Reverse Meal Planning

MissRikkiC

I’m jealous of your imcoming homemade biscuit collection @zafiro1984

MissRikkiC

Dinner tonight was going to be from the freezer however there was fresh stuff to use up so a veggie (mushroom and lentil) cottage pie is for dinner, with carrots and sprouts. Oven is on so the ham joint, some frozen chicken breasts, the cottage pie and a Jamaican ginger cake are all cooking. Shame I can’t have the cake mind but a nibble won’t hurt. Hope it’s nice! 

Suffolk_lass

I made this ginger nut recipe (Tesco Good Food) and OMG - I may have used slightly more ground ginger...

Anyway, if you are short of time, it just stirs together (and I used a mix of stork baking and butter to finish two packs) - SO easy, and delicious and quick - and cheap!

zafiro1984

MissRikkiC said:

I’m jealous of your imcoming homemade biscuit collection @zafiro1984

I use a very simple recipe from an old Dairy Book of Home Cookery of 1969. Everything goes in the food mixer.
225g flour, (I add 1tsp of baking pdr if the flour is plain), 100g butter/marg, 175 caster sugar white/brown. all whisked together until fine.
Then add beaten 1 egg 
Add the flavour, I have used the following and its good fun looking laterally at things wondering if they will work as biscuit flavouring

2 tsp vanilla
concentrated orange squash
2tsp ground ginger
2tsp mixed spice
50g coconut
replace 30g of the flour with cocoa pdr
50g chopped raisons
bag of chocolate chips
crushed walnuts with a bit of strong coffee pdr
crushed peanuts
Combine everything together until if forms a biscuit dough

The next bit isn't in the book but this is what I do.
I divide the mixture into three and make a sausage out of each part.
Then roll it in baking parchment and freeze several sausages together in freezer bags.
When it comes out of the freezer you don't need to defrost it just cut it into 12-15 slices, put it on the baking parchment and cook. They only take about 10 mins, and crisp up when cooling.

Many times I have put the biscuits in the oven as I am putting soup out for lunch and they are ready in time.  

Soontobeoap

Just found this thread. 🤦‍♀️. Thank you so much to the folk on grocery challenge who guided me in this direction. 
@zafiro1984 i love this odea of having biscuits in the freezer ready to cook. Great for me and Dh. I dont suppose anybody has a tried and tested recipe for gf/df ones that can be stored in the same way? They would be great for when my GSs come to stay. 

zafiro1984

Sorry to harp on about freezer stuff but I also use Mary Berry's Tray Bake recipes. Again everything goes in the Kenwood Chef.  Once mixed, I divide it into three and freeze the cake batter. I find each third makes 6 muffin sized cakes/buns. It works well with ordinary SRF but is really good with S... extra fine sponge flour. I love my freezers.......

 Suffolk Lass I tried your suggestion of a marmalade and sausage sandwich yesterday, surprisingly good ... It's a keeper

Suffolk_lass

zafiro1984 said:

Sorry to harp on about freezer stuff but I also use Mary Berry's Tray Bake recipes. Again everything goes in the Kenwood Chef.  Once mixed, I divide it into three and freeze the cake batter. I find each third makes 6 muffin sized cakes/buns. It works well with ordinary SRF but is really good with S... extra fine sponge flour. I love my freezers.......

 Suffolk Lass I tried your suggestion of a marmalade and sausage sandwich yesterday, surprisingly good ... It's a keeper

That made me smile - I found a package of Gloucester Old Spot sausagemeat in the freezer when going some top layer rummaging - I may have to just cook for sarnies!

We shall not speak of the top layer rummaging beyond admitting DH cannot count. Oh no, there are no packs of... (found three emergency SM Wheatgerm loaves and four pots of ice cream and I was literally moving the top layer. 

This morning I have started a cast iron pot of curry. Cubed frozen, seasoned beef (I bought a YS beef roasting joint of silverside, and chopped it up instead of roasting it for half the price of stewing beef) frozen bag of the butternut I started earlier in the week, three onions, a big chopped carrot and some sauce I decanted out of the NYE Curry that was too mahoosive, even for our friends who eat twice as much as us!

@Soontobeoap I am no expert on GF but I think the Dove's Farm GF flour is meant to be good, but it depends I think, on whether they are GF or coeliacs. I think their flour may come with xanthan gum in it  - but not sure - I understand that the stabilising/thickener properties of xanthan gum means it binds to other food as it emulsifies, potentially making the food harder to digest. If you can tolerate xanthan gum, the Tosco oat biscuit recipe works well. Also if you can find GF oats and baking powder the old faithful Twinks Hobnobs definitely freeze (but I freeze half in balls, not a log - spread out on a sheet until frozen then tip in a tetris bag [this is one that can be squished into a weird shaped space in your freezer, without damaging the contents] ). And this woman's recipes (more expensive) are popular with my friend who has a delicate digestive system. 

Oh, and welcome to the thread, lots of familiar faces from the grocery challenge are over here too. Do join in and have fun, share, ask and enjoy!

Suffolk_lass

There was a plastic takeaway box in the bottom of the freezer with the rest of the cubed beef (I bought a reduced roasting joint and cubed that for half the price of regular casserole steak) that didn't get used for NYE curry, so we had that last night, with the rest of the curry sauce that I removed from the NYE pot and froze too. It was supposed to be a fiery goan curry but while it was tasty, it was more of a damp squib spice-wise. I used store-cupboard basmati rice and I think there is enough left over to be DH's lunch today. I might have egg on toast.

Then we can both have soup for supper. I have a 500g pack of mince to use this week, and a sad-ish cauliflower and some broccoli that must need using. I found a bag of frozen wonky fruit too so maybe the fruit bowl can stay empty for the rest of the week

zafiro1984

I made soup from LO chicken and 2 carcasses last week but didn't have time to completely finish it so it has been frozen with half-cooked vegetables. I think I'll resurrect it for tea and maybe add a couple of dumplings as I've run out of bread rolls.
Lunch will have to be something simple and quick, some cheese in the fridge has gone hard and needs using up, so that's a possibility.

jDelight

This is a great thread! I've been doing this reverse meal planning for a long time, but now I have a name for it. Looking forward to reading through some ideas here!