Reverse Meal Planning

fionaandphil

Gosh you are so organised @joedenise - put me to shame.  I have planned up to the end of the week and am feeling quite proud of myself    Our freezers are very full so I am trying to use things up before doing any Christmas shopping. I am finding lots of little 'bits' so I am planning on having a few use it up meals.

Suffolk_lass

Oh goodness. No planning at all here. Got my exams and so just pulling something out of the freezer. Maybe fish fingers this evening. As I have my final study buddy revision session at 7.30pm

joedenise

I generally plan for the next month at the end of this month - so end of October I planned for this month.  As we are going away for a couple of weeks over Christmas I decided to plan up until we go away and to use up as much as possible from the freezer.

So yes I am organised with meal planning but unfortunately not with anything else!  I'm totally unorganised with most things but I do like to know what we're going to be eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

EssexHebridean

I am finally making headway with getting space cleared in the freezer!

Friday evening was a fry up using some cooked chipolatas, half a pack of bacon, tattie scones and black/fruit puddings (all from the freezer) plus the last two eggs.
Saturday lunchtime I opted for the jacket potatoes again - topped off with baked beans with chorizo (freezer) added and some smoked paprika and spicy pepper sauce.
Yesterday lunchtime was a full-on freezer raid. A tub of roasted Mediterranean style veg, a couple of random cooked chicken legs and a tub of turkey stock all combined with an oriental style flavouring jelly - thickened up a bit and with a bundle of glass noodles added it made a really tasty soup/stew. 

I also did a batch cook on Saturday using one of the lots of venison mince plus plenty of mushrooms, a carton of cooked lentils (gained from a pal who wasn't going to use them), the last of our home grown peppers and a tin of chopped toms - all simmered together into a tasty ragu - it made three full double portions and a single one all of which are now stashed in the freezer. 

This evening is stir fry, and tomorrow will - as it is Tuesday - be couscous, probably with Halloumi this week. 

Suffolk_lass

I brought home the chicken I did not eat at the Quiz night on Saturday and it is in my fridge, waiting to be turned into a pie. It will be Thursday because we eat out today, I have a cauliflower to use tomorrow, and we are away, seeing friends and staying overnight on Wednesday. So no shopping other than for a progressively more dim lightbulb that needs replacing, and not much to be done. Great!

rtandon27

We had our second round of cauli-cheese made from an enormous beast that arrived in last week's groceries for a mere 78p! We also added bacon lardons and cooked mushrooms to it - super tasty!
Along side we're reheated chips from OH's takeaway on Friday and the rest of the M&S dim sum we got on clearance.
Odd combination but utterly delicious!

Suffolk_lass

Used a chicken breast portion from the freezer to make a curry tonight. An onion, three cloves of garlic, 4 chillies, a stick of celery and a carrot, plus a teaspoon of the ginger and turmeric from my extremely tasty honey infusion. Oh my, with a jar of sauce and the rice from the freezer (which turned out to be egg-fried, lol) - it was tasty and made holes in the pantry and the freezer. Something with mince tomorrow. And a decision. I will make some sort of savoury pasta bake for the party we are going to on Sunday. I have everything I need for that, with the exception of a pint of milk. It might involve vegetables and squash with a small amount of minced beef. I also have a shepherd's pie I can use up from the indoor freezer, freeing up more space ahead of Christmas!

EssexHebridean

We were gifted a dozen eggs on Friday which spurred me on to bake on Sunday (just a half recipe of victoria sponge mix turned into 8 deep cupcake style fairy cakes) and also meant that the meal plan saw a change to omelette last night (more of a frittata really with chorizo, mushrooms and peas incorporated).

I also finally got round to batch cooking the diced venison from the freezer into a curry on Saturday - that made three double portions which are all now in the freezer. Sunday lunch used the lamb breast rings which have been lurking in the freezer for a while, along with the last two tatties so I'll need to remember that I'm out of those. I also made sure that used frozen home grown runner beans as well - those are currently taking up a full drawer in freezer 2 which is a situation which can't continue!

I need to put some time into adding more to the rolling meal plan - I'd like to get it through to christmas ideally as in common with most of you we REALLY need to make the space! 

EssexHebridean

Cooked up a whole butternut squash sliced up the other evening when we had a cheap half hour on Agile, that then went into our couscous on Tuesday and a risotto last night. Also cooked the whole punnet of mushrooms when I prepped some on Monday - the balance of those went into the risotto last night as well, plus a tub of turkey stock from the freezer. 

Tonight will be a tub of home grown tomato sauce along with some mince and the last of the peppers in the fridge I think - sort of improvised ragu, and again, getting things out of the freezer! 

The meal plan says fakeaway indian for tomorrow and I fully intend to stick with that plan - the freezer will be giving up the curry, the daal and possibly a small tub of byriani rice although I may yet save that for a time when just one of us is eating as it's a small portion and not really enough for both of us. That said, I could make up a pack of the indian style pancake mix and that would bulk it out a little...Hmmm. 

I do need a note of things to batch cook though - that will be the last of the daal I think and that's a handy one to have in. 

Suffolk_lass

We had fish fingers last night - opening up the box of premium ones I bought from the man who comes to the door every few weeks. They are not as nice as the Sainsbugs panko covered TTD ones, in my opinion. But they are double length. Mr Sl cooked so we had two each (!) and he used a flat griddle pan that he then stood on top of one of the then-pristeen hob-hats with a hare on it. He had only proudly showed this off to friends delivering a painting of a hare, last week. Now it is wrecked with a mixture of rust, fat and oven-bottom grease. I've got two chances of getting it clean as he is not a first offender - fat chance and no chance!

To say I am not happy is something of an understatement. His huffy-puffy reaction to any criticism isn't helping either

I have got a frozen half portion of the shepherd's pie I made a few weeks ago, sitting in its little 15cm diameter soufflé dish, ready for this evening's low-effort nosebag (to use @foxgloves' expression!)