Menu Planning

As previously posted, I'm not really an enthusiastic cook. But I have a range of recipes that I seem to cycle through over a 2 wk period. At the moment, it's random, there is no plan - I am seriously thinking about getting one in order. Mainly to take away the "what shall I cook tonight" decision, but also to be a bit more structured in our grocery shopping which we do weekly but would be good to do only every two weeks. Because we receive a box of fresh fruit and veges weekly, we'd only need to buy things like milk (although maybe I could buy that up too and freeze?). We have a huge freezer that really isn't being used the most efficiently because it's mostly empty for much of the time. To make it work more effifciently would be to fill in the empty space so the freezer isn't working overtime to continually chill the air in there.

I now cook from scratch using whole foods since we became gluten-free 18mths ago (Nathan has Coeliac disease) - I didn't want to spend extra money on "specialty" food items. It didn't take too much adjustment, there were just a few jarred sauces that I was using on a weekly basis - but once I found a good recipe alternative it made me wonder why I was spending my money on a jarred version when the real-deal only took a couple of minutes to throw the actual ingredients in anyhow. I used to cook a lot more spicy food but Danielle's not so keen on it, so I tend to use herbs a lot more now in my cooking.

So, back to the list! And taking into account our eating a vegetarian meal every 2nd night...

* Baked potatoes/coleslaw/boiled eggs and vinegrette
* Shepherd's Pie
* Pasta/veges/chickpea crockpot
* Fried rice - vegetables, eggs and beef slices
* Gluten free homemade vegetarian pizza - roasted veges/feta/pesto
* Bolognaise sauce with meat served on GF pasta
* Vegetarian shepherd's pie (using lentils)
* Roasted free-range chicken with roasted veges and greens
* Beans and rice
* Lamb patties with pasta and sauce
* Creamy lentil and vegetable soup
* Corned beef with roasted veges and greens
* Fried rice - vegetables and eggs
* Crockpot chops with roasted veges and greens
* Lentil & tomato sauce served over rice
* Leek and kumura frittata with feta
* Polenta pie - boiled eggs, spinach, cheese
* Kumura lasagne - like normal lasagne with meat but without the pasta (kumara or potato in it's place)
* Vegetable bake - loads of veges sliced and layered into a casserole dish with canned tomatoes, chickpeas and grated cheese layered into it

Thinking it over further, to take into account that I don't know what will arrive in the vege box each week, and also some veges need using up within the first few days - I will just have my list available where I always have the ingredients to make each and then just pick one off the list each day. There are enough recipes there to do a 2 wkly shopping list.

So starting from this weekend - I will attempt a 2wk shop!