Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass

Husband just had the other 2 and all 6. @JingsMyBucket that was probably it for our luck but made me laugh 😃 

EssexHebridean

I whizzed up the spare smoked mackerel fillet with a good blob of soft cheese and a couple of teaspoons of horseradish sauce and it’s done lunch for us both today and enough spare for another day too so that’s off to the freezer.

Got to go out in a bit but will be cooking up a batch of Ragu that can be turned into bolognese or chilli later on - the other three batches of mince were able to be squeezed into the freezer by MrEH last night thank goodness. It’s just occurred to me that if I make  Friday night’s tea burgers and chips I can get another pack of mince out, the brioche buns and some of those oven chips, though… 

Suffolk_lass

Don't you just hate it when you nudge the mouse and it swipes and removes your draft post?

I need to audit what I have in freezers. The theory is all well and good but I have compromised a few times with what is where and have basically lost track now.

Supper is clear after I found a small bag of decanted chipolatas and there are two huge potatoes and three little ones - so will suggest either Jacket potato or mash and salad to have with them. I have actually run out of carrots so some shopping is needed. We might do a market run together tomorrow (or it might be just me as there is a delivery of metal rods coming - don't ask!).

Primrose

EssexHebridean said:

I whizzed up the spare smoked mackerel fillet with a good blob of soft cheese and a couple of teaspoons of horseradish sauce and it’s done lunch for us both today and enough spare for another day too so that’s off to the freezer.

 

I like the sound of this.  We occasionally have a couple of kipper fillets in the freezer for kipper sarnies which don't always get used up, so they could be stretched in a similar way.

EssexHebridean

A freezer audit is needed here too - I completely forgot to get the chicken out for the planned stir fry last night (yes, I ran out of time for the ragu in the end, so just compromised by cooking off the mince ready to do it today instead) and then struggled like mad to find it when I came to look.  I’m minded to try to get it to stretch to three meals I think - 2 can go in the freezer once I’ve created some more space in there and the other can be eaten over the weekend. 

Also need a bit of a fridge audit I think - and a plan to use some stuff. I know there’s carrots that need rescuing before they go icky - I can blanch and freeze those - the beetroot might get pickled again, and I’m considering soup with the parsnips and half a large cauliflower… 

joedenise

It's been all change here with the meal plan!  I got carried away with the time while I was sewing and left it too late to do the planned pasta bake so we ended up with cauliflower cheese & chips followed by fruit and frozen yoghurt ice cream for me and apple pie and ice cream for DH.  Cauliflower would have needed using up in a couple of days anyway.

As I'd got some pork in the fridge to do pulled pork today that's what we'll be having, will keep some out to have in rolls tomorrow lunchtime and the rest will be frozen in portions - the piece of pork is supposed to serve 8 but with the amount of fat  and skin I've cut off it's probably less than that but will have to wait and see!  We'll have that with sweet potatoe wedges and corn on the cob.

The pasta bake will get moved to tomorrow night now!  Then we should be back on track with the meal plan!

MissRikkiC

EssexHebridean said:

A freezer audit is needed here too - I completely forgot to get the chicken out for the planned stir fry last night (yes, I ran out of time for the ragu in the end, so just compromised by cooking off the mince ready to do it today instead) and then struggled like mad to find it when I came to look.  I’m minded to try to get it to stretch to three meals I think - 2 can go in the freezer once I’ve created some more space in there and the other can be eaten over the weekend. 

Also need a bit of a fridge audit I think - and a plan to use some stuff. I know there’s carrots that need rescuing before they go icky - I can blanch and freeze those - the beetroot might get pickled again, and I’m considering soup with the parsnips and half a large cauliflower… 

I too have 2 huge beetroots which id enjoy pickling vs anything else (other than making cake ofc) so I’d be keen on your recipe. That said, I’m very aware I’ve 1 pickled onion left in a jar of shop bought pickling juice/vinegar …. Anyone know if I can reuse this? 

I started a cupboard inventory yesterday before needing to deal with more pressing things…. There was such an imbalance across our cupboards it’s unreal. I’m not joking when I say there were 20 types of carb stores, pasta rice etc but only 3 tins before I went shopping! Maybe a veggie diet to get through some would help… although that would’ve help the freezer! 🤪

Primrose

I too have 2 huge beetroots which id enjoy pickling vs anything else (other than making cake ofc) so I’d be keen on your recipe. That said, I’m very aware I’ve 1 pickled onion left in a jar of shop bought pickling juice/vinegar …. Anyone know if I can reuse this? 

I confess to re-using surplus vinegar left in a pickle jar after the last item has been eaten. The only caveat I would mention is not to let the newly pickled items stay unused for too long as the strength of the vinegar will probably have been diluted by liquid contained  in the first items.  A few months has proved ok and if necessary you can always top up with new vinegar. Beetroot is probably better in those case than cucumbers for example as the latter contain a lot of liquid.    

You may wish to re boil the vinegar just to resterilise it first.

MissRikkiC

Thanks @Primrose that’s really helpful! 

MissRikkiC

Used up chicken I’d got out for sandwiches tonight instead to make a pie to use up a few odds and ends of veg from the fridge. 

A couple of quite frankly minging carrots, onions and mushrooms with a bit of stock topped with freezer pastry. 

Leftover from the pie dish made a single pie again and remaining off cuts of pastry have been sprinkled with Parmesan and salt and twisted into plaits. 

My daughter had 1 big dollop of mixture across some precooked potatoes and veg which went down well. 

Some strange plant based bbq things fell out of the freezer yesterday so we had those for lunch today on a toasted  sandwich with a bit of a salad bag. The rest went into a tasty pesto! 

Still to use up are heaps of potatoes and more onions. Ohhhhh Spanish omelette?!?!