Reverse Meal Planning

moginstein

@Suffolk_lass, I also add a potato (to thicken) a carrot for sweetness and nice flecks of orange colour and garlic to mine,  but that's one I blend at the end. It works surprisingly well with iceberg lettuce. The peas and mint work nicely both for colour and flavour. Sometimes also chuck in some mixed dried Mediterranean herbs.
Don't know if you're after a more thinner style soup for refreshment against the heat, but hope you enjoy it and find a use for the glut before it bolts! 

EssexHebridean

**Scrolls hastily past mentions of cooked lettuce...**

Home Grown potatoes turned into potato salad for last night with added parsley, chopped gherkins and a healthy twist of black pepper.  Served it with a couple of bits of salmon from the freezer, and assorted salad veggies. The rest of the tatties will be treated broadly similarly for this evening, and we'll also use up the remaining salad plus an avocado which will hopefully have ripened by tonight...the protein element there will be three leftover cooked lamb sausages from the wraps we had one day over the weekend.

No idea about tomorrow at this stage, but it may end up being something with pasta I think. 

Currently at that stage of feeling as though good progress is being made on eating through the freezer but somehow it doesn't seem that the stock levels in there are falling! 

rtandon27

EssexHebridean said:

...Currently at that stage of feeling as though good progress is being made on eating through the freezer but somehow it doesn't seem that the stock levels in there are falling! 

You and me both hunny! 

Everytime I see a bit of space it gets filled - this past weekend it was with cold blocks both to cool down the bed before sleep and and to keep our picnic food cool when travelling.  They had not been used since last summer and we almost forgot about them!  So all the food we've been eating has freed up about half a drawer which is now filled with half a dozen blue bricks, ice lollies and c0rnettos.

EssexHebridean

Ahh yes - the incursion of ice cream type things is definitely a cuplrit for lack of space here too RT! Having popped to Al's last Friday I happened to spot that they had just two boxes of their "M@gnum-alikes" left in the mango & coconut flavour I nabbed both, but that will see us through this weekend as well so we will see a bit of  drop in freezer fullness at that point! 

Suffolk_lass

Ah, you see, I've had a "read one, want one" moment. Just had a lamb, onion and pickle roll with the last of the crisps (a leftover from a monthly big river subscription, that was cancelled in March). Now each of us has a mini twister ice-cream/sorbet lolly. And sorry EH, I forgot about your thing with LS.

EssexHebridean

LOL - I'll get over the trauma SL!   

EssexHebridean

A tub of ragu out of the freezer ready for an easy tea this evening, and I'm currently leaning towards doing curry and dhal for tomorrow, as that would get some more bits out of the freezer. It would also mean that I would need to do another batch cook before we have curry again, but not too many issues there as I know I have lamb i the freezer ready to use.

For anyone it interests by the way, I spotted that Lil's have their jarred chickpeas on special offer at 79p a jar again. 

I need a freezer audit before I commit to next week's meals I think, and also to build some solid protein options for salad accompaniments. (Although also reminding myself that we have eggs to use...) 

rtandon27

Freezer use it up project has been a bit of a challenge this week, as we ended up eating leftovers and putting the pierogis in the freezer.  Tuesday we were wined & dined at the castle and were so stuffed from afternoon tea that we had to c/o the fish day to Wednesday.  This meant the store-cupboard meal planned for Wednesday didn't get made and is carried over to this week! Today we are skipping the lamb biryani as we have both leftover fish curry and leftover Persian stew so will make some fresh rice and pan-fried chard and use at least one of them up.  Every time I think we are making inroads into what's in the stores, it multiplies into several servings of food we need to finish before going on to the next thing.

In this week's equally ambitious plan, we are again trying to use up what we have in the house!

Monday - Veggie Day - Chicken & Veg Day - Pesto pasta & chicken & courgette (chicken & pesto & pasta from freezer & stores)

Tuesday - Fish Day - Parmesan & Panko Haddock Loin on a bed of spinach (new recipe for OH to try)

Wednesday - Chicken Day - Yogurt marinated chicken with parathas from the freezer and green beans on the side (another new recipe for OH to play with)

Thursday - Meat Day - Italian Ragu & Pasta with Broccoli on the side (it's an Italian week I think as we are trying to make inroads into our pasta stores)

Friday - Fakeaway Day - Pizza with anti-pasti & pepper dip & labneh dip

Saturday - Easy Eating Day - Brunch will be avo & poached eggs on rolls - Dinner the usual gyoza/bao/noodles

Sunday -  Roast - Oven baked Lamb Seekh Kebabs with shelf-stable naans & onion/carrot/cucumber/radishes salad with a pomegranate molasses & olive oil drizzle

Next Monday - Veggie Day - Cauli-cheese with lardons (milk from the freezer)

Lunches - three in the city this week and will make use of points & coupons to buy meal deals - these are really good value and mean I don't have to carry extra weight while commuting & keeps me active at lunch so I hit my daily steps!

Suffolk_lass

I got a turkey escalope out of the freezer for this evening. It is huge and we will share it with homegrown veg (carrots, French beans, runner beans and potatoes. I love it when our garden starts to produce enough for us to be F&V self-sufficient

JingsMyBucket

Oh man, I have really fallen off the meal planning bandwagon. Our cupboards are a bit full and we need to start using down our resources. I’ve honestly just been focusing on our fridge for the longest time while mentally treading water these past few months. Here’s what I’m thinking for the next week in rough order:  

• General choose your own adventure salad spread. Cold cuts, cheeses, salad leaves, hummus, veg, olive ciabatta, etc. 
• Butternut squash, couscous, and lentil salad. A knock off version of this M & S salad https://www.marksandspencer.com/food/roasted-butternut-and-goats-cheese-salad/p/fdp60508435 . I might serve it with sliced cold cuts on the side. 
• Chocolate almond flour banana bread — Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread (gluten free!) | Ambitious Kitchen. This is a solid recipe I’ve used several times already. We have exactly 3 bananas that are bruised and ready for baking.
• Cold Peanut Noodle Salad with Peanut Lime Dressing - Budget Bytes but I’ll use rice noodles instead of spaghetti and add some chicken too. 
• Roasted lamb shoulder when it gets rainier this coming week. I think I’ll cook it very slowly so I can shred it and freeze some portions. Not sure what to serve with it yet. 
• Quesadillas will also feature at some point because we have a lot of big tortillas to use up. I may roast a tray of vegetables and send some over to the quesadillas. 

I’ll need to move some leftover Italian meat sauce to the freezer for storage and see what else I can pull out. We have frozen cubed butternut squash that’ll partially be used for the copycat M & S salad. Maybe I’ll make a vegetable tart with some frozen spinach, frozen peppers, and frozen shortcrust pastry as well. Some shredded lamb could top that tart too. 

Naan pizzas are also an option. This recipe has given me inspiration Grilled Naan Pizzas with Vegetables and Chimichurri. We have garlic naan and some gifted wild garlic pesto in the fridge we should use up. We don’t have a BBQ so I’ll just oven roast the vegetables.