Reverse Meal Planning

EssexHebridean

I think a lot of us are really aiming to attack the freezers over the next few weeks aren't we! I REALLY want to get our second one emptied now so it can be defrosted.

Bolognese sauce is out and defrosted for tonight's "easy meals Monday" I've got the rest of the week al planned out as well and almost every day is going to mean a freezer raid I think. 

I have a chunk of cauliflower still needing used up but a quick look yesterday suggests that it will likely be OK through to Friday (it's in a stayfresh bag) so that will be making up part of Friday evening's Lamb Curry along with some veg box spinach. when I get the coconut chunks out for blitzing for the sauce I must remember to take them from the larger tub as the lid keeps popping off at the moment! That will also use up the last of the slower-cooking type lamb from the whole one. We've let our Farmer's market chap know we will probably be ordering again in the new year. 

Tomorrow is going to be tuna salad as we got lettuce and leaves in the veg box. Think I had chilli & rice in for wednesday although it will be using some other form of beans as I'm sure I don't have kidney beans, and Thursday is liver, onions, mash & veg. 

Suffolk_lass

All good stuff with everyone working to clear space in their freezers. We will have half a lamb again, but I asked the supplier if I could postpone having mine until the new year. He has nine ram-lambs that have been reared locally and they are all lovely. I think their sisters are either going to be sold for a starter herd or incorporated into his breeding-herd. I plan to move the stuff in my upright freezer into the chest freezer we de-iced last week and the bee-freezer (it doesn't keep stuff reliably frozen in summer!) so I can defrost the upright. It has garden produce in it. I also need to get some of the pulped seville oranges out of the freezer and make a batch of marmalade for our made-locally table sale

rtandon27

My win this week is oven related! Our house came with a gas oven/stove/grill that looks straight out of the 1960's - turns out it is only 6-8 years old (found a serial number) so I'm not feeling so hesitant about using the oven. The oven does however need a good clean and life is too short, so have contacted the local oven cleaner service for a quote! I'm determined to have it up and running before xmas!

Food wins for the week - easy pasta dinner monday & b00ts meal deal using points today!

candylucy

Hi all, been a very busy couple of weeks with work and other stuff but have been reading along! I’m also firmly in the “planning to run down the freezer” camp as of this week so just come up with a menu plan as below for the next few days -

Tues - nachos leftovers 

Wed - meatballs leftovers 

Thurs - corned beef, fried egg, beans and SW chips 

Fri - penne alla vodka 

Sat - pizza and salad 

Sun - beef tagine and cous cous  

Mon - crispy lamb kebab flatbread 

Tues - jerk spiced chicken in a bun 

Wed - mushroom chicken risotto

All of this will be from the freezer and stores 🙂 

rtandon27

Last night's dinner was chicken chasseur with red onion& mushrooms with a side of mashed swede.  The mushrooms & swede were from our last veg box & the chicken thighs from the freezer.  The swede was a revelation!  I've only ever had it in latkes or roasted in the oven, mashed with butter was very tasty & I'd happily eat it again!

We are doing well rotating through smaller amounts of stores, but I do find it hard to resist stocking up even though I know we don't have the space for it anymore!  On the up side, we have had no surprises of the "omg we need to use this up" variety for the past 2 months

Primrose

For all you home marmalade makers!
if you and your family like marmalade with lots of peel in it now's the time  to start saving the peel from some of those oranges you would normally compost and save them sliced in the freezer for extra zing.   Just throw them into the mixture when you're ready to start cooking it.

Some sliced  lemon and  grapefruit peel thrown in can make a deliciously citrus flavoured marmalade for something different. 

ruby_eskimo

Thanks for the tip @Primrose think I'm going to make some lemon curd this weekend with a glut of lemons we have so will make sure to save the rinds for a marmalade too.

Having the last 2 portions of cauliflower cheese soup from the freezer for dinner tonight with a part-baked sourdough loaf I found in the cupboard.  Don't really want soup again for lunch so need to think of something else to make in a bit!

EssexHebridean

Good tip on the marmalade there Primrose, although ours tends to be pretty "peel heavy" as well as we both love a good chunky marmalade so we cut it that bit thicker than the commercial versions. 

RT I really like swede - it makes a cracking mash combined with potatoes and parsnips too - Huge Furry Wotsit's classic "three root mash". 

I've twizzled our meal plan round a bit as the chilli that was planned for tonight is meant to have guacamole alongside, and the avocado was still rock hard last night so I've shoved it in a paper bag with one of MrEH's ripe bananas and hopefully it will have worked its magic by tomorrow. Tonight will now be the liver, onions and (ha!) mixed root mash that was planned for tomorrow. I've still got some of upstairs' fresh chillies to use too - we did make a batch of chilli sauce but it's red-hot so will be being used in small quantities! This is the perils of being gifted chilli without any idea how strong it is! 

Primrose

Just to add a note of caution to my tip on orange/lemon/grapefruit marmalade rind saving.
DON'T  be tempted to add Lime rind to your marmalade although of course you can add the juice.  It goes rock hard with the lengthy simmering and can be a tooth breaker !

We once made a bulk batch of Mixed Citrus as a charity fund raiser.  What a good job we kept back a jar first to sample for ourselves!  .  I chipped a tooth on a small piece of  rocklike lime peel.   We had to decant the lot and pick out every piece of lime peel for fear that somebody would buy some and suffer an injury!..   .  

Suffolk_lass

Primrose said:

Just to add a note of caution to my tip on orange/lemon/grapefruit marmalade rind saving.
DON'T  be tempted to add Lime rind to your marmalade although of course you can add the juice.  It goes rock hard with the lengthy simmering and can be a tooth breaker !

We once made a bulk batch of Mixed Citrus as a charity fund raiser.  What a good job we kept back a jar first to sample for ourselves!  .  I chipped a tooth on a small piece of  rocklike lime peel.   We had to decant the lot and pick out every piece of lime peel for fear that somebody would buy some and suffer an injury!..   .  

I was just going to say that about lime rind - that's why Rose's is a jelly! - You can tie it in Muslin too and remove it after boiling too