Reverse Meal Planning

purplevamp

This week my husband is away with his mum, so it's down to me to get the shopping in for me and my daughter. We have not been to the shops once and have instead just eaten what's in the house. I don't understand how he spends so much when he goes shopping!! 😆 He's not back until next Sunday and I think I only need to get a loaf of bread and maybe some milk.

Suffolk_lass

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82181018#Comment_82181018

We are the other way around. He sticks to the list (though he is prone to subs I would not go for).

No shopping here yesterday, despite various tempting expiring offers. The wind and rain meant I went through my wardrobe and a drawer, packing away summer clothes and building a charity bag with clothes I kept because I liked them but they are now several sizes too big. I will never be that big again, and anyway, many were work related!

Back to food, I have removed the tomatoes that Mr Sl prepped and gently cooked from the fridge and cooked them with six bags of frozen tomatoes in my large preserving pan. I need to blitz them today then reheat, season and jar them. Homemade passata. I don't skin them - it's all roughage. I've also got some honey to jar and some study to go.

Last night's steak is still waiting as we had soup and toast about 4pm and I just wasn't hungry. Poor Mr Sl had granola about 9pm and then something with butter before bed!!

EssexHebridean

Morning all! A good weekend for us on the reverse planning front, soup (cooked previously and frozen) was eaten for lunch on saturday, and cheap overnight electric on Sunday saw me dig a pack of nice meaty lamb bones from the freezer and lob them into the slow cooker with assorted veg, stock, split peas and pearl barley. A riff on scotch broth and very tasty it was too - half eaten with jacket potatoes for lunch yesterday, the balance is currently in the fridge. More veg was roasted - that will be turned into pasta sauce tonight I think, and that was pretty much the last of the home grown tomatoes, plus the last tiny home grown aubergines. The freezer was also emptied of bread for toast on Friday/saturday breakfasts, and a new loaf made on the cheap electric overnight into yesterday.

I am now running into my planned frugal month on the grocery spending front, so the various bits stashed in the freezers will be coming in to their own!

rtandon27

@purplevamp - I do love a good use it up session from the freezers and stores - we've been doing well over the past month, doing freezer dives and doing a meal plan around what has been found rather than buying what's on sale and then making the meal plan iyswim - lots of room in the freezer now, and we can now organize a bit better and get a handle on what is in there

@Suffolk_lass - interesting that you leave the skins on! I remember my Gran canning tomatoes and the tedious skinning once they had been submerged in boiling water! Yesterday I made a turkish style simple veg dish with white courgettes & onions & tomatoes. We had the last of our neighbour's cherry tomatoes to use up so put them through a chopper and then fished out the skins - we then had two large vine tomatoes which I thought I'd peeled and then quartered but once the dish was cooked found the skins remained so had to fish those out after cooking! You did say you are blitzing yours into sauce, so I do get where they would be extra fibre and unnoticeable!

@EssexHebridean - so interesting that you freeze bread - it's the one thing I tend not to freeze - we usually freeze homemade 'ready' meals or things that are cheaper bought on sale or in bulk like uncooked pastry (filo/puff/short), salmon, chicken, stewing meat, cheese - as well as frozen dim sum - I did however discover i'd frozen some seeded wraps and lebanese flatbread on my last freezer dive sp maybe there is scope for good sliced sourdough!

Suffolk_lass

@rtandon27 one of the things that has historically been recommended for optimum running of a deep freeze is to keep it quite full (not blocking the fan though) and the recommended filler is bread!

EssexHebridean

We pretty much always have bread in the freezer - too much would get wasted otherwise as the toast we eat at weekend breakfasts wouldn't take us through a full loaf. When I buy a sourdough we eat it fresh for the first two days then the balance is sliced and frozen! It also keeps it wonderfully fresh so gives the advantage of really nice toast!

purplevamp

@Suffolk_lass I'm usually the one who overspends, that's why OH goes shopping without me 😆. We stick to a list but sometimes odd things happen to fall into the trolley.

@rtandon27 Definitely. It's good to get space for all the lovely Christmas goodies and the turkey takes up an entire shelf on its own these days.

Today for lunch I had 3 sausages in a frozen bread roll that had been in the freezer for over a year. Only 3 left to go 😉. Not sure about dinner tonight though. Will need another rummage in the freezer/cupboards.

EssexHebridean

Oh yes - random (in my case usually Y/S'd) rolls can lurk in the freezer for far too long can't they - and that reminds me that I have 4 of those to be dealt with too!

Last night's tea involved a third of the chicken I'd stripped off the bones, with pasta and a sauce made using the roast veg from sunday and a third of a tub of soft cheese. It was tasty, and a nice way to use those last bits of fresh HG veg.

Tonight will be couscous - but I haven't absolutely decided whether it will be with more of the chicken, or halloumi as the protein element. Leaning towards halloumi, mostly because it is awesome and I could eat it daily, but logic may prevail! That reminds me - for those who haven't yet tried it, the trick of soaking halloumi in hot water for 15 minutes then drying thoroughly before cooking is a game-changer.

joedenise

Not heard of soaking halloumi before cooking - what does it do?

JIL

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82182719#Comment_82182719

Totally agree that the soaking is a game changer. It apparently removes the excess brine and improves the texture.

The other thing that elevates it further is cutting it with one of those serated edge things, like used to make crinkle chips. Perfect lines when cooking, crispy and soft. Deliciously fabulous