Reverse Meal Planning

QueenJess

Dinner tonight we used the steak and ale pie we bought in the farm shop yesterday as a treat. I raided the fridge and so we had it with carrots and broad beans (with mint from the garden and a splash of lemon juice). It was so nice and now the fridge is much emptier. I also cut up the watermelon in there into chunks as I am the only one that will cut up melon 🤷‍♀️. This way I can guarantee it will all disappear very fast.

I was awake at 4 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I planned dinners until Weds and lunches until next weekend using up what I could remember we have in the fridge and starting to work through the smaller freezer. I’d like all the veg to disappear before Thursday (veg box day) and the fridge to be cleared in the not too distant future. Should be achievable and then I can concentrate better  on clearing the freezers (the smaller one first) and the cupboards.

Anyway, tomorrow’s dinner will be Tofu stir fry with sweet chilli sauce (both items in the fridge and needs to be used up) and whatever veg I can find in the drawer (probably red pepper, summer greens/radish tops, radishes, carrots) and supplementing with freezer sweetcorn. Wish me luck as I am not a big meat fan at all, but DH and DS really are…. neither have had tofu before 😬. DD will be fine.. if it’s food she will eat it 😂. Will serve with rice as I have a huge bag to use up before October.

Oh - I almost forgot, but I used up the last of the blueberries in the fridge with my porridge this morning. Progress is definitely being made.

@Suffolk_lass I’m going to have to be very strict with myself to make sure things are used up and I don’t start stocking up before I’ve cleared everything out. I’ve already got a running list for next week for only the things I need for my meal plan (which will allow me to use up the oldest things). Nothing else off list will be purchased!

joedenise

Was invited out for dinner last night so the planned kedgeree will be dinner tonight.  It will a mixed fish one as I'd already got out some salmon which didn't get used and I've defrosted from prawns for my sandwich lunch and there's a few of those left over so they can go in too.

I've got some noodles which need to be used up so will chop those up and make sweet chilli noodles with chopped up veg for lunch tomorrow - and probably the day after as well!

QueenJess

Flapjacks also in the oven today to keep DH away from the expensive snack bars and a nice afternoon snack in the week for me. Used up the last OOD egg (I checked it in water), almost to the end of DD’s baby strawberry porridge she won’t eat, make a tiny dent in the 3 large bags of porridge oats and used up the end of a bag of sultanas, apricots and cranberries. Still tons of baking stuff and the drawer is groaning.  This is going to take a very long time!

MissRikkiC

After 2 bbqs this weekend (1 veggie) we are yet to use the things which need it in the fridge. For lunch I’ve had 2 wraps with half a can of tuna, tomatoes, cottage cheese and cucumber. I picked some coriander from the garden to liven up a brown avocado and a cos lettuce from the salad planter which I’ve recently learnt aren’t cut and come again! 

Dinner has to be a stir fry style dinner, tofu instead of meat so sugar snaps (from the garden) peppers, onion, mushrooms and maybe some thinly sliced potatoes disguised. 

I could add some broccoli but I think I’ll save that for tomorrows dinner!

EssexHebridean

I'm currently in that annoying situation where food seems to be multiplying in spite of my best efforts!

Friday night's tea lead to two tubs of dhal and a bag of garlic flatbreads going into the freezer. A tub of redcurrant puree followed on Saturday (and the tub of icecream that the rest of the puree created!), and then the veg box arrived with various "glut" bits that needed dealing with, so cue a baking tray full of chopped beef tomatoes and mixed chopped peppers, and a further smaller pan of chopped mushrooms both going into the oven with the meat yesterday. (All destined for freezing - the mushrooms have gone in already, I need to find space for the toms/peppers still). Then Mum asked if we could use a bag of frozen mushrooms she'd got but won't eat (they were Dad's)...  

This week is one of those where I'm struggling to incorporate much from the freezer to the meal-plan as well, as much as I'm trying! Some of the glut of salad leaves will get used for tea tonight, and I can easily have salad for my lunch a couple of days too, which will also help the existing batch of rolls last the week.  More of the glut of peppers (veg box!) will go into the salads, and also  with couscous and the leftover lamb from yesterday for tomorrow. the balance of the tenderstem broccoli and the last of the butternut squash will also be used for tomorrow night. 

Next week's meal plan needs to be based almost entirely around freezer stuff! 

QueenJess

I stuck religiously to the list this morning when I popped out to get some bits I needed for this week.

Lunch today was wholewheat spaghetti (needs using up when it’s just the adults), with red pesto (still lots to use up in the fridge before it goes off), cherry tomatoes and basil leaves. Snacks for later are the flapjacks I made earlier, fruit, yogurt. Dinner is veggie sausages with mashed potato, summer greens and carrots to try and get through the veg in the fridge. Pudding is the last of the orange and apricot cake.

I don’t know why they make the jars of pesto so large as it is a real struggle to get through them before they go mouldy. DS won’t eat it either, so that doesn’t help!

MissRikkiC

Top up your jar with a bit of oil each time @QueenJess and it should stop the top layer being mouldy 

happydenial

Or you also can freeze pesto in an ice cube tray. 

zafiro1984

happydenial said:

Or you also can freeze pesto in an ice cube tray. 

I'm a great one for using the freezer for bits and pieces, but not too great on labelling.
I sometimes find an unlabelled bag, defrost it, and make something once I know what it is. Strange, but I quite enjoy doing that.

I spent quite a lot of time last winter/spring using the woodburner/oven to make casseroles/puddings/cakes and freezing them in portions, (I did label them) I'm using them at the moment as we are quite busy. I get a couple of portions out - main and pudding - in the morning to defrost, so all I have to do at teatime is the veggies and use the microwave.

A couple of years ago I made a casserole - can't remember which meat I used - but I found a bag of 'baby onions' unlabelled in the freezer, added them frozen to the casserole only to find out later they were gooseberries - ugh - most went in the bin.  

QueenJess

Thanks for the tips @MissRikkiC and @happydenial I will definitely be using those. I absolutely refuse to add more to my freezer at the moment though… I need to take things out rather than add them back in!

So today’s using up efforts (all fridge based) for breakfast I had the last of the strawberries from the fridge with some squelchy bananas half eaten by the kids on my porridge.

Lunch will be fish finger sandwiches using up some sad lettuce leaves in the fridge, the bread before it goes mouldy and the tartare sauce in the fridge.

Dinner is baked salmon with a covering of sun dried tomato pesto, new potatoes, spring greens and broccoli. Pudding is mixed fruit salad (melon, grapes, apple, orange) with yogurt (yogurt needs using up as does the fruit).

I’ve cut up half a honeydew melon in the fridge as it should disappear quicker that way and I must remember to cut up the rest of the cucumber for DS post school snacks. I found a cooking apple at the bottom of the veg drawer, so I think I can see crumble in the near future.

I think I may be working on the fridge for longer than I thought…. It’s really going to take an age to clear everything out! Hopefully it’ll be cheaper though as I’m using more of what I have around.