plan weekly meals in advance

nice habit with this one, spending Sunday evening with my recipe books and K on hand to answer questions of the yes/ no variety:

do you want curry? – yes
do you want broccoli curry? – no
etc.

I think I can call it done!

As a final swan song, then…
Monday: veg curry, samosa, pilau rice

Tuesday: onion soup, farmer’s carrots, tofu&onion dumplings

Wednesday: tagliatelle w/ roast pumpkin, warm mushroom and tofu salad

Thursday: (forecast to be the coldest day) “hot lightning”, which is essentially a bit roasting tin full of apples, potatoes, high quality pork left over bacon from the “sausage gift set”. Also carrots and broccoli.

Friday: birthday meal!!! Hopefully not too much cake!

Mon: pesto pasta, roasted veg. Eat pears before they fester!!

Tues: pumpkin and blue cheese tarts, one pot simmered tofu.

Wed: sausage/ mushroom risotto in pumpkin bowls.

Thurs: chahan, cheese gyouza soup.

Fri: sausage-tomato-potato soup, mushroom-spring onion-seseme salad.

SHOPPING: tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms (enoki, maitake), potatoes, pasta, blue cheese, tofu, bonito flakes, pumpkin
+ cereal, milk, bread for sandwiches

I love this time of year, because pumpkins are plentiful and cheap and keep for absolutely ages! We are starting a pumpkin collection! Also aubergines and green peppers and tomatoes and plums… not looking forward to winter when a solitary tomato will cost me seventeen pounds fifty, but that’s the price you pay for delicious seasonal veg the rest of the time, I suppose.

I picked K’s brains last night and we decided on the following meals:

• veggie version of shepherd’s pie (the evenings are just getting cool enough to justify that kind of cooking, which makes me very happy!)

• veg stirfry with the ever present tofu gyouza

• some kind of soup – must find a nice recipe

• grilled salmon with veg and spuds

• pasta and salad

Shopping: salmon, tofu, tinned toms, spuds, rice, broccoli, aubergines, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, spring onions, eggs, cereal, carrots, daikon

I didn’t think I’d ever get there, but finally I can mark this as done! It was just a matter of integrating it properly into my weekly review.

I think the next step is probably to learn more recipes.

September! Now there’s a scary word!

Chatted with K again last night and decided on the following meals, in no particular order.

• veggie lasagne
• chahan and roasted veg
• leek and potato soup (K is going to cook this one all by himself!)
• pasta and left over roasted veg (also K’s responsibility: surely even he can cook a pan of pasta and then heat up a tupperware box of vegetables and add it as a sauce _{although, we were similarly optimistic about his ability to make egg fried rice last week, but three eggs and half a kilo of rice later, all we had was a very messy bin and a bowl each of emergency noodles} )
• veg curry, since I made so much chilli that we didn’t need to make it last week

SHOPPING LIST: tinned tomatoes, pasta shapes (am barred from eating spaghetti as I can no longer prevent myself from slurping at it as if it were noodles…how moose integrated back into polite society I’ll never know), milk, mushrooms, spuds, aubergine, pumpkin, tomatoes.
Also plums, if they’re going cheap, because I have an inkling that I might make crumble later in the week; and tinned fruit to keep K happy.

we discussed things, and K wants to participate more in the cooking. Which would be lovely, if it weren’t for the fact that I’m a total kitchen hog, and his is a very small kitchen. I don’t relinquish power gladly!
But we decided on the menu planning together last night and went shopping together this afternoon (naturally, I still didn’t trust him with the fruit and veg; he got cereals, juice and dairy produce). We included some very simple meals/ ones he’s watched me prep before so that he can try his hand at certain (carefully allotted) tasks!

Monday: tofu gyouza, pineapple broccoli and pepper stir fry, rice
Make veg chilli

Tuesday: veg+bean chilli and rice

Wednesday: home late so leftover chilli and rice

Thursday: “carbonara” (no bacon) pasta, roasted veg salad.

Friday: Japanese style curry soup (aubergine and pumpkin) with rice.

Weekend: left overs/ yakisoba/ eat out (Sunday?)

Not for supper, alas. Bollocks of the more allegorical nature.

I soaked the kidney beans for Monday’s feast, but they weren’t ready in time so we had soup on Monday and stir-fry yesterday while I kept hoping that they might be magic beans which would suddenly morph from disgusting inedible pebbles to a delicious meat-free protein source. Worst luck, they haven’t, and frankly I’d rather eat actual kidney stones that the contents of that bowl.
Now I’m thinking I’ll have to improvise and use the bag of aubergines I picked up at the green grocers the other day (six aubergines for 50p? Yum-mo!) and use those for the filling instead.
And K has been swimming today so he’ll be starving; I can’t very well serve him up a meal sans protein else he’ll be groaning and clutching his empty belly all night. I think it’s going to have to be a side portion of egg fried rice again. If only I had any eggs. Or rice.

Monday: kidney bean and spinach enchiladas

Tuesday: soup and bread

Wednesday: tofu stir-fry with yakisoba noodles

Thursday: curry rice

Friday: leftovers

ingredients: yakisoba, tofu, veg (leeks, potatoes, brocolli, red pepper)

Now that I’m planning for two, one of whom is a self-confessed fussy eater, and there is less money to go around.

Still, on Monday we had Tofu gyouza, miso soup, rice and salad. The gyouza were a big hit which was a relief, because now there’s another really easy recipe I can have on stand by.
Yesterday (Tues) I made a big bowl of vegetable curry and had curry rice; K came home late and had chahan (kind of egg fried rice) out of my left over rice.
Tonight we’ll have (yesterday’s) curry and rice, with tomato and onion chutney.
Tomorrow is an enkai in honour of my arrival in the town – BBQ on the beach, and K wants to bake scones(!) to take with us.
Then Friday we’ll have left over tofu gyouza with miso soup, rice and tuna/spinach/seseme salad.

For lunches I’ve been having the same thing every day: a cheese, spinach and tomato sandwich with a bit of soup.
Breakfast has been simple but lovely: bran flakes and juice and (for me) a banana, sitting together at the table with the sunlight streaming in over the vases of flowers.

Haven’t even contemplated the weekend yet!

This has been going very well over the last couple of weeks. I know I’ve mentioned before that it feels like it has become part of my routine, only to find myself slipping again. This time I really think I have nailed it, though.

I shall give it another month and see how I’m going. If I’m still happy with it, then I shall finally be able to mark this as done.