Do you have set days for certain dinners?

granof4 - your post did make me smile the only time I have ever experienced this was when I briefly lived in a boarding house (another phrase you never hear nowadays) in my 20s and we knew "If it's Monday it must be mince"

However. My husband cooks on a Tuesday (a habit that developed when in used to work late on Tuesday many years ago). And so now I known that on Tuesdays I'm getting spag bol

I used to work late ...(not in).

granoffour - I do recognise that pattern It's almost the same as ours, except for Friday, when I have cheese on toast and husband has nowt! He's afraid of putting on weight from overeating, with the weekend to come.

Yes and no!!

We have left over roast with bubble and squeak and salad on Mondays (if we've had a roast on Sunday),
Wednesdays, something that I have previously frozen because I get in late,
fish on Thursday
and steak on Friday.
Saturday we have something we can eat on our knees.

I didn't realise that I was so predictable.

I can't see myself ever having a routine like that, unless the old boy takes on the cooking...he might have the urge to revert to his mother's way of doing things! I can't be doing with knowing in advance what I'm going to be cooking/eating on any given day I'd rather just cook/eat what I fancy at the time.

That's a strict regime granoffour - we have a pattern, with staple meals that we rotate fairly often. If we have a roast on Sundays, then like Kitty we have it cold with bubble and squeak and salad on Monday. Other favourites home made Spaghetti Carbonara, so quick and easy, fish pie, we have fish usually once a week in addition to fish pie, lasagna, sometimes I make a vegetarian version of that, spicy beef or chicken casseroles, I like to add chili if I can and to shepherds pie. Saturday if we are in we have a Marks and Spencer curry or their Chicken Kiev which I love.

I can still remember my best friend's weekly scoff routine from 50 years ago!

Mon. Sunday left overs
Tues. Mince ( but mibbe in a pie)
Wed. Soup & pudding
Thurs. Sausage & mash
Fri. Fish & chips
Sat. Cold meat & salad
Sun. Roast beef/ chicken & trimmings.

No way. How boring.

No, I often don't know what we are eating a couple hours before it's due lol.
I don't do roast every Sunday, but if I do and there are leftovers I usually make a pie with chicken or sweet and sour with pork on the following Tuesday so we don't have the same meat two days running.
Usually something with mince one day a week, either chilli/lasagne/spag bol. Whichever one week a different one the next.

Only a couple of "rules", Saturday has to be healthy (ish) and minimum prep and washing up, so usually something like steak, salad and jacket potato or a warm chicken and bacon salad with croutons.

Friday is usually a " slam it in the oven " curry or Chinese from Morrison's, 2 mains and 2 sides for £6, good range of choices and decent portions, over all a good value treat, which I couldn't make for the money.

Friday is always fish (of one kind or another).

Sunday is usually roast unless I am feeling rebellious.

No we don't have any routine.. just what we fancy..

I'd hate to have to shop at the last minute depending what I fancied that day. I do a menu plan each week and we don't have the same things very often.

I would really hate to be in a predictable rut. We organise our week's menu in advance so that we can shop if necessary and have the makings when needed but it can be subject to whimsical change whenever, the days can be swopped and no two weeks are ever the same.

I can remember when I was about 11 years old, just after my Granddad had died, and I was going shopping for my Grandma. She took back the list she had given me and said she had just realised that she didn't have to have those things any more and she said in a wondering sort of way that she could have what she liked now. I have never forgotten that.

Oh no I couldn't do that. What if I don't fancy it ?

I have a number of meals in mind every week but how they're served depends on how I feel.

My mother used to cook the same things on the same days every week - it was predictability gone mad. My father liked it that way - he didn't like surprises! I definitely don't do that - some days I don't know what I'm going to cook until an hour before we eat it!! DH is happy to eat what I put in front of him (within reason!).

I rotate the protein element of the main meal, chicken/pork/bacon/beef/lamb/fish/non-meat(eggs beans or cheese) but apart from that, we have whatever I fancy on the day. I love cooking and good food.

Only day we all know whats on the menu is Thursday pasta night (it goes back to when I worked late on a Thursday) I would make the sauce earlier in the day so it was quick and easy, it would need reheated and the pasta cooked it has carried on ever since, but not always the same pasta dish.
We also have a 2 month menu plan to make it easier for me to do the online shop. Works a treat

One thing that really frightens me about "getting old" is routine! DH has a tendency to routine and tries to sit in the same chair etc. andhas a cuppa at set times. If I move something he puts it back where it was previously! Drives me nuts so a meal timetable is anathema to me.

I try to make something new at least once a week!

I have noticed that DH has started making coffee at 11.00 am and tea at 3pm whereas I make it when I remember or feel like it

It's a slippery slope jalima

Ah, but it means I get a wakeup morning tea, morning coffee and afternoon cuppa made for me if I just forget to look at the clock

Friday is always curry night, Saturday is quick and simple i.e. my night off.
The rest of the week is vairiable.

MrA starts his pre-lunch prowl at 12.45, looking around hopefully for signs of culinary activity?
He is gradually learning that verbalising his thoughts is counter-productive