Weekly Menu Planning - May 2026

Cooking Discussions
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Welcome to the May edition of the thread where we share our weekly menus and more.

Some of us share a day by day plan, others report last week’s actual meals, and some put together a list of ideas to work from the week. You do you, and take comfort that the best laid plans do change for all of us!

If you have recipe links or sources, do share them, as we all love picking up new ideas from everyone else’s menus! For context and because we’re interested, please include your location and how many you plan and/or cook for.

May is here, Spring has fully sprung for those of us in the northern hemisphere, what’s cooking at your house?

(The April thread remains available for reporting actuals and any follow-up discussions.)

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Weekly Menu Planning - April 2026
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Friday - minestrone primaverde, followed by supermarket quiche & salad

Saturday - local asparagus, beef daube with saute spuds, veg, dessert to be determined

Sunday - bigos & spuds

Monday - carrot, chickpea and saffron stew. crusty bread

Tuesday - lamb & asparagus pilaf.

Wednesday - off to the city for Sichuan food.

English asparagus is now readily available so is featuring heavily in our menu planning, including the minestrone.

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Lucky you!!

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So nice to “see” another friendly face here, John!

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Nice to see you posting in weekly meal planning, John.

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Welcome to WMP @Harters!

How is this seasoned? I have lamb and asparagus on hand, but had not thought to combine them.

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Thank you all for the welcome. To be blunt, my old friend Gretchen’s OP is a lot friendlier than the original many moons back (when I had a hissy fit and left the thread).

As for the lamb & asparagus it’ll be a new recipe for me. It uses lamb leg steak, diced and browned. Flavourings lean towards Spain. Onions and garlic are softened. Pimenton and saffron go in with the rice. followed by deglazing the pan with fino sherry. Veggie stock goes in and the lamb. Simmer for 15, then top it with the asparagus for another 5 minutes or so until the asparagus is cooked.

The suggested rice is Spanish bomba which I think is the one used for paella and is not easy to get in these parts. I’m not sure whether to use risotto or ordinary long grain rice.

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I had no idea you were a regular in this one. Might go crazy and join our WFD thread next :wink:

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He was “many moons back”. :laughing:

PS - I think that was where we became familiar with the phrase “brown gloop” if I am not mistaken.

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You’re not mistaken, Gretchen. :grinning_face:

And it will be making an appearance tomorrow. We bought a couple of cheese and onion pies at the farmers market and I had them scheduled for dinner. Only to find that Mrs H has given one away to her sister. I have nobly volunteered to have the brown gloop instead.

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Forgot to mention it earlier but these are two vital ingredients for British springtime cooking.

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Almost May! Only 4 more weeks till BERLIN!!! :partying_face: :woman_dancing:t2::partying_face: :woman_dancing:t2:

Meanwhile, the weather in Central Penna has turned to utter shite — cold and rainy for the foreseeable future. Might be a few soups on deck…

We ate reasonably well on our brief excursion to get my PIC’s heart fixed up, and very happy to be back home. We celebrated his brand-new stent with a fine double smashburger from a creamery en route, which means lighter fare for dinner.

I’d been eyeing this mushroom soup for a while now, and it’ll be our meal tonight.

Ima omit the milk & flour however, and use crème fraîche instead of sour cream. Ain’t nobody got time for tempering and such — plus if I need it thickened I can always add a lil cornstarch slush :wink:

Tomorrow might be one of several pieces of fish from the freezer we scored at the 50% off sale a couple weeks ago. There’s a filet of king salmon, steelhead trout, and Arctic Char IIRC, but I’d have to check The Freezer Below to be sure. Side might be asparagus if my dude allows it :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:, or steamed broc.

Friday TBD.

Saturday one of my gal pals is celebrating the big Five Oh & is throwing a bash, where presumably food will be served. Fingers crossed!

Sunday my bandmates are coming over to work on 3 Fiona Apple tunes we used to do but haven’t in a very long while, plus a Peggy Lee ditty. Should be fun. Personally, I’d be up for another hot-as-ballz Indian curry or Thai curry — we’ll see what we’re in the mood for.

Monday possibly lohikeitto or some other tasty & satisfying soup.

Tuesday is Cinco de Mayo, North America’s 2nd favorite culturally appropriated holiday, so my guess is shrimp tacos or a chicken 'dilla & my boo’s mahvelous mahgaritas will make an appearance @casa lingua. We are nothing if not predictable :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

That’s it for now. Wishing everyone a lovely week ahead. Keep your loved ones close, ignore the idjits, and eat all the good tings :black_heart:

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I believe bomba is more similar to the starchy, short-grain risotto rices, so that’s what I’d go with.

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Greetings, People.

Hoping to keep this a low-shop week. I’m motivated to get that freezer surplus down before berry season starts in June. I’ll pick up some shrimp and a few avocados, but outside of that, I think I have everything else needed on hand.

Cooking for two adults in the PNW:

FRI: Wilted spinach salad with bay shrimp, bacon, hard boiled eggs and roasted asparagus.

SAT: Fried chicken. Salad greens.

SUN: Sopa Tarasca from the freezer. Avocado. Tortilla chips.

MON: White pizza with asparagus, basil, and oregano. Green salad.

TUE: Camarones Zarandeados. Rice. Cucumber salad

WED: Potato soup from the freezer topped with leftover chili shrimp, bacon crumbles, and scallions. Cucumber salad.

THUR: Swedish meatballs from the freezer. Egg noodles. Currant jelly. Cucumbers in vinaigrette.

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In the event, bomba was available at the supermarket this morning, but thanks for the suggestion.

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Hi friends it’s May already! This year is just flying by. The weather this past week has been alternating between warm and sunny and overcast and cool. At least it’s not snowing :slight_smile: I’ve had a very busy few weeks but I’m exhausted so I look forward to getting a little rest this weekend.

Last Wednesday I picked up what will probably be my last veggie box from my local community centre. They offer baskets of fruits and veggies year round however I order a CSA from a local veggie farm during the summer months and I pick up my first box in two weeks. I am very excited! We don’t get much fruit in my CSA though since we don’t have many fruits native to this region so I will probably order a fruit box from the community centre during the summer. I will rarely have to go to the grocery store! Onto my menus for this week:

Today: I went to the grocery store to pick up some whey protein powder for my morning smoothies but the sale is over :frowning: For some reason, the brand I like goes on sale for weeks then it ends all of a sudden. I really wish they would let us know when the sales start and end so I can plan accordingly. So I picked up some lunch at their take out counter and I ended up getting another fried chicken and mac 'n cheese. I will have a tomato cucumber salad for dinner tonight. The recipe calls for tomatoes and thinly sliced red onion but raw onions upset my tummy so I will use cucumber instead.

Saturday: I will spend the day visiting my apartment. I’ve been going out a lot lately and it looks like a tornado touched down in my apartment so I will stay at home to do some random chores as well as a much needed vacuum. I didn’t sleep too well on Tuesday or Thursday evenings so I hope to go to bed early every night this weekend. I will make a poor man’s ramen (my expression!) using vegetable stock, bok choy, tofu and chow mein noodles. It’s easy to make so it will be a good dish to throw together after a day of cleaning.

Sunday: Coconut poached fish with bok choy. This is an NYT recipe behind a paywall so I think I must have gotten it when someone on Chowhound or Hungryonion shared the recipe. I have a habit of printing recipes then don’t make note of who shared it…

Monday: Thai noodle salad from one of my recipe books. I use soba noodles with a dressing of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. I add tofu and whatever veggies I have in the fridge.

Tuesday: I had intended on having the last sausage in the freezer last week but it got bumped yet again so I will try again to finish it up tonight.

Wednesday: I will be going to the movies with one of my meetup groups so I will tie in a meal out before the show.

Thursday: The library book club is meeting up tonight and the book they will be discussing looks interesting so I thought I’d go. They will be discussing is called “Pure Colour” by Sheila Heti about a woman named Mira and her relationship with her father and how she deals with his death. I have a pasta primavera sauce penciled in which may change since I would like to have something already made that I can heat up in the microwave when I get home. The book club meets up at 6:30 so I won’t have time to eat before so I may make a microwave-friendly dish I can warm up when I get home.

Lunches this week will alternate between Friday’s tomato cucumber salad and a wedge salad.

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Here is a gift link if you are interested.

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Hi, all! Cooking for 2-3 in Chattanooga. The crew diminishes as of Saturday and then will be completely gone on Tuesday, boo. I’ve been a bit overactive on the cooking front, but the kids say they’re “here for your cooking”, so I’m choosing to believe it :slight_smile:

Breakfast: Swedish almond coffee cake
Saturday: Driving to Atlanta to drop off one DD and BF and will probably have dim sum brunch there and scrounge for dinner.
Sunday: Cheese empanadas, some kind of vegetable TBD, pecan praline cake
Tuesday: Fish with lemon-oregano sauce; rice
Friday: Roast chicken with peppers; maybe bread or potatoes
All other days are TBD. Have the best week possible and happy cooking!

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Hi friends, cooking for two in the Boston burbs. No, not the usual three. To make a long story much shorter, DH was diagnosed with an early-onset type of dementia last year, and he progressed rapidly beyond what I was able to manage at home, so I moved him into memory care last week. DS and I are adjusting… can’t say the same for DH, but it will take time for all of us.

We did eat meals last week, and they were mostly balanced. One was Alton Brown’s chicken Parmesan meatballs with spaghetti. I think we had Five Guys one night too?

For this week:

Sun: I got on the “blanket dumpling” wagon I’d been seeing all over Instagram (recipe from acoupleofceliacs) and they were just okay. Next time I’d make sure to roll the wrappers much, much thinner, as they puffed up and got gummy. I made some vegetable fried rice to go with. I also taught DS how to make cheese sauce because he wanted mac and cheese using leftover pasta. Another life skill checked off the list! :white_check_mark: (Yes, cheese sauce is a life skill. So is laundry but I’m not commenting on their relative importance.)

Mon: sheet pan chicken caprese with green beans and potatoes (from Keep It Simple Y’all with a couple tweaks)

Tues: Turkish beef with peppers and tomatoes; garlic bread

Weds: skillet tortellini with broccoli and cheese (the infamous SK tortellini with spinach, minus the spinach… packages of gluten-free tortellini are tiny and expensive, but now I’m only cooking for two!)

Thurs: pork, asparagus, and snap pea stir-fry (NYT)

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I’m so sorry to hear about your DH. That’s gotta be a difficult adjustment for everyone involved.

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