Reverse Meal Planning

zafiro1984

Suffolk_lass said:

I should hold back some watermelon to blitz - it makes a great refreshing drink with a bit of lime, soda and ice

Will do - just my sort of drink 

EssexHebridean

Hey all - just catching up after an absence though being stupidly busy. We love beetroot - MrEH has a go-to pickling recipe that we use a fair bit, and at this time of year I shred them raw through the mandoline to add to salads, coleslaw etc. So tasty! The colder months often see them getting cut into chunks, roasted and frozen. Seem to get them quite often now with the veg box which is fine by us!

I'm in the same boat as Ruby in that I need to have a properly reverse planned few weeks ahead of going away. Partly because I don't want to spend too much ahead of the trip, partly as I'd prefer that we have less in the freezer, and partly that I need to find space in the freezer beforehand to freeze our ice packs ready to pop into the cold box...

This week has so far been entirely based around "the least cooking, the better" due to the temperatures - so Tuna and sweetcorn salad on Monday, chicken and sweetcorn pasta salad last night (yes, that was indeed a single tin of sweetcorn stretched to cover two days!). Tonight will be couscous with halloumi plus assorted veggies - the last of the salady bits, probably some garlic mushrooms, maybe some roasted chick peas... MrEH is fending for himself for the next few nights as I'm away. I might cook off all the mushrooms this evening I think as I'm fairly sure he'll be able to find a home for a portion or two of garlic mushrooms - there's a half pack of bacon that needs using in the freezer too as I have a feeling he might just combine the two things, probably with pasta. He'll also be able to have whatever tatties he wants as we got a decent number with the veg box. In an ideal world he would also make good inroads on the ENORMOUS marrow that also arrived with the veg box, but in the real world that will get added to the list of things to be dealt with next week probably. 

To be used then - bravely this is working from memory as I'm at work and unsurprisingly, the freezer isn't...
- Half leg of lamb - this will be cooked over the BH weekend I think, it should do a sunday lunch plus 2 more meals the following week
- 2 tubs of roasted shredded chicken (1 of these will make a pasta salad next week, the other probably the same thing but a week later)
- 1 tub of roast lamb from the last lamb joint we had (will likely use this with couscous next week)
- 1 bag of frozen roasted tomatoes (probably will be used as a pasta sauce with lots of fresh basil and some mushrooms
- 2 tubs of roast toms & peppers - these will almost certainly get used in pasta salads with either chicken or tuna
- 1 tub of roasted mushrooms - can be added to anything that needs mushroom!
- 2 (?) tubs of HM bolognese sauce - 1 next week, one the week after? Next week's will probably be used to top roasted marrow... 
- a tub of HM dhal - use as part of an indian fakeaway over the BH weekend
- the last of a bag of nice oven chips - will be used over the BH weekend

I make that a minimum of 10 meals there then...which handily ties in rather nicely with the number of days I need to cater for. now all I need to do is remember where I've put this list...

ruby_eskimo

Sounds like a very good plan @EssexHebridean.  Last food shop tonight ahead of holiday and then the Gousto box arrives tomorrow.  The fridge is basically empty so that's a very good sign.  

Lunch today is the last chicken salad that I prepped at the weekend and then dinner is a portion of fish pie from the freezer along with some frozen broccoli and green beans.

joedenise

As we've decided to go away in the motorhome this weekend I've had to rejig the menu over the next few days!

Lunch today will be peppers stuffed with BBQ'd pulled pork (from freezer).  We're having takeaway KFC tonight with chicken from the freezer.

Have got a sausage cassoulet and a beef bourguignon for evening meals over the weekend.  We'll eat out Saturday lunchtime as we have a couple of voucher we can use which should cover most if not all the cost.  Lunch tomorrow will be sweet chilli noodles using up some of the salad stuff and sweet chilli sauce all of which are in stores.

zafiro1984

A bit remiss of me. I used the woodburner with attached oven over last winter to make casseroles/cakes/pies/puddings etc. The idea was, eat one, freeze the rest in portions to eat over the summer, use the microwave to reheat and save electric. So far so good, except I forgot to do the 'eat over summer' bit. 
Just sorted out the freezers and I'm embarrassed by just how much I have, all neatly stacked and labelled. I've certainly got enough to last until the end of the year - maybe longer. However, a problem is that I'm now collecting what I can from the garden and freezing that. 

I think I'll have to keep my purse firmly locked and improvise  - there may be some weird meals ahead!!
Tonight:-  venison and mushroom casserole, dated February now defrosting, 

Suffolk_lass

I resorted to a small freezer for HM ready-meals. I even labelled some! My garden produce (commercial freezer) is nearly full. I intend taking all the tomatoes out and processing them for jars of chopped tomatoes, but I want to do it in one or two batches of twelve (500ml) jars at a time. Tomatoes are slowing a bit but still lots to harvest so cramming stuff in. I may need to make a pumpkin soup and freeze it (ahead of the Friday for Bonfire night) when it gets sold at the free Village event. I think I have at least four large ziplock bags of pumpkin taking up space. Either that or we shall be eating veg curry this week. 

Last night's meal was grilled Lamb Chops with potatoes, green beans and carrots. Quite autumnal but delicious. Lovely locally reared lamb from the half in the meat freezer

CCW007

Will make a batch of carrot soup for lunch to use up a bag of bendy carrots and any other veg I can chuck in.  OH will have carbonara as I picked up some YS pancetta yesterday.

Dinner will be kofta wraps for OH and pad thai noodles with prawns for me.  Trying to make some space in cupboards as they are rather full (aka overflowing!)

joedenise

Found an odd chicken breast in the freezer so defrosted that overnight and sliced up along with some peppers, onions and a courgette from the fridge and turned it into fajitas for lunch.  Only thing I needed to buy specifically were the wraps as there was none left in the freezer!  The rest of the pack will be frozen.

zafiro1984

Apple and blackberry crumble, the first of the season made from this years crop. Pink lady apples, home grown, not recommended as the texture is woolly and once picked they do not keep. Blackberries/brambles from around the place. -  autumn is on its way.

Out of the freezer, 1 portion of steak and kidney and its label says 'plus port and Guinness', the date when frozen was 6/12/21 so obviously Christmas was on my mind when I made it.  I've a bit of rough puff pastry from Tuesday so I'll do a top for it and use up some beans and carrots from the fridge.
Also from freezer for my tea, some Thai green curry but I only made that a couple of weeks ago.

Suffolk_lass

I defrosted some cooked turkey that has been moved indoors from the ready made freezer in the toolshed. We had it simply with salad, homemade coleslaw and a small jacket potato. Too much for me. I left a third of the plate. I need to go for a smaller plate I think.

Followed this with some of my failed jar of bottled greengages (lifted the sugar-mould and top layer of fruit off) - we should polish them off today (three nights of desserts with a big dollop of Greek-style yogurt on top). I knew there was an issue when they didn't seal at the first attempt (because they were in a 1L jar and the others were all 500ml, which were ready more quickly). Perfectly alright under the top layer