Meal Planning Monday - the "Not Going Out" edition

Right, now I've got you all humming the song, WHY am I not going out? Well, it's a double whammy. We still have several inches of snow in our road - being a side road it's untreated, and being on a bend on the crest of a hill  the road outside our house is treacherous. So we're not taking the car out unless there's an emergency (Having checked the loo roll situation, we may be heading for one....)

But worse than that, because I have whooping cough the doctor has advised me to stay indoors for the next two weeks. so no shopping trips for me, not that I really feel up to battling round a supermarket. I suppose I could break the habit of a lifetime and do a grocery shop online, but I thought first of all I'd use it as an opportunity to clear out all the odds and ends in the fridge, cupboards and freezer.

Last week we stuck to the plan apart from, as I predicted, swapping Friday and Saturday around for Mark to cook. His Open Kibbeh was sensational! We weren't over keen on the Red Bean Risotto - it had mascarpone in it which doesn't really work in a risotto for me. But I think I was subconsciously determined not to like it, simply because I love the Caribbean combination of  Rice and Peas so much I feel hostile to combining the two any other way!

 

Another complication this week is that a couple of weeks  ago I cancelled  our weekly veg boxes. Well, how was I to know I'd be confined to barracks for two reasons? However I've just won a month's worth of weekly veg and meat boxes, to be delivered on Thursdays. But I'm not sure when it's due to start. I've planned for it to start this week, as we happen to have all the same items of meat in the freezer as are due to be in this week's box, so only the veg are liable to change. Because we had no veg box last week, and the veg in the garden is under snow, we'll just be using what there is - there's a cabbage and a few carrots in the fridge but the freezer still has about 20 two-person portions of home grown beans from last summer in it, as well as fresh tomato sauce,  Patty Pan Cakes and red cabbage.

 

Monday Mark is cooking again. It's going to be a surprise, but he's promised a vegetarian meal that will probably include lentils and polenta.

Tuesday Corned Beef and Branston Scone  - a very surprisingly tasty combination of unpromising looking ingredients. The recipe is on Mark's blog.

Wednesday Red Cabbage with Frankfurters  I usually use a smoked sausage ring for this, but this week it will have to be a tin of hot dog sausages!

Thursday Macaroni Cheese

Friday Chilli Con Carne with brown and wild rice. If the box doesn't come this week, I might raid the freezer for mince or do a Chilli Sin Carne instead, using a mixture of red and black beans.

Weekend I expect Mark will cook again on Saturday or Sunday. The other day we'll  probably have roast pork, however I think there's a Farmer's Market in Fleet on Saturday  so our plans may change.

 

If you'd like to join in with Meal Planning Monday, pop over to At Home With Mrs M  - and for my comping friends who are reading this,she has  a lovely competition  running at the moment!