Reverse Meal Planning

Primrose

 May have mentioned this before - senior moment! but one store-cupboard item i can really recommend if you use mushrooms regularly, is the jumbo bottles of dried mushrooms you can buy from various sites online.

They're not cheap but a little goes a very long way and they seem to have a more intense flavour than some of the fresh varieties.  We find them invaluable for including in "leftover" meals or dishes where you're  trying to eke out  a little to go a long way and still get a tasty meal.  You have to soak them for about 10 minutes first, but the soaking water is very tasty and can be added to most dishes for extra flavour. 

Incidentally, we can sometimes get really good cheap deals for fresh mushrooms from our local market. Does anybody on here have experience on how to dry them effectively please?

EssexHebridean

I have a hunch that @Cheery_Daff from the MFW boards has dried mushrooms, I believe using a dehydrator? A dehydrator is something we’ve looked at getting a few times but storage space for it is our issue so we’ve not bitten yet. My Mum in law also has one but she’s mostly used hers for drying various fruits - very effectively I must say.

My favourite way of making mushrooms keep is to chop them into large pieces, then pop them in a low oven until they’re cooked and just starting to wrinkle up a bit - cool, freeze on a sheet lined with baking parchment and you can then tip them into a box and just take as many as you need out at any given time. Again this intensifies the flavour - obviously relies on having a freezer/space in that freezer, though! 

rtandon27

@joedenise - we often buy a large family size punnet of mushrooms & slice them up, pop into freezer tupp3rwar3 and freeze them raw.  They then get thrown into the pan straight from frozen & fried up for use in sauces or stirfries.  The do release a bit of water, so we are always sure to fry of the liquid before adding any other ingredients.

CCW007

EH, I dehydrated mushrooms recently when I picked up a load of YS punnets, in the dehydrator overnight and then into jars to store.  Used one jar recently for mushroom soup, the rest will go into casseroles and risottos.  My DH gets a lot of use but it is bulky to store as it's a square one with the fan at the back.  The round ones with the fans at the bottom blowing up take less space but tend to be a bit less efficient and need more supervising e.g. swapping over the trays so they dry evenly.

EssexHebridean

Good dehydrator info there! When we have the work done on the hallway that might possibly create a bit more storage space so it may be a possibility then. I’d definitely like one! 

joedenise

Used up some of the LO gammon joint and LO veg from yesterday's dinner, a small piece of onion which was in the fridge and a piece of pepper from the salad drawer plus a couple of eggs to make a lovely ham and veg omelette for breakfast.  Was lovely.  Good job DH wasn't here for breakfast and definitely not enough for him as well!

ruby_eskimo

So thankful that we had some "ready meals" (leftovers / batch cooking) in the freezer as we've both come down with this horrible cold bug so no effort dinners were definitely called for last week.  We now have a very empty looking freezer which is great just ahead of Christmas.  

Did manage to make another batch of lentil and vegetable soup yesterday which got rid of the last of the brown lentils from the cupboard plus some straggly potatoes and carrots from the stores.  It's made enough to last me for lunches for the next two weeks when I will be at home so hopefully won't get too bored of it, and the extras have gone in the freezer for now.

Lunch today is a vegetable hash using some leftovers from dinner yesterday and topped with a fried egg.  Dinner tonight is carbonara using up some eggs and parmesan plus some bacon that I picked up over the weekend.

EssexHebridean

Definite empty freezer envy here Ruby - although I don't envy you the colds that lead to it happening! Hope you're both recovered now! And joedenise - that sounds like a lovely breakfast to start a Monday with! 

So I already have a meal plan:
Monday 25th - Liver, onions, mash, veg
Tuesday 26th - tuna salad wraps
Weds. 27th - Pulled pork with sauteed fennel, pepper, mushroom & courgette
Thurs 28th - something with cauliflower...

The veg box cauli was a monster - so I'll probably use some of it as a veg side with the liver etc this evening.

We also did the freezer inventory yesterday so now know what we have - this has meant the tuna salad has progressed to being tuna salad wraps. The meal plan for this week sadly won't take a lot else out of the freezers but it will maximise using the veg box stuff and other bits from stores so that will do well enough.  I did use one of the packs of frozen cabbage, and some of a bag of frozen peas alongside the pork last night too. 

Meal plan for next week will need to use freezer stuff AND account for the fact that we're not about to do any batch cooking over the weekend. I have mince that's needing used as it's been in the freezer a while so might use some time one evening this week to make up a batch of bolognese sauce - that would take care of whatever mushrooms remain from the veg box and I can probably insinuate a bendy carrot or two into it as well. Bolognese is a godsend in our house as I can bulk it out with/hide in it all the things MrEH doesn't like and he never has a clue they're there!

rtandon27

EH - I'm loving the stealth bolognese!

EssexHebridean

So does he RT - that's the best bit!  

Realised I still need to come up with something to do with the chillis our neighbours gave us - debating about looking for a sweet chilli sauce recipe perhaps although with no certainty how strong some of them are this could be a dangerous game...