Reverse Meal Planning

joedenise

Having an easy dinner tonight - sausages from freezer, mini roasties and frozen veg.

Doing some batch cooking for the freezer this morning.  Have already made butter chicken - will keep a couple of portions out to have over the weekend and the rest can go in the freezer once it's cooled down.

Also have a beef bourguignon in the oven at the moment but still needs another hour or so as it's on really low.  Again will keep a couple of portions out for the weekend and the rest into the freezer.

At least that means there are some easy meal options next month!

ruby_eskimo

Had a frozen pizza for dinner last night because I literally couldn't stand in the kitchen after a tiring day - still it's one less thing in the freezer. 

Dinner tonight is mac and cheese with bacon which will get rid of three things from the fridge and cupboards.  Think we shouldn't need that much food this week when I go shopping but no guarantee that what we do need will be on the shelves.  May have to be a little flexible on our plans I think.

joedenise

We've been away this weekend and had planned a tuna salad for yesterday but found out we didn't have any tuna in the motorhome drawer!  There's usually a couple of tins but must have used them and not replaced them.  Really must put some in before we go away again as it's so useful.

We got on the bus into town and had a look around.  The only supermarket was a fair sized Co-op so thought we'd get a pack of ham or something for a sandwich but none of it looked particularly good so thought we'd get a couple of cooked chicken pieces - £4 for 2 big pieces or £6 for a whole chicken so whole chicken it was.  We had half a breast and a thigh between us in a sandwich for lunch.  Today we'll have another chicken salad sandwich for lunch and the rest will be used to make a chicken curry for tonight.  Hopefully there will also be a couple of portions for the freezer!

Suffolk_lass

We also had chicken - just two grilled thighs (enormous ones) with homegrown beans and potatoes

joedenise

Unfortunately the curry didn't stretch to any for the freezer - we ate it all and very nice it was too.

rtandon27

Last night was our meatless Monday meal - oven roasted cauliflower on a bed of hummus & roasted chickpeas.  Used up the last of our pomegranate molasses & the last tin of chickpeas. 

OH, who usually is not at all brand conscious requested that we go back to our usual brand of chickpeas as the ones we had last night were small and hard by comparison to the usual - so i'ts back to the posh one's again until we find a suitable bargain brand!

Today is another loooooooong day in the city/office for me, so dinner will be frozen chicken burgers & fries with a side of roasted courgette to put it towards a somewhat healthy meal!

greenbee

@rtandon27 - I love the idea of "humorous & roasted chickpeas" 🤣

ruby_eskimo

How about cooking your own chickpeas from dried ones @rtandon27 ?  I soak / cook mine in the slow cooker in bulk and then just divide into portions to put in the freezer.  That way I can just chuck a portion into whatever I'm cooking straight from the freezer like I would from a tin.  Never had a problem with it and it works out a lot cheaper.

Tonight I'm having a veggie black bean noodle dish using up the last of the mushrooms from last week, black bean paste from the fridge and a couple of baby courgette's from the garden all mixed with a portion of udon noodles that I found in the cupboard.

joedenise

I'm another who uses dried chickpeas most of the time, although I do keep a tin or two in the cupboard for when I haven't got round to cooking them.

I pressure cook mine rather than using the slow cooker - it's easier to get my pressure cooker out than the slow cooker!

rtandon27

@greenbee - dang autocorrect - LOL - all fixed now!

@ruby_eskimo & @joedenise - OH in his retirement is our chief cook & bottle washer, but also a meat & 2 veg kind of guy - my only hope of eating the occasional meatless meal is to make it easy for him, so for now it will have to remain posh chickpeas - - compared to the price of meat/fish/chicken it's workable into our budget...

...on the other hand, he only gets a bottle of SALE wine each week as I'm still the chief hunter/gatherer - LOL