Reverse Meal Planning

zafiro1984

Lots of reverse meal planning here this week.
The small freezer under the fridge was getting to the point of being overstuffed with bits and bobs so I've made myself use its contents this week plus what was in the fridge and not go into the big freezers or go shopping.

Nothing too exciting but at least nothing wasted.  For lunch I used single portions of pate, chicken and ham pie, quiche bits, cheese and onion flan, parsnip and squash soup, plus bits of cheese all leftovers from previous meals. I also had a couple of packets of opened crisps a few crackers and some salad type vegetables in the fridge so lunch has been easy to do as long as I remembered to defrost it in time. 

Tea/dinner also came out of same freezer again being leftovers from previous meals. I found a double portion of plain cooked mince so with the addition of veg/spices/herbs it's shepherds pie for DH and curry for me tonight. Last night I turned some cooked chicken into sticky chicken, and I've also done sausages wrapped in bacon which used up the last 4 rashers. A bit of LO pastry has become a treacle tart, with a lattice top. 

Still quite a lot in the freezer, including LO casseroles. I think I can get at least the next five days out of it although I may have to go vegetarian for a couple of days - vegetarian is not in DH's culture but I don't mind it at all. I'm also looking on the bright side, I haven't wasted anything and I haven't been shopping for over a week.

I've just read the 'stuffed lambs heart' posting. Something I used to do and loved them. I may not last the next five days with no shopping.

Suffolk_lass

We've got a bit of a fish pie tonight, having removed the single salmon fillet and refilled my zip-top peas bag from a bag of peas from the big chest freezer. I have a few slices of smoked salmon to use instead of smoked haddock, and some Argentinian shelled prawns so I'm hopeful that this will work with peas and mash on top.

Inspired by your freezer use-ups @zafiro1984 I have got a takeaway pot of sausage casserole out of the bottom drawer in the kitchen freezer too, ready for tomorrow.

Saturday we will have the rest of the curry I made yesterday. It will need flatbreads (DH makes these, SR flour, salt and GS yogurt - a JO recipe I think), and we won't be so dusty and mucky then. Not a bad stretch for one chicken breast added to some homegrown squash, onion and a tin of chickpeas, with some frozen spinach added at the end

EssexHebridean

Another one here who's inspired by the freezer raiding going on. Freezer 1 has provided a tub of roast pork chunks - I thought we still had some chicken chunks in there but it would appear not unless they are being very coy indeed. That will go with pasta this evening and will also mean using up the last of the mushrooms, and the remains of that jar of pesto I mentioned elsewhere.  Tomorrow is 100% going to be a curry plate - and that will probably end up as a sweet potato and keema one again as there is mince in the freezer needing used and the remaining sweet potatoes from the S6 bag from a few weeks ago. Dhal from the freezer, and the tasty naan breads we bought...  In turn that should provide me with lunch on saturday as well. 

I'm thinking saturday tea will be cheese and crackers - then Sunday tea will be burgers in muffins - venison burgers and muffins both from the freezer.  And THEN perhaps freezer 2 will empty into freezer 1 meaning F2 can be defrosted and turned off...

I nipped in to T's last night as we needed apples - ended up £8.05 lighter but also well stocked up with Coucous, a 75p tin of coconut milk, and a sizeable bag of coriander seeds at a bargainous £1.75 - those were on my "spices needed" list too. And yes, I did remember the apples! 

joedenise

I roasted half a chicken from the freezer for dinner last night so tonight will be using the leftovers to add to a HM sweet and sour sauce.  Will cook some rice to have with it.

rtandon27

All this chat of Freezer Planning is reminding me I need to do an inventory.  The freezer is properly full but we seem to be putting in as much as we are pulling out!  Several work events have meant lots of leftovers have made it home & with several friends/colleagues in full travel mode since xmas we've been inheriting stuff from their kitchens while house-sitting!  Think this weekend I'll need to get a meal plan together based on the weird and wonderful items that are in stock in house! 

Ultra Frugal January & Frugal February were not quite the successes I'd hoped as many bulk purchase restocks were made (mostly of non-food things - paper products etc) so perhaps we will be able to have a Miserly March instead!

AnnikaJuarez

One cool part about planning meals backwards is how it saves you money. When you cook with what's already in your kitchen, you don't have to buy as much from the store. This helps you spend less. To make it even more motivating, you could figure out how much money you would have spent on groceries with a regular meal plan and think of that as extra cash you saved. You can either put this "extra" money into a savings account for emergencies or just feel a bit proud of yourself for saving money. This way, you get to enjoy cooking and save money at the same time.

Suffolk_lass

The rest of the leftover curry is on the menu for supper, and as there is less than half, I am asking DH to make some flatbreads from ingredients we have in.

I made stock from lamb bones and the chicken carcass and froze the lamb meat with a little of the stock, ready for another shepherd's pie to use up a portion of lamb mince I have moved indoors ready. I have a pot of the chicken pickings, a bag of homegrown leeks and the onion, celery and carrot from the stockpot, with the remaining stock and some of the starchy water from DH's mash last night. We'll call it fridge soup this time, as I think the lamb flavour with bits of chicken might seem a bit weird

zafiro1984

Suffolk Lass - Great idea - Just going to investigate fridge and little freezer to see if I can do a soup for lunch as it's quite cold here.

PM:-  Yep - managed parsnip and butternut squash with a couple of carrots to bulk it out. Low salt chicken stock cubes and a pinch of curry powder. It made quite an acceptable thick soup with a swirl of cream and hot rolls.  

Suffolk_lass

You've got to love soup - ours made enough for two days and  again, a little swirl of cream made all the difference, together with a dash of Worcester and one of tabasco. As always, the curry leftovers were better than the first night (why are leftovers, reheated, generally nicer?). We are still going through our loft contents here so a quick supper is needed; either pasta with Italian tomato sauce, or pork chops that are still in the freezer. It was going to be sausage casserole but the leftovers I defrosted are just cooked tomatoes (the joys of labels that don't stick or are non-existent!).

2Scratters

@Suffolk_lass nothing like a sharpie pen and a bit of nail varnish after for cleaning off plastic tops. 

Our freezers have more than enough in to feed the 2 of us for a while, I am just not organised so off kilter. Added by the fact that DH and all his meds changes his fondness of certain foods. Yesterday he advised me he wants different cheese as he does not like what we have in.  Its the same as its always been and we've not had any for at least a couple of weeks.  It is all unpredictable with him and we have to resort for him to just eat what he wants.

2 Scratters xx