Reverse Meal Planning

rtandon27

@Primrose - echoing SL - I never presoak red lentils...
Similarly yellow split peas only get used in soup so no presoaking there...
Urad dal (black gram) gets soaked overnight and then rinsed in cold water before using...
Green lentils and chickpeas I buy tinned, so they are already in liquid and cooked before being added to anything.

Suffolk_lass

EssexHebridean said:

Primrose said:

Suffolk_lass said:

I bought 200+g of minced beef last week in the butcher. I just wanted to mention that the ragu I used it for, also padded out with red lentils, carrot, celery, onion and homemade passata and all the other stuff you might expect) has made three dishes of pasta bake with a big bowl of penne I cooked yesterday. I mixed them together and divided it into three dishes, then made a cheese sauce for the first one for last night. I was quite please that 200g has made six portions. We are quite good at eating the same thing for several nights but I might defrost something else for a meal tomorrow. I think, like a stir fry, ragu sauce is just so versatile

Just a matter of curiosity, how long do people pre-soak their lentils for when adding them to these dishes to bulk them out?   People seem to use different lengths of time, and a choice of either hot or cold water.  I wonder if one method works better than another?

For red lentils I never bother pre soaking at all - just throw them in and leave the whole thing to cook gently until the lentils are soft! 

Me too with red lentils. For other lentils (same as for dried chick peas) I soak for about 2 hours then rinse well and pressure cook them for 30 mins and freeze them in takeaway boxes (I do 3-4 boxes at a time) so that once cooked, it is just like opening a tin, only cheaper

joedenise

Red lentils go straight in as no need to soak.  Dried chickpeas I tend to soak overnight and then pressure cook the next morning for about 30 minutes if I want to use them cooked.  If I'm making falafels then I just soak overnight and then use the chickpeas after rinsing in my favourite recipe which says that uncooked chickpeas are better than cooked or canned.  Most other beans and lentils I buy canned as don't use them as often.

Plenty of using up freezer food this coming week - some chicken breasts, chicken thighs, casserole veg, mince and mixed fish.  Also taken out sausages and bacon for weekend breakfasts.

JIL

I would recommend a good rinse for red lentils before they go into the cooking pot. The dust they have around them leaves a lot of scum. 

If I'm using lentils, I put them in water, whilst I prep everything else, then rinse them. Makes a difference.

My freezers are now so disorganised and packed that when I asked husband to make a cottage pie for dinner, he actually walked to the shops and bought mince, because he said it was impossible to find anything in the freezers. (I was at work)
Definitely going to do some planning to get them to a reasonable state.

Primrose

JIL said:

My freezers are now so disorganised and packed that when I asked husband to make a cottage pie for dinner, he actually walked to the shops and bought mince, because he said it was impossible to find anything in the freezers. (I was at work)
Definitely going to do some planning to get them to a reasonable state.

I think we've all been there !   My OH now has to do all the cooking, etc due to my disability and has set up freezer inventories, by drawer, which he tries to keep up to date but even so, life still gets in the way and occasional extractions get forgotten to note and strike off the list so thinking you've got a nice handy shepherds pie mix or spag bol mixture and to find it missing is annoying..   Certainly knowing what you've got in stock and exactly where to find it makes menu planning much easier.

Suffolk_lass

Primrose said:

JIL said:

My freezers are now so disorganised and packed that when I asked husband to make a cottage pie for dinner, he actually walked to the shops and bought mince, because he said it was impossible to find anything in the freezers. (I was at work)
Definitely going to do some planning to get them to a reasonable state.

I think we've all been there !   My OH now has to do all the cooking, etc due to my disability and has set up freezer inventories, by drawer, which he tries to keep up to date but even so, life still gets in the way and occasional extractions get forgotten to note and strike off the list so thinking you've got a nice handy shepherds pie mix or spag bol mixture and to find it missing is annoying..   Certainly knowing what you've got in stock and exactly where to find it makes menu planning much easier.

Oh yes. BTDT worn out that T-shirt! DH has been "looking after" the freezer in the cart lodge and I took a quick look... chaos. I need to retrieve some roasting meat so might delve a little more deeply, led by your examples!

We had a "nearly vegetable" curry last night and there is half left. I say nearly because I separately warmed up some prawns to use up a started bag and added them on top when in the dishes. DH made naan-like flatbreads (Jamie recipe SR flour, GS yoghurt and salt). Lovely, and I liberated two onions, a butternut squash, the leftover chick peas and some of the carrots I prepped, plus spinach from the freezer. It just feels that there is more than I started with in the fridge. Prepped all the celery, and three quarters of the carrots, along with Spring (green) onions (or scallions) and it all feels more under control

Soontobeoap

I do a stocktake of my freezer once a month just before my big shop for just that reason.  I have been working the freezer down for the last 4 weeks but it still seems to be full! Mainly because I keep using up leftover bits to make things up before they go into freezer. At the moment I have made a list of all the sauces that I need to use up as the little tubs take up a lot of space. I have used up the baked beans this week in 2 seperate meals. Need to use once cooked peas, sweetcorn, sweet and sour sauce, 2 hm tomatoe sauces and 2 portions of bubble and squeek and then there will be a lot more room I also have 2 bags full of runner beans from last years harvest.

When we had our kitchen done 3 years ago we bought an american style freezer but the fridge is bigger than the freezer. ☹️ With just the 2 of us I wish it was the other way round. However it is much easier to see what you have in it and I dont need to do as much bending. I also love the fact that it is open shelving so no plastic drawers that I cant open because they are so stuffed full. 🤣

QueenJess

Way too much salad in my fridge at the moment due to a slight error in my veg box ordering, so everyday will need to be salad to get through it! Luckily I love salad. Lunch for me and DH will be salad with tinned mackerel (and a slice of bread and butter). Salad will include mixed leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, grated carrot and beetroot.

Suffolk_lass

You see? Now you have mentioned tinned fish and I know I have some tuna and either pilchards or sardines (Portuguese tin, left in the back of a cupboard when we bought the motorhome)

rtandon27

Finally used the celariac, along with a pouch of coked and peeled chestnuts  - found a lovely soup recipe on R!verford"s site  - a lot of chopping to start off with but once cooked and whizzed made the equivalent of 6 tins of soup! 4 containers in the freezer, 1 in the fridge and the remaining consumed for lunch with homemade flatbreads. Two more 'use me first' ingredients used up and extra space to be found on the larder shelves!

This week's meal plan includes 3 days of meals from what we have on hand, it will be Thursday before we need to get green veg and dairy.