Reverse Meal Planning

rtandon27

@moginstein - would lobe to have a link to you quick kimchi! I adore the long fermented stuff and always have a jar in the fridge 😍

moginstein

@rtandon27
I can't find the original I used, but this looks very similar.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/recipes/quick-kimchi
I used sweetheart cabbage because I tend to buy it for other things, but it takes more massaging to get it to break down, so Chinese leaf is probably easier. And I use chilli flakes not paste, and no fish, and thin slices not grated radish. Mine isn't fermented, so not as good for you, but we like it, and it ends up being a huge veg portion. I keep thinking I've made too much, but I'll save it for another day, but there is never any left 
So, my version is, sweetheart cabbage, chopped into 1 inch bits, (smaller if it it the ribs,  but often keep these for Bokkeumbap), salt added, and massaged to break it down, about 5 - 10 minutes. Leave for an hour. Rinse and drain a few times (sometimes leaving soaking for 30 minutes in between to help get the salt out). Drain and squeeze out to get as dry as reasonably possible. Fluff up, add sprinkle of garlic powder, ground ginger, chilli flakes, and stir. Add apple cider vinegar, stir. Julienne of carrot, sliced radish, and sliced salad onion, stir, taste cabbage bit. Adjust to taste (normally add more garlic and then vinegar, but occasionally 1/4 teaspoon sugar)
If you're used to it anyway, you can probably add things to make it taste how you want / more authentic!

rtandon27

Oh lovely - thanks for the recipe - we have everything in house except the fresh chives in house, so would be a good reverse plan recipe to work into the meal plan!  We may have dried chives lurking so will have to have a rummage in the spice cupboard.  OH will be up for the chopping so he can be sous-chef for this one

Have just had a major freezer tidy & discovered an abundance of roasted chicken meat & some frozen pastry, so definitely a pie on the horizon.  Also quite a few ready cooked items that can be cobbled into ready meals for the week.  Haven't got my head fully around that one yet - but as Saturday is normally meal plan day, I may pop on later with a mostly reverse plan.

The miserable weather today has inspired me to get the slow cooker on.  Sliced leeks from the freezer, potato, red onion & veg 'stock' from the stores, thyme from the herb pots in the summer house - once cooked will be whizzed for a lovely leek & potato soup to be had with toasted buttered bagels.

On the stove, in the stock pot we have 4 chicken carcasses and assorted bones/skin that have been taking up the better part of a drawer in the freezer.  As we only have just under a litre of meat bone broth left in there, I'm hoping to make at least 2 litres of chicken bone broth for cooking & soups.  Our joints have been unusually achy as of late & I"m pretty sure it's down to not having our regular intake of bone broth in the diet!

As a bonus we have a house full of lovely autumnal smells which is better than bemoaning a distinct lack of summer sunshine!

Suffolk_lass

That sounds interesting. I make a traditional coleslaw with chopped green chillies for a bit of interest but I might adapt some of this (I grow, then freeze chillies - excellent for reducing residual spice on fingers, without them deteriorating when they defrost too). How interesting that you attribute aching bones to food. I must admit I assume it is attributable to three other things; sugar in our diet, age and the weather! Something to ponder.

I made a sort of courgette gratin last night. Sliced and fried in oil and a little butter, (for those that do), I layered the browned courgette discs over half a jar of homemade passata in a gratin dish with sliced beefsteak tomatoes and then fried off some very thin discs of red onion and three slightly dry cloves of garlic, and added these. After pouring over the rest of the passata, and adding a handful of grated, frozen parmesan, I remembered the cold boiled potatoes, so I sliced these on top and added a handful of grated cheddar. It went in on 200c plus grill for 20 minutes leaving a bit more texture to the onions, as I know DH is not wild about cooked courgettes away from soup. Having omitted to season, I sprinkled mixed herbs (I had meant to add basil and mint to the passata!) then black pepper (the passata was salted) and a sprinkle of chilli flakes. I really like it. DH didn't eat the leftovers though, so maybe not his thing (or it may have been because he was still prepping the wall to decorate so missed the snackage window last night!

I had made a small rice pudding earlier yesterday so we had that for dessert. Very autumnal!

rtandon27

Suffolk_lass said:

...How interesting that you attribute aching bones to food. I must admit I assume it is attributable to three other things; sugar in our diet, age and the weather! Something to ponder.

SL - while I agree 100% that too much sugar contributes to aches and pains and that aging is inevitable, I'm a huge advocate of making healthy food choices not just for the joy of eating but also for the nutritional & healing properties.  That old adage of 'you are what you eat' holds true for us!  We happily bask in the compliments that come as a result of healthy living which often are along the lines of 'you most certainly don't look your age!'  Bone broth in particular has protein, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous. Boiling down connective tissue also provides collagen in addition to the goodness from the bones & cartilage.  Why pay over the top for beauty creams and supplements that help skin & joints when a little effort and that no waste ethos gives us lovely jellified bone broth to add to soups, stews & risottos!

Our reverse plan for the day will include a beautiful huge cauliflower we picked up last week, along with oven roasted chickpeas from the stores and a tarator bread & walnut sauce made with the heals of a sourdough loaf & some store cupboard nuts.  Mondays are meatless in our house to make up for the inevitable slight excesses of the weekend.  We went to a village festival yesterday and with two other friends and with no encouragement needed, dived into a cinnamon bun, pistachio cannoli, a bacon bap & a frankfurter (or two.  There also may have been a few rounds of gin sampling along the way.  Four (maybe five) treats in one go were good for the spirit, but today we'll need to load up on fruit and veg to make up for it!

joedenise

Was going to have the LO lamb and butterbeans for dinner tonight but there just isn't enough stock in it.  As I want lamb stock in it I will need to buy some more stock pots as I used the last one I had to make it.  Will buy that tomorrow when I go shopping.

After a rummage in the freezer we are having Spanish rice tonight with a piece of chicken I found and some chorizo which will be cooked with paella rice along with some onions and I'll probably throw in some peas and plenty of smoked paprika.  A lovely one pot meal so minimal washing up - always a bonus!

EssexHebridean

Hello all - it sounds like I'm not the only one struggling to equate the current weather conditions with "it's august!" - honestly, isn't it just ludicrous!

So I'm not so much reverse planning this week as making it up as I go along - we only got back from the 10 days working at the beer festival on Sunday at about 10pm, so I went out yesterday to shop for the week but my poor tired brain couldn't cope with meal planning as well so I adopted the approach of buying lots of fruit and veg, and a couple of protein options to fit in as suited. 

Last night was prawn stir fry - and this evening will be the tuesday evening classic of couscous with roasted veggies and halloumi. I've got pork chops for tomorrow - those will probably be cooked plainly with boiled new potatoes and fresh veg, and current thinking for Thursday is marinaded pork chops probably with rice...there should be enough broccoli and mushrooms left that I can do those lightly stir fried to go with that, too. The remaining two chops can go in the freezer for another meal, and I'll go through the freezer at some point to start planning for all that's in there now as with hopefully getting our moving date soon I'd sooner we used up what we could, even though we ought to be able to just take it straight from one freezer to the other, pretty much. 

Suffolk_lass

I was out last night so DH saw to himself. He had a huge chicken breast that we would have shared in a stir fry but he was happy (and my meal was paid for by my friend). Tonight we are having beans. We have loads of them, usually we have them steamed with a dob of butter and some course grated cheddar, salt and pepper and they are like young asparagus. Maybe a couple of poached eggs and some new potatoes if we have done enough to be hungry

rtandon27

Our dinner last night used up a tin of water chestnuts, a tin of pineapple, frozen chicken breast, 2 fresh peppers and a large onion.  All from the stores and the tins in particular languishing since the days of lock down.  We had the hirsute bikes s&s chicken.  The recipe made an enormous amount so we had some for lunch today as well with a bit of cooked chicken thigh that was discovered languishing in the fridge.  Very tasty and the water chestnuts gave it a lovely crunch.

I would love to reverse plan a nibbly meal based on two gifted bottles of wine - lol - a rose and a blush, respectively a canadian wine and an Italian one.  OH who only likes red is miffed as I suggested we go to a friend's with said bottles as he'd be the designated driver - LOL - further discussion may be required 😉 

EssexHebridean

I've started a bit of a long-list of meals I can make mainly from stuff from the freezer between now and whenever we move. I'm still minded that some stuff can cheerfully get packed into the cold box with all the ice packs and will stay frozen until we can get it into the freezer at the new house, but I'd like to minimise that down to only the stuff that I wouldn't be able to use up in the timescale ideally! (I'm notably thinking here of our Stornoway black, white and fruit puddings brought back from holiday!) 

This evening will be two pork shoulder steaks marinaded last night done as a tray bake with the remainder of the pack of new tatties, and assorted bits of veg. The marinade inspired me to get out a bottle of chipotle sauce that we were given in a goodie bag at the Good Food Show several years ago out of the storecupboard and crack it open. I had a cautious taste and it didn't seem to be overly hot - we will find out tonight whether this was a correct evaluation!

Tomorrow is already (reverse) planned as Lamb & chickpea curry - with the lamb, chickpeas, some roasted peppers and ready cooked onions removed from the freezer. I might batch cook daal to have with it.

I have plans to batch cook some ragu over the weekend - it will add to the stocks in the freezer short term, but also give me options on super-easy meals over the next few weeks which  might be very welcome.