Dinner ideas - UK only please :-)

Milziemooxx
Milziemooxx Posts: 104 Member
edited October 20 in Food and Nutrition
Hi everyone

I have been dieting on and off for about 3 years and have real trouble getting in to a routine for dinner. My fella has a very poor diet, he hardly ever eats and when he does, it is junk food. We have had a chat and he wants me to make a weekly dinner plan which doesn't have to be accurate but we can stick to. Everytime we go to the supermarket we don't have a meal plan and end up spending a lot of money on food which will only last us a couple of days.

I need some ideas for some dinners. I don't want it to be super healthy as the fella won't eat it but obviously my fella will have a much larger portion than myself.

So far I have got: Spaghetti Bolognaise, Fish (Salmon, cod etc) with rice and salad, Sausage & Mash with vegetables, Chicken curry (thai green or red, or normal low fat) with rice.....

However I get bored easily so need more ideas.

Any help much appreciate :smile: xxx
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Replies

  • tashajayne2011
    tashajayne2011 Posts: 288
    best advice I could give is Quorn switches where you can

    what about fajitas? good ol' chicken spuds and 2 veg?
  • Milziemooxx
    Milziemooxx Posts: 104 Member
    best advice I could give is Quorn switches where you can

    what about fajitas? good ol' chicken spuds and 2 veg?

    Fajitas are a good idea! I will be putting that in! I have never tried Quorn, does it taste any different? Not sure if the fella would like to eat Quorn?! :huh:
  • lacewitch
    lacewitch Posts: 766 Member
    fajitas - tortia wraps - cook chicken strips in chilli cumin and lime zest with corriander ( or a spice mix packet ) add sliced onions sliced peppers and cook.

    then serve with low fat sour cream grated cheese and refried beans
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Steak (lamb or beef) grilled with potato wedges (or make them with sweet poatoes for a change) and peas or broccoli.
    Poached chicken breasts with baby boiled potaotes - crush them in the saucepan, add a drizzle of olive oil and a few leaves of spinach.
    Baked potaotes with baked beans, cottage cheese, or tuna.
    Lasagne.
    Stew - potaotes, chunks of beef, carrots.
    Ham salad
    Soup and toasties
  • lacewitch
    lacewitch Posts: 766 Member
    beef and ale stew with root veg mash
    cottage / shepherds pie
    stir fry and noodles ( broccoli chickena and cashew is nice)
    risotto ( baked rissoto is easier)
    quesadilla
    fish pie
  • vonnywaft
    vonnywaft Posts: 182
    Do the same fish but with steamed veg and new potatoes. Sainsburys do a lovely creme fraiche and watercress sauce to go with fish - you'll find it ready made in a tub next to the prepacked fresh fish.

    That advice above about Quorn - not suitable for egg allergies - my poor husband found that out the hard way!
  • Milziemooxx
    Milziemooxx Posts: 104 Member
    Thanks everyone for the ideas! I am definately liking the stir-fry idea too :smile: And Cottage pie, how could I possibly forget that! DUH!
  • randa_behnam
    randa_behnam Posts: 488 Member
    FLAME GRILL!!!!!

    chicken in pitta with salad.
    stir fry with rice noodles
    omelettes
    fritattas
    curry
    meatballs
    homemade soups
    stews
    jacket potatoes
    egg on toast
  • Nikkei1984
    Nikkei1984 Posts: 32
    If you message me your email address I can send you my food plan (it's an excel document) for the last week, it does help having a plan in place it keeps life easy!
  • AmyLou_21
    AmyLou_21 Posts: 16 Member
    I have a good recipe for a chicken and chickpea pilaf...or why not try making a seafood linguine using low fat soft cheese. I do agree with the above...my fella and I plan our meals for the week so that we only buy what we need when we go shopping. And as I work in a supermarket it's easy for me to pick up fruit and veg 2 or 3 times a week as opposed to buying loads of it once a week...because as you say...it sometimes goes to waste as it wont keep! xxx
  • amiiwu
    amiiwu Posts: 5
    Hello :)

    With regards to quorn, I often use it as a replacement in my meals as its cheaper and keeps in the freezer, and of course is low calorie and low fat.

    - I use quorn/morrisons own brand mince in chilli, shepherds pie and spagbol. You can't tell the difference texture-wise, but make sure you season really well with some oxo or worchestershire sauce to up the meat flavour.

    - The chicken style pieces are lovely in stir fries and taste great.

    - Lincolnshire meat-free sausages can be used in a sausage casserole or smothered in onion gravy. Sometimes I chop them up and use as a topping for pasta dishes or stirred into a tomoato sauce.

    This is from a confirmed meat lover. I have a tight budget (student nurse) and cook for just me most of the time so it has to be cheap, freezable, nutritious, easy to double-up and tasty. Hope you enjoy!
  • sullyboo
    sullyboo Posts: 256 Member
    Its hard to plan but good if you do!!
    We tend to have chilli and cous cous (chilli always massive so can freeze for another day.........Casserole (ditto)......pan fried or baked cod or salmon and jacket or new potatoes. Stuffed mushrooms or garlic mushroom bruschetta............. BBQ chicken (homemade it is surprisingly low cal).
    Hope that helps. Feel free to peek at my food diary.:smile:
  • loopybec2002
    loopybec2002 Posts: 313 Member
    I often have salmon and noodle stir fry with sweet chiili sauce i love it!
    Jacket potato is also a favourite
    Tonight we had a veg curry with korma sauce was very nice but hardly any calories so then had to continue eating a little more to make up callories
  • Robide
    Robide Posts: 101 Member
    Have you looked at the good food website? You can search for healthy meals on there, and I use it all the time. The food is incredible.

    Also, check out Good Foods 101 Healthy Eats and 101 Low Fat Feasts (both are on Amazon). There are some amazing and delicious recipes in there. My favorite is a cider and apple chicken breast which is gorgeous.
  • Milziemooxx
    Milziemooxx Posts: 104 Member
    Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I have now prepared myself a weekly food diary and shopping list which I will start next week as that is when I get paid.... very skint at the moment :cry:

    I appreciate all of your ideas and I will definately be trying Quorn and will be looking at the good food website for ideas. I am addicted to The Food Network UK channel. I love watching different cookery programmes. Think I may need a career change :laugh:

    I have also just bought a new grill pan so I can cook fish and meat and as Pyrex rectangular dish so I can cook pasta bakes and cottage pie!

    Feel free to add me as a friend xxx
  • vonnywaft
    vonnywaft Posts: 182
    If you can get someone to buy you a slow cooker for your birthday, or just treat yourself when you can afford it, that's a great way to cook healthy stuff that's ready when you get home. You need to plan ahead a little for this, for example the other day the in-laws were coming over to babysit for the evening, and we were having a delivery of furniture in the afternoon so I'd said I'd feed them if they could come and wait in for the furniture while I was at work. So the night before I got some stewing beef out of the fridge and onion and some veg, like carrots, parsnips, mushrooms etc, chopped the veg, fried off the onions and browned the meat, chucked it all in the slow cooker pot added some herbs, beef stock and wine to the juices in the frying pan and made a quick gravy, thickened with cornflour, poured it over the stuff in the pot and put it in the fridge overnight. First thing in the morning I just put it in the slow cooker and switched it on low. By 5pm there was an amazing smell of stew to greet me when I came in, I did some jacket potatoes in the microwave and dinner was served. It was scrummy and pretty low cal too. You can also do a whole chicken in the slow cooker, or pot roast just about anything - BBC Good Food website has recipes for the slow cooker.
  • b6bloke
    b6bloke Posts: 12 Member
    Quorn mince is most likely not going to be even noticed by your bf and I am a meat eater! :-) The meatballs taste good too but the calories are so low its brilliant! The chicken is disgusting so you may stick to the above. I have copied some recipes below that I put on anther thread on this site but it will give you a good idea how well you can eat.

    My Chilli

    1 onion chopped
    3 cloves of garlic chopped
    1 tin of chopped tomatoes
    1 tin of red kidney beans
    2 tables spoons of tomatoe puree
    150 grams of Quorn mince
    salt
    pepper
    teaspoon of cinammon
    teaspoon of coriander powder
    teaspoon of cumin
    chopped fresh coriander
    half a teaspoon of chilli powder
    juice of squeezed lime

    works out to around 135 to 150 calories a portion not including rice

    My bolognaise sauce
    Throw all these into a bowl and use a blender on it

    tin of chopped tomatoes
    tomatoe puree
    garlic
    mixed herbs but some fresh basil too
    salt and pepper
    a splash of olive oil
    lemon juice
    splash of balsamic vinegar

    the rest:
    1 onion chopped
    mushrooms
    150g of quorn mince

    this is between 120 and 130 calories per portion
  • b6bloke
    b6bloke Posts: 12 Member
    Another thing to spice it up a bit is Curry! Yes, having a takeaway will kill your calories as its full of Ghee but make your own and you will have yourslf a low fat meal. I use the recipes of Anjum Annad as she is a strong believer of healthy eating and have yet to make a curry of hers without using more than a bit of oil to fry the onions, garlic and ginger. I have put below a recipe for for her punjabi chicken, now if you work out the calories on those ingrediants and divide it between 6 you will see that curries are within your means and you can even reduce the amount of chicken or use quorn.

    Serves 6

    15g fresh ginger, peeled and cut into large pieces
    10 large cloves of garlic, peeled
    4 small black cardamom pods
    4 cloves
    5cm piece of cinnamon stick
    5 tbsp vegetable oil
    1 bay leaf
    1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
    2 green chillies, whole but pricked with the tip of a knife
    750g chicken joints, skinned
    5 tsp ground coriander
    2 tsp ground cumin
    ¾ tsp red chilli powder
    ½ tsp turmeric
    1 ½ tsp garam masala
    salt, to taste
    3 medium tomatoes, cut into small wedges large handful of fresh coriander, chopped
  • mousepaws22
    mousepaws22 Posts: 380 Member
    If you can get someone to buy you a slow cooker for your birthday, or just treat yourself when you can afford it, that's a great way to cook healthy stuff that's ready when you get home. You need to plan ahead a little for this, for example the other day the in-laws were coming over to babysit for the evening, and we were having a delivery of furniture in the afternoon so I'd said I'd feed them if they could come and wait in for the furniture while I was at work. So the night before I got some stewing beef out of the fridge and onion and some veg, like carrots, parsnips, mushrooms etc, chopped the veg, fried off the onions and browned the meat, chucked it all in the slow cooker pot added some herbs, beef stock and wine to the juices in the frying pan and made a quick gravy, thickened with cornflour, poured it over the stuff in the pot and put it in the fridge overnight. First thing in the morning I just put it in the slow cooker and switched it on low. By 5pm there was an amazing smell of stew to greet me when I came in, I did some jacket potatoes in the microwave and dinner was served. It was scrummy and pretty low cal too. You can also do a whole chicken in the slow cooker, or pot roast just about anything - BBC Good Food website has recipes for the slow cooker.

    I just bought a slow cooker form Argos in the sale- it was £5.99. I haven't used it yet so can't say what it's like but it had decent reviews. It's the Argos value range.
  • Tracey_Smith
    Tracey_Smith Posts: 199
    Poached egg on gammon, totally delicious x
  • lh12xx
    lh12xx Posts: 111 Member
    Have you heard of those Maggi So Juicy bags? The're great. The chicken cooks in its own juice in the bag with flavouring (garlic, paprika, mixed herbs etc) and one breast only has about 160 calories. Then why not make home made wedges? Cut up a potato, spray with some FryLight and season with some spices - yum :)

    Stir-frys are a huge favourite of mine. Fresh egg noodles, chicken and some veg with blackbean sauce. Can work out about 400 cals per plate.

    Feel free to add me and have a look at my diary, most of it is ready meals lol but now and again I venture on to the fresh stuff!
  • oompaloompa21
    oompaloompa21 Posts: 32 Member
    I always add a tin of lentils to a chilli, really bulks it out.
  • jessicasloan91
    jessicasloan91 Posts: 184 Member
    If you're like me and want quick and easy dinners I live on 'So Juicy' cooking bags for chicken!

    Or Colmans season and shake bags.

    Literally but the chicken & seasoning in the bag and leave in the oven for 30 mins.

    I usually have with steamed vegetables.
  • mickipedia
    mickipedia Posts: 889 Member
    tortellini and a nice chunky vegetable sauce, my boyriend is that same.. all he ate as pizza and curry.

    it works out about 400 - 500 calories per serving (depending on sauce) and it literally takes 2 mins to cook.. just boil on the hob :)
  • hannahlbur
    hannahlbur Posts: 221 Member
    Chilli with wholegrain rice is a good one

    My fave dinner now as I am completely hopeless at cooking is a stir fry. It has been a revelation for me as an easy way to heap a whole load of veggies in a pan and make it super tasty! Chicken or fish, loads of veg - peppers, mushrooms, beansprouts, cabbage, carrots etc etc, wholewheat noodles and for sauce - I use a couple of spoons of Levi Roots reggae reggae sauce - v spicy and tasty and lower calorie than the usual cook in sauces if you are the careful with how much you put in.
  • Lindsayrob
    Lindsayrob Posts: 247 Member
    Some of my favourites:
    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10052/spring-chicken-in-a-pot

    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1129666/the-ultimate-makeover-shepherds-pie

    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3522/roast-chicken-risotto

    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/234608/ginger-and-lime-chicken-with-sweet-potato-mash

    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/333612/chicken-with-lemon-and-courgette-couscous

    I think this is a great website - all their recipes are easy to do and calorie counted. Hope you like them
    Lindsay
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
    :smile: My fella is improving his diet as he used to be exactly the same as your fella, and we regularly eat chicken fajitas, with loads of onions and peppers (I'm not a veggie lover but I find it easier this way), we also have paella, with chicken, ham and prawns, then fill it up with onion, peppers, garlic and garden peas, beef casserole - you can prepare this then leave it in the oven to slow cook. My hubby also loves cottage pie, I put in worcestershire sauce and tomato puree to give it plenty of flavour.

    We used to use quorn but i found after a while we went off it and I've gone back to using mince but I always use extra lean and drain all the fat off it.

    In-box me your email address if you want me to write down any of the recipes for the above and good luck xx
  • chocciechip
    chocciechip Posts: 207 Member
    Low fat carbonara, use some bernard matthews wafer thin ham chopped up, then I mix an egg with some 0.1% (or fat free) formage frais with some parmesan and mix that in with the pasta and ham over the heat just for a minute or two until its all heated through.
  • EvelynForsyth
    EvelynForsyth Posts: 272 Member
    I like the quorn chicken pieces, in stir frys, currys etc you can hardly tell! My boyfriend is a meat and two veg man and he hardly notices! i also use them in fajitas :)
    Sweet potato is a good alternative to the usual potato and you can mash it, put it in currys and chop it and make them into wedges which you oven bake.
    Casseroles, soups, pasta bakes etc. fish fingers mash and veg is good and cheap! Butternut squash roasts really nicely and is often £1 for one in morrisons or something!
    You can get lean mince and make things like chilli, bolognase sauce, shepards pie...all sorts! :)
    Hope that helps, im interning and my boyfriend is unemployed so we are very good at eating healthily but cheaply!
  • chocciechip
    chocciechip Posts: 207 Member
    also, start buying frozen veg!! frozen mixed peppers have been a revelation for me. They go in most meals I cook, it bulks them out - any stir fry, chilli, spaghetti, stir fry and at about 25cal per 100g it's sooo low!
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