Freezer Food Plan

Its tough thinking of different Meal Planning Monday post titles!. Google really should have more respect for the institution of #mealplanningmonday and realise its not spam - Its a wide variety of foods!!
The batch cooking and freezing is working so well.  Its saving hours of time and loads of money.  Waste is reduced and the variety of food we eat is increased.
Today is a cooking day as freezer stocks are running low.  This is what this weeks menu is looking like...
Monday - Chilli Con Carne and Rice with Tacos. (from freezer, cook on low from frozen)
Tuesday - mushroom stuffed chicken breasts. A Gino D'Acampo idiet recipe. (from freezer, defrost and cook)
Wednesday - slow cooked Italian and wild mushroom stew. Another Gino idiet recipe. (cooked a double batch on Monday and stored half in fridge and other half frozen)
Thursday - Fish and Chips.  Fish from freezer.
Friday - Vegetarian Chilli and rice (from freezer)
Saturday - ooh quite possibly a take away!
Sunday - The Big Three Courser
Melon
Garlic Mushrooms
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Garlic Bread with Tomato
Chocolate Tirimisu
I'll be posting more about my big three courser on Wednesday
What are you planning for this week?

Meal Planning Monday - 21St January 2013

This week I really need to stock up the freezer again and get some batch cooking done.  Unfortunately, having a teeny tiny freezer means we have to eat a portion on the day so can end up eating mince all week.

Monday - Posh Hotdogs and potato wedges

Tuesday - spaghetti Bolognese

Wednesday - Quesedillas

Thursday - Chicken and Quinoa Curry

Friday - Fish Pie

Saturday - Vegetable Chilli Tacos and rice

Sunday - Roast Beef Dinner

There's more meal plans on At Home With.Mrs M and for those who use their slow cooker there's recipes galore on Mediocre Mums blog.

And finally, here's the shopping list.

Ciabata
Large frankfurters
Cherry tomatoes
3 Onions
Gherkins
Potatoes
1.5kg mince
4 tins chopped tomatoes
2 tins plum tomatoes
Famiy sized Punnet of mushrooms
Garlic puree
Knorr beef stockpots
Corn tortillas
6 chicken breasts (quesedillas and curry)
Packet of old el paso quesedilla spice mix
Cheese
Refried beans
Sour cream
250g quinoa (not the flaked variety)
Balti paste
2 sweet potatoes
Spinach
Fish pie mix
Milk
Bay leaves
Eggs
Small Aubergine
1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
2 medium courgettes
200g mushrooms
2 carrots
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
200g green beans
1 tbsp garlic paste (or a clove)
500g passatta
1 400g tin red kidney beans
1 400g tin cannelloni beans
250ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp Mild chilli powder (or to your own taste)
Roast beef joint
Sprouts
Yorkshire puds
Taco shells
Rice

Meal Planning Monday - 7th January 2013

We've a jar of red pesto to be used up this week from yesterdays Slow Cooked Italian Beef so there's a bit of a theme this week!

Monday - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Tuesday - Cod with Red Pesto

Wednesday - Garlic Mushrooms with Garlic Bread with Tomato Pesto

Thursday - Macaroni Cheese

Friday - Chicken Stir Fry

Saturday - Vegetable Chilli

Sunday - Slow Cooked Country Chicken Stew

If you need more inspiration, there's loads of links to other meal plans over at At Home With Mrs M.

To make the above, here's this weeks shopping list...


(This will make a large batch of veg chilli and Bolognese for the freezer) 1kg minced beef (this is enough for about 12 portions of Bolognese) 3 tins choppedtomatoes 2 tins plum tomatoes Dried Italian herbs Knorr stockpot (beef) 3 medium onions 1.25 kg mushrooms (for Bolognese, vegetable chilli and garlic mushrooms) 2 cod fillets or loins 5 lb potatoes Green beans 10 Carrots 1/2 bottle of barefoot white zinfandel rose wine Garlic puree Natural breadcrumbs Golden breadcrumbs Butter Cheese Macaroni Milk Plain flour Ready made pizza base Sir fry mix 6 chicken breasts Tin of condensed cream of mushroom soup Cabbage Small Aubergine vegetable or sunflower oil 2 medium courgettes 1 yellow pepper 1 orange pepper 500g passatta 1 400g tin red kidney beans 1 400g tin cannellini beans vegetable stock Mild chilli powder (or to your own taste)

Vegetable Chilli - Batch Cooking Recipe

This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in need in support of the World Food Programme’s Mothers Helping Mothers initiative in Bangladesh

This is one of my Batch Cooking staples. It's the basis for all dishes on my Ten Ways With Vegetable Chilli post.

So how do I make it?

It started as a low calorie Gino De Campo Recipe from his I Diet book but I found it wasn't quite chilli enough and wasnt quite filling enough for the children so I've adapted it quite a bit.
Ingredients:
Small Aubergine - diced
1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 onion - diced
2 medium courgettes - diced
200g mushrooms - diced
2 carrots - diced
1 yellow pepper - finely chopped
1 orange pepper - finely chopped
2 medium potatoes - chopped to the size of small roast potatoes
200g green beans
1 tbsp garlic paste (or a clove)
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
500g passatta
1 400g tin red kidney beans
1 400g tin cannelloni beans
250ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp Mild chilli powder (or to your own taste)

Method:
1.  Put the diced aubergine in a colander and sprinkle generously with salt.  Leave for about 30 minutes while you chop up everything else.  After 30 minutes rinse well in cold water and drain.
2. Heat the oil, add the garlic and saute the onion until it goes soft.
3. Add the aubergine, courgettes, mushrooms, carrotts, yellow pepper and orange pepper and saute for about 4 minutes.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and passatta and coat everything well.
5. Rinse all the beans before adding to the pan and give a really good stir.
6.  Add the vegetable stock and the Chilli powder to taste.
7.  Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occassionally.
8. Add the green beans and cook for a further 15 minutes

And there you have it, your basic chilli to do with what you wish from serving on a jacket potato to filling a samosa.  This is probably the most versatile recipe in my Batch Cooking collection.
Please let me know if you find any other ways of using this basic recipe to create a meal.