ilovemealplans.com

I love a jacket potato, but they have to have a crispy skin and be light and fluffy on the inside. Microwave a potato and it should be well cooked on the inside but the skin will be soft; cook in the oven and even after lengthy cooking the inside can still be uncooked in parts. I’ve found a way to combine both microwave and oven cooking for a speedy answer to the perfect jacket potato.

1. Switch the oven on to pre-heat at 220°C.
2. Microwave one potato on high for roughly 5-6 minutes (cook more than one potato in the microwave and add 5 minutes per potato)
3. Check potato is done in the microwave, it should be soft to the touch, if not cook it for a further few minutes.
4. Put the potato on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven, turning once, for roughly 20-25 minutes.

Try this out for a quick meal plan recipe with chilli con carne or cheese and beans. Please let me know if you think this method works and whether you were able to get the perfect jacket potato in just 30 minutes.

A roast dinner is a great money saver on the meal plan. It provides several meals for the rest of the week. Roast chicken can make yummy sandwiches, a risotto, chicken curry, lots of homemade chicken stock and many other possibilities.

 Now it’s summer I’ve been considering how I can still make a roast dinner on a hot summer day when roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy seems too filling, just too heavy. My friend answered my question when she served me roast chicken with a green salad and new potatoes; it was delicious. Many variations on this theme are possible and so much easier to put together than a full ‘hot’ roast dinner.

 Here are some Summer Roast ideas, serve all with a green salad:

 Roast Lamb, cous cous, tomato salad

• Roast Gammon, new potatoes, beetroot salad
• Road Beef, potato salad, watercress salad
• Roast Pork with a Waldorf salad

 Look out for more salad ideas coming soon on the blog.

I think fish is the ultimate fast food, but better than that, cooked the right way fish is really healthy, full of omega 3 and zinc. For a fantastic fast meal on my weekly meal plan:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Take a portion of fish and fold it inside tin foil, making a parcel.
3. Before sealing the tin foil parcel sprinkle in some herbs, black pepper, maybe a slice of lemon and a bay leaf.
4. Seal tin foil and place on a baking tray in oven for 15-20mins.

Serving Suggestion:

Rice and baked cherry tomatoes (tomatoes popped in ovenproof dish and put in oven at same time as fish).

If there is any man in your life that could do with some help in the kitchen then please direct them here. My meal plans were designed for my brother, but since publishing them I’ve had lots of interest from others, my 88 year old grandfather, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, women who want their partner to cook for them, and the list goes on.

I’ve kept things simple with 7 basic meals with lots of variety; recipes are being updated so keep visiting. Meals are designed to be quick and easy. Forward this article to someone who you think would benefit, or to someone who you’d like to cook a meal for you! See links at the bottom of this article for a variety of ways to share this articles with others.

Please leave feedback and requests so the ‘meal plans for men’ page can be updated with information readers would find helpful.

I like tinned food, there I’ve said it. I really do like tinned food; I think it can be a real time saver. Obviously a tin of tomatoes is pretty much a staple in most store cupboards but what else is good? Tinned fruit, mandarins, peaches or pears can be delicious used in a dessert. I’ve served chocolate whip with mandarins for dessert at a dinner party and made it look pretty with grated chocolate sprinkled over the top. I am also a fan of tinned sweetcorn and a decent tin of mixed vegetables can be added into a pasta sauce so easily.

Yet I know there are lots of you who are totally turned off by the thought of tinned food; fresh ingredients are the healthiest option, but is that really true? For a long time I’ve thought that since the vitamins in fruit and vegetables begin to depreciate the moment they are harvested then surely by the time they reach our kitchen most of their vitamin content will be lost. If food is tinned quickly then the vitamin content should be higher than fresh ingredients. When I looked up this idea I found numerous studies supporting my theory.

Check these links out to see that it really is worth taking the easy route and sometimes putting down the vegetable peeler and just opening a tin:

Is fresh food better than canned? – about.com
Cannedfood.co.uk – Health & Nutrition – Cannedfood.co.uk
Tinned Food – Why it’s not the last resort – The Times Online

I want to introduce Weelicious.com to you as soon as possible. About a year ago I discovered this great food blog centred around food for kids & babies. As I am a first time Mum it gave me loads of great ideas and as the cakes, biscuits etc are good for kids they can also be considered healthy options for adults too. The website is produced by an American Mum and I think it should soon be popular over here in England.

Every week there is a helpful video showing a recipe and I’ve found this section really useful. The most recent addition is the daily lunchbox update, giving ideas of what to pack your school age kids for lunch time. I find it helpful with my meal plans.

I can’t recommend this website enough and I feel sure once you’ve visited it you’ll be just as impressed. Whether you’re a Mum, Dad, Grandparent, Aunt, Uncle, Teacher or without kids but wanting healthy ideas for snacks etc then Weelicious is a must! You have to check out! Weelicious.com

One of my favourite ingredients is watercress. It is amazingly healthy, it contains iron, calcium, folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin C and lots of other nutrients too. The Victorians used to eat Watercress sandwiches to provide their diet with vitamin C and if you want to find out exactly how good watercress is for you check out this website – watercress.co.uk

Watercress is an easy ingredient to use. I like to eat watercress just by itself as a salad, to wilt it into pasta sauces or to make a yummy sauce to go with grilled fish or chicken. Here’s my recipe for you:

Watercress Sauce
Ingredients:
1 salad pack Watercress
250ml Single Cream/Creme Fraiche
50ml white wine

Method:

1. Blanche watercress in boiling water for 1 min, then transfer to a bowl of cold water with ice cubes.
2. After 2/3 mins drain watercress into a tall jug, pour in the cream and wine.
3. Use a hand food blender to blitz all the ingredients together.
4. Heat the sauce in a saucepan on a low temperature.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Drizzle over fish or chicken.

Please leave feedback on this recipe and for everything you could possibly want to know about watercress visit – www.watercress.co.uk

I like to buy free range eggs, but of course they are more expensive and here I’ve considered quality over price. I watched Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall’s free range chicken campaign on TV about two years ago and now when I can I like to consider where my food comes from. I’ve found that at Iceland and Lidl it is possible to buy 6 eggs for 99p. In most other supermarkets or local shops the price is over £1.50. At both Iceland and Lidl the eggs are not on special offer – 99p is the usual price and I think it is the best value around. The eggs are good quality and on two occasions I’ve bought half a dozen eggs and found every single egg to have a double yoke! I’ve only seen eggs like this once before in my life when as a child on a camping holiday my grandfather bought eggs at the local shop.

My quick, cheap recipe for eggs on my meal plan is frittata and during the week Baby G and I often have a soft boiled egg for lunch. Please share different ways to use eggs in a weekly meal plan and have you found anywhere that does a better deal than 99p for 6 eggs?

This week we’re off on holiday for a few days and I’ve got lots to organise so a really easy meal plan is a must. Here is a meal plan for anybody who is really busy this week - my 7 meals:

1. Frittata & Salad
2. Chicken Risotto
3. Tomato & Bacon Pasta
4. Baked Salmon
5. Pizza
6. Chilli con Carne
7. Roast Chicken

When we are busy I are often rely on good quality and well priced store products. Pizza from Iceland is £1 or £1.50, it’s delicious, has good ingredients and is ready in minutes, which just makes sense to me. On Sunday (or sometimes midweek) roast chicken can be bought from the supermarket if they have a rotisserie section. Now rotisserie chicken really is delicious and is so easy as all you need to prepare are the vegetables.

Coming soon I will share my meal planner for dinner and lunch and my easy shopping list organiser as a free download.

As promised here is a snapshot of our weekend. No meal plans, no recipes just some gorgeous pictures.