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.