Reverse Meal Planning

rtandon27

Yesterday's meals were simple fare - OH has been  unwell for 3 weeks and his tastebuds have reverted to simple flavours and textures

Breakfast - porridge with bits of dried fruit & nuts & seeds - cinnamon & ginger powders sprinkled on top (70p per serving)
Lunch - Tuna crunch in a wrap for me - a nana nap for OH - less than 1 pound for the portion I ate
Dinner - Box fish (haddock) & wedges with a side salad for me - less than 5 for the two of us

Snacks - assorted teas & coffees - xmas biscuits & chocolate (none of which will be replaced for another 12 months!)

So again under 7 pounds for food for both of us for the day.

Today we've had some fancy german smoked ham on a roll for breakfast with a couple of cups of coffee/tea - not sure what lunch or dinner will be yet!  A full on meal plan is needed for the upcoming week as I'm back to the office come Monday and will have zero brain power to be creative!

Primrose

Could you mix everything up and make a sausage meat cottage pie ( and freeze if necessary?). My husband used up some leftover haggis I a cottage pie recently and it was really tasty.  Needed extra separate gravy though.

fionaandphil

@Frugalista what about trying to make some burgers or meatballs with it? They would then also freeze so could be used another day

rtandon27

@Frugalista - I'd mix the stuffing with mince of choice & grated courgette + carrots - bake in a muffin tin for mini-meatloafs and freeze once cooled - Makes for easy weeknight dinners with some steamed veg and gravy.

redofromstart

I would make some shortcrust pastry and then fill it with the mixed stuffing and sausage meat, usually open topped as not that keen on pastry here. Nice hot or cold.

I have the turkey crown roasting in the oven, this was a Lidl offer thing. It was taking a lot of room in the outside freezer so it needed to be used. Parsnips will come from the freezer stockpile.  

While the oven is on, used up the dregs of a bag of tortilla chips with a sprinkle of cheese in the oven for a few minutes for DS1 (who was most pleased with the snack), and now another batch of banana and blueberry muffins (frozen blueberries this time - at least I hope they are blueberries). 

rtandon27

@redofromstart - I love the sound of those savoury tarts!  Many moons ago that's what I thought a mince pie was - what a shock the first time I tasted them 🤣🤣🤣

So today lunch and dinner were bitty bits of this and that needing using up - some houmous, crackers, cheese, pork pie, tuna crunch salad & mini bao from the freezer.  I'm pretty sure that that the bits we will be replacing plus breakfast costs and assorted teas and coffees were around 7 pounds again.  That sounds reasonable - 1 pound a meal per head plus 50p for teas & coffees.

We've got a meal plan for the upcoming week - OH will have the whole day to himself while I'm at work so will be doing the cooking so we are back to normal which actually seems a relief after two weeks of resting!

Sunday - Sticky date soy braised stew with mash and green beans
Monday - Beetroot & tofu tart
Tuesday - Salmon & rice & steamed chinese leaf
Wednesday - Chicken & pearl barley stew
Thursday - pomegranate glazed sausages with red cabbage slaw and wedges
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - gyoza & noodles or food truck
Sunday - pork chops & champ with steamed carrots

I think some overnight chia/oat pudding needs to be made up for breakfasts on the commute instead of the usual breakfast bars I tend to default to.  OH will have porridge or eggs as usual.

So an easy menu that includes some plain flavours and some interesting flavours while reverse planning from what we have in the freezer & stores.  Now the only trick will be to remember to defrost things the night before - I can see that being a challenge by the end of the week!

Suffolk_lass

@MissRikkiC you asked about sandwich or basic white loaf bread recipes - mine is here (and I use a stand mixer, not a bread machine)

The basic white loaf (adapted from Nigella)

500g strong white flour with 

a sachet (7g) dried yeast. I stir this before adding 

a level tablespoon of flake salt and 

300ml warm water (if you save the water you cook potatoes in it is even better as it stops the bread going stale). 

Mix it with a spoon until it looks claggy (you'll know it when you see it) and then add 

1oz butter and stick it on low speed with the dough hook for ten minutes.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it (like Si King from Hairy Bikers does) for a minute or two - makes you feel virtuous! 

Then wash out the mixer bowl with hot water and use olive oil to rub the inside and put the ball of dough in and turn it up the other way so coated in oil. Put a shower cap on (the bowl, not you) and leave it for an hour-hour and a half (or overnight in the fridge). 

The ambient temperature will determine how quickly it rises. 

The dough will double in size. Don't leave it too long after this. Tip it onto the floured surface to "knock it back" (deflate it) and knead for barely a minute. I then do the olive oil thing to a bread tin (I use a 3lb one) and make the dough into a rolled shape to fit. I cover it with a clean T-towel for 30-40 minutes and heat the oven to 200c in that time. The loaf will double in size. At that point I cut three diagonal slashes in the top (my bakers' mark!). I put it in the oven for 20 minutes and then rotate it front to back for another fifteen minutes. Then I turn it upside down for five minutes and it should sound hollow when you tap it. Then put it on a cooling rack for at least ten minutes.

I use the same basic recipe for rolls (cut the dough into 6 on the sheet) and it makes two 1lb small loaves or one 2lb large loaf if you want to use a tin and have to spilling over the top. You could put semolina or flour on top, sometimes poppy or sesame seeds. I've also brushed the rolls with beaten egg before the last rise to make the seeds stick. 

If you prefer your bread extra crusty you could put a roasting tin half full of water on the floor of the oven before you heat it up and the loaf will cook in the steam. I don't bother.

redofromstart

I hadn't heard that about the potato water @Suffolk_lass - will give that a try. 

@rtandon27 yes logically they should involve minced meat. The sausage meat pie was always inhaled by mr redo and sons. 

The frozen blueberries worked better than the fresh ones in the second batch of muffins.  I wouldn't go out of my way to buy the materials to make the muffins but as a use up it was very good. 

We have leftover gammon and turkey to use up. It might have to be soup and a sandwich day.  Pea and ham soup maybe?

JingsMyBucket

I’ve been feeling really MEH about cooking lately so haven’t made my promised broccoli cheese soup yet or some other recipes I’ve had in mind. Hopefully I can knock some homemaker sense into myself today and get to it. 

Mr. Jings did make a lentil soup last night that’s excellent. He also threw in the remnants of a jar of roasted peppers to add some body and that turned out well.  I ate my bowls of soup with oatcakes, cheese, and butter. 

Right, cooking for today and general meal plan for the week:

• Almond flour lemon poppyseed bread/cake https://www.hummusapien.com/healthy-lemon-poppyseed-bread/

• Broccoli cheese soup
• Chicken & mushroom ramen soup
• Vegetable and Italian sausage tart (using shortcrust)
• Mexican black beans
• Black bean and egg breakfast burritos for the freezer
• Sheet pan dinner of chopped roasted sweet potatoes, elderly French beans, and sausages 

We’ll finally get down to the freezer inventory today too. 

JingsMyBucket

PS: Just remembered that I need to freeze one last portion of stewed chicken thigh that’s been in the fridge. That can be a single serving with rice or mashed potatoes at some later point. 

We also have 3 bottles of half drunken Fever Tree tonics of various flavours in the fridge to use up and clear out space. I’ll try to tackle these today.