We’re jumping on the Meal Planning Train!

OK, truth time. We’ve never been big into meal planning. Sure, I’ve been in charge of doing the food shopping and sure, I’d have a fair idea of what will be for dinner over the next two weeks. However, sometimes your circumstances change a little, money gets a little tighter and that whimsical way of {loosely} planning your family meals needs to be adjusted. 

Now, I am aware that there is an abundance of hardcore meal planners out there and believe me when I say – I envy you! I would love to have that much organisation left in me come dinner time to be able to smash it {so to speak!}. In fact, some of you actually throw it into the slow cooker after the school run {I’m looking at your What the RedHead Said!} and I have come to the realisation that I need reprogramming. 

I need to be taught the ways of epic meal planning capabilities and I suppose this post is the first of many {maybe this will be the only one – let’s see how it goes!} of showing you what we eat as a family. As a general warning and a polite heads up – there will be no beautiful food presentation seen here – I wish that was the case! We are a big family and dinner time in this house is pretty chaotic! 

So, as a large family {that includes fussy eaters!} what would we usually have for dinner? We are big Spaghetti bolognese fans, lovers of pizza, mince pies, chicken curry etc. We’re also big potatoes fans – maybe that’s the Irish in us, who knows! But potatoes are a staple in our family dinners. However, now we’re jumping on the meal planning train, I am hoping that maybe the fussier kids in the house {of which there are two} will become less fussy? 

OK, maybe I’m going a little too far with that wish – but I can hope, right? This week marks our first week jumping on the meal planning wagon and I am quite excited to be a little more organised for dinnertime. So, what’s for dinner this week?

Monday: Meatballs & Spaghetti {Slow cooker}

Image credit: BBC Food Recipe

This is a family meal that 4 out of five of us will eat. My son refuses to eat pasta – as frustrating as that is! It’s pasta and it’s delicious! I don’t go by any particular recipe – truth be told. I simply fry up my meatballs, boil my pasta, add my sauce {which is usually a good old jar of Dolmio!} and serve it up to the troops. Mostly {always} making something separate for Jacob. Let’s see how he likes this meal, this week. I’d honestly give anything to be able to make one meal for the whole family to enjoy!

Tuesday: Hotdogs

Image credit: Anova Recipes

Tuesdays are a really busy afternoon for us. From the kids having football after school, then we have parkour and judo at 6 pm – I need something quick and easy for dinner. Hotdogs is my go-to easy meal, maybe with a little pot of baked beans on the side!

Wednesday: Chicken Casserole {Slow Cooker}

Image credit: Recipe This

It has been ages since I whipped up a chicken casserole. One of the very few meals we can eat as a family, so I’m keen to serve it up to the masses with a few roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy. Vegetables are very much enjoyed by everyone bar my youngest son, Jacob. He’ll fight tooth and nail to not eat his greens but we’re being very slowly, slowly catchy monkey with him. Hopefully, his pallet will come round at some point and getting his greens into him won’t be like trying to hold the ocean back with a fork!

Thursday: Pancake night!

Thursdays, like Tuesdays, is a bit of a busy afternoon for us. So another easy peasy meal is welcomed! The kids love homemade pancakes so I’ll serve them up with some sausages and beans. A nice easy night before both of my girls goes off to Beavers & Scouts for the evening. 

Friday: Beige night!

I call Fridays ‘beige Friday’ because our house {mostly} drops by two kids. Being a ‘blended’ family means they’ll go off to their Dads for either the night or the weekend. It changes every week! So it’s mostly just three of us at home, so anything goes really. This week it will be a chicken burger, chips and beans. Minus the chips for Annabelle as she’s not a chip fan in the slightest {which is never a bad thing!}. 

Saturday: Make our own pizzas

Who doesn’t love to make their own pizza! My kids love it and I have to admit, I love it too. So a bit of an interactive meal for the family on Saturdays with naan bread and an array of ingredients. Consisting mostly of chicken, ham and pepperoni! I’ll also make up a bowl of lettuce, slices of carrot and cucumber {because my girls love their greens!}. 

Sunday: Sunday dinner!

We love a good Sunday dinner in this house! The meat {which is mostly chicken!}, roasties, mash, vegetables, Yorkshire and gravy! Oh my goodness…. can it be a Sunday every day just for this meal? So incredible and I make a pretty epic Sunday dinner if I don’t say so myself! 

So, as you can see, I’ll be using my slow cooker a lot more – which I am very excited about. As well as that, I am hoping to be able to make just one meal to suit everybody. I think with this week I am on to something 90% of the way, minus out any veg and the pasta {which are my two main hurdles for Jacob}. My eldest girl will eat pretty much anything, same for Annabelle – so I guess Jacobs my biggest hurdle in the food department. 

However, I’ll be sure to update you next week on how we got on. I’d love to know if you meal plan and what sort of dishes you feed your family!