As the name of my blog suggest, I LOVE food.  I love cooking it, reading about it, shopping for it, watching programs about it and most of all, eating it!

My love of food often serves me well.  But when it comes to menu planning and staying on track, it can sometimes become a bit of a hindrance:  In my efforts to avoid getting stuck in the rut of having the same things to eat week in, week out, it can take me ages to plan what to have as I scour my numerous cookbooks (51 at last count.  And that was after a massive cull!) for inspiration.  Having spent a lot of time and effort planning what to eat and having shopped in advance for ingredients for the week, I often find myself in the situation where I can’t be bothered to spend an hour in the kitchen after getting in from work.

So I’m trying to address this issue by taking a different approach to my menu planning.  I’ve decided to taking the KISS approach: Keep It Simple Stupid.  My thinking is that if I plan to have meals that are simple to make in the week,

• I’ll save myself time in the planning & cooking stages,
• I’m more likely to stay on track rather than ordering a takeaway
• I’ll throw less food away
• I’ll take more pleasure in cooking fancier dishes when I’ve got the time to take my time and enjoy it.

What I’m eating

So, over the past week or so, I’ve enjoyed: a salmon stir-fry; jacket potatoes with various fillings; Tuna & Pesto Pasta (simple recipe coming soon); Bacon, Mushroom & Tomato Pasta; cheese on toast; beans on toast; bagels with soft cheese; and a variety of soups that I’ve made in batches and frozen to take to work for my lunches.

So far, I’m finding that it’s making it easier to plan meals and to stick to my plan in the week.

I also used the KISS strategy when out shopping at the weekend: I hadn’t had chance to plan the meals for the week but I knew the kind of things to buy so that I’d be able to work the points in.  I nearly came unstuck when my husband said that he wanted shepherds pie for Sunday dinner.  He was happy with a ready made one but I knew that would work out to more points than I’d be happy to spend and I didn’t have the time (or inclination) to make one from scratch.  So instead, I got myself some pork chops and had one of those with some potatoes, veg and gravy for 8 Smart Points.  Simple

What are your go to KISS meals?  I’m always looking for new inspiration.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

PS The link in this post is to an old recipe with Pro Points values, it will still work out well on Smart Points as you only need to count the bacon and pasta (and oil unless using spray oil).  I hope to get round to updating my recipes to show Smart Points values soon.