Reverse Meal Planning

joedenise

Popped into the farm shop yesterday as needed some potatoes and onions and they had huge local cauliflowers at 55p!  Just had to pick one up so tomorrow night we'll be having cauliflower cheese with HM chips rather than the planned egg, chips and beans!

wumph

Nipped over to Morri yesterday as I decided to make some spring rolls last night. Got a few bits of cooked meat from their bits box, just enough for 4 rolls, bought small carrot to use a third in them, needed cabbage (they suggest lettuce which I have but was going to cook em and it did not seem right so bought a sweetheart cabbage, not a cabbage fan but do like whitish in a salad or raw) chopped and shredded quite a bit of veg so will have in salad for lunch. Bought some thin noodles but forgot to put them in so more in cupboards for a stir fry thing some time. Will open tin of fish of some sort to have with salady veg, also bought some baby potatoes so will boil them and have some in salad  others cooked ready for next day or so. Forcing myself not to look online for ideas nor Youtube - always see recipes which I dont need AT ALL.  NOTE TO SELF,  ONLY NEED MILK/BREAD THE NEXT FEW WEEKS   but I do have long life cartons and pita etc so STOP IT.  need help really.

zafiro1984

Suffolk_lass said:

@zafiro1984 I wonder if you have tried bottling instead of freezing some of your fruit? I do it two ways - the traditional way with a light syrup over packed jars then pressure cooked or oven warmed so the lids seal, but I also pre-cook stewed fruit like apples, plums and so on and just put them in hot jam jars and wait for the tops to pop. The latter don't keep so long but much cheaper than running the five freezers we have. 

Having bought meat last month I know my meticulously maintained chest freezer list needs updating (flap, flap, oink, oink!) - who am I kidding!?

Thanks Suffolk lass I may do that this year. I had thought about it in the past but never had the courage to try it. I'm trying to keep grocery costs down    and use/store whatever nature gives us. The hens are laying well - I've tried freezing eggs in the past but It never really worked so this year surplus eggs are turned into cake batter, biscuit dough or quiches and frozen - all to be used during late autumn/winter.

The deer are a huge problem. They managed to get into where the fruit trees are and ringed a couple of apples and a plum plus my favourite medlar tree. I could have cried, they need to pulled out and replaced - at least we'll have some fruit wood for the logburner next year plus a bad back.
I've stopped growing things outside because of them, they devour everything and anything, They even went in a polytunnel during the day when the door was open and I wasn't around. They demolished all the beans, carrot  tops, and had a go at the tomato plants - it's soul destroying. Everyone says aren't you lucky to have deer  - yes they nice to look at and they are so used to us driving about that they don't scarper off when they see us but they do an immense amount of damage. Anything I buy has to be on the RHS list of deer resistant plants but even that doesn't work, rhubarb is on the list but they ate and killed all the emerging rhubarb stalks this Springtime. Rant over.

At least I now have 3 big and a small freezer defrosted and organised so I know where everything is. I'm going to try to live out of said freezers for the next few months and to cut my grocery spending to the minimum. I know people have addictions to smoking/alcohol etc but a thought crossed my mind - I wonder if I have an addiction to 'Freezer filling/shopping' 

Lunch;- part of a quiche made yesterday, salad and the remainder of the crisps from a 'large bag.
Tea:-  Not sure, probably scotch eggs as they are easy to do.  I'll take the casing off some sausages to use that instead of pork mince to cover the eggs - should be even quicker to do. Pudding - my 'go to' quick pudding, frozen fruit added to boiling jelly, it sets in about 10mins. it doesn't look wonderful but it does the job.

rtandon27

@zafiro1984

Any chance you are fond of venison?  A freezer full would keep you going through the winter months! Might scare off the pesky herd if one or two of them disappeared?

Suffolk_lass

wumph said:

Nipped over to Morri yesterday as I decided to make some spring rolls last night. Got a few bits of cooked meat from their bits box, just enough for 4 rolls, bought small carrot to use a third in them, needed cabbage (they suggest lettuce which I have but was going to cook em and it did not seem right so bought a sweetheart cabbage, not a cabbage fan but do like whitish in a salad or raw) chopped and shredded quite a bit of veg so will have in salad for lunch. Bought some thin noodles but forgot to put them in so more in cupboards for a stir fry thing some time. Will open tin of fish of some sort to have with salady veg, also bought some baby potatoes so will boil them and have some in salad  others cooked ready for next day or so. Forcing myself not to look online for ideas nor Youtube - always see recipes which I dont need AT ALL.  NOTE TO SELF,  ONLY NEED MILK/BREAD THE NEXT FEW WEEKS   but I do have long life cartons and pita etc so STOP IT.  need help really.

I feel for you @wumph - I am exactly the same. I can resist everything except temptation, it seems! So to mitigate my shopping failures I have my milk delivered, twice a week, and I bake bread once a week, one large loaf and two small (which fit perfectly in an ice cream box (Kelly's) and I freeze the small ones). We need one top up and it is from the Coop in the next village - milk, fruit, cream, occasional veg. I now SM shop once a month - normally easier than this but the veg garden has not been as productive as normal. My shopping total dropped by £100 a month, despite paying 2.5x the price of SM milk

wumph

I gave my breadmaker away when I moved to retirement flat, I do try to grow lettuce and mint on my windowsill, no window boxes allowed, always keep a "Brexit box" and long life milk,  use dried tea with milk in so I try to keep out of SM other than once a month for regular meds. Trouble is,  I like popping in there,  I use electric mobility scooter so can take my time, the staff are great, and being an "old person" I try not to pay for delivery - shop is really on other side of main road and pedestrian crossing, most residents can walk over. Makes me sound like sad old so and so but I am not. Just love browsing around the food counters  BAD.  I could just go to the cafe but I can make tea and food at home and begrudge spending the money. Have plenty of friends and family who often say can I get something on my way but I like to look around.  Must be a mental thing   Ah well, now going to search internet to find recipes for today  have d/loaded hundreds and got them filed on pc.  Pathetic really. 

zafiro1984

Lunch:-DH the remainder of the cheese in the fridge with biscuits. I had 'bottom of the fridge' veg soup made last month and frozen
Tea;- Pheasant pie for DH I didn't have quite enough to fill a small pie ring so added frozen mushrooms from freezer which I bought on offer a few weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised with the mushrooms. They didn't go mushy and bulked out the pie nicely. mine was a sort of mixed salad with bits from the fridge/ fruit bowl and cupboard. I had no mayonnaise or salad dressing but some Greek yogurt needed to be used so added garlic and lemon to it - it was quite acceptable. Pudding - Cooked defrosted apple pieces with Lo toffee sauce from a sticky toffee pudding. it was a bit reminiscent of a toffee apple without the stick.

rtandon27 said:

@zafiro1984

Andy chance you are fond of venison?  A freezer full would keep you going through the winter months! Might scare off the pesky herd if one or two of them disappeared?

Like your comment  rtandon27 Yes we eat venison (fallow) instead of beef and buy it from the local deer farm. The deer here are small roe deer about the size of a greyhound, but I think deer fencing has to be the answer to stop me getting wound up and annoyed .

rtandon27

Today's dinner was in true reverse planning style - everything from the freezer!

Starters were mini pizza's - no clue what possessed me to by them!

OH had a portion of sausage stew - which he made but can't remember what he put in it - we could see macaroni, sausage & chickpeas along with some sort of green veg - smelled yummy & that's another bit of freezer space freed up.

I had a chicken leg with some sort of carrot, bean and onion sauce with white rice - it was truly a surprise as neither of us remember when it was cooked & it had lost it's label!
Afters - two supermarket knockoff ice-cream covered in chocolate & almonds

Nothing purchased, food from the stores used up & room made in the overstuffed freezer!

We've taken out a Waitflower chicken parmesan for dinner tomorrow, something yellow stickered to 75% off!

zafiro1984

rtandon27 said:

Nothing purchased, food from the stores used up & room made in the overstuffed freezer!

We've taken out a Waitflower chicken parmesan for dinner tomorrow, something yellow stickered to 75% off!

Just loved reading your posting and I'm trying to head in the same direction. 

A friend came to stay over the last couple of days, announced she was on a diet so everything I had planned/prepared went out of the window so I've a fridge full of stuff which should last us a week even after I've frozen what I can. Anyway if was good to catch up on all the gossip.

Lunch will be some sort of salad with a slice of quiche, My salads are quite unconventional. The usual green stuff but then I add in anything else we can eat cold. I just go through the fridge and cupboards to see what I can use - some things work, somethings are a bit strange. However I do make my own mayonnaise which can hide a multitued.

Tea - scotch eggs to use up the boiled eggs in the fridge with salad again. Pudding:- my favourite brown bread ice-cream which I made for my friend and didn't use due to diet, which means we can have more

Primrose

Oh, visitors on diets can be a bit thoughtless if they don't tell you about diets, allegies etc  beforehand.  Don't know whether I shared the story on here of a friend who invited a couple she hadn't seen for ages to spend a bank holiday with her.  She stocked up with food and made various meals in advance, only for them to announce on arrival that they were now Vegan !    She was not amused especially as she lived alone and money was tight.