5 Nights, 5 Meals, No Waste

This is a light, bright and quick to put together veggie bowl that will leave you feeling satisfied yet virtuous on a #meatfreemonday. Cook the falafel according to packet instructions whilst you assemble your buddha bowl of ingredients. Use a layer of salad leaves as your base (approx. ¼ of the bag per person), then grate one carrot, roughly chop one avocado and finely chop a handful of cabbage, assembling in separate sections around each bowl as you go. Dice half a red onion with one large tomato, mix together and place in the bowl. Drizzle this all with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Then, in a pan, lightly toast half the can of sweetcorn with a handful of chopped coriander (leave this out or swap for parsley if you hate coriander) and place in the bowl too. Make a quick dip or dressing by blending a handful of mint, one garlic clove and the natural yoghurt (reserve a tablespoon or two) and dolloping into the centre of the bowl. Top with the cooked falafel. Season well with plenty of lemon juice, salt and pepper. NOTE: Make this vegan by swapping Greek yoghurt for soya or coconut yoghurt (CoYo is good), or if you're extra hungry, add a portion of cooked brown rice into the mix.

This fragrant and comforting chicken dinner is light on prep, high in nutrients and can be left to do its own thing in the oven for over an whilst you relax.Roughly chop the white onion and saute gently in an ovenproof pan or casserole dish until translucent. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and brown them off until golden. Add two roughly chopped carrots, a handful of butternut squash, three crushed garlic cloves and a handful of torn sage leaves to the pan and allow to fry for a few minutes. Add 200ml water and a small glass of white wine, if you have it, then place, covered, in a preheated oven at 180C for 1- 1.1/2 hours until the chicken is cooked through and the veg is soft. Finish with the zest of half a lemon and plenty of seasoning. Serve with simple buttery mashed or baked potatoes. NOTE: You can easily make this in advance on a Sunday evening and reheat it. Equally, there isn't much prep involved, so you can get this cooking and go off and do something else. You can also double up these quantities and make extra to feed kids, guests, lunch this week or just pop in the freezer for a hot meal when you're short on time. Make this vegetarian by using large Quorn 'chicken' fillets and using vegetarian stock instead of water.

Sometimes only a steak will do, and this is a vibrant, flavoursome answer to getting your RDA of iron. Don't be put off making the chimichurri – it takes no time at all and its zesty freshness is worth the effort.Take the steaks out of the fridge one hour before cooking if possible. Make the slaw by coarsely grating or peeling one carrot and mixing a large handful of shredded cabbage and ¼ finely sliced red onion. Add the remaining yoghurt from Monday's recipe, a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, half a teaspoon of mustard of your choice and a squeeze of lemon. Mix well and refrigerate until serving. Get your brown rice cooking according to packet instructions (likely to take around 30 minutes). Now make the chimichurri. Using either a food processor or pestle and mortar, blend or pound together one clove of garlic, a pinch of coarse sea salt, a handful of mint, a handful of coriander, a handful of parsley (optional), 1-2 chillies according to taste (deseed to make it less hot) 2 tbsp white wine vinegar and 4 tbsp olive oil until you have a loose, leafy paste. For the steaks, heat a large non-stick frying pan and season it with generous amounts of salt and pepper before adding a teaspoon each of oil and butter. It should be searingly hot and will smoke, so open windows and doors where possible! Cook for two minutes each side for rare, then remove from the pan and rest, covered with foil and a clean tea towel for a further five minutes. Add the juice and zest of a lime to the cooked brown rice, serve, topping the rice with the steak and a spoonful of chimichurri with the slaw on the side. NOTE: If you prefer your slaw creamier, add mayonnaise to achieve the consistency of your liking. Vegans could swap the steak for cauliflower steaks or a portobello mushroom but beware the lack of protein.

A luxurious-tasting pasta dish that shouldn't be this easy to make. We've used mushrooms for extra vitamins and minerals in this standard sage butter sauce, but you could add spinach or pumpkin if you like. Slice the mushrooms and cook them in a large, hot non-stick pan with no oil or butter for four minutes (they do not cook as well if the pan is overloaded). Once cooked, set them aside. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions in well salted water. Meanwhile, using the mushroom pan, melt 100g of butter over a low heat until it begins to bubble and brown. Add a handful of finely sliced sage leaves to the pan until they become fragrant, then add a squeeze of lemon and plenty of pepper. Turn the heat right down and ladle the cooked pasta into the butter sauce, whisking together so that any pasta water emulsifies with the butter. Stir in the mushrooms and check the seasoning. Serve with parmesan and the remaining salad leaves from Monday's recipe, dressed with lemon and olive oil. NOTE: Bulk this dish out by adding small cubes of cooked butternut squash if you like. Vegans could swap the butter for olive oil but will lose the richness. Shredded leftover chicken from Tuesday's stew could be added for carnivores happy to be inauthentic!

Friday night means relaxed, fun, sociable food and these spicy fish tacos tick every box. Mix it up with whatever you've got in the fridge – almost anything goes when it come to tacos. First assemble all the different components into individual bowls to allow people to construct their own tacos. You'll need: chopped avocado, sweetcorn, shredded cabbage and finely sliced red onion (a mandolin is helpful). Cover the onion with red wine vinegar until serving. Make a salsa by dicing a mango, two tomatoes, 1-2 chillies, a handful of chopped coriander, salt and mixing together with the juice of one lime. Now for the fish. Prepare the seasoning by mixing together a handful of plain flour with a tablespoon of paprika, a tablespoon of cumin powder and a tablespoon of dried oregano. Cut the fish fillets into strips and dredge each one in the flour mixture. Heat four tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the fish fillets for about 2 minutes each side until golden and crispy. Warm the tacos in the microwave or on a griddle pan. Drain the onions and serve everything up with plenty of wedges of lime and extra hot sauce. NOTE: This can be multiplied up for guests, bulked out with rice or beans (try pinto or turtle beans), and the fish swapped for prawns, pork or chicken strips if you wish. If eating with small children you may like to keep the chillies out of the salsa and serve them on the side instead but the mango tends to go down well.