Reverse Meal Planning

JIL

If I make a stew, I buy the beef joints and chop it up myself. Always look at the price per kilo and go from there. 
However my fail proof stew recipe is cubed meat,chunks of carrots, onions, beef stock, a little Guinness type of beer and a teaspoon of yeast extract/ marmite. 
I put this in a casserole dish of the slow cooker just enough liquid to cover. I dont ever seer the meat, I have never noticed a difference and I dont use flour. 
Cover this and either slow cook or casserole in oven. It's going to take a minimum of 2 and a half hours in the oven and 6 hours min if slow cooked.  The meat will toughen up before it will go lean. It's to do with the collagen being released. So you will know it's done when you can put a fork in easily.

To make fluffy dumplings, I would suggest using self raising flour with added baking powder. Mixed with suet and some parsley. You need to be quick, when adding the water and get them in the dish for the last half hour  oven or hour in slow cooker. I have heard of people using a spoon of stuffing mix, I often put grated cheese in mine. 
I do half fat to flour and if you dont have suet, try grated butter or trex.
Just shape into balls, pop at the top of the casserole and cover, let the steam do the cooking.

Hope it helps. I would suggest the slow cooker if you are putting the potatoes in the stew. 

EssexHebridean

Surely everyone makes dumplings using the recipe on the side of the At0ra box, don't they?! That can't just be me!   I do like to shove mine in the oven once they have steamed to full fluffiness though just to crisp the tops off a bit. 

Tonight's beef stir fry became pork stir fry when I remembered the pack of YS'd pork chunks in the freezer - neatly divided into two so half are out defrosting for use later, and the other half have been transferred to a tub from their far larger original packaging and have gone back in the freezer to make a meal at a future date. The stir fry will use up more of the 8p sprouts and the remains of the head of broccoli along with various other veg I have in the fridge.

The sardine & butterbean pasta last night was budget friendly and tasty - I need to check stocks of sardines to see if I need a restock soon, I'm down to a single tin in the day-to-day cupboard. 

I've had a polite request to make the coleslaw from earlier in the week again - it was ludicrously simple (and indeed when I DO make it again I shall obtain a carrot to add to the mix) just being red cabbage and pink onion, with a blob each of standard and garlic mayo but it was also ridiculously tasty - crunchy and fresh - and the piece of cabbage I used made a veg accompaniment for two evening's main meals plus sufficient left over for MrEH to add to ham rolls for our lunch yesterday. Allowing it's a simple no cook offering I think I will make another tub of it tomorrow - then it can go alongside my planned Pizza & wedges (RT will appreciate THAT being on a meal plan for a Friday!) as well as getting added in with various other meals over the weekend. 

We are planning on heading to the farmer's market on Saturday but I plan to be very mindful and considered about what I purchase! 

Reminder to self - we still have lamb breast rings in the freezer which, diced up, would make a nice hotpot with some of the plentiful amount of pearl barley we have... 

redofromstart

I always use the box instructions EH.  Mind you it took me years to realise that you should store it in the fridge once it is opened because I didn't read that bit. 

I cobbled together a chicken casserole tonight, loosely based on this recipe, but using what I have so shallots and mushrooms rather than leeks, breast rather than thigh, mixed stock and wine melts, and only used 300ml water.  HF creme fraiche once it was off the heat.  I liked it, but the Evil cyclops ex stray cat says it was the best thing he had ever had a sniff of and don't I know that he is starving.  I did let him have some of the cooled sauce and some chopped up chicken he says it was amazeballs.  He is sat behind me right now heavy breathing until I go and get him some more.  There will be enough for another meal for DS and I - as long as Evil does not break into the fridge.

MissRikkiC

No pearl barley left here anymore after I used the dregs and sieved off the dust last weekend for a risotto. 

For a stew, particularly beef, I only ever chuck it all in the slow cooker. We had it last night for dinner and it was very simply beef onion carrot stock cube, red wine, chopped tomatoes and seasoning. No flour and no searing the beef. It was really tasty and too easy! I did thicken it with cornflour as id added a tin of water. It never makes as many meals as I’d like it to as we end up having seconds. I had 2 portions last night and then the left overs for lunch today. With OHs all in all it made 4 portions which if 500g of mince beef only got me 4 portions; I’d be very disappointed so maybe I need to add extra next time to make it go further. 

@JIL? 

For dumplings I also just follow the Atora box @EH! 

I can’t remember what I’ve shared re meals this week but Monday was a very simple sausage and mash. I had a Jacket potato as I’d made them earlier for my daughter but we had it with beans like children 😆 

Tuesday I made pineapple upside down cake and used the rest of the pineapple for a salsa with reduced cherry tomatoes and onions. We had it with pittas and stuffed them with Greek flavoured chicken, lettuce more tomato, quickly pickled onions and a feta cheese dip. 

Wednesday was stew as mentioned and tonight my husband has picked up pizza and bread as he wants a night off. I’d have cooked but he’s mentioned about a night together so that will be nice. 

Tomorrow will then be chicken fajitas with vegan chicken pieces using up the rest of the lettuce, tomatoes and feta cheese and the wraps which are almost past it. 

I’ve made a lot of baked goods this week, banana and seed muffins, flapjacks and the pineapple UD cake, all which have gone down well. The muffins recipe I doubled up and made a loaf as well so I might give this to my friend for his mum who’s in hospital whilst treating him to the muffins as they are delicious! 

This week is the last week of the budget and we’re tight. I’ve picked up a few things which I wanted to take from a bulk fund but I haven’t allocated one this month but I might take from elsewhere regardless. 5l water bottles for the coffee machine and soda crystals for washing liquid. I picked up 4 packets of white mushrooms at 10p each the other day from the garage so they might need making into a meal this weekend. 

Whoops. Long post sorry!

EssexHebridean

Wait WHAT - suet is meant to go in the fridge?! Well, it can’t be that important - I’ve been keeping it in the cupboard (and an open bag can sit there for blooming ages as I relatively rarely do casseroles or stews!) for the last 30 years and I’m not dead yet! 😆

The stir fry was very nice indeed - I used a mix of sweet soy sauce and homemade gooseberry ketchup for the sauce. Yum. It finished the last of a jar of the ketchup too so that was satisfying - I’ll almost certainly move on to a HM plum sauce next, I’m trying to eke out the ketchup until we see how the gooseberries crop this year - with it being only their second year since being moved we’re not expecting a heavy crop. 

Right now- time to think of a meal plan from tomorrow onwards. I mean lunch tomorrow will involve nice bread from the farmers market, that’s a given. Maybe as toasted cheese sarnies as we do have a LOT of cheese.  I’m heavily leaning towards a casserole for lunch on Sunday - I’m blaming you lot for that. Yes there will of course be dumplings. 

Suffolk_lass

I don't make real dumplings. I make a scone mix without sugar and put balls on top of the long, slow-cooked stew. They take 30 minutes, don't need a cover as you want them crusty but do use SRF, and a small pinch of salt.
(Delia recipe plain scones).

My stew is the cheapest cut of beef (shin or ox-tail usually), cut into 3cm cubes. I do pop them in a bag of plain flour, seasoned with salt and black pepper. I don't bother browning them. They go in a casserole dish with two medium onions cut into 8 (halved, then quartered) 2 carrots peeled and in similar size chunks, maybe a stick of celery in 1 cm pieces. I rarely add potato but I might add some sort of pumpkin/butternut squash pieces. I put enough water to barely cover the meat in the bottom and a shoosh of Worcester' sauce, and an oxo cube. In winter, the covered casserole goes in the simmer oven (250F) for half a day. In Autumn, it goes in the slow cooker for the day (no dumplings). Any leftovers go in a pie dish, topped by shortcrust pastry

Suffolk_lass

The beef brisket I cooked as a roast on Sunday did cold on Monday, mince (chopped in processor, an added onion and then a handful of bread crumbs to clean the processor) on Tuesday, cottage pie on Wednesday and last night I added more veg to the leftover mince, another jar of tomatoes and made it into a penne pasta bake with cheese sauce on top. We had some last night, more tonight and the rest tomorrow with salad. 7 days for £7.01 piece of meat! My personal equivalent of rubber chicken

rtandon27

EssexHebridean said:

...my planned Pizza & wedges (RT will appreciate THAT being on a meal plan for a Friday!) ...

...we still have lamb breast rings in the freezer which, diced up, would make a nice hotpot with some of the plentiful amount of pearl barley we have... 

Haha - we too have pizza and wdges on our meal plan for dinner this evening!  I completely blame @Greying_Pilgrim for this meal plan necessity, she started it yonks ago with her themed meal plan days.  I also remember that Saturday was Curry Murry night - looking on Mrg00gle, I see that this was back in 2014 that Mrs Murray was on Strickly - wow 10 years ago!  Some habits die hard!

@EssexHebridean - I'd love to hear how you make that lamb & barley hotpot!  It's not anything I think we've made in this house but I do remember eating it, perhaps at a pub, many moons ago.

I'm intrigued by all the talk of dumplings on stew, it brings back warm fuzzy memories of my Scottish Aunty Moira who during my uni days taught me her method of beef stew with dumplings!  Her brother would always hover while she was making this, as would I & the smells of cooking would torture us for the whole day until she deemed it was time for dinner!  Stick to your ribs fare & perfect for a cold weather winter day.  That being said I have never once attempted to replicated her dumplings, though OH has a Jaimie recipe he makes that comes close to her stew. (MTRIP)

EssexHebridean

Oh dear - we’ve been here before haven’t we…sorry RT but the “recipe” for the hotpot will be no more organised than lobbing the chunked lamb and assorted chunked veggies into the slow cooker pan, adding a couple of handfuls of pearl barley and a veg stock jelly, plus some herbs to suit (probably rosemary because we have plenty growing outside and it suits lamb!) and probably a few spoons of cranberry sauce (because I have no redcurrant jelly) then covering the lot with water, topping with thick slices of potato and slow cooking it overnight! I’m really not a recipe cook - and on the occasions I do, I generally stray off piste somewhere along the line! 

Shopping is got - although we still need bananananas, and we are planning on doing the farmers market tomorrow but not to buy much. Oh - the farmers market is tabled for tomorrow as well to get the marmalade oranges! I did buy some reduced (29p) jars of cranberry sauce and caramelised onion chutney in Al’s this afternoon - at 29p a jar why would I not. Nothing for the freezer though I am pleased to say! 

I took advantage of lower electric prices prior to 4pm to par boil the wedges for tonight for quicker cooking later - they are now cooling off drizzled with smoked rapeseed oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

Spendywendywoo

Good morning, 

Long time lurker but first day of posting today… having adopted a new budget for 2025, I feel that to ensure we keep to it I need to interact with like minded people, like yourselves…! 😀

I have lots of stocks in the freezer and cupboard, which I have been slowly making my way through since the start of the year. Today will be;

breakfast: piece of toast as I don’t like to eat too much before walking the dog (5 mile walk usually)

lunch: tuna salad sandwich and some left over party sausage rolls which I found at the bottom of the freezer when I did an inventory at Christmas, I cooked them on Tuesday and DH and DS have been making way with them but they need to be finished today before they spoil and are wasted

dinner: mince, spinach and ricotta cannelloni which I pulled out of the freezer yesterday but hadn’t quite thawed for last nights dinner

have a great day all, 
Wendy x