Taco Tuesday is sacrosanct at our house.

My meals tend to be driven by what veggies are available at the farmer's market each week, so I can't plan that far in advance. As a result, I probably have less variety in my meals than you do.

Though there are some things I tend to make only in specific seasons. Eggplant dishes in the summer, kaddo bourani (pumpkin with yogurt and meat sauce) in the fall, chicken cacciatore in the winter, and things with ramps, spring garlic or peas in the spring.

Perhaps you can add some variety by rotating 4 to 8 recipes by season (one or two a week).

Kudos for not repeating a meal for four weeks.

I am sure many of us would love to see a list of 4 weeks of recipes.

Anonymous wrote:You're doing great if you have a 4 week rotation. We're lucky to make it 10 days without repeating.

Yup, this is me. DD gets tired of "same foods" all the time. I tell her to come up with something different and we can cook it together. She then decides the meals I make are fine...lol

We have a few dishes that are easy to make big over the weekend and then use for lunch and a couple dinners throughout the week - lasagna, lentils, chicken curry, roasted Brussels sprouts. So those make up 2-3 weekday dinners.

Then refried rice in which I dump extra rice, veggies, and meat left over from previous meals. We usually do that towards the end of the week.

Once a week we do a frozen pizza. Other nights when there's nothing else, we do quesadillas or grilled cheese with salad or any easy veggies I can quickly steam.

We need dinner on the table by 6:30 for the young one's routine and I usually get home around 5:50 so dinners need to be quick and easy.

Anonymous wrote:3 different pastas PP?!?!?

Yeah, I know it's ridiculous. I make a very high fiber pasta for myself (Fiber Gourmet brand) because it's lower calorie. DH doesn't like it, and it's too much fiber to give to a toddler. DH always wants ziti, which I try cutting into small rings for DS, but he usually won't eat it. So then DS gets spinach-filled tortellini.

I know, I know, I'm doing this all wrong!

No, I try to mix it up.

You're doing great if you have a 4 week rotation. We're lucky to make it 10 days without repeating.

3 different pastas PP?!?!?

I'm really not organized about meals, and I am trying to be more so as my toddler now eats more things. It's still tough right now though as 1) whether DH will be home for dinner or not is often unknown until the day of (on weekdays, that is), and 2) I desire to eat much healthier than DH does. We do have some meals that I prepare pretty regularly that are eaten by everyone (with some tweaks for each person):

Stuffed peppers with marinara
Baked BBQ bone-in chicken breasts with a roasted veg and a starch
Chicken sautéed in a purchased simmer sauce with veg and rice
Pasta (usually 3 different pastas for DH, DS and I, ugh) with marinara, turkey sausage or turkey meatballs, and spinach or broccoli
Grilled steak/turkey sausage/marinated chicken with grilled veg and a starch
Tacos with lean ground beef and fixings (quesadilla for DS)

When DH isn't home for dinner, DS and I usually have broiled fish and a vegetable, eggs of some sort, or leftovers

no, make up each day.

I do that. One thing I did was instead of having the same recipes all year, I have a spring/summer rotation, and a fall/winter rotation. The dishes are more seasonally appropriate (hamburgers in the summer, chili in the winter, for example), users r more seasonally available ingredients, and keeps things marginally "fresh". I also have corresponding weekly shopping/pantry lists so I don't have to think about it too much.

I make the same meals over and over and it does get boring. I like to make a meal that will last two nights except on fish night. I have lots of cookbooks waiting to be used.
Veggie lasagna
Chicken pot pie
Turkey shepherds pie
turkey meatloaf, mashed potato, veggie
turkey sloppy joes, corn and fruit
veggie and chicken tacos with rice and beans
salad and soup
baked potato with toppings
salmon w/lemon rice and veggie
white fish w/ mashed potato and veggie like green beans or kale
veggie or cheese pizza
turkey breast w/sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce
chicken Parmesan or eggplant
baked Mac n cheese

Not really. But I have the same meals I make over and over 75% of the time, which I usually have things in stock for. I just scan for ingredients and make what I have stuff for. They are:

tacos - veggie "meat" or chicken or beans and rice with all the toppings, always with guacamole and usually with corn on the side as a veggie

spaghetti and meatballs or lasagna, salad and usually garlic bread

veggie cheeseburgers, fries, green salad or crudite

baked bbq chicken, a green salad, some type of carb like potatoes or fries

stir fry (lots of veggies, rice, sauce, sometimes chicken)

pulled chicken bbq: sandwiches with fries and slaw or salad

pulled asian chicken: either over rice with veggies or on tacos a la takorean

soup (chicken noodle, broccoli cheese, b-nut squash, veggie curry) or chili and bread, sometimes a complementary veggie

baked potato and big salad

crab and artichoke dip with a crusty baguette, big salad. this is a huge guilty pleasure, and one of the certain "kid is getting chicken nuggets" nights.

Yes, I do similar. It works well for my family. I do try to change things up seasonally, so now I'm adding some new things in (basically for summer I have a short list of things I cook, and the rest of the time we just eat sandwiches at the pool or something).

I'm wondering how everyone does this. I recently started making a list of the regular things I cook that I know everyone likes well enough. So basically I have a spreadsheet of pastas, meat, taco type meals, soups, etc. I then take a couple from each section and then have about a 4 week rotation so everything is different for 4 weeks and then it starts over. Anyone have a similar system? I'm getting kind of bored but I cant imagine trying to make new stuff each week