What's on the Menu for the Week?
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Anonymous
Heh. Hot dog on a slice of white bread...that takes me back. Throw in some Lean Pockets, Chicken Voila, and ramen, and that was my entire diet back in my first apartment junior year 
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Anonymous
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I don't know about this week yet but last week we had two recipes which I can recommend! The first was beef stroganoff from the Vikalinka website:
http://vikalinka.com/2014/10/02/best-beef-stroganoff/ I buy thin cut rib eyes and use them and it is so delicious. Even my picky husband will eat this. My 1 year old loves to eat the gravy with egg noodles. We also did Ina Garten's version of penne alla vodka: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/nick-and-tonis-penne-alla-vecchia-bettola-recipe.html Neither of these are terribly difficult but both are really, really delicious and will now be regulars in the lineup. |
Anonymous
| For the people who plan their week of dinners, is it more efficient to plan ahead, or is it to let the kids know what is set for the week, or what are your reasons? Are you using frozen meat and fish or do you have to go back to the market mid-week? |
Anonymous
| Home-made chicken soup, beef with roasted peppers, grilled swordfish, and home-made chicken fried rice. That should get us through Thursday, and we always go out on Friday night. |
Anonymous
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I try to plan out 4-5 nights and usually improvise something for the 5 and 6th. We eat vegetarian at least a couple of nights a week and have frozen meat and seafood in the fridge, so as long as I stock up on fruits, veggies, dairy, and eggs on the weekend there's no need to go back the store. Having a few meals in mind as I'm shopping makes things more efficient, but I usually deviate from the plan at least somewhat depending on my mood and our schedule.
Here's the rough plan for this week: Turkey burgers and grilled sweet potato fires Chicken tortilla soup with quessadillas Risotto with shrimp and asparagus Rice and beans Frittata with crusty bread |
Anonymous
The reason for me is that I don't have the energy to cook during the week after coming home at 7pm. Nor do I have time to shop during the week. As a result, everything happens on Sundays - all of the shopping and all of the cooking. Everyone knows that 9am to 1pm on Sunday is my cooking time. That way all I need to do after work is reheat. |
Anonymous
I do it so that I can make one grocery trip each week, either on Saturday or Sunday. By planning all meals, I can get everything I need for the week in that one trip, and also avoid getting a bunch of extra stuff that ends up spoiling. I also plan for re-use of leftovers in different ways throughout the week (I posted earlier about roasting a chicken on Sunday, then using the leftovers in something later in the week). I mostly buy meat in bulk and freeze family-meal-sized portions (about a pound, depending on the meat). So my first step in meal planning is to review the freezer contents to figure out what I can use, then I build the menu around that. If I plan in a meal that requires fresh meat / seafood from the store, I plan on having those early in the week, then fill in with stuff from my freezer later in the week. I also plan to use the more delicate fresh vegetables - anything that would spoil or get "limp" - early in the week, and save heartier vegetables for later in the week. By the end of the week, we often have a night of smorgasboard leftovers (stir fries are great for this!) or something completely out of the freezer + pantry staples like rice. It also helps keep me motivated to actually cook a good dinner. If I come home at 6:30 on a Tuesday evening and walk into the kitchen thinking "what am I going to make for dinner tonight..." - it's not going to happen. We'll order pizza. If I walk into the kitchen knowing exactly what I'm going to make and what I need to do (and bonus points if part of it was prepped the night before, even just taking meat out of the freezer to thaw - anything that "commits" me to that meal), I'm a lot more likely to actually get a decent dinner on the table. |
Anonymous
I plan 3 nights of dinner (M, T, W) then make a midweek pitstop at the store for T, F, and S.. The midweek stop usually results in "fish night." I like at least two trips because things come up and I don't want to get stuck with food that we won't use. |
Anonymous
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Tonight was a late work night, so fish sticks and mac & cheese.
Tomorrow: Salmon, garlic bread and steamed broccoli Wednesday: Chicken and kale soup - probably with more garlic bread - and a salad Thursday: Leftover soup Friday: Eating out somewhere |
Anonymous
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Sunday = minestrone with spinach meatballs
Monday = potstickers from TJ with carrot sticks on side Rest of week = sloppy joes or hamburger pie , ravioli with pesto sauce, bacon cheese egg cups with toast and fruit, meatloaf with couscous onside.....had lots of chicken I last 2weeks so went with ground beef as main meat buy |
Anonymous
| Tater Tot Hotdish |
Anonymous
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I plan Monday to Thursday. Friday night we always have pizza. I do this to stay organized and so that I am not trying to figure out what to have for dinner when we get home at 5:30 pm. I take out any meat that needs defrosting the night before and put it in the fridge. This week we are having:
M-chicken marsalla, polenta, steamed carrots T (late sports practice nights)-burgers and dogs, salad, sweet potatoe fries W-parm pork chops, jasmine rice, green beans TH-tacos, black beans, salad |
Anonymous
Yup, vegetarian for 20 plus years  .
Falafel recipe-- http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015257-falafel Pulled seitan recipe--http://www.confident-cook.com/2013/07/vegan-pulled-bbq-seitan.html This was ridiculously good! Made with leftover seitan from this recipe--http://lazysmurf.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/vegan-al-pastor-tacos/ The other recipes aren't online! 
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Anonymous
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Pork Chops and rice
Pasta Night Veggie Beef Soup and Bread Pancakes for Dinner Teriyaki Chicken |
Anonymous
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Orzo with Peas And Garlic Brown Butter
Baked Potatoes with Broccoli and Beer-Cheddar Sauce Shrimp Bibimbap over Quinoa with Kimchi Smoked Salmon and Crushed Avocado Open-Faced Sandwiches with Parsley and Lemon Vinaigrette Oat, Walnut and Chocolate Chip Cookies |