Planned Eating Pays

The whole idea of planning and cooking ahead came from a book which I was given or I bought when I moved in with the man who became my first husband. I had lived in bedsits and a hostel with a communal kitchen and had the experience of home cooking gained from my mother and both grandmothers.

The book was Jocasta Innes - "The Paupers' Cookbook'. and I still have it, battered, stained, yellowed after nearly 40 years and refer to it now and again to remind myself of its virtues.

One of the chapters was called 'Planned Eating' and the recommendation has been key to my everyday cooking over all these years. Basically you sit down once a week and plan a week's meals, some of which you can cook ahead and others where you re-heat or use leftovers to create a new meal then add nice fresh veggies or salads. You do most of your shopping in one go, maybe just collecting salad items or fresh bread during the week.

It also has the great advantage that it is easier to budget for food, economising in one place to give yourself a treat in others, plus making the best use of having the oven on and cooking more than one thing at a time.

Because you have food to eat there and a plan of what you will eat each day, there is less temptation to run down to the takeaway and blow all your good diet intentions in one go.

My intention with this lens is to give you some ideas which will help in planning your own cook-ahead sessions.

For many people, the week is split between weekdays when you have little time to cook and weekends when you have a little more. As I work at home, and like to spend weekends out sailing or in the garden, it's kind of the other way around. Today is Monday and I have no less than 3 pots of goodies simmering away right now and more things in the fridge.

Last week I roasted a plump free range chicken which gave me a traditional roast dinner, a curry and a load of sandwiches. It also meant a chicken carcase which went in the stockpot after being picked clean of most of its meat. Wings are just too fiddly so I leave those on. I treated myself to a gorgeous pan which has an inner strainer. I can use it for pasta or for stock and the strainer makes easy work of separating out the bones and flavourings like peppercorns and bay leaves.

I made the stock at the weekend when it was too stormy and wet to be outside. There is enough to use several ladlefuls for what's cooking now, and more to reduce some more to be split between soup and a portion to freeze for the future.

In my slow cooker is savoury mince - minced lamb because it was on offer in the supermarket - which is simply flavoured with tomatoes, some herbs, and a dash of Worcester sauce. It will cook and be allowed to cool and any excess fat removed. Then I can add curry spices, chilli, or other extra flavours to go with rice, couscous or pasta. Or maybe I will find some ready made individual Yorkshire puddings in the freezer and just heat a portion of mince as-is poured over the pudding and some carrots and seasonal greens on the side.

My soup-of-the-week is leek and potato because I had leeks in my veg. box - more of that in a minute.It could just have easily have been sweetcorn, carrot and coriander or a delectable minestra/minestrone made hearty with a handful of the smallest pasta shapes I can find in the cupboard.

I can, and probably will write more about soups in the future but without actually doing it recipe format, here is one of my favourites. You want a pint of stock, two cups of sweetcorn kernels either fresh or frozen and a tin of cream-style sweetcorn. Mix together, heat and simmer 20 mins. Maybe a bit longer for fresh corn.

Then you have a choice. You can just season well with salt and pepper or make it Mexican style with chilli flakes to taste or a freshly chopped and de-seeded red or green chilli - again to taste. Add some shredded leftover chicken halfway through the simmering stage. Blend if you like, but don't blitz completely smooth.

Make a soup into a meal with some really fresh bread followed by a fresh salad. If you are cooking potatoes, cook extra to become potato salad or to saute with another meal. Add pulses such as lentils or chickpeas (Bengal gram) to a vegetable soup to provide protein.

Remember that gorgeous home-made vegetable soup your Mum or y our Grandma used to make - it really isn't hard - give it a try.

I am fortunate to be able to get a box of fresh organic veg. delivered courtesy of a wonderful company called Riverford. They started in the UK down in Devon but have now spread, they have several farms who exchange produce that grows best where they are and the whole is topped up with the best imported organic fruits, but only ever those which cannot be grown in the UK.

You are not limited to the weekly 'set' box contents either. You can make up your own DIY selection (subject to a minimuim value) or you can add to a standard box from an extensive list of veg.,fruit, eggs,dairy and other goodies. Organic meat is a recent addition You set up a variable direct debit payment online via Worldpay so no worries about leaving money on the doorstep or remembering to do a bank transfer. In the summer, my delivery folk will put dairy or delicate fruit items in the chill box I leave out for them and are careful to put my box in the shade if I am out. All I have to do is to go online and choose!

Seasonality is key to the Riverford business. From the supermarket, I CAN buy strawberries in the middle of winter from places like Spain, Israel and Egypt but my conscience won't let me clock up those food miles and the fruit really doesn't taste as good as what comes in season in my box, or that I buy from the farm shop or pick myself. I even had enough tiny Alpine strawberries from the pot on the patio for one glorious bowlful in late May this year. Now those WERE special.

If I am buying veg in addition to the box, I try hard to buy from places that themselves buy locally or who grow to sell in their own farm shop. The carrots I bought this afternoon were grown in a field between Havant and Chichester and the potatoes in the veg rack are even MORE local, grown less than 2 miles away on Hayling Island.

They haven't sat in a cold store or been driven half way across the country so the taste is great.

I know it is harder when you live in a big city, but think about this. When I lived in London, I had a tiny balcony that was just big enough for two growbags and still managed to produce tomatoes, peppers, chillies and a variety of fresh herbs within spitting distance of Tower Bridge (and earshot of Millwall FC!). There are open-air markets in most cities and shopping in them is a pleasure in itself. Borough Market in Southwark is a particular joy to shop in. Think windowsill, fire escape, or the tiny space outside your back door that might support a pot or two on the ground or hung on a sunny wall.

It's a dark and stormy night, but your shopping is done and there is nothing you want to watch on TV so plan a kitchen evening. Start off by cooking what you will eat yourself which can reheat while you are preparing another dish. Defrost something from the freezer like mince for bolognese sauce or a portion of dal which makes an appetising curry sauce for cold chicken or frozen prawns which will defrost and cook as you reheat. Make sure that you cook or heat things long enough to kill any lurking bacteria.

You could start by making a chicken casserole - whatever recipe you like - get that in the oven or slow cooker first. Then have your dinner, Then it's back to the kitchen to make a pan of soup from the portion of stock you froze last week, or even the one you made from cubes or bought in a tub or sachet in the supermarket and incorporating whatever veg. you have handy.

A basic beef, chicken or lamb casserole can morph into a curry the second day. Add a handful dried fruits like chopped apricots and sultanas plus some curry powder to turn a plain lamb casserole into something like a Moroccan tagine. Checkout the speciality shelves in your local Sainsburys or Waitrose or visit a deli for interesting curry pastes and mixes to spice up your cooking.

You might make a fruit pie, or other dessert to join the casserole in the oven. Maybe you made mayonnaise before and have left over egg whites. Whip up a batch of meringues and cook them on the oven bottom while the casserole continues to simmer in a low oven overhead. In the glorious summer dessert Eton mess, it doesn't matter if they aren't perfect looking as they will be smashed up with cream and strawberries or other summer berries. Or make a pavlova base and top with whatever fruit you have on a thick layer of cream. Jamie Oliver makes a winter pavlova with pear quarters lightly fried in butter, crushed hazlenuts and drizzled with melted chocolate. Oh, sorry, you said you were on a diet.

Eat the pears as a savoury/sweet salad sliced thin on rocket leaves, with crumbled blue or goats' cheese, a sprinkle of walnut pieces and a drizzle of dressing made from a teaspoon of honey, mixed with one of cider vinegar. Sounds weird but works and great for an immune-system boost.

A little more planning will see you making your sandwiches for the following day to take to work or ready for a home lunch, while the soup simmers. That will save you money and let you spend your lunchtimes clothes shopping or, if you have to work through lunch you won't have to dash out to the deli or ask someone to go for you. And, if you are at home writing Squidoo lenses, you can just drift to the fridge and retrieve that chicken sandwich, add a cherry tomato or two and a piece of fresh fruit - you won't even notice that your creative flow was interrupted - trust me.

The freezer is your friend, don't fill it with ready made stuff that you bought, put your home made goodies in there.

Don't go buying stacks and stacks of containers - do this instead. Line square containers with the extra thick cling film designed for freezers. Pour in your sauce, mince, or whatever and freeze. When it's solid, complete wrapping, label and store your tidy square blocks in your freezer bins. Remember to put the dates on labels. Then re-use container to freeze something else liquid.

Freeze berries like raspberries and blackberries when they are in season on flat trays and bag so that they are free-flow. Strawberries don't freeze well and go to mush when defrosted, don't bother. Enjoy in season and don't be tempted to buy air-flown ones from other parts of the world. Food-miles are bad for the environment.

Keep a notebook for your freezer add what you cook and freeze and cross off what you eat. Then you will always know what you have available to make an appetising home-cooked meal for unexpected visitors or if you arrive home tired and want a quick and comforting hot meal with a little help from the microwave.

The best organised Squids will take out of the freezer what they want for the next day's meal the night before, but the microwave can be used to thaw then reheat quickly in most cases. Make SURE it is heated thoroughly with no icy patches in the middle.

My current favourite freezer goody is home made chorizo. Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall provided this idea in his 'River Cottage Every Day' book. Chorizo is in its normal form, a spicy Spanish sausage, either fresh to cook with, or air dried to use in tapas and salads. This is the equivalent of the fresh sort and is a mix of 750g of fresh minced pork, hot smoked and sweet smoked paprika to taste (about a teaspoon of each), a teaspoon of fennel seeds, a glass of red wine, 2 teaspoons of coarse salt, 2 cloves finely chopped garlic. Mix this lot together - get your (very clean) hands in and give it a good old squidging, Then put it in the fridge to develop the flavours for 24 hours. On day 2 you can freeze it in little balls to enliven pasta bakes, stews and soups. The salt and alcohol preserve it so it will also keep in the fridge for about 10 days.

If you are cooking a stew, the balls can go in from frozen when you add the stock or liquid at the start of cooking. Doesn't matter if they fall apart it's the flavour that counts. Soups don't take so long, so thaw first. Fry thawed balls and break up to substitute for bacon in a pasta carbonara. Cook slowly with soaked or canned haricot or butter beans, fried onion, tomatos, wine/stock for a cheap and delicious supper dish.

Get an A4 pad and write down all the dishes you like to cook and eat when you have the time to do so. While you are writing that list, start to think about combinations as described above that you could cook together to make the best of a week's shopping, economise on oven time and do most of the cooking in one go then reheat/transform etc. over a few days.

On a second sheet write down your combination ideas. Put as much info as you can about ingredients and so on along with each series of dishes. Make this the basis of a file of meal plans.

Get some of those clear envelope things that are ready punched for filing and use for recipes cut from magazines or printed-out ones you find here on Squidoo. Have an envelope for soups, one for main courses, one for desserts, one for cakes etc.

Go back to your very first list and put an asterisk next to those dishes that you can freeze in portions.

Against those things that could have several lives put arrows pointing to the things you can make from a basic dish

Easier to do by hand but might look like this.

Savoury mince > bolognese sauce - add extra tomato sauce, fresh oregano
--------------------> curried mince - add curry spices and some freshly fried onion
--------------------> as-is - serve with mashed potato, carrots and cabbage
--------------------> top with mashed potato for cottage/shepherds pie
--------------------> top with parboiled thinly sliced potato, dab with butter, brown in oven
--------------------> minced lamb tagine, add dried fruits and curry powder serve with couscous
--------------------> moussaka - remember to buy aubergines (eggplant)

Roast Chicken - >as is with gravy and fresh veg
------------------- - >chicken salad
------------------- - >curry
------------------- - >risotto
------------------- - >carcase for stock and soups
------------------- - >club or panini sandwich with bacon, lettuce and tomato
------------------- - >pie
Happy planning!