I only cook because of my kids. Well ,my kids and my husband, if I lived on my own I would live off corn chips and mayo. Lucky for me I have a family who needs to be fed, and lucky for our tiny food budget, I am steadily learning to make an ever growing variety of meals. Sometimes I even enjoy it, but I won’t admit that in public and definitely not in front of my family!
For the last year or so I have been trying to get my head around some kind of menu planning. We do our major shop monthly (we top up with fresh fruit and vege each week or so) and for that to work I need to have a rough idea of what I am going to cook and what ingredients I need. I am not good with a menu plan that has me deciding meals a month or even a week in advance, I often get to Friday and really don’t want to cook spag bol which just ruins the whole idea. I need something that helps me decide what to buy for the month as well as helps me decide what to cook, without being too prescriptive. A ‘seasonal menu’ is my current plan of attack.
My seasonal menu is really just a list of summer meals and a list of winter meals. Each month before I shop I take a look at the list and rough out a bit of a plan. I count the number of dinners where everyone will be here, and when it will be just me and the kids. I count the number of dinners that also need to be lunches for the Baldy Boy (he takes left overs to work for lunch and dinner while on shift). I look at any special events in the months that I might need special meals for or when (lucky me) I might not need to cook at all. From all of that I make a list of meals I think we might eat in that month, sometimes I might allocate a few to actual days but usually it’s just a list on the fridge.
It gives me a nice list of meal ideas that I know I have the ingredients for and some ideas for those nights when it is 5:30 pm, I haven’t taken anything out of the freezer and I know that in less than an hour all the monsters are going to want to be fed all at once! So far it seems to working out ok – even if we do get to the end of the month and eat a few weird meals because I haven’t quite stuck to the plan and there isn’t many ingredient options left.
Despite cooking not being on the top of my loves, the Twinadoes LOVE to cook and despite the fact that it can sometimes feel chaotic with so many cooks in the kitchen, I try to make sure my menu plan has options that let them join in and help out whenever they want to. There is an awesome post over at Design Mum all about kids cooking, what they learn from it and some great ideas to help get you started.
These days the girls have enough experience and understanding that they can help make most meals. They are slowly developing the skills to use a knife (this has not come easy to them) and love to help chopping easy things like mushrooms (they are soft enough to be chopped with a butter knife). They love to do all the fun kid stuff like mixing, kneading, rolling and getting their hands dirty. We often have some really odd shaped tortillas with our tacos! They will stand and stir something on the stove for a good five minutes while I do something else which is a great help. Now don’t freak out, we have been working up to this for a while and they totally get the concept of hot and know what to touch and what not to touch and how to be careful. They have never brunt themselves, unlike their mother who sears some part of her body every time the oven goes on.
So now that it is getting colder (and ok it is not winter yet, but I only do a warm weather and a cool weather menu so for the sake of the menu and the blog title it is!) I am changing over from our summer to our winter menu, compiling my master list of winter meals and looking for a few new things to try.
Some of our favourite meals –
Chicken and Mushroom Pasta (lots of mushroom chopping in this one!)
Super Tacos/Chille with rice and cheesy bread or tortillas
Indian Chicken with Naan bread (lots of odd shaped Naan bread on our table)
‘Tuna and Chips’ – tuna on a bed of rice with a layer of tomato, a layer of cheesey mushroom sauce and a alyer of crunched up chips on top!
Easy Beef Triangles
Meat Pot Pies – we make them in individual little pots
Some new things we are trying or would like to try –
Calzone or Pizza Pockets as we call them
Sausage casserole – still looking for the perfect recipe but I tried a version of this the other night which was ok but not wonderful.
Lentil recipes – I made a great spaghetti bolognese sauce with lentils the other night and I really like the way lentils go sort of velvety in things and almost disappear completely. They make stretching your budget rather easy so I’d like to learn more lentil recipes. I am going to try this pasta sauce next.
Things to bake –
I am working on perfecting my loaf of bread at the moment, it’s getting better but still not right.
Banana choc chip cookies – these are DIVINE!
I want to try these Yoghurt and Oatmeal Muffins as well as remember to make more yoghurt!
What are you all cooking at the moment? Inspire me people!
Lulu says
I kind of just cook the same meals in summer as I do in winter although there a lot more salad type things instead of cooked vegies in the hotter months!
I did try Guera`s beef and wine cassorole which was awesome and easy to make (It has mushrooms the girls can cut!) Beef is really expensive here so I had to wait til I got some on sale!
Lasange is always good (especially because there is always left overs), pasta bake with tuna and tomato based sauce is yummy too!
Will your girls eat stirfrys? or chinese? They are also really easy to make last minute!!! Especially if you buy vegies each week!
You can make taco rice (It is a weird japanese style of tacos done on rice) same ingredients but you put the meat etc on the rice! and eat as is!
Um, I am sure I have other ideas. Will have to think about it!
Bindi says
Hi! let me know how you go with the yogurt oatmeal muffins. People all around the world have made them and added their own flavours. Cheers, Bindi xx
Guera says
Mmmm, I love lentils too. I’m sure I have a few sausage casserole recipes I can dig out for you, from memory a yummy sausage and lentil casserole from Nigella (might be better than the other one??).
I cook a lot of soups (pumpkin, potato & leek, chicken & vegies) and slow cooker recipes in the winter. They all freeze well so then you have a store of meals to pull out when you don’t feel like cooking. I also love making Bangers and Mash with Onion Gravy if you want a sausage recipe other than casserole – you’ve reminded me to dig out that one too.
And I’ve just posted a Chile Con Carne recipe at the Kitchen blog today – always a winner in our house.
By the way, Lulu – glad you liked the Beef and Red Wine Casserole, too!
Nat says
You should totally check out super food ideas.
They have a lentil and sausage casserole that was just delish last time I cooked it..
Lulu says
hehe, shame about the girls not liking lasange! I love it (and so does Shun thankfully!)
I had another think about it (guera`s ideas are great too, and she seems like a great cook) and another thing that is good and easy is tandoori and yogurt with chicken (or pork or beef) on cous cous! You can buy that great flavoured cous cous now which is yummy! I am not sure if tandoori would be too strong for your girls or not though?!
Another super easy beef recipe with cous cous is to soak the meet in lemon juice, garlic paste and pepper and cook it up! It actually goes fine with rice to and is so easy! I usually serve it with beans, brocoli or even potato (not if we have rice though)
Honey mustard chicken is yummy too and there are plenty of great recipes on the net for it! I have tried a couple! But they are all pretty similar!
What about quiche? Although I guess that is more of a summer dish! or pie?
If the girls like vegies then even vegie rice pie would be good. Mix all vegies (brocoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrot anything is ok) and a cooked rice…..chuck in some soy sauce and mix it all in….Put in a pie dish, put sliced tomato on top and then sprinkle cheese! Put it in the oven for about half an hour (If you decide to make it email me and I will ask my mum how long it needs to go in the oven) She calls it her sad vegetable pie!
I love menu planning! I just did my shopping for the week and this week will be that tuna pasta bake I told you about, fish with miso soup, mushroom and leek rice with kinpira gobo, buritos, a soy sauce and honey pork dish, and hamburgu (A japanese take on rissoles) with a spinach salad!
Stitch Sista says
One of my favourites atm (especially if we are all under the weather a tad) is lentil/vegie soup. Do you have a slow cooker? It’s something best prepared first thing and left to simmer all day, then serve with parmesan or pecorino cheese on top and some crusty bread if you like.
Oh my, if I didn’t have to cook for anyone but me, I’d made three pots of this a week and eat it for every meal :).
The key is getting the bits chopped up nice and teeny tiny and the ingredients are :-
Onions
Carrots
Celery
Green Lentils
Vegetable stock (I just use powdered stock)
Sometimes to change it up a bit I’ll add some red lentils, or parsnips or even some rice towards the very end. It should end up fairly thick, not quite a stew, but thick enough that is easily eaten by little ones once the cheese goes in.
Mmmm mmm, I get hungry just thinking about it and I’ve already had dinner!
castocreations says
Oh my…if it were up to me I’d eat the same thing every single night. lol :) Unfortunately hubby requires some sort of food diversity.
I’m not a good cook though. He loves my Bran Muffins and I suppose those make a good breakfast. I even posted the recipe on my blog, with healthy adjustments.
Enchiladas are super easy to make. I use canned chicken that we buy in bulk from Costco.
The only other thing that I “cook” aren’t even meals I make. We go to Dinners Done Right and love it! Super easy. Not super cheap but worth it to us.
Dave Brighton says
This is LilMommyBee’s husband. Everyone is suggesting Lasagne which I do have a killer recipe for. Although I have recently fallen in love with my crock pot. I don’t care what is is chop it up and slow roast it overnight and it’s gonna taste fantastic! Also, dinner is ready when you’re ready for it, and the prep is just chopping some stuff and tossing it in. It will always give you a hearty meal for the winter menu.
katef says
oh thanks so much for all the great suggestions!
Such a pity that one of the few things my girls won’t eat is lasagne.. cause I LOVE it!
We don’t have a crock pot but I am thinking seriously about looking for one.. though we have no where to put it!
I only wish we had some of the discount stores here that you all have in the US. Can anyone in Melbourne recommend a good bulk food store for things like lentils and flour?
HayleyB says
Kate, your blog is inspirational. Wish I could be so disciplined with my organisation! I especially love reading about your cooking escapades and recipes and recipe sites you like. I get sick of cooking the same old recipes over and over, so it’s nice to read your blog and get some new ideas. If you’re looking for some recipes there are a couple of websites I use which you may or may not be familiar with: http://www.taste.com.au and http://www.allrecipes.com they might help you out with some ideas if you’re interested. Right now I like making quiche (with spinach, onion and bacon, or if I don’t have bacon, chopped cooked sausages work quite well), spinach lamb and fetta triangles , garlic mushrooms and steak, and lasagne (which is something I cook when I don’t want to have to think about what I’m cooking, I can do it on auto-pilot without thinking). Unfortunately I can’t help you with the bulk food store places, I can’t even find one in Sydney. Happy cooking Kate!