We need to make the most of what we have #mealplanning

Now that the sh*t has actually hit the fan and we appear to have landed in some kind of Hollywood sci-fi film, meal planning is taking a slightly different direction. We need to use what we have as creatively as possible and make the most of what we have. This whole situation has made me think hard about what and how much we eat. Even though we are very careful with money and don’t waste a lot of food, we generally eat what we want. We don’t have to do without anything. Now that it isn’t possible to make a shopping list and assume I can buy pretty much everything on it, a bit of creativity and flexibility is going to be essential.   There is plenty of food in the house at the moment, but I want to make it last as long as we can so that we spend as little as possible.

No more keto

In recent weeks I have been doing the keto diet – high fat and low carb. This has definitely been more expensive than usual. As I explained in yesterday’s most, Time to get uber frugal, my income has dropped like a stone this week. Eating keto seems a bit of an extravagance so I am putting it to one side for now.  I won’t eat as many carbs as I used to and will avoid bread and sugar. Since I feel so much healthier without them, I am reluctant to slide back into old habits.  However, we will be eating some of the food items in our stores, such as rice, pulses and pasta as they are cheap and filling. We will also be eating less through portion control. So where I would usually use 4 chicken thighs for the two of us, I will be using three, etc. So here is this week’s meal plan to make the most of what we have.

Saturday

We have quite a lot of potatoes that need using, along with some salad items. Having not been able to find eggs for a week, I picked some up in the farm shop, then thought I would grab another box in Iceland. I love eggs and eat a lot of them, so this is one of the food items I would really miss if I couldn’t get hold of them. We will have salad, hard boiled eggs, tuna mayonnaise and jacket potatoes tonight. Hopefully, the panic buyers won’t think of going to the farm shop, so that is where we will be going from now on!

Sunday

It’s Mother’s Day! I should have been in Brighton with all three daughters, but have had to cancel. Daughter no 1 lives near me so she is coming round to cook for us.  We shall hopefully do a group WhatsApp chat at some point with the other two. I hope my youngest isn’t ill by then. Her boyfriend has all the symptoms of the dreaded CV! He is young and healthy so hopefully it will pass by quickly, and let’s hope it doesn’t hit her too badly either. We picked up a whole chicken in Iceland when we popped into town yesterday, so will have a roast dinner with potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and kale. I won’t worry about dessert for myself, but there is some salted caramel icecream in the freezer for the other two or we might cut up a melon.

Monday

There will be some leftover chicken from Sunday, so I will make a chicken risotto with a pepper, tinned tomatoes and maybe some sweetcorn. If there is still salad that needs to be used we will have some with the risotto.  This will do for Tuesday lunch as well.

Tuesday

I will make some poultry stock with the chicken carcass and two others that I have in the freezer. This makes a thrifty and delicious base for a chunky soup. I will chuck carrots, celery, potatoes, peas into this with whatever else I can find. If there is still a bit of chicken from the Sunday roast that will go in as well. This will be dinner with some baguettes and cheese. I bought the part baked baguettes for our family get together last week and they need using. This will be the first bread product I have eaten in weeks, so will be interesting to see how my belly reacts. This soup will also be lunch for the next few days.

Wednesday

We will be using up some more of those potatoes tonight, with the sausages I bought in the farm shop. Carrots and some chard from the garden will accompany this, plus gravy of course. I was surprised to find that the chard had not only survived the winter, but seems to be growing again. This is good news and another source of fresh veg for us.

Thursday

Tonight’s dinner will be a halloumi and roasted vegetable tray bake. We have all of the ingredients for this and it looks yummy. I love halloumi!

Friday

Back to using up some of our eggs, with an easy end-of-the-week tea of cheese omelettes with air fried potatoes and corn on the cob. I have some in the freezer that I bought a while back in Iceland. Couldn’t eat them on keto, but I can now! We aren’t quite at WW2 rationing levels yet, but I think that will be the way to go. I know the food supply system is unlikely to be affected in terms of quantity, but we will be looking to stretch everything to stick to a much reduced budget. How are you coping with this crisis food wise? As usual, I am linking up with Katy Kicker for her meal planning linky. For more of my frugal food ideas see here.