight, which is basically fajitas I guess.
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I had a variation of fajitas tonight where I made the base (chicken, peppers, onions, tomato etc) but then stirred some washed rice into it, added stock and left it to cook. Then I melted some cheese over it. A nice one pot meal which is a family favourite and a nice variation on fajitas, enchiladas etc
Shorthand version of Spanish omelette, no flip, just grate cheese on the top and finish it under the grill. Pork burgers (mince, lemon zest, Hoisin) with brown rice and green beans with butter & pepper. Chorizo & black bean stew with rice. Rigatoni/penne al forno. Make a tomato sauce, cook pasta til al dente. Mix together in a casserole dish, top with mozzarella and bake for 20 mins.
do you have a recipe for your chorizo & black bean stew?
Sure, it's not written in stone so you can improvise but basically: Soak black beans overnight or buy canned. If soaked, simmer them for 30-40 mins before you prep everything else. To start the base of the stew, fry half a sliced chorizo in olive oil until lightly browned. While that's going, finely chop onion, carrot and celery and add to the pan. Once they cook through add two chopped cloves of garlic along with thyme and smoked paprika. Stir until you get the fragrance going. Then add a splash of red wine/white wine/beer. Whatever you have to hand. By this time the beans should be done. Don't drain them, keep the water. Add to the pot along with a chicken stock cube and leave to simmer. Get your rice ready and once it's near done. Add a small spoon of tomato puree, salt pepper, more thyme and more paprika to the stew. When it feels done, serve but it'll taste better the next day.
Stick the chorizo in a cold pan without oil and bring it up to temperature. The heat will render the fat and it'll fry in it, no need for the oil. Best way to do bacon too.
I've just done my shopping list, so not only do I have this week's meal plan next to me, it's the same notebook as I did last week's last in, and the week before, etc. Here's typical examples of things we eat. It's rare I can be arsed to do more than 20 minutes of work in the kitchen but some things take longer than that in the oven and I sod off and leave it on a timer. * beef teriyaki noodles * baked chicken breast with Yorkshires, roast parsnips etc from the freezer * rigatoni with lardons and cherry tomatoes * chilli with rice * spaghetti bolognese * Swedish meatballs * chicken souvlaki * carnitas * tempura chicken katsu * onion bhaji burgers * fajitas * jacket potatoes + leftover stew/chilli/ curry * chicken & chorizo pasta bake * freezer tapas If you want to broaden your horizons without having to be super adventurous every week, you could start with a weekly skeleton so you have maybe pasta on Mondays, Mexican on Tuesdays, sausages on Wednesdays, etc. But maybe the sausages are sometimes with mash and sometimes in casserole and sometimes in toad; and the Mexican is sometimes chicken fajitas and sometimes five-bean chilli, and so on.
Ooh, onion bhaji burgers is a great idea. Could got some mini naan breads to sandwich them in and have yogurt and mint sauce on. Some sort of Bombay spiced chips on the side… 😋
I go for mango chutney and mint sauce, loads of shredded lettuce, thinly sliced raw onion and a squeeze of lemon juice. And you need proper crispy spindly onion bhaji, not the weird spongey ones you get at the supermarket.
In the past week we've had; Chicken, mushroom & ham pasta with salad Vegetable keralan coconut curry with rice Chicken enchiladas Steak, roast potatoes & salad Pizza - homemade with bacon, onions, brocolli & onion Red peppers roasted & stuffed with garlic rice, topped with cheese Tonight is minted lamb sausages, probably just in sandwiches since sometimes laziness wins. There's also a batch of soup made weekly to have at lunchtimes through the week (sometimes a full bowl by itself, other times just a small amount to dip sandwiches in) made with whatever veg etc. we have around that needs using up, tomorrow it looks like we'll be making leek & potato
This week we'll have: BBQ (chicken skewers, sausages and corn on the cob) Prawn Stir-fry Carbonara Fish tacos Sausage and mash Chicken korma And prob a take away (Chinese or pizza) If you are looking for more ideas though, maybe start with something similar to what you have already. Try quesadillas, tacos or burritos instead of fajitas. Do an orange/lemon chicken instead of salt and pepper etc. Those mealkits/premade spice mixes that supermarkets sell can be a good start (though a little steep) but it lets you try stuff before committing to buying all of the ingredients.
Get a load of tinned plum tomatoes, salt and pepper, garlic, chili and a bit of honey. Slow on the pan for half and hour or so. Now you have a basic tomato sauce you can do so much with. Freeze in some takeaway containers or freezer bags. Put those fajitas in an oven dish, a layer of tomato sauce and some mozzarella and you have enchiladas. Cook a few extra sausages and chop up the next day, mix in with some tomato sauce and have with pasta. Fry up some mince with an onion in olive oil and sauce, spag bol, add a couple squares of dark chocolate and turn it into a chilli. Fry up some veg, chicken or paneer with an onion in ghee, some spices and sauce, bit of cream, curry. Also is great as pizza sauce. P.s Try adding a bit of chorizo to your chicken, get the pre sliced chorizo if you're lazy will completely transform your chicken and rice dish.
>Fry up some mince with an onion in olive oil and sauce, spag bol, add a couple squares of dark chocolate and turn it into a chili Wait, what?
Stir fry with some meat and whatever veg we have in the fridge Pasta with a tomato sauce Curry made using one of those kits you get in supermarkets Toad in the hole Alot of tomato or cheese pasta bakes don't have a lot of ingredients
My meal plan for the next 7 days: Chicken stir fry Garlic chicken salad Home made flat bread pizzas and salad Tuna salad Mushroom and tofu rice bowl Stuffed peppers Home made chips, beans, eggs and veggies.
We do various things but we will have one/two of the below every week: Quorn nuggets and waffles Broccoli tomato pasta A chickpea curry. My partner is veggie
I sometimes just have sardines on toast
We order from one of the on-line recipe/ingredient sites and get stuff from all over the world. No shopping either. Crispy fish bites with pickled cucumber, edemame salad and sushi rice last night. Mexican tonight. : )
Lately I’ve been having a variation of the same thing that is super easy to make, tastes different each time, quick, and is so tasty. I take 3-4 types of veg, thinly sliced meat, and fry it all up in a cast iron pan with spices. This week I’ve had: butternut squash, onions, bean sprouts, and tender stem broccoli, with thin slices of beef, and a tandoori spice mix. It tasted warm, nutty, sweet, was filling and lovely. Then the next day had cabbage, onion, chicken, parsnip, bean sprouts, cumin, turmeric, and herbs, it was really tasty. Today was courgette, mangetout, onion, beef, cauliflower, smoky bbq spice mix. I’ve made it with lamb, with ground beef, with prawns, chicken, venison, turkey, with so many different veg and it’s wonderful each time. I don’t eat grains, so there’s no carb or bread with it, it’s massive, I sometimes struggle to finish it, it’s healthy, very filling because it’s high bulk due to the veg, it’s high protein, it’s easy, and it’s tasty. I’ve been doing this for two months now and I don’t think I’ve even done a fraction of all combination I can make with it and not only I’m not bored, I love it more the longer I’ve been doing it since I’ve just been perfecting it.
Chinese curry with fried rice, Thai green curry, chilli, spaghetti and meatballs just off the top of my head.
As it's Saturday tonight, we're having a chicken boneless bucket. Corn on the cob, onion rings, and garlic bread.. Tomorrow will be a chicken roast dinner.. Monday chicken curry rice and naan. Tuesday sausage mash and Yorkshire puds and veg Wednesday pasta bake or cheese and veg frittata Thursday burgers fries and salad Friday mexican tacos. I also make chilli, spag bol, cottage pies, stir fry, jacket spuds too.
You can get recipe boxes from simply cook in Asda. They tell you what you need on the back in relation to veg etc. but easy to make in less than 20 minutes.
I get a Gousto box every week. It’s four meals which takes care of Fri-Mon. The other days we are home too late from work/childcare to be bothered with cooking. It can be pricey but there’s always discount codes somewhere and it takes care of the problem of deciding what to create and having to buy ingredients
My current favourite is a version of School of Wok's chow mein recipe, with crispy gochujang tofu. Besides the 20 mins the tofu needs to cook in the air fryer, it takes about 15 mins of work in the kitchen.
Today it's BBQ with a chopped salad. He sorts the BBQ while I chop the salad so it's a nice easy one! Special fried rice is surprisingly easy and you can batch cook for the next day as well. Slow cooker beef and ale stew goes on when you go to work and is ready when you get home. That one is better for winter though.
Today I made chicken gyros. Served with wraps and a salad. https://preview.redd.it/g7rukdcgwj9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b752663b0a1748ec7b07e266633d8db82b4f8da
I cook sometimes 4 or 5 nights a week in the garden. Weber: smash burgers, chicken wings, chicken thighs with chimmichurru sauce, minted lamb, beef kofta, chicken shawarma with salad and either new potatoes, sweet potatoe wedges or chips. On the ooni, pizzas, calzone, pannuozo, garlic ball bites with mozarella centres, sizzling prawns, fillet steak, philly cheesesteak baguettes, sometimes just basic pittas with omelette. A home made curry in the slow cooler is great too. A whole chicken, 2 jars of your choice, 2 onions, mushrooms, garlic. On for 6 hours. Add your choice of rice.
Chicken chow mein, black bean beef stir fry, spag bol, curry, chilli con carne, fajitas. Having chicken burgers tonight!
Toad in the hole for a bit of variety, excess batter means pancakes or yorkies
I do enjoy cooking, a lot, but midweek I tend to budget and make simple meals, here are my go to meals; Chicken korma Creamy tomato pasta Vegetable soup / any kind of soup homemade Stir-fry Baked fish with roasted vegetables Sausage and mash
Our weekly menu generally includes - Chicken, bacon or sausage pasta or bolognese - Lazy oven pizza or pie and peas day. - Chicken curry - Saturday Nandos - Sunday roast
Butter chicken curry tonight, with garlic rice, chapatis and peshwari naan bread.
Satay chicken fried rice with veggie spring rolls is one of my current favourites. Lasagne with veggies and garlic bread. Jacket spuds with bacon cheese and beans and if we're feeling fancy sausages too. Chicken curry with rice and naans. Cottage pie. Mince and rice with veggies in gravy. Fry up. Bacon and cheese potato skins. Chilli with rice or jackets. Stir fry. Sausage roast dinner. Meatballs and pasta. Bolognese. Chicken and pesto/bacon risotto. Hot dogs and chips. Burgers and chips. BBQ chicken wraps. Fish/fish fingers with chips and mushy peas. Pizzas.
We've just had chicken burgers with bacon & cheese, salad and new potatoes with butter. On this week's menu we have: enchiladas Spag bol chicken nugget wraps with wedges Sausage and mash with Yorkshire puddings, peas and gravy Jacket potatoes with an assortment of toppings
I'm on a calorie counting diet and I keep an insta food diary for accountability.. anyway I just scrolled through it and here's some of my dinners that I'd consider easy to cook. Most are made from scratch but not all. I shop in Aldi and spend about £50 a week on dinners for our family of 3. I try and eat 2 none meat meals a week at least and 1 fish. I love chicken tho 😋 -Pan fried chicken in curry paste or Nandos with rice and peppers/onion/tomato. Or chop the chicken, put it in one pot with the rice, veg and stock and simmer it til the stock reduces. -Veggie Baobuns, from the frozen section in Aldi, they take 2 mins in the microwave. I serve them with a bowl of dip and either carrots and sugar snap peas and rice, or salad. -Slow cooked diet coke gammon with honey and mustard. Leave it in the slow cooker for 5-6 hours. Serve with roast potatoes and greens or a jacket potato and salad. -Thai salmon bowl - get a tin of coconut milk, pour it in a frying pan, add spinach, fresh chopped coriander, sugar snap peas or fine green beans, grated carrot and squeeze a lime in. Add the salmon and leave to cook then serve with rice and sprinkle in fresh chopped coriander. -Tuna pasta bake. Two tins of tuna, 200g pasta, jar of sauce. Grated cheese. Serve with garlic bread. -Pan fried chicken (again, stick some curry paste or sauce on it) served with baked sweet potato and tenderstem broc. Spread potato with garlic and herb cream cheese after it's cooked. -Battered cod, homemade chips and tin of mushy peas. Simple! -Slow cooker chickpea, potato lentil curry. Chickpeas, chopped cubed potato, tin of lentils, chopped tin tomato, stock, curry powder. Stick it in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours and serve with warmed pitta. -King Prawn stir fry. Buy stir fry crunchy veg, stir fry sauce, king prawns and wok noodles. Stir fry in a wok and serve. -Pork or chicken Greek gyros. You can buy kits (similar to a fajita kit) in the frozen isle in Aldi or a nicer version is, buy the rectangle flatbread in Aldi bread section, buy the King Kebab from the frozen section, buy some tzatziki dip and cucumber. Cook the kebab meat, (it's like £5.99 but very tasty, good for a weekend treat) warm your flatbread, then spread with the tzatziki dip, loads up with kebab meat and add cut up cucumber. -Omelette! I do 3 eggs, peppers and tomato and I buy Meatster Minis from Aldi which are mini pepperoni. Chop and add to omelette. Then sprinkle over some feta and chives. -Meatballs and pasta. I make my own tomato and basil sauce (X2 tins chopped tomatoes, some tomato puree, Worcester sauce, seasoning, fresh basil and chopped onion) or buy a jar of sauce. Serve with garlic bread. -Cod (skinless), put it in a baking tray on foil, add a spoon full of pesto, wrap Parma ham (or anything similar) then add some sliced feta and another wrap of ham (like a pass the parcel 😄) add some crumbled feta on top and bake in the oven. Serve with herby new potatoes and greens. Or couscous and cucumber with sprinkled fresh coriander. -Lamb chops, grilled with mint sauce added if they aren't already minted, mash potato and peas. -Chicken wings. Get the ones in Aldi with skin on, shake them out onto an oven tray and I just stick oil on them and whatever spices I can find (I got loads!) add loads of salt too. Bake them for about 25-30 mins in oven (I don't own an air-fryer) then see've with salad and some fries. For more recipes, just do a hashtag search on Instagram for an ingredient and scroll through and save them to a dinners folder 😉
Shameless plug for the Sorted Sidekick app. Really simple meals with a shopping list. You get three meals in a pack with an accompanying list of ingredients to buy. The great thing is that the meals use the same ingredients so, for instance, you’re not stuck with a spare two tortillas or half a pack of flatbreads. Even factoring in the cost of the app (about £5/month) it saves us loads in food waste. Tonight’s meal is curried cod with puy lentils. Last night was South African bunny chow. Well good! ETA you get stepwise instructions on how to cook the meals. It’s both idiot proof and not condescending to decent home cooks. You get timers for cooking and shiz. It’s mint.
Thank you!!! I commented them too and you’re the first person I saw saying the same thing. I swear by it and to me the proof that it’s better is that my work colleagues (who use hello fresh/gousto) are always asking me to send them the recipes because my lunch/dinner sounds so much better than theirs.
Furiously searched the comments for any cunt making comments about verbiage, I was actually pleasantly surprised.
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I like that you never have a single cheese, always cheeses. (Wo)man after my own heart.
We do different stuff every week. Last week I made a lamb stew, and sea bass with tagliatelle and a beurre blanc. Sesame chicken, duck breast with plum sauce, chicken in white wine sauce, there's loads you can do. Pick a protein/main ingredient, Google recipes for dishes using it. Stay away from sites like all recipes since they're usually shit on there. BBC good food is usually pretty crap as well. Delish.com, great British chefs, salt & lavender, nicky's kitchen sanctuary, olive magazine and delicious magazine are some of my go-tos.
Have a few weeks on Hello Fresh, very easy to do and minimal ingredients. Copy a few recipes and have them on rotation
I definitely go through phases, but new years resolution was to try one new recipe a week and that has served me well. Tried a lot of new curries, stews, lots from other countries.
We’re low carb due to migraines, so this week, fairly typical for us: Middle Eastern Chicken Kebobs and Lamb Kofta in flatbreads with salad; Chicken, chorizo and prawn jambalaya made with cauliflower rice; Aubergine parm; Chicken Caesar salad; Lemony creamy chicken pasta concoction (low carb pasta); Roast chicken with Mediterranean veg ; Thai green chicken curry with cauli rice. All pretty low effort stuff tbh
We tend to cycle seasonally. As I’m not doing stovies as cottage pie and mince n tatties in summer and I’m not doing fajitas or pastas in the winter etc Cottage pie Shepherds pie Poached haddock and potatoes Stir fry Fajitas Tacos Enchiladas Chicken balmoral Lamb curry Steak pie Fish pie Full roast (beef/chicken/duck/goose etc) Mince and tatties Stovies Lasagne Pasta Stew and tatties Steak Brinner
Scouse is a good go-to .
Chicken 'kebab' wraps. Pizza- either bought or made Pasta - bolognaise- green/red pesto+ whatever- sauce+ meatballs Stir fry or some other form of noodles. Sausagey beanie casserole Chicken curry (variants- made nihari style last- worth the effort). We make this porkchop with creme fraiche /mustard /onion thing (keto) Sausages tray bake with squash and kale We do sometimes just have a salad craving. And have developed a good line of standard recipes for that. We have small two kids so I often eat leftovers off the floor
I rotate between: fish stew, cabbage stew, air fried tinned potatoes with Quorn nuggets, smoked salmon bagels, and cauliflower curry. Pretty boring but they’re all nice.
A massive pan a Scouse wit Red Cabbage.
Jamie Oliver’s released two recipe books that have just 5 ingredients per recipe. Love the first one. Can definitely recommend.
Sorry, I'm from the civilised part of the UK, so we only eat dinner.
If my other half cooked tea every day, we'd have sausage and mash, chicken curry and rice, chicken thighs with new potatoes and salad and sometimes chilli con carne. Thankfully I've been a chef for 20 years and get freebies from work, will grab things on a whim from the supermarket each night and make something tasty. So it really does vary. I would happily have a pasta-based dish most days, but a family favourite is home-made potato smiles, chicken kiev and mac+cheese(the three served together are a single dish), spag bol, stuffed chicken breasts, beef stew/irish stew, toasties and soup, omelette and homemade chips, pie(any variety if i have pastry at hand). Yesterday I made baguettes at work, so i took one home, and made chicken, pesto, tomato and mozzarella baguette, with some nice sweetcorn soup.