Reverse Meal Planning

Mrs_Cheshire

Happy New Year!

I managed to restock our freezers during the week as the local MrT had lots of reduced priced meat/poultry most 1/3 off some up to 1/2 off. I also ordered a lamb leg and a whole chicken to have over new years weekend and obviously with our Christmas plans changing they went in the freezer. 
I'm trying to get organised today as I start work tomorrow so sorting any home admin and meal plans etc. 

joedenise

I really need to sort out my freezers as I can't find anything in them!  I've cooked up some chickpeas this morning and will use those tomorrow for a chana masala.  Only cooked enough for the one meal as don't want to put anything else into the freezer until I've sorted them out!

Add loads of home smoked bacon and lardons yesterday - enough in there for at least a couple of month's weekend fry ups!  At least it will save a bit of money over the month.

Primrose

Packed freezers are always a problem.  We try to keep an inventory now of both kitchen and upright garage freezers but if this is too much hassle instead of just throwing stuff in anywhere, try and stick to a general rule of

 1. Shelf 1  for meat/fish products
2.  Shelf 2 for veg & /fruit items
3.  Shelf 3  for ready cooked meal bases. 

4.  Shelf 4  for soups/stock and misc items

(or whatever variant of foods you most use) 

At least then one has a general idea where to start searching ! 

It,s just a pity that at this time of year when freezers are most full the supermarkets  are full of post Christmas poultry bargains. We keep telling ourselves we need to store less home grown soft fruit related products in our freezer which we rarely eat in large quantities to make more space for the "bargain" more expensive items which we  eat all the time,!   Never seem to get our proportioning quite right. 

joedenise

@Primrose - my inside freezer is much easier to organise as it is one with drawers and I more or less know what is where in that one as I have in top drawer, meat/HM ready meals in the middle one, bottom drawer, fish and fruit.

The outside one however is much more difficult as it is a chest freezer in a plastic garden box which means I'm actually having to stand in the cold to sort it.  It's kind of organised chaos really!  I put like things together in carrier bags and boxes but it means a lot of getting bags out of find what I want!

It doesn't help that I've just bulk bought a load of chicken and DH has cured and smoked a couple of pork loins so loads of bacon gone in plus lardons with the end bits which don't slice.  I've also recently cooked gammon joints so lots of sliced ham as well.

We don't grow a lot of stuff as only have a very small garden so only have a very small veg patch and tend to just grow Kenya beans and some peas but we eat most of those as we go along.  I think about 6 bags of beans ended up in the freezer but they've all gone now.  We have a few raspberries but they seem to ripen in small numbers and we eat those as they ripen - none in the freezer at all.  I also grow butternut squash and courgettes in pots but they never go in the freezer - squash keep well in a cupboard and courgettes don't freeze well unless they're grated into a ready meal of some sort.

Suffolk_lass

I'll be back soon - the visitors left today. We are hoping for a cauliflower cheese tonight and no leftovers

CCW007

Still working away at the little gem lettuces, not many left now!  Lots of bottom of the fridge soup over the last few days.

Latest Olio collection was 76 bags of potatoes (290kg!), 50odd bags of sprouts and 30odd bags of carrots.  Mostly rehomed but still got quite a lot of potatoes (cooking a tray of jacket potatoes to freeze every time the oven is on), about 6 bags of carrots (destined for soup which will be pressure canned) and about 10kg of sprouts, of which I have blanched and frozen about half so far.  So expect those to feature heavily on the menu!

OH is back to his 5:2 diet later this week which is a lot easier for me to plan - he has pasta and a packet sauce or homecooked jar of sauce for lunch and omelette for dinner.  This leaves me free to plan whatever I want for me rather than trying to find a veggie meal we will both eat (usually involving lots of cheese so less healthy) or separate meat / veggie meals.  

Primrose

I find the best way of using my little gem lettuces up is shredding them finely and mixing in a  bowl with shredded carrot, red cabbage, chopped celery, sultanas, salted peanuts and a a few tiny cubes of cheese, or whatever else I have which is suitable to add to  the mixture.  I always add a few slivers of lemon rind and a teaspoon of mayonnaise and find it makes a really filling meal.

My OH, who,s not really a huge salad fan can,t understand why I find all  these mixtures in a bowl so enjoyable but they help make me feel rather self-righteous too ! 

joedenise

@CCW007 - You could use some of the Brussels to make soup.  There are loads of recipes online.  Sainsbury's have a Brussel and cheese soup one.

Suffolk_lass

Ooh, @CCW007 I've just posted a suggestion for a mountain of potatoes on another Olioer's diary to suggest Boulongere potatoes - very simple and delicious - if your OH likes sausages I can vouch for twisting a few through their waist and adding them to the dish like little heads poking out (we slice in carrots too for a one-pot wonder

CCW007

Great suggestions thank you, especially like the Boulongere potatoes and the fact they can be frozen.  Yes soup will definitely feature as well!