Meal Planning Monday Week 21

Do any of you have ice cream makers? I've wanted one for a while but never had the space - you have to put the whole bowl from the machine into your freezer, and in the past I had quite a small freezer. Now I have a huge American-style fridge-freezer, but it's always full of food! But my fiancé gave me an ice cream maker for Christmas and I haven't used it at all yet - I usually only want ice cream in the summer and to be honest with wedding planning I haven't had the time to figure out how to use new kitchen gadgets. But I'm definitely planning to use the ice cream maker after the wedding next month so I need to start using up food in the freezer so I have space!

Monday

My fiancé has a day off

Lunch: I'll have a chicken salad, which I have been having most days! I'll buy him something nice to have for his lunch

Dinner: He can have chicken goujons and chips and I'll have sweet chilli breaded prawns, also in the freezer. I'd love to have them with chips but am trying not to eat potatoes particularly in the evenings so think I will make it into a stir-fry with spiralized veg.

Tuesday

Lunch: salad

Dinner: will be home late as I have a meeting that runs an hour past my usual finish time, so I want something quick to cook. The forecast is that today will be the hottest day all week (and there will be showers every day from tomorrow) so if my lovely fiancé would like to barbecue so it's ready for when I get home I will suggest he has sausages and I have fish. I quite like the look of this mackerel with ginger, chilli and lime. If the weather isn't so good or I'm really late and he wants to eat before I get home, there are pizzas in the freezer and I can have the rest of my stir fry with Quorn chicken-style pieces from the freezer.

Weds

Lunch: salad

Dinner: just me – my fiancé at his mum’s? I'll have butternut squash stew from the freezer or the rest of my stir-fry.

Thursday

Lunch: with a work colleague before he goes on three months of shared parental leave

Dinner: turkey breast steak for me and chicken breast for him following this piri piri recipe

Friday

I have a day off

Lunch: as I treat, I might have... not salad! But I'm taking my cat to the vet in the morning and won't be home in time to spend a lot of time cooking lunch. I think I'll have a piece of salmon, with cauliflower cheese from the freezer.

Dinner: I've got some cubed beef in the freezer which my fiancé isn't a huge fan of but he does like curry (as long as he gets a big naan bread!) so I'll do a Thai green beef curry in the slow cooker, using this recipe. I might go easy on the rice, or not have any at all (and certainly won't have a naan).
I haven't made a dessert in a while so I think I will try the 'choc berry mud' from I Quit Sugar.

Saturday

Lunch: I've got a wedding dress fitting in the morning so nothing that will take too long to cook. Maybe just beans on toast - and I can have macaroni cheese. Providing I remember to buy sliced bread as it isn't something we actually have in the house that often!

Dinner: at a friend’s BBQ. I will take some food with us. If time I'd also like to bake something as I haven't been making a lot of cakes lately! I quite fancy making the Eton Mess cupcakes from the Hummingbird book.

Sunday

Lunch: something quick as I have a doctor's appointment and we won't be home until at least 1.30. Might actually do brunch before we go of sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs. And when we get back, crumpets that are in the freezer.

Dinner: I'll have the tequila marinated chicken wings I was going to do if my bridesmaids were staying overnight, which they didn't, as the wings are taking up a lot of freezer space; my fiancé doesn't like wings so he can have the same flavours on chicken breast, with potato wedges/salad.