Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass

In the end we skipped lunch until 3pm so had some crackers with cheese (him) or Philly (me) and a bag of crisps (highly nutritious, not!). He had half the curry for supper with freshly cooked rice and I made a cheese sauce to top the frozen pasta with spot the meat ragu that remained. He snaffled the remains of the pasta bake as a bed-time snack. So still got the mince to incorporate this week

EssexHebridean

Well after a rather topsy turvy few weeks hopefully we can get back into meal planning and specifically reverse meal planning. My first challenge is to use up things that have been kicking about for a while - and accordingly tonight's original plan of couscous is now converted to "something with eggs" as I have half a box that are creeping up on their date. I may well end up doing mine as an omelette in a wrap, and MrEH will have his with a jacket tattie alongside. 

Last night's sausages were eaten with mash & beans - and I cooked double mash so as to have sufficient for topping a cottage pie for tomorrow. And the last two cooked sausages are stashed in the fridge ready for sausage pasta on Thursday. Friday is currently a mystery but might end up as curry - not least as I have some greek yogurt which can go into flatbreads to go with. (might make dal too - we've discussed a mutual love of dal on here before, no?)

Zafiro - the biscuit recipe looks fab and I have bookmarked that for the future - can you confirm an oven temperature please? Ta! 

zafiro1984

EssexHebridean said:

Zafiro - the biscuit recipe looks fab and I have bookmarked that for the future - can you confirm an oven temperature please? Ta! 

In the book its says 190C but they (the biscuits) appear to be reasonably flexible. I've put them in the mini oven I have in the pantry and then turned it on. I've put them in the oven attached to the woodburner, the temperature of which you cannot control and they've been fine as well. I think the trick is to keep an eye on them and pull them out when they have turned a light golden colour - they will be soft but crisp up on cooling. 
I'm sorry but I'm a bit hit and miss with all my cooking temperatures, I tend to cook using my nose and eyes but probably cook at a slightly lower temperature than recipes say. 

 

joedenise

Have had to change the menu plan as my friend gave me a M&S cheesy vegetable bake which can't be frozen (they were on offer with 2 only costing an extra 50p!).  She'd planned on freezing one but as she couldn't she's given it to me.

So I've found some lamb chops in the freezer and we'll have them with the veg bake and some mash.  I'm only going to use half a pack today and we'll have the other half in a day or two.  I'm using cheese at lunchtime and don't like to have too much in one day!  Just hope it's nice, LOL!

MissRikkiC

I looked in the fridge tonight and honestly felt like defrosting something instead, there was next to nothing! A few spring onions, a green pepper and half a broccoli was all there was 😅 managed a couple of tablespoons of pesto all cooked in a bit of garlic and stirred through some linguine. Could’ve been worse i guess! 

Soontobeoap

Dd bought us fish and chips last night so my gf fish will stay in freezer until the boys come again at Easter. I was determined to make something from what we have in and not go to shops again. Found some mince in freezer and some gf white sauce and made up a lasagna. GSs thought it was the best meal of their hols. 😂 

EssexHebridean

Thanks Zafiro - I'll definitely be giving those a go! 

Cottage pie last night was delicious - a good hearty plateful of proper winter food, and plenty of veg crammed into it as well between onion, mushroom and courgette. 

Tonight is going to be shakshuka I think - that should work OK on a night when MrEH will be eating later as he/I can just reheat his with the eggs cracked in when he gets back. It's replacing the originally planned sausage pasta as I have two eggs I need to get used up before they start running the risk of going floaty! 

zafiro1984

Tea was a bit of a mixture last night. I had veg from the fridge thrown together as a stir fry. I rather think I got carried away and made more than I needed but rose to the occasion. DH had a 2hr CPD zoom lecture so he had gammon sandwiches, a premade jelly and I did notice an open bottle of the red stuff in front of his computer later.
Tonight will be an easy tea. Flan with gammon, mushrooms and maybe peas/sweetcorn to bulk it out. I have a lettuce that needs using up so the inside will be for us and the outer layers as a treat for the geese. Pudding - ice-cream

Suffolk_lass

Lots of convenience for us as I was out last night and the aga blew its fused spur switch (we don't know why) at some point yesterday morning and began to cool rapidly - so we had to revert to the bottled LPG hob and the combi small oven (summer kitchen) for beans on toast with a poached egg on top, for lunch and DIY supper; cheese and crackers when I got back with a stick of celery and the last plum from the two week old TGTG bag from morries. DH had (hm sourdough) bread roll and marmite, and the rest of the baked beans in an omelette.

The electrician came after he finished work and reluctantly replace the whole switch (reluctant because it was evident it started a while ago and we don't know why) and it is back up to temperature this morning

zafiro1984

Suffolk lass:- glad you are back up to speed with your cooking. I can see from what you wrote you have your back-up system in place. A back-up is a necessity.

Back in the 80's we bought a house for renovation. We intended to do it over a couple of years whilst living in our original house, however we had to move into it very quickly as a new employee needed accommodation which meant our old house.
My kitchen for six months was:- work top was an old door on breeze blocks, the cooker was a microwave, slow cooker and electric fryer. There was no running water just a tap outside plus a well, no bathroom so we put a bath outside the back door so we could empty it straight onto the ground. Luckily there were no close neighbours, however, we did have a loo. The kettle worked very hard.  To be honest it didn't bother me living like that, (plus two teenage children and a full time job) I smile at how we managed back then, but I know I couldn't do it again.

Lunch will be LO's from last night. There is very little in the fridge apart from vegetables and some cheese so I'll get some chicken thighs out of the freezer and do something with them. No doubt there will be LO's. It feels we always live on LO's