Photo credit: size8jeans’
Reading a menu plan on Jennifer’s blog Home Matters Most I was reminded of a way we used to eat, before convenience food, the way my Nan used to cook.
The idea is you cook a meal on Sunday and this forms the basis for your meals, Monday, Tuesday and even Wednesday.
I know I’m late to the party, but for some reason, which probably involves working too much and laziness, I’d forgotten this way of menu planning. There’s no excuse, as I lived with my Nan for quite a while when I was younger.
Jennifer plans for lunches as well, but as we all take a packed lunch, I’ve only planned the evening meals. I’m going to post the menu’s every Thursday as I do my main shopping on a Friday. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference to my grocery budget.
{Menu Plan}
Sun: Large Roast Chicken
Mon:Chicken Curry
Tue: Chicken Casserole
Wed:Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce (V)
Thu: Quiche (V)
Fri: Chille Con Carne
Sat: Pizza (V)
- Monday and Tuesday meal will be with chicken from Sunday.
- All meals with vegetables or salad.
- Three vegetarian meals
- All meals easy to prepare
Providing more vegetarian meals was one of my New Year goals. We’ve been having a least one a week, now I’m aiming for three.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
We don’t have a Sunday roast (or even a big Sunday dinner) so this way wouldn’t really work for me. I do menu plan though so we have very few leftovers.
My daughter is an even bigger carnivore than I am (and I do love my meat) so getting more than one veggie meal a week into the plan is difficult. I do try to slip an extra one in now and then though
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Hi there – I’ve been menu planning for the week around Sunday roasts for years now, and I find it really works well for us. It’s also made me more creative lately, finding new things to do with leftover roast meat. Bubble and squeak with cold meat on a Monday evening is a definite favourite. Best wishes – Caroline xx
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Living in Portugal creates it’s own opportunities. We now regularly have our Sunday lunch out, and as I’m sure you’ve found, restaurants here regularly provide sufficient food on one plate for one-and-a-half meals, if not two.
Not being so churlish as to ask for one meal and two plates, there is always a plastic bag lurking within a handbag somewhere, where the excess meat is deposited for it’s trip from the restaurant to our home.
A few veggies added on Monday or Tuesday and bang, another meal for one at virtually no cost.
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Hi there-good luck, sounds like a great plan, easy to follow!
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I try to do something like this. When I cook a main dish I try to make it a little bigger than necessary thus provides leftovers. We use the leftovers for lunches and then one night a week we have a leftover “buffet.” I set out the bowls with all the leftovers in them and have each family member go through the “buffet” line and spoon out onto their plate the things they want to eat. I then just have to heat up their plate instead of heating each bowl of leftovers individually. Everyone seems to like this and I fill in with some vegies or a baked potato if needed. Usually I designate Friday night as leftover night as we are all tired from a long week and I don’t want to cook that night. Love your site!
Kristina
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sharon – I haven’t done sunday lunch for ages either, so we’ll see how we go this week!
thanks caroline, it does make sense to cook this way. I love bubble and squeak
j1mbo – you can’t beat a doggie bag
thanks Sharon, I’m going to try this way for a few weeks and see if it works for us
hi kristina, that sounds like a good idea. Our pizza night is similar, I cook a couple of pizza’s do some baked potatoes, some salad and plonk it on the table for people to help themselves
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Thank you for visiting my site and leaving a comment! I’m glad to find another like-minded blogger. I love how you show the progress on your mortgage paydown.
As for meal planning, I still do what I started doing while working full-time (since I never had time to cook at night). I prepare a couple of casseroles each weekend, then break them up into meal-size portions for the freezer. I can rotate what I eat each night, it’s kind of like frozen dinners but homemade.
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Would someone please let me know what “bubble and squeak” is and how to fix it. My eight year old son and I are loving the title – it must be good. Can you tell we’re from the USA?
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