We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Reverse Meal Planning
Options
Comments
-
It's a new week & we have a meal plan of sorts...
Monday - veggie day - truffle tortellini with almond & red pepper pesto both from the freezer, some sliced chestnut mushrooms from the veg box & bacon in lieu of lardons (we'll pretend it's a veg)
Tuesday - fish day - baked basa fillets with steamed snow peas, baby corn & baby potatoes from the veg box - tasty but we overcooked everything slightly!
Wednesday - chicken day - baked chicken drums with roasted greek style veg - peppers, courgette, baby mushrooms, red onions, tossed with oregano or thyme and cubed feta
Thursday - meat day - sharer steak, cooked spinach & oven chips
Friday - pizza day - may have some home made wedges with it
Saturday - bao & gyoza & pickety bits - low effort rest day
Sunday - 'roast' - pork steaks & carrots & champ
Lunch both yesterday and today has actually been brunch - eggs & toast & assorted bits that need finishing - for the rest of the week we will need to fend for ourselves!4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)(With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)New projection - 14 YEARS 10 MONTHS LEFT OF 20 YEARS (reduced by 15 mths)Psst...I may have started a diary!2 -
Making a combined soup. I sprinkled the wrong chilli flakes into my leek and potato soup last week and it was the too fiery ones. So this morning, that pot has been merged with the leftover chicken casserole from last night. I am off to whizz the two together for soup, today and tomorrow! I shall do something with sausages for supper, so will get them out of the freezer nowSave £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here3 -
Another week, another meal plan!
Yesterday & today we are making full use of what we have in the fridge/freezer & stores. It is however payday today, so we will be having a big shop delivered tomorrow (to hit April's budget). It's a squeaky month with all those bill increases and an extra week in it as my main shop day is a Tuesday! So we will start the month off stocking up on all things fresh & then dwindle down to what's in house over the weeks.
Monday - Veggie Day has been put to the side this week, we will be having pickety bits, Baguettes & charcuterie, olives, dolmades and hummus. - It's what's in the house so will get used up.
Tuesday - Fish Day - ginger & soy marinated Salmon & steamed Tatsoi & jasmine rice - one of our favorite easy peasy meals
Wednesday - Chicken Day - leek & chicken drum traybake with fancy mushrooms in butter - perhaps some steamed potatoes if OH gets his way 😉
Thursday - Meat Day - Steak & oven chips & green veg of some sort
Friday - Pizza & Wedges - my comfort food & leftovers will be Saturday breakfast - homemade of course & veggie loaded
Saturday - Bao & Gyoza & Noodles & bubble tea - fun food @ a fraction of the cost of eating out!
Sunday - Roast - pork steaks & carrots & champ - old standby is always good when a joint is too dear for the pocket book.
Have also planned out my lunches as it's always a challenge when commuting to not default to the expensive sandwich shop!
Monday - wfh = eat leftovers from the fridge - chicken & veg & risotto
Tuesday - B00ts meal deal using points
Wednesday - potluck at the office - organized by those who celebrate Eid
Thursday - chicken salad & fruit skewers & baby cucumber (from Tuesday's groceries)
Friday - wfh = falafel wraps from the freezer
OH does his own thing on days I'm not home, usually consisting of a ham or cheese sandwich (or two or three) and a cup of coffee 🤣 That man will not touch a vegetable unless I insist, which only happens when I'm at home!4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)(With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)New projection - 14 YEARS 10 MONTHS LEFT OF 20 YEARS (reduced by 15 mths)Psst...I may have started a diary!5 -
Hi all, just caught up on the chat. I had my gallbladder removed in 2016 so I can sympathise regarding the pain. I can't eat a heavy meal late at night and have to watch the amount of fat I eat. Hope MrSL doesn't have to wait too long for his Op.
The freezer is full - had a good sort out and rearrangement on Tuesday. We've eaten chicken the last 3 days as I manged to make a whole chicken stretch. It fed 3 on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday & Friday.
Meal plan for this coming week all from using what is already in the house other than some fresh veg and a jar of pasta sauce.
Saturday - Fish & Chips (at the beach)
Sunday - Ham & tomato pasta bake
Monday - Roast chicken, Halloumi, couscous & salad
Tuesday - Sausages, mash & Veg
Wednesday - Chicken in Mushroom sauce with Rice
Thursday - minced beef hotpot
Friday - gammon Pasta bake
Saturday - Chicken tenders & chips
Sunday -Chicken chasseur, potatoes & veg
Kids are still off school for another week & a bit. I've got a drawer in the freezer full of sausage rolls, mini pizzas etc so will use those for our lunches alongside the usual sandwiches, toasties, soup, beans of toast with fried egg etc
Breakfasts will be cereal, toast, hot cross buns, pancakes, crumpets etc
Grocery Challenge 2024
Feb £419.82 Mar £599.53 Apr £405.69 May £531.37 Jun
Declutter challenge 2024 0 items5 -
mosekoo said:I want to have a plan for the week that is easy to prepare and nutritionally balanced. My stomach is starting to protest against irregular eating.
You'll notice I've using chicken a couple of times in my meal plan. I'll cook a whole chicken and then add spices to some for the day we're having it with couscous, then I'll add the remaining to a jar of mushroom sauce with loads of added veg and serve it with rice. I usually add the scraps to a sheet of puff pastry which I top with pesto, veg and any cheese I have left over. You could make a pie and have it with mash and veg.Grocery Challenge 2024
Feb £419.82 Mar £599.53 Apr £405.69 May £531.37 Jun
Declutter challenge 2024 0 items6 -
I've been dreadful at eating in the last week, only eating with Mr Sl twice because our diets are different. I am following the Michael Mosley 8-week LBS diet for a few weeks, in empathy for his fat free life. 5.4 pounds so far for me, just over a stone for him, with about half or a quarter pound off each time he weighs in. I had mostly nuts yesterday, as I needed some salt, many were salted. Soup for supper and a forbidden orange. We will have a chicken skewer (kebab) tonight, with salad and he can have rice. I have some plans to stir fry tomorrow, but we might swap. Hummus and veg sticks for lunch and a few olives for me (he can have a ham sandwich) today. I shall skip breakfast, I might have some yoghurt (full fat, Greek) with home-grown fruit if I am hungry at any pointSave £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here4 -
@Suffolk_lass - well done to both of you on the weight loss, but so sorry to hear you are feeling less than enthused about your respective diets!
This weekend has seen me decanting, rearranging & using up in true reverse plan style.- yesterday's breakfast was a Spanish omelette with chorizo from the freezer & also used up the last sausage & Mediterranean roast veg from a mid-week tray bake - we had whole-meal flatbreads from the freezer to accompany
- for snacks between yesterday & today we've demolished the steamed prawn dim sum & 'lobster balls' that were in the freezer and finished off the stufed bao buns - there is currently some room in the freezer as we won't be replacing until the end of the month
- oats have been decanted from the overflow in the stores to the glass decanter on the worktop, as OH has been noshing on a bowl of porridge before bed almost all week long
- the last of the dark soy has been decanted form the giant catering container to our small kitchen bottle - I bought this huge container during pandemic & as it is a fermented product anyway, we were not worried about how long it lasted but am very happy for the space on the stores shelf
- we used up all kinds of 'ends of' for breakfast this morning and successfully removed three tupperwares from the fridge
- lunch was roasted root veg soup from the freezer & cream crackers from the stores with some saucisson sec on the side - 2 more pots of that soup are in the freezer, along with a non-roasted variety and a tub of chicken stock. I also noticed two 500mL bags of whole milk in there as well, that OH uses for cauli-cheese, toad-in-hole batter and other oven baked comfort food concoctions that do not taste the same with our usual non-dairy milk.
- have taken out a tupperware of red cabbage & red onion to have with our leftover pork roast from Friday - will also use up the pork roast juices & chopped onion trivit to make a gravy - looks like we will need to make roasties to go with it - On a whim I bought a clearance joint last week for Sunday roast, not realizing that it would also be short dated, so pizza went by-the by on Friday & a roast was made instead, served with steamed carrots & potatoes
Going to give the meal plan some thought & return with a plan!4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)(With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)New projection - 14 YEARS 10 MONTHS LEFT OF 20 YEARS (reduced by 15 mths)Psst...I may have started a diary!4 -
Feeling inspired having used up so many odds & ends over the past few days...
So this week's meal plan will use up what we've got...
Monday - Veggie Day - Pizza & a side salad
Tuesday - Fish Day - ginger & soy marinated Salmon & red cabbage with red onion & jasmine rice
Wednesday - Chicken Day - chicken, leek & mushroom pie with steamed carrots - leftovers will be used on a different day
Thursday - Meat Day - Mince Fried Rice & cooked lettuce as we seem to have three heads of romaine in the fridge!
Friday - Good Friday - in theory we should be having a fish super so may go to the chippy & pick up sometake-away but equally we could have leftover chicken pie or Waitflower yellow stickered something
Saturday - Asian Noodles & bubble tea - fun food @ a fraction of the cost of eating out!
Sunday - Roast - probably chicken or gammon, depending on what we pick up from Waitflower
This weeks lunches as it's always a challenge when commuting to not default to the expensive sandwich shop!
Monday - MrS meal deal using points
Tuesday - B00ts meal deal using points
Wednesday - will have to scout out a deal and avoid the expensive shop! - perhaps a salad from C0-0p
Thursday - monthly ladies who lunch - no clue where - I'm hoping Chinatown, last time we had homestyle Japanese
Friday - first day of my week long Easter break - as it's Good Friday, we'll have something fishy
4 YEARS 10 MONTHS DEBT FREE!!! (24 OCT 2016)(With heartfelt thanks to those who have gone before us & their indubitable generosity.)...and now I have a mortgage! (23 AUG 2021)New projection - 14 YEARS 10 MONTHS LEFT OF 20 YEARS (reduced by 15 mths)Psst...I may have started a diary!3 -
Just popping by to say that in Exciting News from here freezer 2 is finally empty, defrosted and switched off! Naturally this means that freezer 1 in its turn ludicrously packed, but hey, ho, we'll work on that!
The second of the nice gammon joints I bought at Christmas made its way out of the freezer at the weekend and performed sterling service as a sunday-lunch style spin on a classic yesterday in the shape of Ham, eggs and roast potatoes (last of the eggs, and last of the tatties from the Lil's £1.50 box I got a couple of weeks back, too!)🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
EssexHebridean said:Just popping by to say that in Exciting News from here freezer 2 is finally empty, defrosted and switched off! Naturally this means that freezer 1 in its turn ludicrously packed, but hey, ho, we'll work on that!Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here4
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.6K Spending & Discounts
- 244K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.4K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards