(not) Menu Plan Monday ~ 7 March

I have a confession to make.

I have no menu plan today. Well, not much of one anyway.

I have spent the entire weekend playing and shopping and generally goofing off with the family.

And it was marvelous.

So, whatever shall I do?

I’ll do what we all do.

I’ll make it up as I go along.

I do have to go to the grocery store today, so I’ll see what is on sale and that will help drive my cooking decisions.

But, this leads me to a question for you - (and this only works if you de-lurk and comment!)

What meals are your go-to meals when you don’t have dinner planned and need something quick?

What are sure-fire hits with your family for which you keep the ingredients handy all the time?

Let me know!

And, here’s what I have planed so far:

• Chicken Tortilla Soup – made with some leftover chicken/broth that I had in the freezer (recipe later this week)
• This cake for dessert.

Beyond that? I’m not sure yet. But I have tonight covered.

Comments

[lizziemade]

Ooh, flying by the seat of your pants this week!! I'm afraid I pretty much do this every week... I shop via the internet and have a weekly grocery delivery on a Monday morning, so I do think about meal ideas/plans as I compile the shopping list, but it's rarely as methodical as a whole menu plan for the week. I buy certain things every week (like bread, milk, juice, cereals, youghurt etc, plus tuna, ham and turkey slices, for lunchboxes) and I always keep staple items in the cupboards and fridge... then I kind-of wing it, based on decisions like "Oh, if I buy some of those lamb meatballs this week, perhaps I can make a nice spaghetti at the weekend" or "We could eat chicken wraps for dinner one evening...."
So, definitely not "Mrs Super-Organised of Bedfordshire, UK" then!

I do have some "go-to" meals though, which always go down well. There's what we calle "Eggy Pasta", which is an Anglicised version of Spaghetti Carbonara, made with English Cheddar and Double Gloucester cheeses and sliced ham, instead of the more traditional (and more expensive) Italian versions. That is so quick and easy to make (boil the pasta; mix eggs, dash of milk, cut up ham, grated cheeses; drain pasta, stir in eggy mixture for a minute until it begins to cook, serve and eat with salad - yum!). Then there are "Mexican" chicken wraps - kind-of Mexican because I use Fajita seasoning with tomato passata to make the sauce, plus sweetcorn kernels and sliced mixed peppers. It's just spiced up sauce with chicken usually, put into wraps, sprinkled with a little cheese, which I then melt in the microwave for a minute. Easy, quick and tasty (we are into "easy" meals in our house!). Great with rice, salad or both.
If I have more time, I like to make meatballs and spaghetti, or bolognese, or some kind of yummy sauce with chorizo slices, meat, tomatoes, veggies etc etc... Various versions of stir-fried chicken (Chinese or Japanese style with some type of noodles).
If I have lots of time, I make more complex yumminess...like curry or lasagne, or even "roast dinner", but that doesn't happen often! I probably recycle the same 10-15 recipes day in, day out! Does that make me lazy? I don't know, but they're nutricious, tasty and easy to make; the family loves them and it gives me time to do other jobs. It works for us!

[Lois Houston]

you're right, Lizzie, ave a few like your go to menu items, too. I'm not super organized (not as much as I'd like to be) and I find I have 10-20 items that we seem to gravitate towards for dinner items regularly. I am trying to broaden the kids' food horizons, though, so I like to try at least one new thing a week.