Meal planning Monday – 26 May 2014

ImageSo, the kitchen is finished. I have bored you all to tears with my tales of woe whilst I was unable to use it due to renovations, but it’s back, I survived, and am looking forward to doing some cooking for the week later on today.

But, next we move on to the bathroom: unfortunately the reason for the kitchen ceiling collapsing was not entirely my brother’s fault (he fell in the shower while he was cat-sitting at ours, and came downstairs afterwards to discover that the kitchen ceiling had turned into a bubble of water!), and it turns out the problems in there are rather more fundamental than we first thought and need a lot of repair work. So rather than spend lots of money on repairing the area around the bath, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and get the whole bathroom and toilet renovated.

So why do you care? Well, you don’t really, but in the context of this post it means that my meal planning needs some work because:

1) I can’t use the bathroom for several days so need to go to work via the gym to shower (the idea is, of course, to do a class as well … I’ll let you know next week how many times that actually happens). That mucks up my breakfast plans.

2) Bathrooms are expensive (tiles scarily so), and so we need to be watching the pennies. That’s a good motivation for me to get back into the swing of making my own packed lunches though, as I am out of the habit since the kitchen hassle!

Additionally, I have spent the week reading David Gillespie’s ‘Sweet poison – why sugar makes us fat’. I found it very interesting to learn about how our bodies have not evolved to process fructose and that we have no natural off switch when we eat it – so we often over-eat sugary foods and we end up gaining weight. I generally eat very healthily and know that I gain weight because when I eat chocolate, cake or biscuits I tend to eat large portions of them. When I cut them out of my diet I lose weight and feel better. But since Christmas I have been struggling to cut out the sweeties, and Gillespie’s book gave me a few ideas of why that might be. On a healthy day I still have a glass of orange juice for breakfast (full of fructose but with none of the fibre found in whole fruits so no dietary benefit); I tend to buy low fat versions of foods which are often (I now know) laden with sugar, and I drink coffee with artificial sweetener in it. I have decided to consciously try to cut out hidden sugars (and all the naughty stuff where the sugar is not hidden!) to see whether that reigns in my sweet tooth, and I have designed this week’s menu to try and reflect that!

So this is what I am going to be eating in the evenings, alongside rice cakes with hazelnut butter for breakfast, and wholewheat pasta salad for lunches:

  • Monday – as today’s a bank holiday and we are fighting hangovers, I went for a sausage sandwich for breakfast (it was beautiful!), and am making a simple pasta and meatballs for dinner tonight
  • Tuesday – Lee-Anne’s bobotie (recipe to follow in a future post)
  • Wednesday – Andrew’s out so I think I’ll make myself a lovely spinach and onion frittata
  • Thursday – Italian sausages from our local deli with lentils
  • Friday – salmon fillets with vegetables
  • Saturday – we will be visiting friends for a housewarming, so I will make us a substantial breakfast
  • Sunday – roast chicken with tagliatelle and pine nuts

You can find out more about meal planning At Home with Mrs M.

8 Replies to “Meal planning Monday – 26 May 2014”

  1. I am trying to cut sugar right down in my diet and am trying to eat a lot more veg and raw food. It’s hard with a family who love baking though so I am experimenting with some healthier alternatives to sugar.

    1. Thanks for commenting Heather. In the book I read the author suggested using dextrose as the body can process that better. Let me know if you come across any good recipes. I think cinnamon / vanilla / coconut oil / fruit purees could all be good ways to add natural sweetness but I also need to experiment!

  2. Everything sounds delish, including the choice of hangover cure, can’t beat it! x

    1. Thanks! Not sure it ‘cured’ me exactly but it was delicious! Thanks for commenting 🙂

  3. I think I’ll join you in ditching the sugar this week, I’ve indulged far too much this weekend! I find that there’s no need to buy low fat alternatives – you’re right when you say they’re laden with sugar and other chemical nasties. Fat has lots of nutritional benefits as part of a balanced diet 🙂

    1. Thanks for your comment, and let me know how you get on as well. Definitely best to avoid the low fat options, and take care to try and avoid the hidden nasties!

  4. It’s tough being a sugar addict for sure so I salute you for trying to go for a week without it. I’ve always steered clear of the low fat artificial sweetener options as I distrust anything that is highly processed (except chocolate of course)! But I do like my puddings, cakes and biscuits. Although homemade generally has heaps less sugar than bought varieties.

    1. I have cut out fruit juice and artificial sweeteners from today and aim to avoid hidden sugars too. I am hoping that just by doing that and eating more cleanly it will stop me craving sugar and not stopping once I start. I would never be able to say goodbye to some goodies I don’t think, but more moderation for me would be a good thing :). Thanks for your comment!

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