Reverse Meal Planning

joedenise

Having got a bag of spiced mixed veg from the freezer I'm making a biryani for dinner tonight.

anaspiringhobbit

A quick rummage through the cupboard yesterday turned up 4 generous portions of black bean daal - a recipe from Jack Monroe’s book ‘Tin Can Cook’. A tin each of green lentils and black beans, tin of chopped tomatoes, an onion, some garlic, a few spices, stock, tin of coconut milk, and a tin of stewed steak with the sauce rinsed off (so partner wouldn’t complain that it was veggie!). About 70p/portion, according to Tesco, and can be had on it’s own as it’s very filling, or with rice/bread to stretch the portions.

MissRikkiC

I’ve been meaning to make something from the Jack Munroe book I have for some time now, but haven’t yet. The recipe sounds lovely @anaspiringhobbit

@joedenise you often make tray bakes, can I ask how/what you do? 

We have some sweet potato wedges and a pepper I wanted to chuck alongside some pork chops for dinner tonight, but I know I’ve mentioned it’s got soggy before and wondering what you/others do differently to me. I’ve asked before but can’t remember the answer. 

Lunch was some olio collected salami and ham on a sandwich, with the above for dinner. 

I changed my mind on dinner and had carbonara instead (someone mentioned it above) using a bit of the salami from olio and a few of the eggs we have. The veggie base for cottage pie was topped with leftover mash and bunged in the oven as another ‘ready meal’ for when the baby is here or for my daughter who can be a little temperamental with dinners. The oven was on so I cooked a gammon joint I’d bought (as a replacement for the meat I’d taken out of the freezer) to fully utilise the space and just love the value for money you get from a kg joint vs buying ‘ham’ 

I have 1 leek and half a large cauliflower left over from the veg box so using those tonight to make cauliflower and leek cheese which I may or may not stir into pasta.  

joedenise

When I do a traybake I just spray the tin add the veg; spray again and cook at about 180/200 degrees; once part cooked add the meat.  It's a case of judging how long each of the veg take.  For example if I'm adding potatoes and carrots they'll need to go in quite a while before onions and peppers.  If I'm using chicken breast, sausages or reasonably thick chops I'd put them in at the same time as the onions and peppers.  Thinner chops I'd add later.

It's worth checking BBC Good Food website for traybakes.

MissRikkiC

Thanks @joedenise I had some very thick sweet potato wedges and similar thickness pork chops so they took similar amount of time. 

Cauliflower/leek cheese went as a side to the dinner and the rest has been portioned up for my daughter. She didn’t touch a morsel tonight though which drove me batty but let’s see how tomorrow goes. 

I can usually practice such calmness over her eating and know in my heart if she was hungry she would eat but tonight I was just frustrated after rushing about to make sure it was ready, for her to literally have 1 spoon 😒 ugh! 

joedenise

Glad my rushed instructions made sense!  

MissRikkiC

A productive Friday meant I meal planned for the next fortnight and already feel better. 

The cauliflower cheese I made the other night was polished off by my toddler daughter the following day so another example of me needing to just trust her. 

Friday I purchased a few items to make the meals we wanted for the next fortnight, but in particular couldn’t find a tear and share which my husband had particularly requested so I made one instead. It was a white rolls recipe stuffed with onions cheese and garlic and all the individual rolls stuffed into a tight fitting tray together. It was absolutely delicious! I had everything in and the recipe asked for gruyere and red onions which I didn’t have but subbed for cheddar and white onions. YUM! 

There is soup out for today’s lunch (or tomorrow if it’s not defrosted) so would like to get a loaf made but otherwise I think there is 1 of the tear and share rolls left to have instead. 

Veggie sausages picked up from olio this week with Jack Munroes moonshine mash for dinner which is also perfect for small people too! 

QueenJess

I’m in desperate need of some inspiration. I made a chicken thigh casserole in the slow cooker to use up lots of veg and bulked it out with half a tin of butter beans.  Any great ideas of what I could do with the other half? Happy to be lunch for one ideas as I’m mainly pleasing myself for lunch this week.

DawnW

QueenJess said:

I’m in desperate need of some inspiration. I made a chicken thigh casserole in the slow cooker to use up lots of veg and bulked it out with half a tin of butter beans.  Any great ideas of what I could do with the other half? Happy to be lunch for one ideas as I’m mainly pleasing myself for lunch this week.

You can always freeze them for another time if they can't be used at the moment.

ruby_eskimo

QueenJess said:

I’m in desperate need of some inspiration. I made a chicken thigh casserole in the slow cooker to use up lots of veg and bulked it out with half a tin of butter beans.  Any great ideas of what I could do with the other half? Happy to be lunch for one ideas as I’m mainly pleasing myself for lunch this week.

If it's butter beans, I've just mashed them up with some tuna and red onion / cucumber / pepper to make a tuna crunch type thing to have in a sandwich or salad?