Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass

I've slow cooked two short ribs (Jacob's ladder) and an oxtail to go in my chilli that we plan to have one night this week plus when the first of our friends arrive on Friday. The rest of the weekend is fish and seafood as the other couple are pescatarian.

I have some wild salmon (3 packs of two fillets, two of which were YS) in the freezer and one discovery pack of smoked salmon I had forgotten (the freezer audit alerted me) from Christmas, plus three more packs I bought before the audit (ho hum, there's nothing like a plan and that purchase was nothing like a plan!), and at least three packs of shell-on prawns and one pack of shelled raw prawns. So, soup and seafood sharing platter with home-made bread on Saturday for lunch and baked salmon parcels with simple steamed veg and potatoes for supper on Saturday. They all leave on Sunday. I will need to buy a few things, Friday I think, and bake bread and shortbread.

Sorry for the brain-dump, it helps me plan. I must buy baked beans... and bran flakes... off to plan stuff in Morries on-line basket now

EssexHebridean

Morning all!

This week we will mostly be eating Chicken - as I roasted a large one on Sunday and it's rubberising rather nicely! Meat all stripped off on Sunday afternoon, and I've stuck the carcass in the freezer ready for stock at some stage - I have turkey stock at the moment so won't fret about making any more for a while.

We had a brief break from poultry last night in the form of a ham and veg risotto using scraps of ham from a bumper bag of mixed sliced meat I got from M's deli section a while back. we're still eating various options from that for lunches, too. As well as the thrifty scraps of the ham, it also used up some extra cooked veg over and above what we needed on Sunday.
This evening will be some of the chicken with couscous and roasted veggies. I'll probably strip a leg down for that as it will work well. 
There is also a plan for chicken tomorrow in the form of a Spanish inspired dish with chopped toms, smoked paprika and probably a tin of butterbeans thrown in. Once that is sorted I'll split up whatever of the chicken is left and get that frozen in portions - I'm hoping for 2 tubs plus perhaps some scraps for a future risotto. 
Thursday will be sausage and mash I think - but ironically the only sausages I have in the freezer at the moment are chicken ones! 

Cluck! Cluck! 

zafiro1984

I've been readjusting my food budget for the year. I suppose like most people I have an annual budget, mine is based on Nimble fins average for 2, what I can afford, and what bulk buys I have in the freezer. I try and buy my meat in bulk and quite often (but not always) from the producer. We tend not to eat beef but venison for two reasons. First - and I did a double take when I worked it out - if you buy a carcass it works out cheaper than beef and secondly I don't buy farmed venison but wild venison from a local shoot as they are organic.. That knocked £3 off my weekly budget. I was almost out of sausages and pork  - I have just 2 sausages and a small shoulder joint left - A phone call to the local pig man means I have half a Tamworth arriving next week. Another £3 knocked off the weekly budget. An expensive Jan/Feb but it should even out over the year. 

Tonight  - leftovers from the last couple of days, cottage pie (not beef) green beans, rhubarb/ginger/orange crumble with custard. All I have to do is reheat everything and make the custard - easy night, might even have a glass of something

joedenise

Didn't realise when I picked up a chicken for the weekend joint that the use by date was yesterday so cut it in half and put half in the freezer as need some raw chicken later in the month and roasted the other other for dinner.

Had originally planned a beef stew for last night but we had that this evening.  There's still loads left over but not enough to split into more than one more meal so I'm going to add a tin of mixed beans and then hopefully split it into enough for 3 more meals for the 2 of us.  I'd already put half the stew in the freezer yesterday so will probably do the same with that half when I get it out!

rtandon27

We went on a yellow sticker hunt Thursday evening as our evening engagement meant there was 20 mins between the train arriving and meeting our friends.  We used the time to whip round Waitflower and to scarf down a bite for dinner.  In addition to the posh sandwich for dinner and a lemon for gin, we managed to score a huge bag of goodies for use over the weekend.

Friday"s dinner remains in the freezer for another week as we had a last minute invite for roast lamb and trimmings.

Saturday morning brunch was our standard bottom of the fridge veg heavy frittata and dinner was a large plate of pan fried momos from our freezer stash. I like to think of them as gyoza on steroids as they are fatter and the filling more flavourful!

Sunday brunch was the remainder of Sat's frittata, some cheese and wholemeal flatbreads.  Dinner was a laborious affair - a grilled eggplant/zucchini/mushroom/pepper strata - think of a pasta free lasagna. Delicious and made 6 portions!

We have a loose meal plan for the week which involves using up yellow stickers, 0li0'd items and veg.  There will be a veg box this week as well as a proper grocery delivery to restock for February.

zafiro1984

A fridge day today

Lunch - probably cheese on toast to use up the bits of, cheese, a very small bit of cheddar, hard goats cheese and a bit of very hard Leicester, I'll liven it up with a pinch of paprika. that will also use up the sourdough bread that's open in the fridge.
tea - I've a bit of swede, and a half an onion that I don't want to waste so I'll probably add some carrots, celery and maybe lentils/beans/herbs/ (I'm thinking aloud as I write), there's a mushroom as well.  I've 4 uncooked chicken wings and a couple of small drumsticks in the freezer so I'm thinking of a cross between soup and stew. So it's bottom of the fridge night - crusty rolls? dumplings? maybe/maybe not!!
Pudding - it has to be something to do with apples

joedenise

By adding a tin of mixed beans to the LO beef stew I now have 2 x 2 portions of beef and bean stew frozen to have later in the month.

I had planned of making a beef bourguignon but will leave making this until next month as there is now enough beef stew type meals in the freezer to use up first.

Primrose

Various tinned beans are such an excellent and inexpensive way of eeking   out casserole type meals I,m m surprised everybody doesn,t keep a stock of them in their cupboards ,

Suffolk_lass

joedenise said:

By adding a tin of mixed beans to the LO beef stew I now have 2 x 2 portions of beef and bean stew frozen to have later in the month.

I had planned of making a beef bourguignon but will leave making this until next month as there is now enough beef stew type meals in the freezer to use up first.

Out of curiosity @joedenise, are, or were you a slimming worlder? I notice your meals seem to align well with their ethos (as I recall it).

I have two packs of mince (one beef, one lamb) for this week's cook ahead suppers. Also a small cauliflower and 3 leeks - so that lot will do us at least five meals. I am running a zoom this evening, out tomorrow and DH is Zooming (all evening) on Thursday, so simple food coming over here

EssexHebridean

Good plan for simple food on hectic weeks SL!

I also opted for simple yesterday - I usually try to on a Monday and as I got my act together over the weekend and batch cooked ragu it was spag bol for us last night. This evening the meal plan states the usual couscous with halloumi - but being a little low on couscous, and having a good stock of sachets of prepped rice/grain combos I'm going to switch things about and substitute. I'll still do the halloumi and some pan fried veg with it I think. Should be easy, quick and tasty.