Meal Plan Wins

I know, I am mega late again and whilst I hate to make excuses this was written last week and not posted due to my family being struck down with gastroenteritis but that's another story.  Please ignore the fact it refers to "this week" as that was now in fact last week.  Sorry :(

Anyway, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have been meal planning and my husband even remarked at how much less stressed I was about dinner times.  I know it sounds a little menial to get stressed over something like that but again as I have mentioned before, my husband and my diet wasn't the best pre-baby and when my son finally came of age to be weaned I took this as my chance to transform things.  We barely have takeaways now and I feel like we're all (well my husband and I as my son wouldn't be allowed our takeaways) much better for it.  Also, I am trying to keep to the daily requirements of everything which I had also been finding hard so 5 fruit and or veg a day and then two portions of fish a week. 

Whilst I have always been keen on experimentation - I barely follow recipes and always chuck things in based on the smell of what's currently cooking (which makes cooking with a cold really hard), I tend to gravitate to the same food and they were lazy "typically British" staples like bangers and mash and spaghetti bolognaise.  My main aims with the meal plan were obviously to have a plan rather than going from day to day guessing what I would make that night, to save money, for us to achieve the 5 a day and to have some variety to my meals but not take hours slaving to make them. 

Week one as you saw was a little basic but I had never made cottage pie before and it was a winner.  Last week left a lot to be desired.  I found it difficult to plan and we ended up having leftovers a couple of the nights as it was getting late by the time I was home from work and we had so much left.  This week however, was different.  I had planned the meals out by midweek last week so I didn't have to think about it on Sunday and then rush to the shops before they closed.  I managed to get all of the shopping done in one day and I was a little more ambitious this time.   So far I have managed to get everything done on time and catering to dietary requirements.  This week's menu is as follows: 

The fish pie is entirely dairy free and I think was a winner (my husband didn't hate it so that's a massive win) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of the week.  I'm definitely looking forward to Friday!  

Here are a couple of the recipes as I think they are way too good not to be shared: 

• Vegan Kofte - http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/my-special-vegan-kofte/
• Sweet orange salmon - http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-orange-salmon 

Sunday this week will be meatball bolognaise as it's a Valentines' Day tradition for my husband and I as an ode to Lady and the Tramp (because that scene is so sweet), I usually alternate each year between pork and beef so I will see how I feel on the day as I bought both sausagemeat and mince in just in case.  Maybe I will get crazy and make both, who knows! 

Happy Valentines' Day! 

~AB~