Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass

I have been awol as I came down with Covid over a week ago. DH got a large pack of mince out and made meatballs (served in an iron skillet with big pasta snails, a pour-over sauce and grated cheese). The next day he came down with it and I was still feeling grim so it was packet chicken noodle soup. Once I revived I used the rest of the mince, padded out with red lentils and veg to make a ragu which went into a three-day pasta bake. I also ventured out to the produce freezer and retrieved courgettes and made broccoli and courgette soup, A loaf of bread and a sausage casserole with homegrown squash and jars of tomatoes bottled in a herby oil has seen us through the rest of the week. I even made butternut fingers - an old recipe that I have modified. I'm still positive so not going anywhere and everything is from stores or the shopping DS got and left on our doorstep - with cat litter being the most urgent thing on the list. 

@Glad you could make breakfast snacks - oil a mini muffin tin then drop in a bit of smoked salmon and top up to just over half full with beaten egg and pop in the oven for ten minutes until the egg puffs up like muffins. You can pop them in a box and eat as breakfast or mid morning snacks or freeze them for later - they go equally well with bacon, bits of chipolata or spicy lentils, chickpeas or bits of roasted squash instead of the salmon and go well with cocktails...

ruby_eskimo

Hope you're both feeling better soon @Suffolk_lass

Using up the second butternut squash from my parents with a red onion and red pepper that are rolling around in the fridge to make soup for lunches this week.  Dinner tonight is the Korean Army Stew that I was supposed to have last week but didn't, but this time it's with added pak choi (another "present" from my parent's oddbox)

Suffolk_lass

ruby_eskimo said:

Hope you're both feeling better soon @Suffolk_lass

Using up the second butternut squash from my parents with a red onion and red pepper that are rolling around in the fridge to make soup for lunches this week.  Dinner tonight is the Korean Army Stew that I was supposed to have last week but didn't, but this time it's with added pak choi (another "present" from my parent's oddbox)

My friend locally used to regularly give me kohl rabi from her veg box - I treated it like turnip in stews. Pak Choi is lovely - I grow it most years

EssexHebridean

I had a nice productive weekend on the food front.
A big batch of chickpeas cooked, portioned and frozen
mince from the freezer bulked with finely chopped mushrooms and red lentils made three double portions of ragu - again, frozen
Big tub of breadcrumbs from the freezer turned into bread sauce - made enough to have with our "christmas dinner" sunday roast yesterday, and another three portions frozen too. 
First batch of marmalade made for the year - batch two will be later in the week.

I've got sausages out for tonight - and as it is entirely freezing cold here, I'll most likely do them with mash and baked beans as proper comfort food.  

I got an unexpected butternut squash in the veg box, so might roast off a couple of red peppers and make butternut squash & red pepper soup at some stage during the week - that would also make use of the remainder of the little tub of cream I bought to finish the bread sauce too. I might even be full-on decadent and buy a tin of coconut milk to put with that too - with some curry spices that would be rather nice. 

ruby_eskimo

We're also having sausages - with mash, broccoli and roasted carrots for dinner tonight.  Didn't freeze the pack in portions like I usually do so going to have to also make up a sausage and fennel pasta sauce to have on Friday but that's fine because I know that Friday is going to be a busy day so will be a great time saver.

joedenise

Another having sausages tonight, although ours are chipolatas leftover from making pigs in blankets at Christmas!  It's the only time I buy them.  We're having them with chips and beans.

Suffolk_lass

Now there's a thought. I have a plastic bag in the freezer with pigs in blankets, twisted chipolatas (cheaper than cocktail sausages) and devils on horseback that we didn't use at Christmas. I may have to copy you @joedenise for Friday.

I am still positive for Covid this morning. I've got to click and collect tomorrow - it includes some special offers on wine to replenish the white wine that went over the festive season

EssexHebridean

I always used to do my pigs in blankets that way too SL but have struggled recently to get chipolatas with sturdy enough skins to allow the twisting. I don't even bother stripping the skins off the sausages for sausage rolls these days for the same reason - they're so thin it's impossible. This year and last for the PIB's I just ended up using the chipolatas as they were and working on the basis they'd do a single one each for me & Mum rather that two each of the smaller ones. MrEH - unsurprisingly - polished off two of the full sized ones! 

Our sausages ended up being served with jackets and the lemony mustard spring greens which we are now slightly addicted to. Recipe tweaked to include a bunch of spring onions, and to sub frozen broad beans for frozen peas.

Last night's couscous came with added lemony kale, and a chunked up courgette.

I'm leaning towards sausage risotto tonight to use the remaining ones I cooked on Monday - if so then it will also use the second bunch of spring onions, the remaining mushrooms from the punnet, and some of the bag of veg box spinach. there is also a good chance* that it will feature something brassica-ey on the side. Maybe cabbage.






* near certainty 

happydenial

Enough leftover cauliflower cheese for 3 of us tonight (DH is at a postponed Xmas dinner!) - will do it with pork/veggie sausages, wedges and frozen peas.

Have got meatballs out of the freezer for tomorrow night to eat with spaghetti and tomato sauce. Will make the last ciabatta into garlic bread. I think a trip to Costco is on the cards as have completely run out of part baked rolls, salmon, washing detergent and uht oat milk!

zafiro1984

Surprisingly, it was pigs in blankets from Christmas for us last night followed by hot mince pies which I picked up in the supermarket for 20p a box of twelve during the week after Christmas. I bought several boxes and froze them, they were such a bargain. We sat in front of the woodburner as it was so cold outside.
We didn't come indoors until after dark and our old bones do feel the cold. The electric went off a couple of times during the evening so everything was done in the attached oven to the woodburner. At least we stayed warm.