Reverse Meal Planning

ruby_eskimo

We also don't have "unusual" things with our leftovers - I like to think we make the most of what we have and thereby minimise the waste we make.  Most of the outgoings from our house are either the compost heap or recycling, sometimes we don't even have any rubbish to put out on collection days!

Dinner today is another meal from the freezer - some curry (no idea what it is...) and will make up some rice to go with it.  I usually do a 1/3 cup of rice per person with twice the amount of water works for the two of us and if we're having naan bread or something else with it, then I'll drop it down to 1/4 cup of rice.  

Porridgecat

Can I join in please? I'm trying to get better organised and use up more of my freezer supplies. On Sunday we took out a gammon joint that was part of the Christmas pack we had from our butcher, we had it roasted, and I had roasted some pumpkin / squash type vegetable that had come from my friend's allotment. It was a bit of a strange one, it was supposed to be a gem squash but I think it had cross pollinated with a pumpkin, it didn't taste great, a bit bitter and mainly bland. I kept most of it and made some pumpkin fritters from it which we had last night with a bit more gammon. Mr Porridge had some in his salad for lunch today and then I made a quiche for dinner and some little gammon ad cheese pasties for Mr Porridge's lunch tomorrow. There's quiche left which will do Mr P for breakfast in the morning as well. So not too bad from one joint, I was quite pleased with three dinners, two lunches and a breakfast.

Suffolk_lass

Welcome @Porridgecat - the more the merrier on here.

We had a large cauliflower in the outside fridge (I may have forgotten it!) - well most with homegrown leeks last night in a lovely cheese sauce. I have slightly increased how much I am eating as my weight loss seems to have stalled - maybe my body thinks I am fasting or starving! - we had yogurt with a teaspoon of honey as a dessert. This morning i am not hungry so may fast most of the day. DH has bread made and lots of eggs and I made courgette soup yesterday that we could have as a late lunch. I have an aubergine and two large bits of cauliflower to roast with some squash and then will make a curry.

We might need carrots and bowl fruit this week but DH can pop to the market on Friday for these

ruby_eskimo

Welcome @Porridgecat that's a really impressive set of meals you got there from one joint!  

Forgot it was Shrove Tuesday yesterday so the mysterious curry will have to wait in the fridge till tomorrow now.  Made a big batch of roasted vegetables from the things that were starting to look a bit straggly in the fridge (courgettes, pepper, red onion and some tomatoes) along side some roasted chickpeas using the ones from the freezer.  Will have those with some cous cous for lunch over the next few days - simple and will take no effort to assemble.  Dinner tonight is homity pie (potatoes, leeks, onion, peas and cheese) with some Linda McCartney sausages that have been in the freezer a while.

joedenise

Love homity pie @ruby_eskimo.  Not had that for ages and can't see if appearing on the menu plan any time soon as DH really isn't keen but I will try to sneak it in somewhere along the line just need to find a new name for it so when he looks at the plan he won't know it's homity pie, LOL!

Still using up stuff from the freezer - making a big lamb tagine for dinner tonight so there should be plenty for at least another 2 meals for DH and I to go back into the freezer.

peb

Waves. I tend to do a lot of meal planning as a single so I don't live on cheese sandwiches.   However I'm in a bubble with my dad which can throw things🙄.  We ended up with roast chicken on Saturday and I have so much leftover.  I'm fed up of left over chicken and whilst I'm a competent cook I just can't be bothered.  It doesn't help that the chicken was a garlic and herb flavoured one - rtc from lidl - won't be buying that again. Last night I did a white sauce with mustard, cheese the chicken and mushroom but I still have loads left.  Will probably risotto it. 

joedenise

@peb can you freeze some of the chicken in sauce to use another time rather than trying to eat it all day after day - I'd soon get bored with that!  I often freeze chicken in gravy or a white sauce to use later in the month.

BAGGY

HI.
I've been a member of MSE forever but only just seen this.  I never knew Reverse Meal Planning was a thing as I've always used things in rotation and gone for yellow sticker and foraged or seasonal stuff.  Tonight we have Pea and ham soup made from the gammon bone that I froze with some of the veg from my Lidl £1.50 box.  Tomorrow veggie curry with a massive sweet potato that was there also.  
I feel I have 'found' my people.

ruby_eskimo

Welcome @BAGGY and @peb - the more the merrier!

@joedenise DH loves homity pie, we'd have it every week if I let him!  Has to be with the red onion and rosemary sausages though, apparently real meat ones don't go as well 🙄

Fell down a rabbit hole of recipes online and have already meal planned for next week.  Looks like it's going to be a relatively cheap week as well - only have 3 things that I need to get so far, and that's 6 days worth of meals!

rtandon27

@peb - We often cut leftover chicken into chunks and then freeze it.  When we have enough it goes into a leek & chicken pie at a later date.  Also cut it into strips and freeze then put it straight from frozen into a noodle or rice stir-fry (my favorite is yakisoba style with long shreds of everything & thick noodles, slathered in sauce!)  The different textures resulting from cuttting the meat a different way, seem to trick us into believing it's not 'just' chicken again!

@ruby_eskimo & @joedenise - I'd not heard of homity pie (until now) - it looks delicious! - just found a recipe on the beeb & will print it out unless you have any highly recommended recipes to try?