Food Planning : Large Scale

[Deleted User]

Firstly well done on being a prepper in the first place and having the sense to keep that full pantry full even if there was no perceived need for it.  Now we do need it so being ahead of the game before the game starts is not a bad thing is it?  I try to look at foodstuffs that come into the house with different eyes, a cabbage is on the first glance just a cabbage, boiled and served with potatoes and meat it's a perfectly acceptable meal isn't it?  look again at that cabbage and see also, coleslaw, stuffed cabbage leaves, on a very thrifty day cabbage soup and if there is cooked cabbage left my favourite bubble and squeak.  Take a loaf of bread which is probably going to be sandwiches or toast...look again at that loaf and see wartime cheese pudding, bread and butter pudding, summer pudding with fresh fruit, breadcrumb coatings for odds and ends that can be minced up and made into rissoles, bread pudding, breadcrumbs, croutons, poor knights of Windsor (if you have jam).  See the potential in whatever you can afford to buy and use every scrap of it.  Even veg peelings if they've been thoroughly well washed first can make a fantastic soup that would not cost a penny.  I always have in a range of herbs and spices so if we have to have the same base ingredients for a few days running (that BIG cabbage for instance) I can change the flavourings and make it taste different. Even the humble baked bean makes a fabulous soup if you puree it in it's sauce, it makes a lovely hash if you mix it with a bit of fried onion, some cooked diced potatoes and sprinkle it with cheese to oven cook it.  Look for recipes using whatever you have in and s t r e t c h them as far as they will go to make extras.

If you are going foraging then make absolutely sure you have a proper foraging guide with you with photographs rather than line drawings so you can accurately identify what is in front of you and if you're NOT sure then don't pick it because hemlock looks an awful lot like wild carrot and so do many other things that will give you serious problems resemble things that are safe to eat.  Particularly fungi which I won't touch as it's just too likely that you will get it wrong!

[Deleted User]

I missed saying that a good way to make the expensive items like meat, fish cheese go further and so you can get away with serving smaller portions as a main meal is to serve an old fashioned starter before every main meal like a Yorkshire pudding with gravy or a bowl of home made soup with a small roll, dumplings with gravy etc. all good rib stickers that mean you're less hungry by the time you get to the main meal.  If that's not an option then something like home made rice pudding or a fruit crumble or pie served with custard made from custard powder and milk will fill corners left empty.  

greenbee

Happy_Sloth said:

greenbee said:

I'm sticking with planning around the veg box and trying to minimise my spending and focus on healthy eating. 

Hopefully this way you can use your budget for a bit of fresh fruit and veg. Also consider whether you can grown your own or forage (nettles and ground elder are both edible, as an example - fairly prolific and highly nutritious). 

I am growing some veg myself this year not much but i have courgettes, cucumbers, potato's, chives, spring onions, Kale, Chard, strawberries, spinach. So i should have leafy greens covered.  I have also been buying a veg box that can be abit random but its forcing me to be creative. 

That's a great start! Once they get going you should be able to make your stores last even longer. 

Happy_Sloth

I have started to list things out ..... 
Fresh fruit/veg (most of this has come from veg boxes that where over a week old, most things are fine but a few items are past their best... i'm going to stir fry some of the worst for dinner tonight but the rest needs turning into something and freezing i think) 

• Onions 13
• Carrot   2kg
• Butternut Squash           
• 2 Red Cabbage     
• Potatos  10kg   (5kg need using, i made a cheese pie with some to freeze but i have another 5kg that are starting to go soft.)
  
• 2 Swead 
• 1/2 lettuce         
• spinach    (These really need eating)              
• new potatos      
• mushrooms       
• Grapes
• 1/2 white cabbage          
• 1/2 cucumber   
• 1 red pepper     
• 1 green pepper
•  parsnips              
• 2 bok choi          
• 2 leeks
• cauliflower       (These really need eating)     
• broccoli         (These really need eating)         
• spring onions    
• Apples x 6      (Past their best, was thinking about pie or crumble but don't have an flour)     
• 3 oranges.          
• cherry toms     (These really need eating)   
• Yellow Melon 

greenbee

Red cabbage, white cabbage and carrots last for ages and can be used for coleslaw when other salad stuff is getting low, so use them sparingly while you have other stuff, just to add variety, and then more as you run out. 

If you have milk and cheese then maybe cauli & broccoli cheese with those - freeze any leftovers. Or just steam them tonight to go with whatever else you are having. Likewise eat the spinach tonight. Or turn them all into soup and freeze.

Cherry toms either have as salad tomorrow (or in sandwiches) or roast them in the oven if they look a bit second-hand, maybe with some peppers. They'd go well with some lentils and feta or goats' cheese if you have any. Alternatively cook them up with some of your many potatoes into a frittata (if you have eggs) and have with salad. You could add the spinach too. You only need enough egg to stick them together, and frittata freezes well. 

I'd just stew the apple (maybe with some cinnamon or ginger) and have it either on it's own or with cream/yogurt/custard if you have any of those. 

Hope that helps with ideas on the using up what needs to be used first. I look forward to seeing what else you find as you go through your cupboards and freezer! Don't forget to list your herbs and spices - some of my spice mixes have saved my sanity!

PollyWollyDoodle

I think my first move would be a big vegetable curry with the stuff that’s nearing its end. You can freeze some, add chicken to some etc but it will extend the life of those things that need using up. Or you could make a veg chilli if curry isn’t popular in your home. Alternatively soup is an obvious way to use some of it, blend it and nobody needs to know what’s gone in 😈

[Deleted User]

For a crumble if you have any sweet biscuits (I love digestives) particularly if you have broken ones in the bottom of the tin stick 'em in a bag and bash 'em with a rolling pin and use that on top of fruit no need to add a single thing.  You can also top a crumble with rolled oats or make oat flour by blitzing rolled oats in the food processor and use as normal flour.  Oats mixed with a sweetener as a topping for fruit make a tasty pudding.

Cauliflower or broccoli (or a mix of both make a nice gratin dish with a cheese sauce) or a really nice soup with some of those potatoes that need using and some cheese to give a decent texture.  I cooked up the end of a sack of potatoes that were softening this morning and have mashed the whole lot and put them in a covered container in the fridge to use as potato mountains (make pyramids of potato on a baking tray, scuff the outside with a fork, spray with oil spray and cook in a hot oven until the outsides are brown on the ridges like shepherds pie topping), make potato cakes by adding flour and rolling 1/3" thick from the dough it makes and browning in a hot dry frying pan), make potato pastry where you replace 1/2 the weight of fat required with mashed potato, works well), use as a topping over a meat base for a shepherds pie or over a lentil/baked bean and cooked veg in cheese sauce veg for a shepherdess pie.


Cucumber. peppers, onion and a tin of tomatoes make the base for Gaspacho, Spinach, potatoes, onion and curry spices make saag aloo as do carrots and potatoes to make aloo gajjar which make a filling and tasty meal if you add in cooked rice.

Butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, leeks, parsnips, swedes cut into fingers more or less the same size make a very nice tray of mixed roast veg sprayed in oil spray and cooked in the oven until just browning on the edges, nice hot as a veg or nice left to get cold and used as a salad with a nice dressing on.

Happy_Sloth

other perishables. 

• 15 eggs 
• 1/2 block cheese 
• Sliced ham
• Gammon Hock 
• Feta Cheese (needs using) 
• Cream cheese 
• 2 pks of Tortillas

--- food cupboard staples... (Still working on listing the items in the kitchen.. haven't got to my basement pantry yet) 

• Raisins - 2/3 bag 
• Dried Prunes - 1 bag
• Dehydrated Onions - 500g
• Dried Shiikaka Mushrooms - 100g
• Ground Amonds - small bag
• Chopped mixed nuts  - small bag
• Dried Apricots - small bag

Baking

• 4kg sugar
• 1kg plain flour (this was a surprise i thought i was all out)
• Golden Syrup
• Lemon Juice
• Lime Juice
• Honey - 1 jar (I know i have more in the basement)
• 4 cartons of brandy Sauce
• 6 cartons of custard 
• 4 microwave sponge cakes
• Maple Syrup -1 jar (I know i have more in the basement)
• Jam - 1 jar (I know i have more in the basement)
• Panko Bread Crumbs 
• Bi Carbonate

Dried goods (I have more of all of beans/lentils in the basement)

• 5kg Dried Black Beans
• 1kg red lentils
• 1kg green lentils 
• 500g soup mix 
• 500g barley 
• 500g White lentils
• 3kg Porridge Oats
• Couple of boxes of breakfast cereal 
• 8kg white Rice
• 2kg Pasta
• 2 pks of egg noodles 

Herbs and Misc 

• Vinegar
• Soy sauce
• All purpose seasoning
• Red salt
• Garam Masala
• Cinnamon
• Miso paste
• Salt and pepper seasoning
• Ginger
• chives (Have fresh in garden as well) 
• Tarragon
• Rosemary
• Basil 
• Parsley
• Coriander
• chopped green chilli
• Turmeric
• Cumin
• Garlic Salt and Ground Garlic
• Paprika
• Tomato Puree
• Worcester sauce
• Chilli Flakes and Chilli Powder
• Stock cubes (Beef/Chicken/Veggy)
• Gravy  (Beef/Chicken/Veggy)

--Tinns 

• 4 tins of beans 
• 3 tins tuna 
• 6 tins of tomatos 
• 4 tin's of soup. 

Other 

• 8 pks of instant noodles
• 6 pot noodles. 

That pretty much covers the upstairs cupboards.. 

-taff

I'd  probably use the brocolli/eggs feta spinach and tomatoes and make a massive quiche or crustless quiche. The potatoes can be turned into gnocchi, or rissoles with some mnce and herbs and onions, bombay potatoes, hassleback potaoes, jacket potatoes, . Apples, just take the middles out, shove in some raisins mixed with cinnamon and sugar, and baked apples a go go...

I use up veg sometimes by cooking till nearly done, then taking out and putting oil and vinegar [red, white or cider or balsamic] on them as a dressing, works with nearly every type of veg [ never tried it with swede or parsnips though] and I have definitely done it with cauliflower. It's lovely.

Happy_Sloth

-taff said:

I'd  probably use the brocolli/eggs feta spinach and tomatoes and make a massive quiche or crustless quiche. The potatoes can be turned into gnocchi, or rissoles with some mnce and herbs and onions, bombay potatoes, hassleback potaoes, jacket potatoes, . Apples, just take the middles out, shove in some raisins mixed with cinnamon and sugar, and baked apples a go go...

I use up veg sometimes by cooking till nearly done, then taking out and putting oil and vinegar [red, white or cider or balsamic] on them as a dressing, works with nearly every type of veg [ never tried it with swede or parsnips though] and I have definitely done it with cauliflower. It's lovely.

haha i'm a big beliver that pretty much any veg can be stir fried.