Reverse Meal Planning

EssexHebridean

We are back to packed freezers again - the chickpeas portioned out to - I think it was 8 tubs! That was with making up a batch of houmous with the last ones in the pot too! To add to that Mum gave us a couple of packs of picky bits that she had overbought for Christmas and wasn't going to eat - we ate half of each pack last night and combined the remainder into one box to take up less freezer space. I will need to get the second cottage pie in this evening as well, once it's topped with mash.😂 Ahh well, it will all get eaten and save us money along the line. We had some of the houmous last night with our unplanned picky tea, and there is enough left for me to have in a sandwich for lunch one day too.

The mash tonight will use 5p potatoes, and the final splash of cream I bought for the parsnip soup, and the cottage pie won't need anything alongside as it is utterly PACKED with veg!

I think I might take another look at the meal plan to see whether we are better re-arranging things a bit - I was intending to get one of the pieces of christmas ham out, but I'm slightly re-thinking that now as it might be better to delay that a bit. I could easily slot in soup one night with some of the Olio bread…

JingsMyBucket

@Suffolk_lass can you perhaps make a small one or two serving pot of stew from that remaining chop? The slow cooking would help it then.

Suffolk_lass

I think so @JingsMyBucket but not for today. I have two chicken thighs defrosted that are the priority. It needs to be simple as I have a priority fast-track appointment this afternoon after following up with my consultant's secretary last week. Call yesterday, appointment today, study group tonight

EssexHebridean

Hope all goes well with the appointment SL.

Last night's cottage pie was delicious - and I inadvertently managed to forget to deal with topping the second one with the other half of the mash which means that MrEH is now going to do that today - and that in turn means he gets the absolute JOY of fitting it into the freezer! I promise this wasn't deliberate on my part!

One of the Olio loaves has been started for sandwiches for lunch today, and mine uses the rest of the humous I made on Sunday. The mash last night (5p potatoes!) saw off the last of the double cream, and I added some additional veg that was left over from Sunday into the pie before topping it too.

I'm opting to do rice bowls rather than couscous this evening as we have lots of rice to be used. The toppings will be much the same as usual - I'll do mine with brown rice and leave MrEH to deal with his white version when he gets home from rugby training as he really isn't a fan of brown. Using rice on a Tuesday when we eat separately anyway is an excellent way of me getting to eat brown rice more often!

Suffolk_lass

Appointment went better than I expected - another general anaesthetic procedure, but the lead time is approx 4 months, so with a good wind, bee swarming season will be closing as my ability to lift is temporarily halted. The lesser of 3 evils.

Anyway, of relevance here, after also having the blood taken, I paid the second tier parking fee (!) at the hospital and managed to select a less than awful route home, with only a notorious congestion area in rush area that can't reasonably be avoided - still quite late (as my study group was only an hour and a bit on), so Mr Sl threw together some pasta and cheese with broccoli, instead of the chicken or lamb.

EssexHebridean

Glad to hear you were fed - and comfort food at that after a stressful sort of day.

I have had to rearrange the meal plan a bit as thanks to the changes of plan at the weekend I've not yet got out the piece of ham that was meant to be feeding us this evening. I HAVE however got out from the freezer a tub of mushrooms and a piece of chorizo and will combine those into an omelette, and a side of the rather tasty sprouts, chestnuts and bacon which used up the last of the 5p sprouts a few weeks ago. I was debating about opting for a form of shakshuka instead but suspect the omelette will win!

rtandon27

A small win yesterday after a tiring day at the hospital with OH for treatment. Our forward meal plan said take-away but for some unknown reason not one of the multiple ways that we can order at the preferred establishment was working. Frustrated and tired, we ended up looking in the fridge, making ham & cheese & bacon butties, having a small bag of crisps each and a blue riband bar. It was cheap & quick and put just enough food into OH's tummy to take his next round of meds. Thank-goodness for well stocked stores! Let's just say that as OH needs extra calories on an ongoing basis, we now have a few of his favorite munchies in the house which are not our usual food choices but proved worthwhile yesterday. So money stayed firmly in our pockets and we got to retire to bed early! I'm going to work in some extra veggie portions totoday to counteract yesterday's food choices.

Suffolk_lass

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81882833#Comment_81882833

Sometimes, a bit of what you fancy, does you good, as my Grandma used to say!

It's leftover pasta here, sharing a large portion, but I have made a rice pudding and stewed some (frozen) rhubarb as I know he loves both. The two steaks can keep until next week. They are also out of the fridge and not a £15 meal deal thingy

EssexHebridean

Absolutely right RT - for anyone struggling with eating for almost whatever reason - that they are eating at all is nearly always far more important than WHAT they are eating - allergies aside of course! It's why I get so frustrated seeing elderly people tying themselves in knots with the fearmongering around ultra processed foods or other diet culture stuff - as my Mum said a while ago, at over 80, the chances of her living long enough for a "poor diet" to kill her are largely zero - better that she eats, maintains energy levels and keeps a good body weight!

Some adjustments here during the week after the various changes last week, and we ended up having leftover chinese takeaway from Friday night on Saturday too which was a joy - various bits of lots of different dishes left over from the meal with our friends made for a nice tasty plate each.

The ham came out of the freezer for Sunday in the end, last night was the second of the cottage pies I made the week before (ate 1/froze 1) and this evening is a freezer raid again for falafels and chickpeas which we'll have alongside some mushrooms and pepper with couscous.

Suffolk_lass

We had the steaks last night, with half a bag of baby spinach and tiny jacket potatoes - perfect as I didn't get home until half past 6 and was leading the study group at 7.15pm. We even fitted in pancakes. I adapted a trick my mum uses and mixed a bit of oil in with the batter - one egg, one tablespoon of flour and a pinch of salt, with just enough milk to make it like pouring cream - it make four and some scrapings. I had one, he had the 3! It worked really well in a very hot well seasoned pan - with vanilla sugar and lemon juice. So traditional and so nice!