Reverse Meal Planning

ajmoney

Suffolk_lass said:

Right then... What to do with the leftovers....?

I have a lot of food and I didn't even think I had bought that much.  I think I will be reverse planning for a while.

greent

We have intentional leftovers : D  DH, DD and DS1 all had chicken/ stuffing/ pigs in blankets/ roast potatoes/ red cabbage/ mayonnaise (or combinations thereof) in freshly made fluffy rolls. I had bubble and squeak (made with leftover cauliflower cheese, sprouts and pancetta, carrots, parsnips, baked red onion, peas, bread sauce, chicken scraps from the carcass after making stock, blanketless pigs) and served with fried red cabbage (back on the healthy eating train in Jan! 😂😂)  Tomorrow's lunch will.likely be the same for everyone again, and that will mean that it will just be a few roasties left (and some Xmas day gravy, which is always extra special) - and DD will likely eat those with toad in the hole at some point in the week. And some stock, which will get frozen later today, after I've skimmed off the remaining fat.  We have a lot of cheese (as yet untouched), so I feel that's supper sorted for a while. And most of a  yule log, a Xmas Colin the caterpillar from MnS and a choc chip panettone for sweet cravings.....  

rtandon27

Mrs_Cheshire said:

Love the sound of your veggie lasagne, how do you make it?

🎄❄🎅 Happy Holidays fellow meal planners! xxx 🎅❄🎄 

@Mrs_Cheshire – the lasagna is so easy to make, if a bit time consuming – but it made 6 portions so worth the effort for a few extra freezer meals.  I cut the two eggplants in half and then sliced each half into slices approx. 7mm thick.  Then started the process of grilling the slices on both sides in our stovetop grill pan.  A smokey business so windows & kitchen door were wide open!  Meanwhile browned up 250g of mince (pork, turkey, chicken, beef – whichever is on hand), and a diced onion in some olive oil.

Start the layering with a good dollop of passata from a large bottle (690g) on the bottom of a large glass pyrex, then a layer of dried lasagna noodles, followed by a layer of eggplant, followed by a layer of ricotta.  Then start again with a layer of passata, a layer of jarred red peppers & a layer of cooked mince.  Repeat the eggplant layering again, ending it all with a layer of lasagna noodles topped with a layer of passata & then a couple of generous handfuls of grated cheese.  Bake in the oven 30 – 40 minutes around 175 fan oven.  Take out and let sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into portions and serving with a side salad or steamed greens.

rtandon27

@Suffolk_lass – leftovers are the BEST part of Xmas!!! – Yesterday we roasted a very large chicken with dried fruit & rice stuffing, made sides of honey-mustard roast parsnips, duck-fat roasted potatoes & pan-fried brussels with pancetta & chestnuts.  Also made giblet gravy – a rare treat, as normally I could not be bothered to put in the effort!

The chicken has been picked over to yield another four servings of meat – the bones along with the mirepoix/giblets popped in the freezer to boil up for stock at a later date.  Another two portions of each of the sides are in the fridge along with the remaining gravy and stuffing.

Lunch today consisted of sandwiches made with leftover pigs in blanket, fruit stuffing & cranberry sauce in between generous slices of hearty white bread.  The rest of the chicken meat will be turned into shredded hoisin chicken in pancakes with cucumber & pickled red onions for lunch or dinner tomorrow.

I’ve yet to figure out what to do with our red cabbage that came in the xmas veg box! – LOL – Purple veg of any sort has become the bane of my existence!

joedenise

I always braise red cabbage in the slow cooker with some sliced apple and a little sweetener.  I think there's a recipe on the Delia website for it which is similar.  We like braised red cabbage but only a small portion at a time so plenty of portions for the freezer.  In fact I've got some out to have with our dinner tomorrow (forgot to get it out for yesterday, oops!).

Mrs_Cheshire

rtandon27 said:

Mrs_Cheshire said:

Love the sound of your veggie lasagne, how do you make it?

🎄❄🎅 Happy Holidays fellow meal planners! xxx 🎅❄🎄 

@Mrs_Cheshire – the lasagna is so easy to make, if a bit time consuming – but it made 6 portions so worth the effort for a few extra freezer meals.  I cut the two eggplants in half and then sliced each half into slices approx. 7mm thick.  Then started the process of grilling the slices on both sides in our stovetop grill pan.  A smokey business so windows & kitchen door were wide open!  Meanwhile browned up 250g of mince (pork, turkey, chicken, beef – whichever is on hand), and a diced onion in some olive oil.

Start the layering with a good dollop of passata from a large bottle (690g) on the bottom of a large glass pyrex, then a layer of dried lasagna noodles, followed by a layer of eggplant, followed by a layer of ricotta.  Then start again with a layer of passata, a layer of jarred red peppers & a layer of cooked mince.  Repeat the eggplant layering again, ending it all with a layer of lasagna noodles topped with a layer of passata & then a couple of generous handfuls of grated cheese.  Bake in the oven 30 – 40 minutes around 175 fan oven.  Take out and let sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into portions and serving with a side salad or steamed greens.

Sounds delicious and fairly easy if you're not using a bechamel sauce. I've only ever made lasagne using the same sauce I make for spaghetti bologanase. I always see chicken lasagne recipes but have yet to try one 

Mrs_Cheshire

Will be joining in the reverse planning during January as I was lucky enoough to be given 2 turkey joints and some other meat & fish over the last few days and also picked up some bargain reduced bits today. Got 4 bags of sliced turkey in the freezer, a box full of turkey, pigs in blankets and stuffing ball and then another box with a little bit of turkey, stuffing and pigs in blankets, will have this with some prepacked turkey slices to stretch it further. 
Going to have some diced beef tomorrow with the left over parsnips (have seen better days), carrots, 1/2 a leek. Will pop in the slow cooker so it'll be ready when we get in, served with mash and left over brussels. 
Will do hoisin chicken & noddles, probably tuesday. Need to find something to have on monday as we're getting low on veg other than carrots and brussels and shopping doesn't arrived till late evening on monday. I have got a couple of tins of mixed veg and a tin of new potatoes so may have those with some fish. 

ajmoney

rtandon27 said

I’ve yet to figure out what to do with our red cabbage that came in the xmas veg box! – LOL – Purple veg of any sort has become the bane of my existence!

Make some German red cabbage, this is the one I used this year http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/8404/gran-s-german-red-cabbage.aspx

marionmgcars

I love this cabbage,  make a batch of the above recipe & freeze small portions.  Just defrost at later date and warm gently in pan or microwave xx

Suffolk_lass

Determined to start on the cheese, we eat simply yesterday. Gravadlax with poached eggs and turkey liver for breakfast, turkey sandwiches on white farmhouse squidgy bread and butter with a cup of tea about 4pm then cheeseboard with a generous slice of pork and chestnut stuffing, crackers and grapes for supper. This morning the real stuff starts and the stock pot is in the simmer oven, there is a chicken to pick too and then pies and curries to make and freeze. The tiny bit of leftover veg will go into the soup pot with the remnants of the gravy (I agree, always special) - the giblets (it is a tradition that I forget them on Christmas day) are in the stockpot with the carcass.

There is a pack of smoked salmon out that we might keep for New Year, assuming our bubble friend can join us (or freeze it for another day, if he isn't). Happy days.

I am going to try for a no shopping month - with just eggs and milk delivered in January. Let us see how that goes.