Meal plan - August week 3

I'm on to week three, and so far so good! The only modification to the schedule has been having an impromptu BBQ last weekend instead of the planned risotto. Not the healthiest modification, but a BBQ was well overdue given the awful weather that we had in May, June and July.

I do have a confession to make.... the original month-plan involved fish three days in a row and no vegetarian/vegan meals. Now this is just a problem with how I set up my probability-based plan I guess. I don't love fish *that* much and it is not the easiest thing to do in 30 minutes, so i've cheated. I have two fish-based meals, two chicken meals, one lamb/beef meal, one veggie meal and one vegan. Seems like a sensible approach to every week actually!

This week I am going a step further and I'm going to include lunch in my menu. My original reason for planning our meals was to encourage me to cook and reduce how much we spent on ready-food and takeaway. I'm pleased to say no take-aways have been bought yet in August (except for a bag of chips - that's fries to non-Brits - by Mr PTC one day on his way home, but we'll just ignore that faux pas). However, it is working so well, encouraging me to cook every day and eat sensibly that I'm extending it to lunch. Lunch has pretty much been taken care of in the last few weeks by leftovers and the odd sandwich, but by adding it into the menu I hope to remove bought lunches altogether except in odd situations where it makes more sense. So here we go.

Meal plan 15th - 21st August Wednesday 15th August Lunch: Leftover Asian Chicken Salad Dinner: Baked fish and lemon risotto, served with salad (fish) Thursday 16th August Lunch: Ham and salad sandwiches Dinner: Vegetable stir fry (vegan) Friday 17th August Lunch: Ham, tomato and cheese wraps Dinner: Lemon, herb and cheese encrusted fish with salad (fish) Saturday 18th August Lunch: Turkey and salad wraps Dinner: Watercress and chicken stir fry (chicken) Sunday 19th August Lunch: Salad Dinner: Roast beef (beef/lamb) Monday 20th August Lunch: Leftover roast beef and potatoes Dinner: Refried bean wraps (vegetarian) Tuesday 21st August Lunch: Leftover refried bean wraps Dinner: Chinese coconut chicken soup (chicken)

Oooh that all looks to me like I love wraps. Well I have to confess I do! Neither of us are a big fan of sandwiches, so wraps make a great lunch, and just occasionally and even better dinner!

Now for the shopping lists! This took some patience I tell you... lots of new recipes this week so I did a lot of planning. Hopefully thought by the end of September I will have nearly 40 quick mid-week meal recipes (or at least that is my aim, tried and tested and generally just good food!

Store cupboard	To buy
Arborio rice	Four fish fillets (two varieties)
2 lemons	75g cheese
3 onions	Salad leaves for four meals
12 clove garlic	Salad vegetables for four meals
Stock	3 chicken breasts
Cumin seeds	75g watercress
Olive oil	2 red pepper
50g breadcrumbs	Root ginger
Parsley	16 plain wraps
Salt and pepper	100g thin rice noodles
Baking margarine	1 lime
150g cashew nuts	1 tin coconut milk
Sesame oil	125g fine green beans
Rice vinegar	1 stalk celery
Hoisin Sauce	1 carrot
Soy Sauce	8 tomatoes
Tamarind paste	Cream cheese
Fish sauce	2 heads pak choi
Soft brown sugar	2 bread rolls
100g cashews
Chilli flakes 1 tin kidney beans Coriander leaves 1 red onion
150g tagliatelle Potatoes

Thanks for stopping by,

Rose

Let me know what you think... leave a comment or send an email to passthecaffeine {at} gmail {dot} com