Welcome back to our first weekly meal plan of 2025 and our first in quite some time! I am trying to get a little more organised and share our meal plans to hopefully provide a little inspiration, especially for those who may be either bored of eating the same things or those who have busy weeks and need a little help to get motivated to cook!
One of this year’s goals is to get cooking more often, towards the end of 2024 I found myself reaching for more takeaways and convenience food, not because a lack of time but more due to a lack of energy or motivation. Either way, it was not good for the bank balance or waistline!
We are starting 2025 slowly with some family favourites and a few new dishes to try but mostly just trying to stick to cooking as fresh as we can whilst using up as much as we can from our cupboards and freezer! It is amazing what you will discover you already have when you take a few minutes to check it all out.
Our weekly meal plan – 06/01/25
Monday –
Burgers and chips – It is the return to school and work today, so we are having something that everyone enjoys without much fuss. I order chicken steak burgers from Asda and freeze them in individual portions plus we have some 1/4 frozen in the freezer too, this way people can pick between what burger they are in the mood for with minimal waste.
Tuesday –
Chicken gyros – This is a new recipe that I have found on Instagram so I am hoping it is nice. Currently, I am thinking of serving this with salad, pitta and maybe some chips but I will see what people fancy on the day.
Wednesday –
Tuna pasta bake – One of the kid’s favourites and it is back on the menu. It is one of those easy meals that do not require me to think too much about it. I use Coleman’s packet mix for the sauce which makes it easy and there are clean plates every time.
Thursday –
Gammon, egg and chips – During the Christmas break I picked up some gammon steaks reduced in Tesco. The only problem is, I don’t think I have ever cooked gammon steaks. So after a little search, it seems egg and chips are a popular choice with them, so that is what we are having.
Friday –
Tacos – It seems as though we have had a taco kit in the cupboard for quite some time, so today I actually plan to use it up. It is also an easy dinner too as everyone is able to pick what they want and make their tacos how they like them too, so all round a popular pick.
Saturday –
Roast – Now you may be thinking, why are you having a roast on a Saturday you would be right to do so but I have a logic in this. I love making a roast but it takes so much time to make and clean up after that I always felt it took up most of my Sunday afternoon, and then work rolled around really quickly. This way I still have a day off after and it doesn’t feel as though it takes up as much time! It will be a roast chicken no doubt with Yorkshire puddings, roasties, veg and gravy.
Sunday –
Bang bang chicken, rice and salad – This is another new dish that I have found online. I plan on using our air fryer to cook the chicken, which is one of my favourite ways to cook chicken these days.
As you can see, this week is comfort food with minimal fuss and effort really needed. Although we are trying a couple of new dishes, neither are particularly complicated or require a lot of new ingredients, so this is always a winner in my eyes.
I’ve started to try and get more organised when it comes to our meal plan by “shopping” in our house first, I found too many times I had ordered something that when I went to put the shopping away, I already had it in the cupboard or freezer. So now I start my meal plan by having a look at what we have and starting from there. We also now have a spreadsheet for our meal plan that has our previous weeks’ meals, this should hopefully reduce too many duplications but it also allows us to see what we have had in the past that worked and what was not so popular.
I am hoping that this provides a little inspiration to you all but don’t forget to check our previous weekly meal plan here. Alternatively, why not check out our Pinterest boards here for more inspiration or even our food blog, The Family Cookbook where we share our favourite recipes?
