whats for supper

[wargarden]

friday supper smoked leg of lamb marinated in garlic ,rosemary and etc.
Side dishes undecided at moment.
what good supper will you be having this week?

[scullion]

i will have to see what looks good in the veg department of the shop or if there's anything at the farm gate, in the other lane out of the village, before making a decision.
what we have is, usually, decided on the day therefore haven't even thought about tomorrow.

[northleedsbhoy]

I’m the same as scullion, I don’t know from one day to the next. I normally shop daily so it’s what takes my fancy in the supermarket.

Cheers
NLB

[suffolk]

I come from a rural background where most food was ordered ahead and delivered by the butcher, baker, grocer etc, and veg were mainly home grown.

Now I find it convenient to plan ahead like my mother did, otherwise I can find myself shopping every day so I plan what dishes we’ll have for the next week even if not which days we’ll have them.

Tonight’s supper was Pad Thai, made from scratch. Tomorrow’s supper will be Quiche Lorraine, green salad and jacket potatoes. I’ll make the quiche tomorrow morning.

[earthmaiden]

I always planned like that when I was cooking for a family. Nowadays I seem continually trying to be inventive with what's in the fridge and freezer. Tonight it was all the veg which needed using up in a tasty white sauce because there was milk to be used up, some ham I found when I was turning out the freezer and two Babybels cut into dice. It was delicious!

I would really like a 'good' supper this week though. I'm feeling a bit blah about meals at the moment, not really knowing what I'd really like for a treat.

[Gruney]

The only time I know what I'll be having is if I'm entertaining, or if I'm having part two.

[Herbidacious]

I think I should plan ahead. One always ends up buying more when one goes to the shops for just the one or two ingredients.
I need to think what to do tonight. I made a pumpkin gnocci bake with home grown tomato sauce (onion, lots of herbs and quite a bit of garlic) with three cheeses on Tuesday. We finished it last night. With husband at home, we seem to be getting through more 'proper' food - was was getting home late and just wanting a sandwich. Obviously I am the one who cooks when I get home from work...

[suffolk]

I find that planning ahead works even better now I’m cooking just for two rather than for a houseful ... it means that I can plan a menu to use up the ‘second half’ of stuff that comes in packets/tins etc.

[Pepper Pig]

It doesn’t here. He’s always been a fussy eater, I blame his mother and his first wife - it’s easier! Now that he has dementia he has decided that anything spicy is off the menu. So I very often cook separately for us, not economical at all. And I have to work day by day.

[Badger's mate]

I didn't used to plan ahead but always do now. It seems to make life a lot easier

[Seatallan]

We have a friend staying for a few days from this evening so I've planned my meals. He eats fish but not meat. We'll have Pasta Con Fungi tonight, I've prepped a fish pie for tomorrow which we'll have with spring greens with juniper butter and on Saturday we'll have that lovely burnt aubergine chili with rice, yogurt and some home-made guacamole. I've a selection of local cheeses we'll have for afters each day.

[liketocook]

I usually plan ahead though it's gone a bit to pot recently with the fluctuating household numbers so I know I have enough fresh stuff to last from one shop to the next. That said my current plan ends today and as I'm unsure of how many I'm feeding from tomorrow I'll probably end up winging it for a few days.
Tonight it's a minimal cook night of breaded haddock, salad, coleslaw and either hash browns or homemade wedges. Yesterday we had pork chops, cauliflower cheese, baked potatoes and carrots.
In this part of the world "supper" is a small snack usually accompanied with a hot drink eaten before bed time rather than a proper meal.

[Herbidacious]

That's what supper was when I was growing up, ltc. Supper used to denote dinner is a 'posh' term, to me, which could equate to southern, even after all these years of being down south. Not sure.
Gosh I haven't had pre-bed supper since I was a child. Maybe I should. It might help me sleep better.

[suffolk]

Hereabouts we use 'supper' to mean a informal but main meal eaten in the evening.

Also we might ask friends to 'supper' indicating an informal meal, whereas if we asked them to dinner it would mean something a bit more formal ... at least three courses and with both the table and the guests dressed a bit more smartly

[Herbidacious]

I think the term might have evolved/come into more common parlance? The first time I heard it used to mean an evening meal was possibly c. 2000 by a colleague at my then new job in London. His father was a diplomat and he was very middle class (what would once have been called upper middle class - generations of middle classness, with the money that traditionally goes with this, as opposed to the second generation upstarts that OH and I are ) and thus quite 'posh'. So maybe that's why I think that.

Do younger people even think in these class terms? They are somewhat obsolete, I suppose.

[smitch]

I think it is only from this board (and the BBC before it) that I realised that lots of people use 'supper' to describe their main evening meal. I'd read the term in books, but not come across it in daily life. I've never lived down south though and my meals are breakfast, dinner and tea. I used to have supper before bed when I was growing up, but not anymore

[Pepper Pig]

Well I’ve always lived down south and supper was the same Smitch. Often a fish paste sandwich and a mug of Bournvita.

Sounds a bit disgusting these days . . .

[earthmaiden]

The meal name thing has got very complicated hasn't it. It all made sense at one time and depended on the sort of work the main breadwinner did. Tea (high tea) made sense if he came in at 5pm hungry. Supper made sense if he commuted home and got in at 7pm (when he'd probably had 'tea' at 4 or 4.30pm as in a cuppa and a bit of cake). If you have something at 5pm you want a light something at 9pm for 'supper' before bed. More people had a main meal at midday too and called it dinner. Nowadays it's just complicated but seems to be gradually going towards breakfast, lunch, tea. I'd say in a generation or so that's what it'll be.

[Busybee]

[Prettykiwicrazy]

I’m breakfast lunch and tea and supper would be a little snack before bed . Devon girl here

[liketocook]

Here it depends on when you have your main meal which is called dinner so either breakfast, lunch, dinner or breakfast, dinner, tea. "High tea" is a special treat served around 5pm often a smallish portion of fish or gammon steak etc. & chips followed by scones & cakes usually eaten in a restaurant or hotel.
Supper as a meal I hadn't heard of until I moved to London in the mid 1980s.

[Herbidacious]

I have googled it and can't determine whether it's a class, geographical or generational thing. Maybe it's just a London and Suffolk thing

Anyway, I have a leek, butter bean and faux chicken fillet thing on the stove, with lots of fresh sage and rosemary from the garden, and a little stock, to which I shall add some creme fraiche and maybe Dijon. To be served with some carb or other for OH. I will probably have just a little in a bowl, with possibly some parmesan. Not feeling much like eating today. Just had two slices of husband's breadmaker bread so far. (Which aesthetically was a failed loaf, but it taste delicious, which is what counts.)

[suffolk]

Probably not a Suffolk thing. I probably picked it up from my friends in the specific village where I lived which had an unusually large proportion of RCA graduates, film and tv workers, academics, writers and musicians.

[KC2]

[suffolk]

It was in the middle of nowhere and in the 60s and 70s had quite a few semi derelict old cottages ... just about within the means of ex art students who didn’t mind doing a milk round or other job of that sort ... they did them up themselves bit by bit, getting advice and some help (often bartered) from the village builder (my then OH). Some of our former neighbours became household names and some moved on ... most remained.