Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass

We had duck breast, cooked on the skin in a dry pan, to render the fat and make it crispy, with cauliflower, carrots and homegrown beans.

I have a pack of chicken mini fillets and some beef shin and mince out - I plan a chilli and probably a leek and chicken casserole with the chicken chopped up. Two more pieces of the large cauliflower need using so probably chicken first. The fridge veg is definitely depleting but I have another bag of carrots so will make do until Friday's outdoor market

joedenise

Going to make a veggie bolognaise for dinner using a bag of ratatouille from the freezer and some green lentils for the protein part; will also cook some pasta to go with it.

Still have the chicken crown left from yesterday's roast so need to decide what I'm going to do with that tomorrow - I'm thinking a chicken & chorizo Spanish rice with some of it but apart from that not sure what to do with the rest of the meat - there should still be about 1.5 breasts left as won't need much for the Spanish rice.  Does anyone have any ideas?

ruby_eskimo

Didn't make it to the supermarket yesterday due to the snow but managed to pull together a dinner out of freezer bits.  Tonight we're having chicken schnitzel using a breast I found in the freezer, along with a portion of braised red cabbage that was also in the ice box, along with some mashed potato using up some potatoes from the cupboard.

ruby_eskimo

joedenise said:

Going to make a veggie bolognaise for dinner using a bag of ratatouille from the freezer and some green lentils for the protein part; will also cook some pasta to go with it.

Still have the chicken crown left from yesterday's roast so need to decide what I'm going to do with that tomorrow - I'm thinking a chicken & chorizo Spanish rice with some of it but apart from that not sure what to do with the rest of the meat - there should still be about 1.5 breasts left as won't need much for the Spanish rice.  Does anyone have any ideas?

My go-to's for left over chicken are risotto, pulled chicken in a kind of bbq sauce, soup, casserole or a potato topped pie in a white sauce with a bunch of mixed frozen veg thrown in.

joedenise

Thanks ruby.  The Spanish chicken is basically a risotto but the pulled chicken sounds like a good possibility.  DH isn't impressed with a potato topped pie (except as shepherds or cottage pie!) - always says it's not a pie without pastry!

greenbee

I'm trying to identify and use up the older stuff in the freezer but am currently suffering from the problem that every item I take out results in more going back in! I've got a couple of chicken carcasses in the SC at the moment making stock that will eventually end up as soup. I'll have stock and bits of chicken taking up space in the meantime (and I have more carcasses and wings in the freezer to deal with before I can defrost it). I'm using the lack of supermarket deliveries as motivation to plan based on using what I have to maximise what i can do with my weekly veg box. 

Primrose

Share your reprocessing problem.  We,ve been making stock and soup from chicken carcasses.  Find that if you,ve got a stick blender, soup (and stock) ocan be whizzed down and stored in one pint plastic milk bottles which stack quite efficiently on their  sides in freezer drawers. Just be sure to label clearly with a marker pen. 

greenbee

Good ideas Primrose - although right now there is NO room in the freezer at all and I have a pile of cottage pies/bolognese to go in there too! Also my milk comes in glass bottles  

I've managed to use up a bit of frozen fruit so far today in a smoothie... And will have a couple of pints of stock and some bits of chicken to add to the pile shortly. 

Primrose

It,s been so cold here the last couple of days, we,ve been keeping some surplus perishable food items outside the kitchen door in a waterproof container.  It,s equally effective as an overflow outdoor fridge ! 

Suffolk_lass

joedenise said:

Going to make a veggie bolognaise for dinner using a bag of ratatouille from the freezer and some green lentils for the protein part; will also cook some pasta to go with it.

Still have the chicken crown left from yesterday's roast so need to decide what I'm going to do with that tomorrow - I'm thinking a chicken & chorizo Spanish rice with some of it but apart from that not sure what to do with the rest of the meat - there should still be about 1.5 breasts left as won't need much for the Spanish rice.  Does anyone have any ideas?

We had chicken (breast mini-fillets) with a couple of chopped leeks, carrot and a splodge of wine, herbs and water, slow simmered for an hour and a half then served with cauliflower and cabbage. Ours was cooked from raw but would work very well with cooked chicken (or as a pie filling, if the sauce were thickened a bit more). DH had seconds and the remnants of the sauce will go in the saucepan with soup for lunch today.