Reverse Meal Planning

rtandon27

Wow EH - eating your way through an entire freezer is quite some accomplishment! - Well done for turning it off & saving some pounds on the electric!

Dinner for us last night was broconut noodle - old standby for us that is very budget friendly and satisfies our meatless monday meal without even slipping in pancetta to pacify OH - LOL

ruby_eskimo

Thanks for the link @rtandon27 , DH will be very happy in the new year when we have cheese curds again 👍

Well done @EssexHebridean for getting down to 1 freezer.  I can't wait till I empty ours at Christmas!

Out for dinner tonight so not a lot going on with meal planning but butternut squash soup from the fridge for lunch today.  Going to have to add some smoked paprika as it's lacking a little in flavour unfortunately.

EssexHebridean

I love nutmeg with squash Ruby...although in fairness I love nutmeg with most things, it's up there with allspice for me! 

The electric saving was the real driver for me on the freezer thing - it's definitely been using a LOT more since it's got emptier, and of course the other one is on regardless as it's the bottom half of the fridge! 

ruby_eskimo

Oh I always forget about allspice @EssexHebridean even though I have to move it out of the way in the spice cupboard to get to anything else 😆

More soup for lunch today and dinner is LO fish pie from the freezer with some frozen green veg.

EssexHebridean

Neither my Mum nor I have EVER been known to forget about allspice - it's a family joke that we stick it in everything! 

I've got the cooked chicken sausages out of the freezer to defrost for tonight's tea - it was going to be sausage and mushroom pasta but I think I'm actually going to do gnocchi instead as I have a packet in the larder. Not entirely decided on a sauce yet - might go simple and just dress it with butter and parmesan though - I could fry the mushrooms in garlic butter and that would probably be a nice coating for the gnocchi then too. 

MrEH is sorted for tomorrow as there is a single portion of chilli left so he'll have that with a jacket tattie for lunch, and then an omelette as a lighter tea. I'm out from early and not home tomorrow night so it's handy to have something simple for him to do. I will need to remind him to get out the ingredients for a fry up on Friday evening though - black and white pudding, bacon and sausages are all in the freezer. 

Need to get my meal plan for next week worked out with a view to things that need using. 

candylucy

Hi all! Loving reading everyone’s updates and getting some fab inspiration for meals on here! 

Today I used up 2 very sad looking parsnips which have been say in the fridge for as long as I can remember in a curried parsnip soup for lunch. As only had the 2 parsnips I added a potato that’s also seen better days and the soup was yum. I had it with a tiger baton which I got from an Olio haul which I picked up this morning. 

Dinner tonight was quiche with salad (also from Olio) and roasted sweet potato, feta and lemon traybake as a side which used up some (again) sad looking sweet potatoes that were on their last legs and a block of feta that I’d chucked in the freezer a few weeks ago. Was lush. 

Tomorrow night is just me as hubby is on lates so will be using a flatbread from the freezer along with the rest of the salad bag.

rtandon27

@candylucy - great use of your waning root veg!

We'll be using up some of our glut of parsnips tomorrow in a gingery soup & have yet to figure out what to do with our yellow beets.

Tonight's dinner was meatballs with steamed carrots and champ.  We defrosted and reheated some swedish style gravy from the freezer & now have a bit more space in the freezer.  Tomorrow we have a large shop arriving, as I was not interested in paying extra for delivery during xmas week so will be playing fridge and freezer tetris to get it all away.  I'm baffled as to why my grocery delivery pass does not include that week as well?!

Primrose

For those regularly finding limp veg in their fridge salad trays I  often find that soaking them overnight in a bowl of cold water   can perk them up.  Mind you, in this house they get turned into soup and nobody is any the wiser. However i find that having crisper fresher looking veg does make one feel slightly less guilty about sometimes inadequate menu planning !

joedenise

My favourite recipe for limp lettuce which often seems to appear n the fridge is braised lettuce a la Francais, ie with spring onions and peas.

I’m sure I can’t be the only one who ends up with limp lettuce!

CCW007

Loving all the updates, haven't been on for a while (life getting in the way!)

Candylucy, great to see another Olioer.  Off to pick up some bits at lunchtime!  Dinner last night for me was miso aubergine with spring greens from Olio and YS tofu from the freezer - almost all recued "food waste".

Lunch will probably be swede and lentil soup (never tried it but got lots of swede to use up) for me and sausage and mustard pasts for OH.  Dinner will be cauli and mac cheese (has become a favourite in our house).

Then after today I am off for 11 days so much batch cooking and meal prepping is planned!