Reverse Meal Planning

zafiro1984

Working through the fridge at the moment.
Lunch was LO soup I made at the weekend. Not quite enough for the two of us so added some more veg from the fridge drawer to bulk it out plus Swiss bouillon which I find goes with most things.
I know it's pancake day today, made the batter but ended up doing a Yorkshire pudding instead. So tea was Yorkshire pudding, roast veg  - carrots, onion, parsnip and a red pepper with a couple of sausages each. Three sausages from the fridge and I got an extra one from the freezer. Pudding was LO chocolate cake from the weekend. It was starting to go a little dry, so heated it up and made some chocolate custard to go with it. It gave it a new lease of life and was very acceptable. The things we do (and keep quiet about) so that we don't waste anything!!!

JingsMyBucket

Howdy folks. Last night was some serious using up and reverse meal planning. I made a tomato meat sauce using some old kale in the fridge, elderly tomatoes, ground beef, a green bell pepper, a bit of leftover jarred tomato sauce, some salami that was going a bit off and a few other ingredients. 

After that I made one of my vegetable tarts using some of that meat sauce as the base layer. I pitted some black Kalamata olives and threw those on there along with the last bits of some Greek herbed cubed cheese from Lidl’s Greek week, and the last slice of some provolone cheese. Then I also sliced up some more salami from Lidl’s Italian week and put that on top. I baked it and sprinkled fresh chopped parsley over the top after pulling it from the oven. Mr. Jings was very happy. 🙂

I’m going to put the rest of the meat sauce into the freezer so we can have it some other time to make a giant pasta bake.

rtandon27

It's been a few weeks since I've made a proper meal plan, and we've been relying on proper reverse planning to get by!

First week in March, a horrendous 4 hour commute on the Monday knocked the whole week out of whack.  We started the week by having a kfc-car picnic at 9:30pm.  The rest of the week comprised of leftover roast chicken, cauli-cheese, home made pizza & pork chops, and using the veg we had in-house for sides.

This past week we tried to meal prep on Sunday for the week which was quite a success.  We roasted a pork shoulder joint, potatoes wedges, jerk chicken wings & Mediterranean vegetables and mixed and matched through the week from Mon to Thurs.  Friday we did a fake-away posh sharing beef-steak, with spinach and oven wedges.  Expensive for a home cooked meal, but less than half of a take-away.  Yesterday and today have been about using what's in the fridge & freezer & stores and we've used up several bits of veg, pigs in blankets, Japanese style bao and the last of the pita. 

Today's meal prep has been Sheppard's pie which will do us dinner tonight with some veg and two more dinners during the week.  OH will also make us a chicken and leek pot pie mid-week so we have some variety.  Sunday meal prep is working atm and once things settle down for me workwise around Easter, we'll be able to put more effort into our usual creative meals with a bit more variety.

Suffolk_lass

I have been a bit quiet but we are back to eating the same thing - a low fat diet for DH's benefit (awaiting gallbladder removal) - I have just put a pot of soup in the oven to simmer for an hour or two. Having cooked potatoes on Saturday, that I intended mashing in a pan with a veg stock cube (a worthy substitute for cream, butter and/or milk!) - I kept the liquid and it's gone in with the soup (which I simmered in water, rather than frying in oil to make the soup base of onion, celery and carrot). It's good old courgette as my produce freezer, out in the pig-shed, still has 15 bags of prepared courgettes (assuming the list on the fridge has been crossed off as they are removed. Certainly enough to take us through spring to the point where soup is no longer our preferred lunch! I do use some in bolognese and chilli but soup is where most go!

JingsMyBucket

Hi all. I asked this question on the GC thread but I thought I'd ask you savvy people as well. 

QUESTION: We have about a 500g lump of smoked gammon left in the fridge. In order to freeze it, should I slice it up or freeze it whole? Or maybe 50/50? Slice half of it and leave the rest whole? 

Maybe it depends on what we're planning to do with it? Not sure just yet. I also need to update our freezer inventory so we can meal plan for the rest of the month. 

joedenise

Depends on whether it is already cooked or not.  If not cooked then I'd leave in a lump and then once cooked you can slice it and then decide whether to freeze in portions for meals or sandwiches.

I always freeze uncooked joints in a lump and then cook when we're ready to have it as a meal and whatever is left is sliced and frozen in portions for meals or sandwiches.

JingsMyBucket

@joedenise sorry, I should’ve said the gammon is cooked. 

Suffolk_lass

Personally, I divide cooked gammon into two - 

• some in smaller than centimetre cubes for adding to dishes where you want a bit of something (I freeze in a bag so I can break them apart more easily than in a box too)
• Some sliced for sandwiches or chopping slices for things like omelettes. If there is a lot, I put it on a length of plastic bag and pleat them, so they can be used separately

JingsMyBucket said:

I should’ve said the gammon is cooked. 

fionaandphil

Thanks @Suffolk_lass I wouldn't have thought about pleating them, I will have to try it sometime

Suffolk_lass

Leftover sausage bake with peas for us last night. Tasty, low fat, filling. I think DH is struggling with the low fat diet. He has turned from late night cheese and crackers to veg sticks. I left some mini cucumbers and celery ready done for him last night. We're going to need more hummus. I have got a pair of chicken thighs out to defrost. They are enormous. I favour roasting them, but we might curry them