Meal Planning Recipe Ideas with Free Printable Weekly Meal Planner


Like many others up and down the country, I am primarily responsible for most aspects of meal planning; the planning it out, shopping for it, cooking it, dishing it up and the washing up afterwards.
I’ve always enjoyed getting creative in the kitchen but with all the after school activities and my older children coming in at different times it has become more of a challenge to find meals that everyone enjoys, fits into our schedule and I actually enjoy cooking. My cooking has become very repetitive and I’ve lost the excitement I once had in rustling up family meals.

I challenged myself to come up with at least 20 meals, some old favourites and some new and use this post as a reference for myself and anyone else struggling to meal plan or wanting to try something new or different.

Mince
Spaghetti bolognese
Shepherds or cottage pie, veg and yorkshire’s 
Chilli con carne with rice and tortilla chips
Koftas with rice, salad and flatbreads
Meatballs in tomato sauce and pasta 
Lasagne, chips and salad
Keema peas and flatbreads 
Enchiladas and spicy wedges

Poultry
Chicken curry, rice and naan
Roast chicken dinner
Jerk chicken, rice and peas, plantain and salad
Chicken pasta salad
Fajitas, potato wedges and corn on the cob
Chicken and mushroom pasty slices with chips and salad
Chicken wings and chips

Meat
Hot dog and fries
Pork casserole and mash potato
Toad in the hole and veg
Pork chops, roast potatoes and veg
Lamb chops, cous cous and roasted veg 
Sausage and mash
Steak and mushroom pie, new potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower
Beef stew, dumplings and crusty bread
Ribs, chips and onion rings
Ham, egg and chips
Dinner breakfast(a good old fashioned breakfast fry up but for dinner)
Pulled pork rolls
Lamb biriyani 
Steak with peppercorn sauce, mushrooms, mash and green beans

Fish
Prawn and chilli linguini 
Salmon, peas and pasta in a white sauce
Slice tuna steak, bulgar wheat and salad
Cod bites and chips
Fish pie and steamed veg
Baked sea bass with hassleback potatoes and green beans
Paella
Crab and sweet corn soup

Non-meat                                                    
Jacket potatoes
Pizza, garlic bread and salad
Omelette and salad
Loaded fries (cheese, veggie chilli)
Aloo gobi

Fakeaways
Nandos
Mcdonalds(chicken nuggets or burger and fries)
Chinese(fried rice, noodles, sweet and sour chicken and prawn or chicken balls, salt and pepper chips)
Donor kebab

Well that’s me set for the next few weeks and if like me you prefer to meal plan rather than 'wing it', click here for a free printable to help you keep track. You can also download the printable to your phone or tablet/ipad and edit it on there. If you do use it then I'd love for you to tag me in your posts on Instagram or Twitter to see what meals you've been planning

I’d love to know some of your family favourites when meal planning.

Emma xoxo

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