Reverse Meal Planning

Baileys_Babe

joedenise said:

Tesco's have the kids fruit boxes as well!

Our local branch has currently suspended the children's fruit due to COVID-19. Maybe just this store or a national thing.

Suffolk_lass

Well the use of about 8 leeks from the garden meant we had cheesy leeks for supper, using up some milk in danger of its' end point and freeing up some of the veg bed I want to use for other things outside. I usually stir the leeks into the sauce before baking for 20 minutes with cheese on top but I just topped it this time and frankly, I think it was better as the ticker sauce on top meant the leeks didn't catch under the grill. Having had a big bowl of vegetable soup I am confident we had a balanced day's food, so I made brownies to give to DS when he comes over to collect a food parcel from outside to keep him going. 

Siebrie

Like others have mentioned before me, we also cook this way normally. We buy basics that go with almost every type of cuisine, and add different spices and use different cooking techniques to make it different.
Currently, Friday is chips and Saturday is pizza night (both from frozen) for dds. Husband and I will have a meal dds (11 and 8) don't properly appreciate. The rest of the evenings, we will cook once, eat twice or even thrice; usually a sauce, if possible served over rice the first time, potatoes the next, pasta the third time, maybe even taken to work for lunch, or with a stock cube, turned into soup. Possibly, we freeze half the sauce for eating in a couple of weeks' time. Chili con/sin carne is a great sauce to eat this way.

We had the last of the frozen pizzas last week, so yesterday, dds had beefburgers on buns with a salad. Next Friday, probably the same, as I have frozen the burger buns.

I have made the simplest tomato soup from stock:
heat 2 spoonfuls of oil in a 2l pan
add 2 spoonfuls of flour and 2 tiny tins of tomato puree
stir until all the white from the flour is invisible
add 2 teaspoons of paprika powder, 2 teaspoons of dried basil
Slowly, while stirring, add 1.5l water and 3 stock cubes (whatever you have)
add 1 bayleaf
stir and leave on a soft boil for 10 minutes
enjoy.
variation: add small meatballs, add vermicelli, add coffeecream, serve with chopped parsley

joedenise

Baileys_Babe said:

joedenise said:

Tesco's have the kids fruit boxes as well!

Our local branch has currently suspended the children's fruit due to COVID-19. Maybe just this store or a national thing.

Don't know if ours has as not been shopping at Tesco since this lockdown started.

Molly41

PasturesNew said:

I just had supper: a pack of doritos and a chocolate   

I hope you are taking a vitamin and mineral supplement x

Suffolk_lass

In different times I did an Italian Cookery course with a traditional Italian chef from a local hotel - her tomato sauce is very easy:

• Fry a finely chopped clove of garlic in ordinary olive oil (no need for extra virgin unless that is all you have) on a low heat so the garlic does not start to go brown (as this makes it bitter)
• Add a tin of chopped tomatoes (or a carton or jar of passata) and stir well
• Add a pinch of salt, twist of black pepper, some (a good teaspoon) mixed dried herbs (including oregano, mint, thyme and basil if you have these) and about half a teaspoon of sugar, then simmer slowly for about ten minutes (or while you cook the pasta or what ever you are going to eat with it).

I use this in lasagne, with layers of roasted vegetables, I add meat to it, I make melanzane parmigiana (roasted slices of aubergines in tomato sauce with cheese on top, baked again), I add red lentils (takes longer to cook if they are dried) - it is very forgiving.

Suffolk_lass

Last night we had butchers' sausages with jacket potato and salad after a long day in the garden. And very welcome it was too!

Baileys_Babe

Thanks for sharing the sauce recipe @Suffolk_lass pleased to find out my quick tomato sauce is reasonable authentic.

I like the sound of your aubergine recipe, unfortunately, nobody else in the house likes them.

Last night we had roast chicken, roast potatoes and 6 different vegetables. The carrot & swede mash and the braised red cabbage we had prepared in batches earlier in the year and it was just a case of getting them out of the freezer earlier in the day

Busy_Mee

Great idea for a thread SL. I try and do this periodically to use up what we have in. This week I made a meat and potato pie using a leftover portion of casserole from the freezer, a layer of parboiled potatoes and a pastry lid using a packet of frozen ready rolled bought (ahem) sometime ago when it was reduced to 20p. It was delicious. I have also made toad in the hole to use up a glut of sausages and minestrone soup to use up all the bendy veggies in the fridge. We made a bit of event of the minestrone soup, fresh crusty bread and a nice glass of red wine on Friday night. If we can't go to the Italian restaurant then the Italian restaurant can be recreated at home 

MrsSnowy

Good idea for a thread! As others have said this is often how I 'meal plan'. 
 Our local chippie is opening for a few hours at weekends,phone order,pay over the phone,collection time agreed,go and collect from the door! On Friday I just had to have fish ,chips and peas,DD had chicken and chips.....far too many chips for us,so 1 bag went in the freezer.
 Burgers in buns (only 1 each) for lunch yesterday,but I remembered the chips,half a bag rejuvenated was just right. I spotted fish in the freezer,YS smoked haddock,YS salmon,cheap white fish,so fish pie for lunch today,using some leeks and parsley from the freezer,third of a jar of capers from the back of the fridge,4 eggs boiled with the potatoes .2 for the pie and 2 squashed with the end of the mayo for sarnies for tea.
I keep HM crumble mix in the fridge,rhubarb out of the garden,yummy instant pud.
Only trouble is when I make something out of nothing its a real loaves and fishes thing,and then there are more parcels to freeze or eat ad nauseum.