Help! I'm in a food rut! (and it's getting messy!)

I am having a little bit of trouble planning meals lately. When I write out my weekly menu (to go to the grocery) I've noticed that, with a few exceptions, it's the same meals over and over. Now, I'm a pretty decent cook (which means the food channel isn't calling me to host my own show, but I've never set fire to my kitchen ) but I seem to be stuck making these same few recipes. Partly because they're easy, healthy and cheap, but partly because I'm just at a loss. So, on that note, does anybody have any ideas? Like I said, I'd prefer that they were at least somewhat quick, but not come out of a box. However, we can't afford to spend a fortune on groceries every week either. Damn I wish we had a farmers market around here!
Thank you in advance for any ideas!

 

Please??? Nobody has any ideas?

 

I had the toughest time with meal planning too. Even though I knew tons of good recipes, it seemed as if we were having macaroni & cheese nearly every day for lunch and taco salad or baked potatoes nearly every evening.

What helped me was to create a permanent "menu blueprint" for the week. Basically I took different categories of food that we liked to eat, and chose a different one for each meal. I’ve got dozens of recipes for each category, and I use everyone's requests plus what's on sale for the week to come up with the specifics. (the back side of the menu becomes my grocery list!) I'm sure MY blueprint isn't gonna be quite what you're looking for - but maybe you could use it to design one that would fit your needs better?

Here’s what ours looks like: (there are also 2 snacks each day - a raw one & a prepared one... always chosen by what produce & other goodies are on sale and what we feel like baking for the week)

Sunday
* Breakfast - cereal, hot or cold
* Lunch - soups & stews
* Dinner - leftovers

Monday
* Breakfast - quickie fruity breakfast
* Lunch - salads & sandwiches
* Dinner - asian meals

Tuesday
* Breakfast - cereal, hot or cold
* Lunch - quickie lunches
* Dinner - family pizza & movie night

Wednesday
* Breakfast - hot cooked breakfast
* Lunch - healthy snacks lunch
* Dinner - fast dinners

Thursday
* Breakfast - quickie fruity breakfast
* Lunch - soups & stews
* Dinner - mexican meals

Friday
* Breakfast - cereal, hot or cold
* Lunch - salads & sandwiches
* Dinner - pasta

Saturday
* Breakfast - hot cooked breakfast
* Lunch - quickie lunches
* Dinner - baked meals

 

you can also do something simple like add seasonings to your food. For example, if you pick 3 spices/herbs that you wouldn't normally use, ie garlic, curry and sage for example, then whatever you make that week, one night add garlic to the dish, the next time you make that dish add curry, and the third time you add sage. That way you're still making your tried-and-true recipes, but adding a bit of different flavour so it doesn't seem too routine or bland.

Also, rummage through the internet. Google '3 ingredient meals' or something to that effect. You can easily find recipes that only have 3-5 ingredients, are inexpensive, and are easy to make. Try two new ones each week to break your rut

 

I never got "fired up" to cook much until I starting discovering ethnic foods. You don't have to follow the recipes to a tee (sometimes you can't get the right ingredients), but I get a lot of ideas from them. Most libraries have a good selection, and there's always Interlibrary Loan and the internet.

 

Omelletes! Are so diverse!!

 

How about salads with meat(think grilled chicken or fish...still warm) and a legume like chickpeas or black beans.

Roasted sweet potatoes with herbs and EVOO.

Turkey burgers spiced with curry and topped with a tszki sauce (yogurt shredded cucumbers and garlic maybe a little dill? )

Capraize Salad pasta? (sp?)
mozzarella cheese in cubes
raw tomatoes chopped
chopped garlic
torn basil
EVOO
Fresh Parmesan cheese
add hot pasta on top

toss eat! YUM!

 

This is great for a quick, light, lunch. It sounds a bit strange but I swear it is the tastiest thing you will ever eat!
All it is is green grapes dipped in hummus. Just gorgeous!
Peace and love.

 

Try getting some frozen strawberries that are in sugar and mix those with all other kinds of fruit Thaw them first so they're all gooey and yummy The best thing is that they're available the whole year!!!

My favs are strawberries and apples, strawberries and bananas, and strawberries mixed up with crushed grahm crackers!!!