Monday Meal Plan, hopefully back on track!

Apologies for the radio silence.. after the planned week of dads surgery and the blur that it was spending hours on motorways and petrol bills, we received some utterly sad news - my boyfriends Gran sadly moved on from this life, it was all rather sudden and left us in slight shock. Then more sad news in that a dear foodie friend of many years, who I shall refer to as K, also sadly passed away the same weekend. After the high of my dad being all well and recovering most excellently to two sudden deaths it really just swamped more fuel on to our existing emotional fires. Life is so short, we really must try our best to live our own to the best we can. Needless to say when I attended last weeks pain clinic and we had to discuss what we would want on our Eulogy at 80 years old it was not too welcome to my thoughts!

 

So, after two weeks of being here, there, and everywhere I am back to meal planning with a vengeance. Between thoroughly looking at my fridge, store cupboard and larder cupboard coinciding with catching some of food money saving programme on telly last week, I admit I have a tendency to over stock.... I feel some of it stems from long standing anxiety issues following on and off health issues for most of my adult life. First comes the fear of not being able to work, then not enough food, not well enough to cook and therefore I will be hungry and in a downward spiral, you get my drift of how those thoughts pan out.. however I am working, I have moderate savings in case of unexpected events and I need to let go of having everything I need in stock - I am after all not a supermarket and they exist for when I do of course need more supplies!

 

I have been perfecting Banana pancakes in an effort to make sure we don't waste anything - they are quick to cook and so easy to make - I will post up the recipe imminently! Here is one smothered in my homemade Spiced Kiwi & Apple Jam:

 

 

The time has now come to go back to thorough meal planning and stock control and so I have prepared the next two weeks following a detailed update of my excel supplies sheet. It allows a little flexibility still, as being too controlling will leave me in a wobbly state if it goes off plan! Also I am having issues again with my left arm, am pondering if its stemming from my neck or lower down as its all tingly and quite painful at times. After a brief flirt with the horrors of Dr Google I have booked a gp appointment to get it checked out! With the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia I do frequently wonder if its all in my head or untreatable pain but I suppose its best to always get a real Dr to diagnose!

 

So this weeks meal plan is after many hours of indecision is as follows - including our potential lunches - I seem to have in particular a rather large stock of crackers and rice cakes, which will form the basis of mine! My boyfriends lunches will be some chilli beef pasties I picked up on offer, then either sandwiches with pate or made up of leftovers.

Rice cakes, cottage cheese, mini sausages, sliced peppers	Mushroom, courgette and peanut noodles
Rice cakes, cottage cheese, mini sausages, sliced peppers	Chorizo, mozzarella gnocchi bake with garlicky greens
Baba ghanoush, crackers	Carrot, cashew and lentil burgers, courgetti spaghetti
Baba ghanoush, crackers	Bacon stuffed squash, courgette and cherry tomato stew
Pate and crackers, pickles	Chorizo frittata, petit pois

 

Hopefully the plan will make a dent in our supplies - my plan in my head is to get down to just having the kitchen cupboards as storage, no mean feat when you share a kitchen but I can at least try, and it will save me having to go up and down the stairs as frequently to find items for dinner!

 

 

 

Happy planning all!

Anne x