Reverse Meal Planning

fionaandphil

That made me laugh @Suffolk_lass every time I go in the garage they are there lurking! I'm glad I'm not the only one.  We have had some great meals with them this month and still lots to go - I may make some soup if they start to look a bit manky but they still seem fine so far.

We are on a stir fry tonight for Chinese new year and I'm off to the freezer to see if there are some spring rolls to go with it.  I did shop today for bread and milk but used up some points on my card so it cost me 21p for everything.

ruby_eskimo

We're currently without a proper kitchen as having it replaced.  So lots of one pot meals on the cards using up what we had in the cupboards - tonight's adventure is sausage, fennel and chestnut pasta.  DH doesn't think he likes chestnuts but a friend gave us a pack of the merchant gourmet ones so I'm taking a punt and chucking them in (chopped up of course) in a pasta dish he already likes that has earthy flavours to it and just praying it works.  Will chuck some broccoli on the side for a bit of green.

EssexHebridean

And just like that @ruby_eskimo reminds ME that there are 8p sprouts in the fridge to be used. Some of those will get shredded and stir-fried as a side with that risotto, then! 

rtandon27

Finally feeling well enough to face the meal plan chore!

Last week's went mostly to plan...

• Monday - Chicken instead of Veg day - the last of the chicken pot pie with cauli cheese to go along side - was glad to see the end of that pie - we had no room in the freezer despite eating down the freezer for a month - no clue why!
• Tuesday - Meat instead of Fish day - seconds of roast pork and cauli cheese - nice easy meal after a long day and horrid commute - we need to do more of these home-meade micro meals!
• Wednesday - Veg instead of chicken - in theory a veggie & rice stir-fry but we do have some pieces of pork that could find their way into this meal! - we cobbled together meals of leftovers instead of doing a stir-fry - as I'd brought home some leftovers from a work lunch and fancied rice while OH fancied potatoes
• Thursday - Fish instead of meat - papilotte parcels with white fish, prawns, beans and cherry tomatoes - something sweet for dessert as this will not be a filling meal! - off piste after another bad commute - picked up a treaty meal of burgers from the local grill - upside was that no dessert was had!
• Friday - Waitflower yellow sticker hunt - we have a small list of things to top up as well - if all else fails it will be store-bought pizza and wedges from the freezer - not a whole lot of yellow stickers to be found so we did box fish with our freezer wedges - wow has box fish shrunk!  I remember a time when one piece each was actually filling!
• Saturday - breakfast at the garden centre to use up our two free monthly coffees - if their kitchen remains closed we will go on the hunt for a breakfast bap and get the coffees for take-away. - dinner will be bao & gyoza from the freezer along with udon shelf stable noodles from the stores. - and it all went downhill from here!  - no poached eggs and toast from home, no coffees from the garden centre, no baps to be found as it was late morning, so we opted for tapas lunch at a posh pub! - and the 18 hours of food poisoning saga began...
• Sunday - Roast Chicken and veg - the chicken will be rubberized and leftover meat will be portioned out for other meals, bones saved up in the freezer for the stock pot. - the chicken got pot-roasted along with carrots and potatoes, but I stuck to liquids after a couple of bites reminded me why I'd not eaten anything! - everything has been rubberized - carcass in the freezer to add to the stock bone bag & meat/veg divided up to provide other meals
  
  

So breakfast Mon & Tues ended up being breakfast bars, nuts and dried cherries while commuting - exactly what I'm aiming to avoid first thing in the morning, but needs must and there was zero food prep for the week completed last weekend.  OH was of course able to have his usual omelet at home! 

Lunch Monday was a mediocre sandwich, but yesterday was a workmates birthday lunch at a Yakitori Bar & was amazing!!!

Today, a WFH day, was a ham & cheese & salad sandwich both for breakfast and lunch, with half a banana with breakfast and an apple with lunch.  Lots of liquids being consumed as I'm still feeling dehydrated!

This week's reverse plan has only one goal in mind! EASY & low-effort.

• Monday - Veggie Day - Noodles with assorted Asian veg & smoked tofu
• Tuesday - Chicken instead of Fish day - leftover Sunday roast chicken & veg with steamed swiss chard for greens
• Wednesday - Another Veggie Day - Cheddar Broccoli Quiche & either steamed spinach or green beans
• Thursday - Another Chicken Day (no red meat to be found at a decent price!) - Chicken & Pepper Fajitas with avocado, salad & sour cream
• Friday - Pizza & wedges
• Saturday - baguette & cheese for lunch - food truck dinner (roasted hog on a bap) and a beer at the brewery
• Sunday - Roast Day - Mediterranean lamb & roasted veg

I not yet planned to use up our sweet potatoes (both purple and orange), our last pumpkin, two butternut squash, purple cabbage, purple carrots and some languishing parsnips!

Next week, I'm going to evaluate just how we did on the eat from the stores January challenge and seem how feasible it is to roll it into all or part of February!

ruby_eskimo

Glad to have been of help @EssexHebridean 😏

MissRikkiC

Porridge breakfast, pea and ham soup with 2 rolls from the freezer having been defrosted (on account of not having made any bread yet!) and a coffee with 6(!!!) biscuits for snack this afternoon. Whoops. 

Dinner will be lamb casserole with added swede to make it go a touch further with dumplings and mash potato. The oven will go on for bread (proving as we speak) so might as well stick the slow cooked casserole in the LC pot and cook the dumplings. I’ll also do the remaining 2 jacket potatoes so that I have have 1 for my lunch tomorrow. 

Other than milk and oats later this week, I don’t think I need much else from the shops. I have ordered a bulk but of oats amongst other things from grape tree but it’s not even been despatched yet! 

Suffolk_lass

Glad you are starting to feel better @rtandon27. I wonder what it was that gave you FP.

Here I am eating light. Plan to have just poached eggs on toast today and then fast until tomorrow afternoon when vegetables will feature!

rtandon27

@Suffolk_lass - will be thinking of you today/tomorrow & sending soothing vibes!

It was a 'spontaneous' meal at a pub to try their nibbles menu - OH was fine so there was something in the meal that I ate! Handling of the ground meat? Dairy gone off?  I'd been in fast mode for the previous 16 hours & at home with only OH for 48+ hours so it was definitely the meal out!

Suffolk_lass

All OK with me and you don't need to hear any more about that!. Today I am at a late morning funeral and DH is joining us afterwards with the dog for the wake. So not sure what we will do as we need to join in and play it by ear. I have no time to shop, despite it being February so it might be Wednesday or possibly tomorrow afternoon before we stock up. So tonight might be grilled salmon as I brought some in from the freezer. Plenty of veg, having topped up at the local Co-op with carrots and broccoli.

Yesterday's planned take-away did not happen and after trying to calm down DS before he went home to his partner (the reason we didn't), it was too late for much so we had HM courgette soup with rapidly defrosted and warmed HM bread rolls, followed by thick yogurt and honey and a stick of chocolate!

EssexHebridean

Oh goodness SL it sounds like it's all happening with you guys at the moment - hope DS is OK. 

The weekend saw a pizza leave the freezer for Saturday evening's tea, and a tub of sliced turkey and half a pack of chestnuts for lunch yesterday. That lunch also saw off the last of the 8p sprouts - those have done us well, I think it was 3 bags I bought and then Mum gave us a half bag she wasn't going to use as well. More 8p potatoes with that - I cooked a double batch and mashed, so there is mash in the fridge ready for reheating on wednesday evening. 

I've got out mince and a tub of home made tomato sauce for tonight, and we have a meal plan for the rest of the week. I did succumb to some YS'd chipolata sausages in A's yesterday so those have been added to the freezer, but it was a decent sized pack and will do us several meals, so well worth it.