Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

Allegra

poohbear59 wrote: »

Thank you. I am going to crack on and make some tonight after I watch Masterchef.

Allegra, I usually use a 500g bag between five adults, that is four men and me. We would usually have a good size portion of vegetables too.

When cooking with chicken breasts, when I had more money, I used to cut two up into pieces and serve in a sauce (for six of us) and discovered my best friend always cooked one each for her family. My lads are still strapping young men despite being so deprived.

Thank you for the pat on the back not2pin.
I am doing my best here, despite a few human hiccups, eg someone eating the cheddar:mad:

:T Hooray for Poohbear ! You and your lads are the living proof of what I went on about earlier, that frugal does not equal deprivation. And your portion sizes are spot on - it's meant to be 100g of pasta per person. I think I just panic if food isn't spilling off the plate - something I definitely need to work on

Weezl, you are right - I do prefer to eat the bulk of my food in the evening. Not sure why - it's certainly not what I was brought up with. The way my mum alway worked was "breakfast fit for a king, lunch for a prince, dinner for a pauper". Well, breakfast I couldn't touch, lunch I couldn't finish, and was normally ravenous after dinner. One size does not fit all, I'm afraid.

Frankie, I meant to say some pages back - I do not find it at all shocking that your children are expected to eat even the stuff that is not their favourite. In fact, that is the principle that I try to work for my DD, only my parameters, of necessity, have to be different. So, in reality, I keep attempting to serve the foods that are not her favourite, as long as they do not actually cause a violent reaction, with favourites as back-up. After 13 years of this programme of relentless de-sensitising, she is actually a reasonably healthy eater and fairly open at least to the idea of trying new stuff, which for us is a biggie

Right, so I've had my yummy breakfast porridge, and it's the second of my evening meal swaps, so tonight we are having a bacon and onion pudding. As it's only for two, I am planning to cook one, have half tonight and freeze the other half until the next time this meal features on our list. Not really sure how to reheat a steamed pudding, especially once it's been halved - do I have to steam it again or can I reheat it in the oven ?

Allegra

Oh, and another thing - Poohbear, regarding the cheese - this is why I grated and froze the whole block on the batch cooking day, because I know that, if it was hanging around, someone would eat it.

Someone, in this case, being me

Allegra

FrankieM wrote: »

Morning,
weezl Don't know if it's of any interest to you but I'm considering trying powdered milk for next week as most of the meals don't have very much milk and I'm sure powdered would would fine for tea. I'll let you know how it goes. It may be a good way of getting some money back in the budget.

Frankie, this is the powdered milk that I use, after much experimenting with different brands. I do not use it in drinks as is, though, as I find it too dishwatery, but it's fine for cooking. For tea (which I don't drink) and coffee (which I drink loads of), I mix it half-and-half with whole milk and freeze. Netto do 2l bottles of whol milk for £1. I have not worked out the costings for the final result, but as a bag of milk powder seems to last for months, it seems a lot cheaper

weezl74

Allegra do you have a microwave?

We reheat in that, but oven would be fine I think

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

Allegra do you have a microwave?

We reheat in that, but oven would be fine I think

'Fraid not - nowhere to put it. My kitchen really is rather small

I'm happy to have a go in the oven and report the results on, um, hang on... Thursday 29/04, when we're having the pudding again

Okay, I'll be off now to put the washing on the line, post the book I have swapped on ReadItSwapIt, and then to take advantage of th glorious sunshine (at last !) and give som attention to my sadly neglected garden. Amazingly, weeds don't seem to pull themselves ! Bet you didn't know that....

FrankieM

weezl I currently have a tin I bought from Approved Foods.
I was a bit low on of milk a couple of months ago and made some of the powdered milk up in a jug for people to use in their tea.
You can notice a difference but I imagine we'd soon get used to it.

I'll run the Breakfast Porridge by DH first. If he likes it then we can stick with that...of course I'm hoping he'll get used to a slightly more repetitive menu, at least breakfast and lunch wise

FrankieM

I can't see what sides go with the Onion Tart for this evening. Could someone please point me in the right direction?

weezl74

poohbear59 wrote: »

I am doing my best here, despite a few human hiccups, eg someone eating the cheddar:mad:

you are doing fabulously :T:T:T

FrankieM wrote: »

weezl I currently have a tin I bought from Approved Foods.
I was a bit low on of milk a couple of months ago and made some of the powdered milk up in a jug for people to use in their tea.
You can notice a difference but I imagine we'd soon get used to it.

I'll run the Breakfast Porridge by DH first. If he likes it then we can stick with that...of course I'm hoping he'll get used to a slightly more repetitive menu, at least breakfast and lunch wise

approved foods is fab isn't it?

what do you guys usually have breakfast and lunch-wise frankie?

weezl74

FrankieM wrote: »

I can't see what sides go with the Onion Tart for this evening. Could someone please point me in the right direction?

well spotted!

80g each of peas and carrots

erm.... should that be on the bottom of the recipe, or shall we amend allegras meals list to say it? And if so, Allegra is it clear enough from the monster spreadsheet for you to add the side veg, or is that seeming like a lengthy task-I'm totally happy with you saying 'no' I don't want to overburden anyone

kezlou

Hmm my posts from last night seem to have disappeared hmm

weezl74 wrote: »

hi kezlou, I'd be happy with it lasting a week, but beyond that I'm not so sure. What I'm thinking, is if it were me and the freezer was full I'd either try to get some space cleared this week for then freezing the pate, or maybe just eating the pate this week and adapting the planner accordingly?

I'm not sure if those suggestions help!

Well the carbonara went down a treat, DS2, he's such a little trooper that lad. He is very fussy, he can't stand "runny stuff" /"baby food" or mash, overall he loves cold food. But he sat and ate his carbonara then went back for seconds :eek:i was so shocked. No idea if i cooked it right though,
I boiled the pasta, when it was nearly cooked i dry fried the bacon + freshly crushed garlic, added 100ml of the pasta water, stir the cheese into it and then mixed with with the pasta? Was that right, or did i do it completely wrong?


I agree it felt unhealthy as we normally have salad with it. DS2 asked for the salad and i said we didn't have enough for today and tomorrow. I Thought it needed more cheese, but all the flavours were there.

Your suggestions are fantastic! Always more than welcome!
On the pack lunch front OH said the liver pate was nice but too dry for sandwiches. So he reckons freeze it and eat on the weekends. fine by me so i have to find some small pots for it.
DS2 likes the apple curd, DS1 said where the jam :mad: . That boy is terrible so much like his father its unreal. Also em DH didn't have tea last night (he went to his mothers) so it fed the three of us fine ahem, aka we scoffed three quarters of it,