Meal Planning Monday:

The cold weather really hit us last week, Harry and I had to abandon a walk as despite all the layers and a massive snow suit he was just too cold, and we both ended up a bit under the weather. I'm hoping this week will be better so that we can get out and about - we're hoping to try a library Rhyme Time session for the first time.

The original plan was to cook a chicken on Sunday, but Aldi had pork leg joints on offer this week so I took the opportunity to save some money, I also picked up 5 of their 'Super six' veggies and some pork mince which was again on offer. I promise this post isn't an advert for Aldi, I'm just at the end of my Mat leave so saving money is a priority for us at the mo.

I did OK at Slimming World last week - something tells me that this week wont be as successful as I've felt dreadful and not managed to stay on plan at all. Although towards the end of the week I got back on it a bit more (save the end of a packet of liebkucken on Saturday afternoon while the men of the house dozed)

Mark's working silly hours at the moment and Harry's still teething (no teeth yet, but sore gums, red cheeks, all the dribble, and broken sleep but NO TEETH) so I'm after a relatively stress free week food wise.

Breakfast: Porridge with fruit or scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms for me. Porridge fingers, scrambled eggs or a bagel and fruit for the baby

Lunch: Soup, a baked potato or an omlette for me - fish cakes, or chicken and veggies or just veggies for Harry.

Supper:

Monday: Leftover roast pork with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Quick chilli wraps with leftover pork, a teeny bit of rice, avocado and veggies

Wednesday: Baked pasta with a ragu type sauce (a recipe I'm going to adapt slightly from my slimming world book)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Freezer surprise

Saturday: It's St Dwynwen's next weekend (Welsh St Valentine's) so if we can find a friend to look after Harry for a couple of hours I'd like to try going out for tea. If not, it'll be steak and chips at home.

Sunday: Perhaps that chicken...

 My challenge for Monday is to remember to link up with Mrs M again.

Meal Planning Monday: A thrifty Advent

Hello there, we've had a few weeks hiatus on the meal planning front. Since we went dairy free to help Harry's reflux, I've stuck to the same few recipes as I realised quite quickly just how much I relied on dairy products in my cooking. Whilst I wouldn't change how I'm eating for all the world as Harry's just so much better, I've kind of lost much in the way of impetus for cooking.

This week the run up to Christmas has hit home - we've scaled back our Christmas plans this year as I'm on Mat leave still, but even so we're still watching the pennies. This has meant that once again, we're having a week of freezer surprises. Albeit planned freezer surprises.

Harry's now having two meals a day - his breakfast tends to be a little bit of porridge or toast, with some fruit. and his lunch is either steamed veggies, fruit, or most excitingly... plaice fish cakes.

Breakfasts - I'm having porridge with oat milk which is surprisingly neutral in taste.

Lunches - tend to be whatever's hanging around. Eggs feature quite heavily.

Suppers -

Monday: Baked potatoes with leftover ham in coca-cola, cheese, bacon, beans (fridge surprise basically)

Tuesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto (freezer)

Wednesday: Cottage pie/ lasagne (freezer)

Thursday: Parsnip and pancetta pasta

Friday: There are two unlabelled tupperwares of red mystery leftovers in the freezer. I'm tempted but not sure how brave I actually am.

Saturday: I've got a portion of brisket frozen to slow cook, and I think I'll put that on when we get back from swimming to have as a roast dinner that evening

Sunday: Leftover brisket with baked potatoes

That's our week - a thrifty run up to Christmas in a bid to spend a very little money and also make some space in the freezer for my much loved and looked forward to turkey soup!

Meal Planning Monday: mildly sleep deprived

Perhaps that's an understatement - although *touch wood* I seem to be coping OK with the disrupted nights, it's the cluster feeding that I'm still finding a killer. This weekend's culinary efforts have been a bit of a disaster - I cremated the bacon, scrambled the carbonara, and made bread rolls that were doughy to say the least. Hopefully next week will be better. Hopefully.

It's supposed to be glorious for most of this week - I'm planning to take Harry out in the garden and enjoy the shade of our apple tree. Aside from an NCT meet up and a Health Visitor weigh in for Harry it's a quiet week. Which to be honest, is the best way for us at the moment. Slow days with flexible to do lists that can be abandoned without a problem are indupitably the way forward.

Breakfasts: Yoghurt and granola for me (still with the oats) with extra fruit as well.

Lunches: Halloumi and salad or houmous, pitta bread and salad.

Dinners:

Monday: Chicken wraps with avocado, salad and potato wedges

Tuesday: Courgetti spaghetti

Wednesday: leftover courgetti spaghetti

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: Lasagne

Saturday: Steak

Sunday: Freezer surprise

Baking wise, I did make M a s'more inspired birthday cake which I'll blog later this week so we have that for packed lunches - although it's not particularly travel friendly.

Meal planning Monday

How does it get round to being Monday again so quickly? I'm writing this on Sunday evening, surrounded by chaos and the smell of wet paint as we prepare to head back to work after a weekend of trying to set the house to rights.

We're busy again this week (when aren't we?) Although M is quite gleeful about the fact that he forgot that this week existed so everything he thought he was doing this week is next week instead. Confused? You should try being me.

Breakfasts: In an epic fail in meal planning terms I forgot to buy myself any cereal or any almond milk so cereals and smoothies are off the menu. In their stead will doubtlessly be porridge - I had it this morning with pools of dark brown sugar melting into little treacley puddles. And enjoyed every mouthful

Lunches: I blame my mother for this. Entirely. She introduced me to Seriously strong smoked cheese spread *ahem* applied liberally to toasted crumpets. I suspect this will now take up pride of place as it's own food group for the forseeable future.

Dinners:

Monday - Slow cooker chilli con carne with brown rice, avocado and grated cheese (post to follow on Tuesday)

Tuesday - Leftover slow cooker chilli con carne before Guides for me

Wednesday - excitingly I've been nominated for a Jack Petchey for my work as a Guide leader so we'll be at the presentation on Wednesday night. I will retrieve a couple of tupperwares for a freezer surprise dinner in advance.

Thursday - I'm at Brownies, but I think we've got a pizza in the freezer

Friday - Now I know it's St Valentine's, but it's my birthday on Saturday which far eclipses that. Plus we celebrated on St Dwynwen's back at the end of January, well we swapped gifts as we were up to our eyes in lining paper that weekend. I quite fancy curry at the moment so I might make a chicken and spinach curry and have that with some naan bread and dhaal. Curry was the first thing I ever made M.

Saturday - as it's my birthday we're going out for a family lunch at the potential venue for the wedding reception to sample the menu. I've also kindly been sent a bottle of non-alcoholic fizz to celebrate with.

Sunday - I have a small brisket stashed in the freezer, so I might treat us to roast beef again. So soon!

That's us. Busy again, but getting through the week in a haze of freezer surprise, and peanut butter kitkats (just me?)

Meal Planning Monday: for M, with love

This week I'm working away again. Well if this storm that's forecast lets me travel that is. The meal plan is a very M friendly one as it doesn't require too much of him. Don't get me wrong, M can cook - but, he prefers not to. To paraphrase - he'd rather take tablets at an appropriate time than bother to cook. Food is purely fuel for him, and it's only when I'm cooking that he really enjoys it.

Breakfasts - cereal and toast for M. Fruit and yoghurt for me.

Lunches - sandwiches, crisps, cheese and a cereal bar for M. Cup-a-soup (or similar) for me. I'll have fruit throughout the day, M and his colleagues will have the chocolate traybake I made and iced yesterday.

Supper -

Monday: I'll have my sandwich evening. M has leftover beef curry, rice and flatbread.

Tuesday: I'll probably investigate a Pizza express or similar. M has more leftover curry with rice.

Wednesday: I'll give in and eat in the hotel. M has lentil ragu from the freezer, with pasta and grated cheese

Thursday: I'm home! Well, sort of. I'm popping up to see my sister and nephew.

Friday: Something from the freezer :vague: possibly some of the leftover rice I've been making

Saturday: We have M's parents with us for the weekend, so a roast chicken with all the trimmings

Sunday: Parsnip and bacon pasta - see post later this week

That's our week - next week I'm going to make a beetroot cake, and hopefully we'll have a more interesting one - this is deliberately thrifty and apologies about it being a bit dull. Hopefully someone over at At home with Mrs M will have some more interesting cooking going on!

Meal Planning Monday - a freezer audit

When I graduated, attention to detail was not my forte - 14 years and countless admin roles, holidays to New York, and one Guide unit later it turns out you can teach yourself attention to detail and it's an utterly vital skill.

It turns out skills honed looking for one person in 600 who you know should have an NVQ but who for some reason isn't coming out on Business Objects actually come into their own when one is getting organised. This meant last night was spent sat in front of the freezer, notebook in hand, auditing the contents. The list (yes it's a spreadsheet) looks like this: 

Item	Amount	Notes
Yorkshire puddings	1 packet	4
White finger rolls	1 packet	6
Sloes for gin	1 tupperware
Prawn biryani	1 tupperware
Bolognaise	1 tupperware
Garlic doughballs	1 packet	12
Potato wedges	1 packet	3/4 left
Fajita wraps	2 packets
Higgidy steak pie	1	Serves 2
Peas	2 packets
Sausages (loose)	3
Part baked baguettes	1 packet	2
Chicken breasts	4
Grated courgettes	2 lots
Sausagemeat		200g
Diced courgette	1 lot
Pork sausages	3 packets
Carnitas	1 tupperware
Sweetcorn	1 packet
Stewing steak	1 peice
Braised red cabbage	4 portions
Frozen chips	1 packet	tiny portion
5 baby croissants
Toffee ice cream	1 tub
Split pea soup	1 tupperware
Cooked chicken	2 tupperwares
Fishcakes	3
Pesto	1 tupperware

That was a slightly longer list than (my clearly tardis like freezer was hiding) I was hoping for. Still, not to be dissuaded, I've done a meal plan that spans the coming 3 weeks and will hopefully use most things up. It should mean that we only really need fruit and vegetables, and aside from 3 loaves of banana bread that will go into the freezer as food for the supporting troops - there is a veto on buying anything to go inside. 

This week's mealplan is a short one as I'm off to Wellies and Wristbands on Thursday with 10 of my Guides. 

Breakfasts: Summer porridge for me, with very overripe chopped banana

Lunches: M is having ham baguettes this week (check off those part-baked baguettes), I'm having home made aubergine houmous either with warmed up fajitas or veggies 

Dinners: 

Monday: Sausages, baked sweet potato, sweetcorn, peas and braised red cabbage

Tuesday: Pasta bolognaise and garlic doughballs for M, Prawn biryani for me

Wednesday: Leftovers of the above for us both

Thursday: Fishcakes and salad for me. Pasta pesto for M

Wish me luck as we embark on our mammoth freezer clean out - hopefully in three weeks it'll be emptied, defrosted and gleaming

Meal planning Monday - ships that pass in the night

Well it's that time again *blithely ignores the lack of planning the last few weeks* Ahem. This week is at best annoying and at worst upsetting. As M proceeds home tomorrow, I head off for my week working away. Which I love - I get to be on the South coast and the weather forecast is good. But I haven't seen M for a week now. Still, there's no use complaining, such is life. 

I think I've mentioned previously that M isn't a fan of cooking. Food is fuel to him so I've tried to leave him food for the week that's quick and easy for when he gets distracted by leads, or the cricket, or the rugby. 

Breakfasts - as I'm away, it'll be poached or scrambled eggs on wholewheat toast

Lunches - a bit of an ongoing battle to remind myself to make time to eat when I'm training. There is a sandwich shop near where I train so I will do my utmost to make myself. 

Snacks - normal fruit and lots of water

Baking - I meant to bake a fruit cake today, but have barely stopped so we are cakeless this week. Sad times. 

Dinners: 

Monday: I normally pick up a salad in M&S for supper on my first night away. M will be nomming en route

Tuesday: Something salady for me. There's courgetti spaghetti in the freezer for M

Wednesday: Freezer surprise for M and maybe I'll push the boat out and go to Pizza Express

Thursday: We'll be home together :-) Something quick and easy as I'm at Brownies first of all

Friday: Chicken enchiladas with salad

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Roast chicken, with either new potatoes and salad - or the works depending on the weather. Either way, plenty of leftovers for the week after. 

So that's us - a bit disjointed, but should see us through until the weekend. What's on your meal plan this week? 

Why not pop over to At Home with Mrs M for some nosing *ahem* inspiration

Meal Planning Wednesday? Really?

I love my meal plan, really I do - it helps me to budget, to manage what I eat (and sometimes to remind me to eat full stop) and also to think about where I am and what M and I are doing each week. This week, however has been my first week back in the classroom full time since the dreaded migraine of doom that started on Christmas day. Luckily that seems to be a thing of the past, icky injections in my head keeping them at bay *touch wood* It was an important and natural step to get back to what I'm ultimately employed to do, and I've enjoyed it. What I had managed to forget, sidelined by my glee at being well enough to train, was how much I hate staying away from home. At the sadness inspired by the Beefeater menu.

This week was hampered further by the dramatic return of my dairy intolerance this weekend. Recognising the symptoms from a few years ago, I removed dairy from my diet almost immediately and within 24 hours saw my symptoms ease. It's not an easy change to make to your diet - Premier Inn don't provide any breakfast options within their Continental that are dairy free (at least, not when the fruit doesn't appear to have arrived), I don't particularly like soya milk (although Alpro chocolate pudding is another matter) but nothing, all spreads for toast etc contained dairy - fortunately the lovely Alex in response to my plaintive request for any dairy free options managed to sort me out with a cooked breakfast, and poached eggs and bacon it was. Not particularly healthy, but something at least.

Tomorrow I'm back onto salad for lunch with vegetable sticks and some carefully selected houmous. Breakfast will be fruit and more poached eggs as I couldn't remember if live yoghurt was OK or not so decided not to take the change.

Dinners this week are deliberately simple. My tastebuds, stunted by the options available at the Beefeater, once again are craving vegetables and fresh flavours.

So tonight (Wednesday) we had pasta with a (fridge bottom) tomato based sauce, including some slightly elderly asparagus and a courgette. It had an incredibly tasty garlic, anchovy and onion base which may prove to be a no no. But for now I'm fine.

Thursday - a return to Brownies for me, and Welsh for M means I only have to cater for myself. At the moment that feels like it will entail much looking wistfully into the fridge at the cheese. In reality it's likely to be freezer surprise.

Friday - M and I are out, but if we get back at a reasonable hour, then I think sausage sandwiches (Sainsbury's Taste the Difference sausages are brilliant when I'm being intolerant and generally icky)

Saturday - we're off for the weekend for a Christening where I'm to be Godmother. To say I'm excited is possibly the understatement of the century as no one's ever asked me to be Godmother before. Food wise, it's going to require some careful choices, and I'm going to tweet asking for recommendations for restaurants that would either adapt dishes or provide easy dairy free options.

And Monday will hopefully mean normal service is resumed. Until then, I'll be consuming Alpro chocolate pudding whilst making puppy dog eyes at my Easter eggs.

Hopefully meal planning and blogging won't be too bland over the coming weeks. I don't think I'm going to need a full exclusion diet as I know my triggers, but expect a distinct lack of cheese from here on in.

Even though it's Wednesday - be sure to pop over to At Home with Mrs M for Meal Planning Monday

Also - quick reminder, the blog competition to win an Asda Extra Special Hamper closes this time next week - if you've not entered yet, be sure to! And if you have, it would be lovely if you would share the post here to allow your friends to enter too.