Weekly Menu Planning - February 2024

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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@Truman I forget where you exactly you are in the GBA, but could something like WeCo help? My friends lean on them for a couple of meals a week. (There’s also other specialty stuff, but I don’t think specialty is the point here, just normal but I didn’t cook it.)

Y’know, I had/have kind of the same notion, but my mom and my SIL were both strong proponents of ordering from multiple places if everyone doesn’t feel like eating the same thing. As long as there aren’t multiple delivery charges, it really doesn’t matter, and I’ve finally come around.

It wasn’t just a mental block, but also that I mostly plan to share dishes, whereas as they are both solo vegetarians in their family units so used to order their own solo meals regardless of where we ordered from.

That said, my SIL has come around to my POV now, because when we all order from a single place, we will skew the overall order vegetarian and add a couple of meat/seafood supplements, so she gets a more diverse meal, vs ordering by herself. Especially true for chinese and italian.

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22

We tried WECO a few years ago, but their dishes never really grabbed us - even dishes that sounded fantastic were never as good as we wanted them to be, if that makes sense. And now, it’s not an option because they can’t do GF for me. (I’ve asked, and the risk of cross-contact isn’t something they can manage.)

My family is a work in progress. :joy:

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23

Any single food constraint makes everything a lot harder. Good luck!

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24

Our family is definitely a work in progress, and I suspect the same for most families!

Best wishes to your family; it sounds like you are making progress. I’ve been in the non-cooking mood for long periods of time. Our son makes his own food so when I’m not feeling it to cook, we do Trader Joes meals for the parents with the occasional take out. Not the healthiest for sure or the most enticing, but better than repeatedly continuing to ask DH why he won’t/can’t cook now 3.5 years since his job ended.

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25

You know, I should give Trader Joe’s another try. I’ve found some good options there in the past, but it’s not one of the stores I regularly (or even irregularly!) shop at - seems worth a try. Even one night a week would help.

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26

We do the Trader Joes spanokopita and my husband likes some of the other frozen stuff. It’s a 3 minute drive from our house in Somerville to the Assembly Row location, where my husband also likes to pick up cheap drinkable wine and where our son’s favorite chicken nuggets and frozen brown rice are located. So an easy alternative for us. Not so wonderful in several ways but we all need that one or two or three nights a week just turning on the oven or the microwave!

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There’s a lot of surprising stuff that makes for easy meals, and I think they are very good about marking things as GF. Every so often I’ll do a scan of the freezer section (prepared as well as seafood / meat) for quick bites.

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What degree of GF is needed? HomeChef offers “Gluten Smart” meal kits but cautions that they’re made in facilities that also process gluten meals.

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29

Hi all,

Cooking for two in the PNW.

This week I’m cooking from the pantry and stringing leftovers together with side dishes:

Monday: Salmon with lentils
Tuesday: Salmon with lentils leftovers with Moroccan beet and carrot salad
Wednesday: Beet and carrot salad leftovers with a pomegranate barley salad
Thursday: Pomegranate barley salad leftovers with roast winter squash
Friday: Pizza night out (can’t wait)
Saturday: Pasta of some sort with this recipe for oregano-hazlenut pesto and leftover roast squash
Sunday: Not my turn to cook and happy to turn over the reigns.

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30

I liked that pomegranate and barley salad from Plenty, and will just say that it has a huge yield, at least the version in the book.

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31

I have celiac disease, so the potential for cross-contamination (or cross-contact) with gluten would rule that out for me. But I’m glad they disclose/warn, not everyone does!

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32

Greetings, People.

Last week’s freezer clean-out worked well. I enjoyed the extra hour off each day (thanks to heat-and-serve dinners), and our freezers are more functional with some breathing room.

We’re ready for some freshly home-cooked meals this week. Cooking for two adults in the PNW:

FRI: Finally going to make Nigella’s one pot chicken with lemon and orzo. This one has been on my dashboard for years.

SAT: The New York Times version of bangers and mash (gift link). Baby garden peas for the veg (just like the photo).

SUN: Leftover chicken and orzo.

MON: New England style chowder with salmon and halibut. Homemade biscuits or crackers.

TUE: Hot wings on the grill. Veggie sticks.

WED: Valentines Day! Steak on the grill. Potatoes of some sort. Caesar salad. Odette Williams’ Chocolatey Chocolate Cake - whipped cream and strawberries optional.

THUR: Spaghetti with zucchini-beef meatballs in red sauce.

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The chicken and orzo is a very solid recipe; be prepared to add more lemon zest and/or juice than called for to boost flavor (depending on your taste). I often add more herbs than called for as well!

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34

Good tips - thank you! I like things lemony, too.

Do you shred your chicken right in the pot?

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I like that chicken and orzo recipe. Very homey. I usually add extra veg to the pot, and more tarragon.

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Sometimes. Sometimes we just grab hunks of meat at the first meal, with some orzo, and then I shred what remains before it goes in the fridge.

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37

Hello from a decidedly springlike city of Ottawa. The weather is starting to warm up a bit (not that it ever got cold this winter) so it’s a race against time to take in some outdoor activities this weekend. Our annual winter festival Winterlude started last weekend and the big draw is seeing the ice sculptures. I better run up the street and see them before they melt. We have a canal system in Ottawa (it actually goes as far south as Kingston, about a two hour drive south of Ottawa) and the Ottawa portion is usually maintained for skating during the winter months. It was so mild last year the canal never opened for skating at all for the first time ever and this year it was only open for skating for a couple of days in January and the ice conditions didn’t look very good. It hasn’t really gotten cold enough for long enough for ideal skating conditions. And a lot of our Winterlude activites are outdoors events so the festival organizers rely a lot on the weather to cooperate.

On to my menus actuals from last Saturday to planned through next Thursday.

Last Saturday: I had intended to have the mac 'n cheese from the pricey butcher that I have in the freezer but I got home from a gallery visit a little later than anticipated and someone from my local buy nothing group stopped by to pick up a parcel during the dinner hour so I ended up ordering a pizza instead.

Sunday: Udon noodles with chilies and scallions to use up the last little bit of nappa cabbage I found in the fridge.

Monday: My mind draws a blank.

Tuesday: Basa fillet curry.

Wednesday: Chili, squash, peas.

Thursday (yesterday): Film society night (we saw a Pakistani film called Joyland - well worth seeing if you ever get the chance) preceded by dinner at my favourite pub. I ordered the Big Smoke burger topped with brie cheese and carmelized onions and portobellos. It was the best hamburger I’ve had in awhile.

Today: Take out lunch was Korean fried chicken so I will have a salad for dinner.

Tomorrow: Salmon and kale salad.

Sunday: Off for brunch with one of my meetup groups. Mixed green salad for dinner.

Monday: Risotto with sundried tomatoes and leeks.

Tuesday: Kale salad.

Wednesday: Chicken curry with pineapple.

Thursday: Another film society screening. Dinner beforehand is a toss up between Chinese, Carribean or Sri Lankan cuisine. Decisions decisions! :slight_smile:

I hope the Californians in this group are doing well especially those in Southern California. We’ve been seeing images of the flooding on the news the last couple of nights and I hope you haven’t experienced too much damage as a result.

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Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in rainy Chattanooga, where we are being curmudgeonly and snubbing the big game and Valentine’s Day (we went out last night for early celebration and plenty of chocolate during the week), so business as usual…
Friday, February 9 (tonight): Pajeon with random veggies from the crisper drawer
Breakfast: Chocolate banana muffins
Saturday: Breaded chicken cutlets, cabbage gratin, potatoes?, chocolate self-saucing pudding
Sunday: Shredded beef tacos with slaw; brownies
Monday: Pumpkin and lentil curry, rice, maybe roasted asparagus
Tuesday/Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday/Friday: Off to the Bay Area to spend some time with my dad; kids are coming part of the weekend and we’re still in negotiations about what to have. Looking forward a trip to Berkeley Bowl and making use of the younger daughter’s professional kitchen experience!
Have a good week celebrating all the things you enjoy celebrating! Happy cooking!

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I don’t think I knew about your daughter’s professional kitchen experience. That’s fantastic, and I’m sure it is due to your influence.

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She’s working for a Very Berkeley catering company, and while I don’t think it’s a long term ambition for her, she’s learning a lot of very useful skills!

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