Meal Plans

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YOUR MEAL PLANS

Southern Hemisphere Northern Hemisphere

New plans are published every Friday morning (Australian time). They are delivered via email or you can access them here.

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400 Comments

  • Hi Jules,

    What is the difference between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere recipes?

    Can anyone choose either one even if you may live in the opposite Hemisphere?

    Thank you. John Candido.

    • Great question John!

      They’re the same types of recipes, just with a different seasonal focus.

      So there are recipes in the Southern plan this week which are Autumn based and they’ll appear again in the Northern plan later in the year.

      You’re free to download whichever you feel like at the time.

      And you’re welcome to change the weekly email you’re getting. But I can only send you one hemispheres plan each week because of how my email system is set up.

  • Hi Jules!! I love your emails with ton of ideas for recipes!! I look forward to have enough time to do a lot of them! But I promise that during the next days I will try the zucchini burgers. I know you say that egg is magic for this recipe, I will try to do it with “vegan eggs” flaxseed or chia seeds. I have just realize that you are Health Coach too, Im doing my certification right now, and I have enojoyed each step of this journey. Thanks thanks for being an inspiration to increase my creativity in the kitchen and to show that healthy food is not complicated and it can be so tasty as junk or traditional food!!

    • Oh yay for health coaching Maria!
      It’s fascinating stuff isn’t it.
      Let me know how you get on with the flax egg substitute – thinking more about it it should work πŸ™‚

  • Hey Jules,
    I can not eat mushrooms. Any suggestions on the last 3 weeks for the mushroom meals? What can I swap out for the shrooms?
    Thanks, Sandy

    • Sorry Sandy!

      Mostly other veg will sub nicely. Or replace with some protein.

      So in this week’s Mushrooms with goats cheese you could sub in cooked broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage.

      Or serve the goats cheese salad with pan fried chicken, fish or steak.

      For the anti-cancer mushroom soup from 2 weeks ago again cauli, broccoli or cabbage would all be good. Eggplant or zucchini would be my other suggestion but I know they’re not in season where you are.

      And I just checked next weeks plan. It’s ‘shroom-free πŸ™‚

      Hope that helps!
      Jx

  • Hi there,

    Long time stalker of Stonesoup and have made a few of the ‘free’ recipes over time – and so in sync with the way I like (wish!) to eat. Now am a fully signed up member and ‘newby’ to the meal plans. Cooked the eggplant and chickpeas last night as a ‘side’ to a simple piece of pan fried fish….soooo yum and EASY. Finished it off today for lunch, which tasted even better πŸ™‚ VERY happy…..

    • Welcome Christine!
      So glad I was able to lure you out of stalker mode πŸ™‚
      And also glad you’re happy – if you can think of anything to make the meal plans better, please let me know!
      Jx

  • Now that it is just my husband and I at home and we can be free to cook and eat anything we want, we are following these meal plans straight through. We love them and have enjoyed trying varieties of flavors again. Thanks Jules. They are a perfect way to enjoy our empty nest!

  • yummo….I cooked the cooler weather “easy Christmas ” meal plan for a birthday feast last night…..it was a triumph!! Really really delicious. Yes the potatoes are “the ultimate ” (….and my usual potatoes are legendary in the family ). The crostini were woofed down. The duck was outstanding . I got told I’d made too much pear & parmesan salad, but there wasn’t any left. In fact the only “leftover ” is just enough pea & parmesan mix to go with a poached egg for my brunch today. Thanks Jules!!

  • I first discovered Stonesoup when I stumbled across Jules’ Rustic Sourdough recipe. I had been laboriously kneading and attending to the bread dough using my old method and was about to give up because it was taking too much time and energy. The new method was such an immediate success that I have continued baking and it was not a big leap for me to sign up for the meal plans. Although I am retired and theoretically have plenty of time to plan, shop and cook for my husband and 90 yr old mother, it has been such a relief to have the thinking, meal planning and shopping lists done for me. After many years of cooking for the family it can all get very boring and tedious. The ingredients are fresh and generally easy to obtain (we live on the coast where access to some things is limited) preparation is simple and the results tasty and nutritious. I can usually make the serves for 2 stretch to the 3 of us. What’s not to love? The Stonesoup app has just brought it all together for me in a logical and user friendly format. Apologies for the lengthy review but I just wanted to give feedback about my experience and say thanks Jules for making my life that bit easier and healthier.

    • Thanks Lyn!
      So glad you’re finding the meal plans and the app useful.
      Really appreciate your kind words πŸ™‚
      Jx

  • I took the plunge with Soupstones meal planning when I realized that for the past year I’ve been planning our weekly meals with Jules’ free e-cookbook, “The Tired & Hungry Cook’s Companion”, and the Deliciously Diabetic free e-cookbook, so why shouldn’t I just have the planning done for me with these same delicious meals and ingredients?!

    The hardest problem for me has been simply choosing what to cook, as I like to cook something different most of the time (although we make the Quick Veggie Satay with sausage at least once a week!) so now Jules does that for me. I do about 3 meals per week and they are always fabulous.

    I’ve always been skeptical about paying for meal plans, but when you love the recipes you’re getting from one source and it’s food you like to cook (yes 5 – 6 ingredients!) and eat, then it makes all of the sense. Thanks Jules!

    • You’re welcome Christine!

      So glad you took the plunge

      Let me know if you can think of anything to make the meal plans better πŸ™‚

      Jx

  • Thank you for the lovely welcome! I’ve been on the fence for a while, feeling like surely, if I just push myself, I can be organised, but mentally I feel like all of my buckets are full and it’s time to start investing in simple things that can help make my life easier. I’m looking forward to learning more about minimising my wastage, eating simple, tasty food and (finally!) no longer cooking one vegetarian meal for myself and something completely different for my carnivore partner. This feels like it could be life changing! πŸ™‚

    • Wonderful Carla!
      Good for you taking the plunge…
      Look forward to hearing how you get on with the meal plans
      Jx

  • Hi Jules,
    I finally got around to watching your behind the scenes video this morning!! I was really excited to hear about your app. I have a family of 6 people to feed and so when you mentioned you were thinking about batch cooking for the app I was very very happy. I hope you include that because I would luv to have recipes at hand to help me be more organised and able to cook for my family.
    Thanks alot.
    Linda

    • Fab Linda!

      I’ve included a section called ‘basics’ where I’ve included my favourite big batch prep ideas. And will add more as time goes on.

      Jx

  • Hi Jules,
    Love your recipes and meal plans i can’t wait to try some from your newest ebook breakfasts!!
    Quick question my membership is up soon I think its this July and was wondering if you still do the life memberships?

    Thanks again
    Valerie

    • Hi Valerie!

      So glad you’re loving the recipes and meal plans!

      I’ve just checked and your membership expired on the 29th June. I no longer offer the lifetime option. Will email you details of the membership options.

      Jx

  • We are truly enjoying the meal plans. We’ve been making them all and find them super easy and filling. The downfall with them is there aren’t enough! We are trying all different kinds of foods because of these plans. Thank you Jules!

  • Hi Jules

    Love your new weekly meal plans. Just wondering if you can mark ones good for freezing? I know you have make ahead segment, and your meals are quick to begin with – but can you mark the ones good for freezing as well because I tend to do a ‘cookout’ in advance because weekdays are ‘too crazy’ for me with the kids extra curriculars. You are doing great guns, Jules! Thank you.

    • Great idea! Thanks Jo!

      Will add to my list to create a meal plan based on freezable recipes.

      In the mean time if you look in the ‘prep ahead possibilities section on each meal plan, it tells you if something can be frozen or not.

      So glad you’re enjoying Jo!
      Jx

  • Hey Jules
    Love your recipes and meal plans!
    I have a question/suggestion for you: My hubby gave me a slowcooker for Christmas, and I love just adding everything to it and letting it work. This would fit perfectly with your “make it easy and simple” philosophy, I’d say, so how about some crockpot recipes? And while you’re thinking about it, I would also love a kind of freezer meal plan: Prep larger batches and freeze them with instructions on the bag, then just take out, defrost, stick it in the slowcooker – et violΓ‘! Whaddaya think? πŸ˜‰
    All the best from Germany in snow!
    Anke

    • Wonderful Ideas!
      Thanks Anke. Will add them to my list.
      Its funny I find I use my slow cooker more in Summer when I don’t want to turn on the oven and heat up my kitchen.
      Enjoy the snow!
      Jx

  • Every time I open one of your meal plans and see the gorrrrgeous photos I thank you silently for showing us what the dish looks like. I finally decided to let you know how much your photos add to the menus. They’re not “magazine styled” with fancy silverware and gold rimmed crystal wine glasses, and look like real food that real people can make. Oh and did I mention, since we eat with our eyes first, they also look luscious and delicious?
    Thanks for doing the hard work for us.

    • Thank you so much for this lovely comment Anita!

      I love taking photos so it’s great to know they’re appreciated πŸ™‚

      I’m thinking of including more videos in the future. Is this something that interests you?

      Jx

  • After some kind of stomach bug and eating only saltines for too long that broccoli soup was absolutely heaven in a bowl!

  • Jules, your recipes have been the lifeline I’ve needed to start managing my eating disorder. Having the recipes AND the shopping lists has been a gamechanger. My initial goal was to make at least one recipe per week (done!) and now my goal is three per week (done almost all the time).

    Please keep doing what you do – it is so wonderful.

    Laura

    • Oh Laura!
      Thank you so much for your lovely message. You’ve made my day!
      And keep up the amazing work. Well done starting small and building on that.
      Jx

  • I so look forward to getting your weekly recipes. It literally brought joy in to my life and I have been able to make a meal for a couple who were spending all their time with their dying Dad with just such ease because your recipes are easy, delicious, reliable and are not time consuming. Thank you Jules for taking the pressure off from the bottom of my heart. You are a very talented lady. Warm Regards, Karen Hindson

  • Hi jules. Got yr soup meal plan for this week. Yr beef broccolini and basil is delicious and simple. Enjoying making some recipes. Thanks Anthea

  • I love each weeks different themes- they always seem to be exactly what I need. We’ve got a three-week-old and the train of family help and meals brought by friends has come to an end. This week’s 15 minute one pot meals couldn’t be more perfect!

    • Glad you’re enjoying Windy!
      And congrats on the new addition to the family. What a special time
      Jx

  • WOW – just made the chickpea and rosemary frittata. Holy smokes, is that yummy! My husband also loved it, and he “hates” chickpeas. Thank you for another round of delicious food. πŸ™‚

  • I am super happy with the 1 week of meal planning that I did. It was 2 weeks ago but I was surprised about the 2 broad bean recipes, because of the amount of time it took to get them out of the pods first and then out of the light green skins, it took me at least an hour for each meal. Did I miss something on the beans? Is there an easier way to do it?

  • i’m interested in hearing/seeing more of your “low carb vegetarian dinners”! i try to follow paleo usually but i’d like to start eating vegetarian at least a few times a week to save money and also help the environment! low carb+veg seems like a difficult meal to make and not be hungry later. can’t wait and thanks as always for the great recipes πŸ™‚

    • Glad to know it’s not just me that’s keen for low-carb vegetarian a few days a week elizabeth… it’s definitely tricky but working on it.
      Jx

  • Hi Jules. A few weeks ago I said to my daughter, it would be nice to monetize my cooking skills as food is always on my mind. So I researched a bit, stumbled across your site and signed up. You inspired me to investigate a ‘Neighbourhood Meal Venture’ offering a weekly Menuplan with sesaonal dishes. Will test it with a Facebook page and flyers in the complexes around here. Thank you for that. Will keep you posted. Btw, I’m located in Sandton, South Africa.

  • Hi Jules,

    I’ve been receiving your newsletters/recipes for a couple of years now and always loved how simple and flexible it is, as well as tasty!
    I recently subscribed to your meal plan because I knew it was foolproof and was blown away by how easy to use, and helpful it is.
    I really appreciate the how to store and what to do ahead information as I am not the greatest in the kitchen.
    I hope you don’t change anything in the meal plan.

    Thank you.

    -Sammy

  • This week I tried a completely new food because of your menus! I have never eaten roasted fennel before. Have to say it was mighty delicious especially with the contrast and color of baby carrots along side. Roasted beets are not our family’s favorite food so I roasted them separately. Not too bad! Am having fun trying this program out.

  • Hi everyone. I really enjoyed my first week of meals. Great to be able to come home from a busy frustrating work day and know what I am going to cook and having the ingredients on hand. I especially like the vegetarian and more carbs alternatives. My husband is mainly vego. He eats fish and a little bit of meat occassionally. I can cook some carbs for him to make the meal more substantial. I have also been following the low carb Reclaim your Waistline this is my fourth week. The meal plans came at the right time, giving me alternative meals to keep me motivated. Thank you

  • Hi there,

    I’ve just signed up for the weekly meal plans and am excited. I’m hoping someone can address an international payment issue: I’m located in Canada and signed up at the 50% discount rate ($10US); this was converted to Canadian ($14Cdn) but I used my US Paypal account for payment, so the $14Cdn was then converted back to USD and ended up being $11US (instead of the original $10). I’ve ended up with an extra dollar in the exchange rates somehow, which will continue monthly. Can someone please help resolve this?

    Thanks in advance!

  • I love the podcast Jules – I find it interesting and inspiring! Enjoy your summer break and I hope you continue producing them next year.

  • I’m looking forward to hearing about the chickpea experiment. Hope it works well and you’ll be able to share with us. I have made a chickpea “Flatbread” that is very tasty. I’ll have to find the recipe and make it again!

  • Not all the recipe pages have comment sections πŸ™ Today I made the meal plan’s chicken burgers with avocado and red salad. Eating it now the flavors are really good. I was wondering about the cooking process. When I put the chicken patties in the extremely hot, salted pan, it created a *ton* of smoke. Like I could barely see the pan, and we had to open all the windows in the house and point fans at them, and I’m slightly disturbed the neighbors didn’t call the firemen amount of much smoke. Did I do something wrong?

    • Great question Kelly!

      The downside of this method is it does create a lot of smoke… The best way to minimise is to make sure the pan you’re using is the right size so that most of the surface area is covered with food once you start cooking. If there is a lot of pan surface not covered by the burgers what happens is the juices leak out and spread to the empty pan space and then burn and release the smoke.

      The other option to reduce smoke is to not preheat the pan so much – there will be less crust formation but also less smoke!

      And sorry about the comments – I had the settings wrong for a while so some older recipes don’t have comments on them. U fortunately it’s not something I can change.

      Jx

  • i still love the soupstones and look forward to getting them.

    i always want to see ‘what is there this week?’

    i also like the photography and find it very inspirational.

  • Hi Jules,

    I noticed that I didn’t receive Soupstones this week. Not complaining.
    Archives and revisiting favorites are for those situations.

    Just wanted to check in, that YOU guys were ok………………………………………
    Hugs to the Bubbas.

    Cheers, Bella.

    • Hi Bella,

      All is well with Jules. The meal plan last week was sent out at the usual time. I had a look at your profile and it was sent to you so perhaps check your junk mail and see if you can find it?? If not please let me know so that I can look into it further.

      Caroline
      (Jules Assistant)

      • Thank you, Caroline. Feeling very silly now. Relieved all is good. Didn’t even think to check spam folder. (DOH)

    • Hi Bella! Thanks for checking in. Very strange that you didn’t get the email it was sent… Although I did schedule in advance instead of sending manually. Will check in with you this week to make sure you get it! Jx

      • Hey Jules,
        All is good. For some reason, my email account decided that Stonesoup, which i have effectively been receiving for months, was junk mail. Next time, hopefully I will think to check SPAM folder first BEFORE making a public declaration. πŸ™‚
        This week’s Soupstone has been shopped for and put away.
        Steak tomorrow. Mouth watering already.
        I am so grateful for Soupstones. Thank you.

        • Wonderful Bella!
          Yes the spam thing can be a pain… I’m glad you let us know.
          Enjoy that steak!
          Jx

  • I’ve lost the Autumn Meal plan for this week? Sorry – i’m probably just not looking in the right place. Could someone help me? Thanks, Jane.

  • Hi
    I commented yesterday but my comment seems to have disappeared. My comment list shows only one comment since Nov 20th and that can’t be right so maybe it’s an issue with my computer. If so, I’m sorry for commenting twice.
    I was so excited to start the meal plans as I have several of your cookbooks and they are the only ones I actually cook from. (I do not enjoy cooking and when someone says this only takes 30 minutes, I think that’s 20 more than I am willing to put in!) but when I look at the last 3 plans there are no vegan variations. Your cookbooks always have them so I assumed the meal plans would to. Is this not part of the meal recipes?

    • Hi Andrea!

      I saw your comment and anwered it on another page… It was on the first page you see with your registration link and you don’t really have visibility of that once you’ve set up your login details so that’s probably why you can’t find it!

      Glad you commented again.

      Here’s the answer I wrote earlier to your vegan question…

      Apologies. You’re right. I do include vegan variations where I can in my recipes. But not in the overview for the meal plans. Basically because I’m short on space and you can usually find a vegan idea by combining the vegetarian and dairy-free options.

      If you find that’s not enough help for you please just email me jules@thestonesoup.com so I can cancel your membership.

      Jx

      ps. I’ve actually been thinking about your comment more over the last few days. I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes in the last few weeks and have been testing my blood sugar after every meal. I’ve really noticed that my highest readings have been after having a vegetarian meal (eg roast fennel with olives and salad). Which is surprising.

      If you’re choosing to be vegan for health reasons and already have problems with blood sugar, I’d really recommend doing some more research. One book I’ve found really helpful is ‘Grain Brain’ by Dr David Perlmutter. Of course if you have ethical or other reasons for choosing a plant based diet then ignore my comments. Just wanting to help.

  • Hello Jules,
    I received my commenter of the week prize today. As I am living at the other side of the world (Belgium) I honnestly didn’t think you would send it over all that way. So i want to thank you very much!
    The book looks great (5 ingredients 10 minutes cookbook) and will be an extra inspiration to me.
    Frieda

  • Hi Jules…. I’m still enjoying the recipes. Collecting a lot of favourites from both your meal plans and your free recipes. It’s nice to know I can put a simple tasty simple cost effective meal together for myself, or dinner guests.
    I have a thing for fancy mustards, and I have used mustard in some of your recipes that call for mayo. I’d like to ask for more recipes incorporating mustard seeds, or fancy mustard condiments in your recipes.
    I also like supporting local farmers, and mustard is grown right here in my home province.

    • Wonderful Maddie!
      And thanks for the mustard request… you can often use a creamy mustard instead of mayo so that’s a great place to start.
      The other place I love mustard is in salad dressings so fell free to add in a teaspoon or more when making any dressing.
      And they’re great in curries so you could add the seeds with the other spices.
      Jx

  • I love trying new dishes, but with seven part-time jobs I usually don’t have time to research and plan interesting menus for the week. Your meal plans have been working out perfectly for us. The planning part is done, and most of the recipes are quick to prepare. We usually take more than a week to get through each meal plan, so we’ve only used four of the plans since I signed up in August, but we have enjoyed them. I appreciate that most menus are low carb and made with healthy ingredients. I do find that many recipes call for more oil than I generally use, so I often choose to halve the amount of oil listed. The many variations are helpful, especially when some ingredients are expensive in Canada. So far some of our favourite recipes have been “Steak with Ricotta and Red Peppers,” Red Lentils with Tomato & Spinach,” “Herby Green Roast Chicken,” “Firey Harissa Chicken,” and “Cumulus Spiced Eggs.” I’ll leave some notes on a few of the individual recipes, too. Thanks for making this program available.

  • Took awhile to get motivated. But I have tried the Pan Fried Chicken & Green Goddess Salad, Chinese Beef & Beans and Blueberry Yoghurt Cake, this week and three words:
    DELISH DELISH DELISH πŸ™‚

  • Love the meal plans. I am gaining confidence in the kitchen, saving money on groceries, and as a bonus the plans are so healthy I am loosing weight. The plans are easy to modify for one person too.

  • Hi Jules, I was telling a friend about StoneSoup Virtual Cookery School last night and realized you might want to know what I said. We started the system in February – just recipes, no classes, and since then our family’s food bill is consistently $40.00 less per week, we have liked every recipe we’ve tried, we have upped the variety of our eating greatly and are discovering parts of the grocery we’ve never been in before – like the International section. I am enjoying cooking instead of it being a chore AND I have lost thirty pounds. I don’t think you can really expect more than that out of any system! Thank you – Cheryl

  • Hi jules I would like to cancel my subscription to weekly meal plans as i find I am not using them for one reason or another- hoe do I go about this ?

  • Hi Jules,
    I’m wondering how you would go giving us a few more salad options? It’s going to get cooler here soon, but for next Spring and Summer.
    thanks
    Fiona

    • Sure Fiona! In the mean time you might like to do a search for salads or browse the recipe index… There are loads in the site!
      Jx

  • Hi Jules,

    I made the last two recipes from the Mealplan (30).
    – The Beans were very fast, I put in some Bacon und served it on toast (without butter). Liked it! My husband liked the smokey paprica flavour and the bacon. πŸ˜‰
    – The real winner of the week (sorry Proscuitto-Salmon) was the chocolate ice cream. Put together in less than 5 Minutes, so tasty and chocolate-y: will never buy the one from the supermarket again! And my nut-allergic husband will never have to read the ingredient list again. πŸ™‚

    Sidenote: You often use almond meal in your recipes- but don’t always tell about a nut-free alternative. Often you do and that makes it very easy for me to substitute, but if not, I usually skip the recipe/whole meal plan, even if it looks tasty (and I personally would like to test almond meal… but I don’t want to poison my husband… yet ;-).

    This week there is not much in-house eating, too many appointments somewhere else in the evenings, but I try to pack a homemade lunch. I hope to return to another week of meal plans next week.

    Could you maybe do a poll one day, which mealplan week is the most successful/liked one by many people? Or are there “most liked” recipes, I HAVE to try? I often search quite some time in the archives to find a week I want to try (too many choices and nice pictures!!) and that also loosely fits with the vegetables that are in season here (winter).

    Greetings from Germany,
    Johanna

    • Hi Johanna!

      Thanks for the reminder to include nut-free variations. But just in case I forget, in savoury recipes when I use almond meal you can always substitute in bread crumbs. But for baked goods, nut-free options are a bit trickier… using flour will work but you need to adjust the amounts.

      Great idea to do a poll of favourite recipes. Will add it to my list!

      Jx

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