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Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass
Posts: 9,869 Forumite


Not sure if many of you will have tried the reverse-meal plan idea.
Rather than buying all the ingredients you need to support your meal-plan, you look at your fridge, freezer and store-cupboard and meal plan from that, minimising what you shop for. Based initially on the fresh produce that would be wasted if it is not used up. Add a view to processing any so it can be preserved, if you have more than you can hope to use up before it reaches end-of life or perishes.
If you want to be accountable to yourself, you could price up what you would have spent if you had gone out and bought it fresh and count this as a purse bonus, either physically, to top up an emergency fund or on paper, if only to feel ever so slightly smug because it frees up those funds for other things.
Feel free to join in with your record of recipes used, plans and adaptations of recipes - we especially like the successful substitutes when that one ingredient isn't available
Rather than buying all the ingredients you need to support your meal-plan, you look at your fridge, freezer and store-cupboard and meal plan from that, minimising what you shop for. Based initially on the fresh produce that would be wasted if it is not used up. Add a view to processing any so it can be preserved, if you have more than you can hope to use up before it reaches end-of life or perishes.
If you want to be accountable to yourself, you could price up what you would have spent if you had gone out and bought it fresh and count this as a purse bonus, either physically, to top up an emergency fund or on paper, if only to feel ever so slightly smug because it frees up those funds for other things.
Feel free to join in with your record of recipes used, plans and adaptations of recipes - we especially like the successful substitutes when that one ingredient isn't available
Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £564.77 out of £6000 after January
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £301.10/£3000 or 10.04% of my annual spend so far[/COLOR] annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £301.10/£3000 or 10.04% of my annual spend so far[/COLOR] annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here
29
Comments
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Today I have removed half a stick of sausagement from the freezer that I would once have used for stuffing. We will have it this evening smooshed into sausage burgers with onions, chilli-flakes, herbs salt and pepper and dusted in flour before oven grilling on the floor of the oven and serving with steamed carrots, broccoli and cabbage (all in the fridge). Afterwards we will have a few fresh strawberries sliced over greek yogurt.
The sausagement came from the butchers (at Christmas) and I don't know the price but Morrisons would sell it for £2 for a stick, about the same size as my half-stick. The yogurt is roughly 80p and the strawberries about £1. The veg maybe 50p
Our waistlines are expanding at the moment so I don't want any of the bread or potatoes today.
I have some pre-made wonky fridge-veg soup we will have for lunch. I have previously priced this at about 70p for two portions.
Total £5Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £564.77 out of £6000 after January
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £301.10/£3000 or 10.04% of my annual spend so far[/COLOR] annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here21 -
Husband has started a sourdough loaf (it takes a while) and that is proving somewhere.
Meanwhile I will make another batch of veg soup with the remaining bits of fresh vegetables that look like they need using up - I notice the (Morries) wonky carrots don't look great and definitely advise removing them from the bag they are sold in. I didn't put the shopping away last Thursday so only realised this yesterday. No harm done. A sharp knife and a peeler removed the slightly nasty bits.
My soup recipe today is peel, chop and fry the following veg in veg oil (sunflower is what I have in) - carrots, onion, sweet potato. Add a sprinkle of herbs, a pinch of salt and a good twist of black pepper, and chop to large wonky courgettes and add them when the other veg starts to soften. Add some stock thing (veg pot, in my case, with enough water to cover the veg) and half a teaspoon of lazy chilli (opened jar in the fridge - I also have much of last year's home grown crop in the freezer). Bring to the boil and then simmer for half an hour and then use a stick blender (you could omit this).
I also have a small bag of minced beef (part of a 500g pack I divided into 3 and froze) and I plan to make a small ragu sauce and fill vegetables with it and top with grated cheese for tonight. I have a couple of green peppers left over I can stuff. Still plenty of oats and prunes so breakfasts don't need topping up.
We were gifted a 2l milk at the weekend so I used half to make a rice pudding (nearly ruined as I slept through the timer) but that is in the fridge to give an easy dessert and add a bit of starch to our diet and keep us warm.Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £564.77 out of £6000 after January
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £301.10/£3000 or 10.04% of my annual spend so far[/COLOR] annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here18 -
That's how I've always lived... what've I got, what can I make ... shopping for new items has very rarely ever been something I did.16
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I'll play! This is, however, how I normally live. I look in the fridge, consult the freezer and the pantry and then figure out what to have. Dinner tonight is Mexican Pilchard Pudding (serves 4):Combine: 1 x 450g pilchards in tomato sauce; 1lb-ish mashed potato; 1 egg and a teaspoon of baking powder. Bake for 45-ish minutes at 180C.
This was chosen because we have potatoes to use up and it can be served with some of the broccoli DH picked up this morning in L!dl. It needs a green vegtable for contrast. (Normally I'd serve it with frozen peas.)
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It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results!
2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge 66 coupons - 8 spent.
4 - Thermal Socks from L!dl
4 - 1 pair of "combinations" (Merino wool thermal top & leggings)19 -
Yes, this is how I tend to cook.
Tonight we'll be having cauliflower cheese, as I over ordered at the greengrocer's, followed by rhubarb crumble and ice cream. The rhubarb appeared in my veg box and we would have had custard but I'm being frugal with using milk and would rather use it for the cheese sauce. Tomorrow we may need to use up the parsnips so parsnip and apple soup may appear, although DH is rolling his eyes at this!
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Must admit that I thought this is how everyone did meal-planning! I last went out ten days ago, and I am hoping to hold out till next Tuesday when I have to go out anyway for work. I've been running down the fresh stuff while using some bits from the freezer - so today was 'fridge bottom soup', the leaves and stalk of a cauliflower, an onion, a carrot and a bit of broccoli, all cooked in vegetable stock and then whizzed up with the stick blender. Tonight will be root vegetable pasty - I did some baking earlier in the week, these are a Hugh FW recipe which I've adapted, carrot, sweet potato and parsnip as that's what I had, with a bit of grated cheese. I made the pastry using some extremely old (not admitting how old!) Trex that was in the fridge, it turned out pretty well considering I am rubbish at pastry. I am aiming to use up all the fresh veg before Tuesday. When I go shopping I'll be restocking the stuff I couldn't get before lockdown, like dried pulses and flour I hope - aiming to get enough for two weeks again.
Life is mainly froth and bubble: two things stand like stone. Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.17 -
I think you would be surprised then that lots of people do not have the confidence to cook like this and so if some of us who already meal plan and cook like this share what we do and any swaps we make away from recipes (especially successful ones), It might help others who could be feeling the financial pressures to provide for their households in a more economical way. For example, I added yogurt to a chocolate dessert because I had no cream and now we always do this, because the slightly sour yogurt goes so well with chocolateSave £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £564.77 out of £6000 after January
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £301.10/£3000 or 10.04% of my annual spend so far[/COLOR] annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here21 -
(Posted on another thread, but relevant here!)........
Yesterday I wanted cheese sauce, to have with a head of broccoli, but didn’t have any milk and didn't want to break into my one bag of emergency flour (😁), so I cooked up some porridge oats in the microwave with oat ‘milk’, added herbs, pepper, chopped garlic and grated cheese, and guess what? It worked! 😁(I just lurve spiders!)
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I love :eek:20 -
PasturesNew said:That's how I've always lived... what've I got, what can I make ... shopping for new items has very rarely ever been something I did.Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £564.77 out of £6000 after January
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £301.10/£3000 or 10.04% of my annual spend so far[/COLOR] annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here13 -
Suffolk_lass said:PasturesNew said:That's how I've always lived... what've I got, what can I make ... shopping for new items has very rarely ever been something I did.
Today I've had crisps for breakfast, a jam sandwich for lunch, I'll have a noodle pot for my main meal later
And, even in regular times, my recipes/food isn't what most these days eat. I eat a 1960s/1970s style fastest/easiest menu ... for one, trying to keep the budget per day ridiculously small.16
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