Reverse Meal Planning

zafiro1984

If I'm honest I enjoy the leftover turkey/bones/ham/stock and everything you do with it more than the original meal.

EssexHebridean

I completely identify with that view! 😁

Mission “how low can you go” on the grocery spending is underway - shopped at Lil’s this morning and spent a grand total of £13.02 - fruit, veg, milk and yogurts. There are a few more bits still on the list which will be got during a visit to T’s over the weekend, but I’m aiming to keep it low still.

Tea this evening was a reverse planned masterpiece of lamb burgers, buns and oven chips from the freezer with the last of the cranberry sauce as a relish. And this afternoon, a big pile of 15p parsnips, some 15p shallots, some ham stock from the Christmas gammon and half a tub of nearly out of date crème fraiche were turned into soup with a few handfuls of red lentils and some spices. 

Food plans for tomorrow are our usual toast for breakfast I think - although I might do scrambled eggs with it as we have eggs that need using. Some of the soup for lunch - we have 5 big portions 3 of which have been frozen. Tea is probably going to be picky bits left over from Christmas, along with some cheese and crackers if needed - I can’t quite recall how many of the picky sort of things we have left. 

Suffolk_lass

Yesterday was our village monthly lunch, today used the remaining chipolatas I bought for new year and did not get used. A big plate with mash, savoy cabbage and carrots I shared with the dog (only the carrot!). I scoffed the last bit of Christmas cake this afternoon and we have shared the last two portions of tiramisu this evening.

That leaves only cheese, but with my excema threatening to break out under my mouth, that is it for me. Eggs, soup, meat & lots of veg with said meat and in sauces or on their own, and some stewed fruit with yogurt are going to be my staples for a few weeks to reset my dietary expectations. I think I will try the Dr MM 800ish without counting and just remove the starchy carbs, at least for the rest of January. The speed at which I start feeling better is always reassuring,  but 8 weeks is long enough in one go. 

On here, the upside is that DH can eke the potatoes out and I will only need milk this week, all being well.

EssexHebridean

I will cheerfully eat your share of any cheese going begging SL - thankfully we still have plenty! 😁

rtandon27

We've got a cheese mountain too!  The wax cheddar truckles all went into the freezer along with the stilton and Italian mozzarella. We have a cube of Norwegian Brunost which will keep until September so can live unopened in the fridge & a French Camembert which is ripening quickly and will need to be eaten soon, if only to keep the fridge a bit fresher smelling. There is a rather large block of cheap and cheerful cheddar unopened in the fridge as well, but has a few good weeks on it.

Brunch this morning finished off the last of the salami with some fried eggs and a baby greens salad - also had a Mr A whole wheat tortilla with it, but definitely won't repurchase those as both OH & I found them strangely sweet.

Dinner on Saturdays has become roast, as it's easier than trying to squeeze it in on a Sunday which always end up being superbly busy! Today was a small beef roast picked up as a Christmas special, made as a pot roast with red onion and carrots.  (Lots of jus and onions left to do up a cheaters French onion soup.) I got the OH to do his gorgeous roasties as we still had King Edwards in the house from the festive shop.  Plenty of leftovers packed away for the next two days when we will have no time to cook anything from scratch!

rtandon27

Last Night's dinner was a low effort low spend one made from what we had in the house. Tortellini (shelf stable) with artichoke truffle pesto from the stores, and tossed into it, some diced red pepper, mixed salad leaves and some chopped roast beef. Very tasty and filling for a wintery night.

Suffolk_lass

Over here we had simple stuffed peppers, my basic minced beef ragu and a little grated cheddar in the leftover Christmas pepper, with a second purchased one, and shared portions of the already cut, slightly sadder yellow pepper. The aga was turned off on Sunday as the engineer was coming, so this used a slow cooker.

Then I added more chilli and beans; (homegrown) borlotti, frozen pre-cooked chick peas and a can of baked beans, to the slow cooker, to convert it to a chilli for another two nights, and moved it to the aga once it was back up to temperature - that reminds me, it is in the warming oven still...

joedenise

Going to use some of the LO roast lamb leg, some pepper, a red onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes and add to some noodles and then stir through some sweet chilli.  So easy but very tasty.

Suffolk_lass

joedenise said:

Going to use some of the LO roast lamb leg, some pepper, a red onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes and add to some noodles and then stir through some sweet chilli.  So easy but very tasty.

The best sort, simple but tasty!

EssexHebridean

Love a simple but tasty meal - such a winner!

I made use of two cooked sausages from the freezer last night - cooked some chopped shallots, mushrooms, and a small sliced red pepper, added in the sliced sausages and the remainder of the creme fraiche plus plenty of seasoning and some chopped parsley, then threw in a pile of cooked pasta which also had broccoli cooked with it and tossed it together with some cheapskates-parmesan. VERY tasty - I often use soft cheese for  pasta sauces, but don't usually have creme fraiche so it made a nice change.

Tonight is the tuesday night staple of couscous and roast veggies - with halloumi, tonight I think. The air fryer will be coming into its own, and I plan to do enough veg that I can save some to go into a frittata later in the week too as there are 6 eggs which have their date creeping up!