Reverse Meal Planning

EssexHebridean

Absolutely red lentils here as well - they basically just add thicknes and richness to the sauce without any obvious trace of their existence remaining. I'm also a fan of a big handful of oatmeal dumped into slow cooker stews - helps thicken the gravy and makes it go beautifully silky textured. 

Suffolk_Lass we do a whole lamb from time to time and the chap we buy from is more than happy to butcher it down to half joints for us. A whole beast takes up our entire second freezer - which is a standard under-counter sized one with four small-ish drawers so that should give you an idea of space needed. Last time round it used a little over that in fact as we took the full "pluck" and made haggis for the first time - not 100% authentic but tasted amazing and we'd certainly do it again! One good trick it to try to time the arrival of the meat for just before a weekend then you can save space by using one joint immediately for the sunday roast. one of the reasons we are looking to eat our way through the freezers at the moment is that we want to buy another lamb before too long!

Food tonight will be tuna (tinned, from the cupboard) salad (mostly from the veg box but with additionally purchased tomatoes) wraps (from the freezer - remembered to get them out last night). 

CCW007

Four leftover tortillas used up by drizzling with oil and seasoning and baking in the oven for 10 minutes - even did it whilst the oven was on to save energy.  Not sure it's so good for my diet though!

EssexHebridean

Sounds tasty! 

We also used 4 tortillas from a pack of 6 last night for the tuna salad wraps, delicious they were too!  The other two will probably be used for lunch on Friday as we'll both be having lunch at home that day. That will use some of the remaining salad too. 

So this evening we have some more of that pulled pork from Sunday - it split into 4 portions in the end which we were delighted about as it was supremely tasty - the recipe is a keeper!  I think I'm going to do it with couscous and then some lightly sauteed veg - the fennel from the veg box, the remaining half of the courgette that went into the piccalilli, a green pepper and some mushrooms. 

Still need to come up with a firm idea for tomorrow too - it's going to involve the remaining cauliflower though. 

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, I really need to use up some root vegetables, think I may blanch them and freeze them for putting into stews/casseroles during the winter. Got some punnets of strawberries, that I'm going to turn into jam (never made jam before).
 Also got some tomatoes that need using up so will make them into a tomato sauce and freeze to use on pasta another day. 

Think I'll do a stir fry with the leftover chicken, some Chinese leaf and other veg in the fridge tonight for dinner. 
Probably pie, mash and veg tomorrow
pesto pasta with chicken & veg on Friday (Son's request for his birthday)
Pizza on Saturday 
Sausages in hot dog rolls with chips/beans before trick or treating on Sunday

rtandon27

Last night's dinner was sweet potato shakshuka that we saw on bbc's SatKit last weekend.  We were both so surprised at how very tasty it was & budget friendly to boot! We did however make only 1/2 the recipe to avoid any leftovers - definate winner & we'd have it again.

Tonight's dinner will be Swedish meatballs with cheesy mash, steamed carrots and gravy.  Meatballs & gravy from the freezer stores - mash & carrots from the last of our root veg.

Doing well with lunches as well, with either bits brought in from home, or picked up at the c0-0p on the way into work.  Have managed to curb the habit of picking up a sandwich from across the road, which means a shorter lunch break & getting home a bit earlier - very nice on these dark dismal days.

ruby_eskimo

Could you share your recipe for the pulled pork @EssexHebridean I'm always looking for new recommendations as I haven't found quite the right recipe yet.

Doing relatively well on the using up front.  One more portion of the lentil and vegetable soup in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.  Dinner tonight is supposed to be veggie sausages and homity pie which will take a few things out of the freezer and fridge but as I'm suffering with this cold bug and DH needs supervision in the kitchen, we might just go with jacket potatoes instead 😆

Underspent on the food shop last week so have moved the extra pennies to a separate savings pot ready for the Christmas food.

EssexHebridean

The Pulled Pork recipe was a BBC Good Food one Ruby - here> https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-pulled-pork - we tweaked it a bit at the end by transferring the juices out into a pan and then reducing, then thickening them a little as it was a bit too liquid for our taste. The cooking time was also a little reduced to around 6 hours but it would easily have taken the additional couple of hours - it still pulled apart beautifully though! 

You've also reminded me how much I love Homity Pie! Not done that for ages!

RT You can never argue with anything that means getting home a bit earlier as winter arrives - and if that also means money-saving then so much the better! 

CCW007

Oh bum, lost track of time this week (had Monday off) and forgot to pause my veg box which needed to be done by midnight last night so I've got a fridge full of veg and another box coming on Friday.  May well be asking for inspiration soon!

Off to batch cook tonight to clear some space in the fridge!!!

OH having beef stroganoff for dinner tonight to use the last of the roast beef from the weekend and I'll have mushroom stroganoff, both with rice and lots of veg. 

Suffolk_lass

I am ill so just having whatever DH fancies cooking. I made soup before succumbing to the heavy cold so we had soup for lunch and then beans on cheese on toast yesterday, and egg on toast then cauliflower cheese today. I'm feeling a bit better and my temperature is stable after two days of feeling utterly grim. Fingers crossed I can resume normal activities tomorrow

CCW007

Hope you feel better soon Suffolk_lass