Pantry Challenge 2024

[2024Hackathon]

A relative has downsized. I 'inherited' a mass of pantry items she couldn't take with her. They range from the exotic to the everyday. A lot of them are well beyond their Best Before date (some going back to 2012 like stock cubes).

However, I can't bear food waste. So, I'm making a conscious effort to use up the pantry items along with the contents of our freezer and minimise the need to purchase much beyond fresh fruit and vegetables (we do have a lot of dehydrated vegetables).

I know I'm going to run out of inspiration and find it easier to default to not rotating in the pantry items which is why I'm hoping to keep this here.

Note from 31 Dec. I used some dried whole egg when baking (I used half the amount of fresh eggs and the remainder was from dried) and it was (unexpectedly) fine.

01.01.24 pantry challenge

Breakfast: porridge, HM bread toasted, HM yoghurt (all pantry; I may need to try and shift yoghurt making to dried milk)

Lunch: yesterday's vegetable soup (pantry) with tomato salad (current stores)

Dinner: duck (freezer) with roast potatoes, vegetables all from pantry (red cabbage, rehydrated carrots and celeriac).

29.01 All items from stores or freezer

Usual breakfast and lunch (tomato soup with smoked tomatoes)

Dinner: fishcakes made with tinned salmon or an aubergine stew with additional vegetables. I am missing fresh herbs but I have flavour drops to give a hint of them.

When the weather warms a bit, or if you have a warm windowsill, you could also do some pots of basil, coriander etc or microgreens to help liven things up. Not reeeelly buying anything but would be nice to keep things interesting.

Just done a stocktake and meal plan - lamb curry tonight, lasagna tomorrow, burrito bowls on Wednesday. Then we’re away for two nights and out for dinner on Saturday. So trying to use up as much as I can before we leave. Another benefit of this challenge is there is actually room in my freezer now. I can see everything inside!

I have black thumbs but it's something I have to get comfortable with because I really miss the fresh herbs and salad leaves.

Breakfast and lunch are the usual: today's soup is curried carrot with coconut.

Dinner: Meatballs and both green and red cabbage (it feels like a limitless supply of these) with green beans.

I need to work out what I want to do with the big bag of cracked hominy I bought, also a bag of idli mix. I wonder if I batch cook them they would freeze or not.

Joining as my food bills have gone through the roof. I have lots of mixes/spices/lentils in my pantry and also need to empty my freezer. I mostly cook Asian food, so posters may not have heard of my meals, but I was tickled to see idli mix mentioned by you @WeirdPookah! I have some too, which I need to use up.

Dinner yesterday was alu saag with spinach from the freezer, and prawn curry with frozen prawns and a tin of coconut milk from the pantry. Tonight: quesadillas with tinned sweet corn and black beans( pantry).

@Lentilweaver I googled yesterday and apparently cooked idli freeze well, so I'm going to load up every layer in the steamer and go for it. Might do it next week, but I need to cook various layers of birthday cake and other things, and clean for my daughters party, so might have to wait until after half term.

Still working on a plan for the cracked hominy!

I didn't get home until late last night. But, in my absence, everyone followed the plan and ate from the freezer! <proud> They didn't reach for the octopus 😉but they didn't order in.

I had the leftover aubergine stew when I got home.

So - an entire month of eating from the stores and freezer under our belts and now on to February! We've bought fresh milk and eggs and we've x2 bought potatoes (roast potatoes for guests) but that's it. I think we will need to buy some fruit next month (we were eating up a case of oranges and other fruit we'd been given from Christmas).

01.02 All from pantry stores or freezer

Usual breakfast and lunch (mushroom soup with added rehydrated mushrooms).

Dinner: Chicken or vegan schnitzel with roast potatoes and vegetables (rehydrated carrots and celeriac.

That's amazing @2024Hackathon. I don't have a large freezer, but I do want to use everything from it before I buy fresh.

So far i'm continuing on the use it up train. By now i would definitely have had a big shop done, maybe more than one, and when i do one of those i buy multiples of things as i don't want to run out. however i'm realising that a lot of that stemmed from COVID and then fear over supply shortages and previously DH being unemployed. I simply don't need to have as large a stockpile as i once had.

While i like to have a back up stock i don't need as much as i have and i don't to have a backup of everything as some things are not used often anyway.

I've done a €25 shop yesterday to top up the fresh fruit, veg and some bits for the long weekend.

Monday: Homemade bread with homemade jam, Soup and Shepherds pie from freezer
Tuesday: Porridge, Leftover Soup and Beef Pies, mash and braised red cabbage. All from the freezer
Wednesday: Porridge, Tayto roll (never go shopping while hungry) and Chicken Fajitas.
Today: Bran Flakes, Leftover curry and Naan for lunch and i plan on makeing beef kebabs for dinner. need to get the pickling juice on the red cabbage for those.

Still lots of dinner option on the freezer based menu plan, plenty of eggs so a quiche can be made for lunches too.

<Raises hand as yet another person who has an idli mix (part of the 'inheritance')>

I'm relieved they freeze so I must cycle this into our meals.

We had soup from the freezer again yesterday, one batch left to get through - now I at least know what flavour it is though!
Then I have some fishcakes still frozen and some sausage and mash, I’m used to keeping the freezer stocked ‘just in case’ but actually it’s miles easier to be able to see inside 😅
Also, used the dregs of a jar of pesto and egg whites leftover from a carbonara to make pesto eggs - drop eggs directly in the jar and shake to scramble. Then added the last of the spinach and other veg. A hodgepodge meal DH didn’t even complain about!

02.02 All from pantry stores or freezer

Usual breakfast and lunch (mixed vegetable soup with added carrots and celeriac).

Dinner: Toasted cheese sandwiches (HM bread) with freezer coleslaw (HM) and garden pickles. Found some ready salted crisps for people with larger appetites. We're having brownies later (left over from work event and the organiser just gave me a box to take home because it wasn't open) with some HM yoghurt

03.02 All from pantry stores or freezer

Usual breakfast and lunch (mixed vegetable soup with added rehydrated button mushrooms and green beans).

Dinner: Pork chops or seitan with potato, red and green cabbage, and wild mushrooms. NB: I think we still have >40 boxes of red cabbage!

I need to bake bread today or tomorrow.

When you say 40 boxes of cabbage what does that look like? Is it dehydrated?

I made pickled red cabbage this week but it only used 1/3 of the cabbage. However DH loves it so it will be eaten

Mac and cheese to use up the two boxes of macaroni I have, with the last of the peas from the freezer.

It's in a heatable pouch within the boxes. I tend to open the pouches and rehydrate the dried apple within it before heating and serving caramelised onions (made from the dehydrated onion).

It's like this:

https://www.scandikitchen.co.uk/product/nora-rodkal-450g-2/

I have never seen such a think! Thanks for enlightening me. That’s a good amount of cabbage alright to use. I alway make a huge batch of it at Christmas for the freezer. It’s one of my favourite veg

Just catching up on the thread. That is so impressive @2024Hackathon to have gone the whole month with virtually no spending on food. Even with the amounts you have inherited, sometimes just being out tempts you to buy something you fancy but don't need!

I have tried to use up some roast pork in the freezer mixed with some tinned ham from the pantry to make a barbecue pork & beans dish which came from a recipe thread on MN years ago!

I have also made yet another gallon batch of Mead today... used up the last of the 4kg bucket of honey I have had for years (and had crystalised) with some foraged blackberries from last autumn from the freezer. I have nearly 20 litres of mead bubbling away in the airing cupboard now... fingers crossed it all works! (It will be a very merry Christmas if it does!)

Pebble - it feels like you could hold an entire hog roast with mead for a vast number of people (if someone else supplied the hog).

04.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with the last of the curried carrot soup today.

Dinner: Pork chops or seitan with potato, red and green cabbage, and wild mushrooms.

Last night's dinner was bumped to today as people got stuck in a traffic jam. Last night we had some 'inherited' Italian deli meat that we had in the freezer and cheese and opened jars of mushrooms, stuffed tomatoes, grilled peppers and aubergines. They were served with HM crackers and the last 'inherited' box of Sardinian Pane Carasau or music paper flatbread (these were lovely and I'll miss them).

This thread is also a great foodie education! Idli... Music Paper Bread... all fascinating!

The music paper bread is perfect for me, exactly the right crisp texture without collapsing into shards, and plain with salt.

I'm looking round to see if I can steam the idli in some silicon shapes that I have.

05.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with mushroom soup plus added dried mushrooms.

Dinner: Haddock with cheese sauce, roast broccoli, roasted tinned cherry tomatoes and green beans. Vegan option is a lentil bake with nutritional yeast faux parmesan and the same vegetables.

Managed to make the bread but we're almost out of granola again.

06.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with tomato soup plus added oil from smoked tomatoes jar.

Dinner: Shepherd's Pie with either lamb or vegan mince. Mix of vegetables within is from dried vegetables. We'll rehydrate more carrots and celeriac to serve.

I feel very unexciting but this week is very busy.

We might have to buy some frozen vegetables soon but that will be the first since early to mid December.

Excellent!

I am going to try cooking the idli batter in silicone cups in a steamer. I have plans to try this week, but got lots to organise for party foods etc and cleaning, wrapping!

i too find this thread fascinating. I can't wait to see what else gets unearthed.

Good weekend here, it was a bank holiday so do did a small stock up shop on saturday and had breakfast out. I wasn't feeling great so DH cooked burgers for dinner.

Sunday we were at a kids party and got fed there but had toast and acai bowls for Brunch and snacked on stuff later in the evening.

Yesterday we had eggs and bacon cooked tomatoes for brunch. For dinner we had family over. Six adults and 4 kids and the freezer bounty made the core of the meal. Ham, Chicken, braised red cabbage, potato gratin, stuffing and a rhubarb crumble came from the freezer. Roast veg, baby potatoes and mash from fresh stocks. Also made chocolate biscuit cake muffins.

Today small child is home sick and my mum is over to keep an eye on her while DH and i WFH. Ive made Chicken noodle soup from a mix with leftover chicken and frozen veg, baked a part baked loaf of bread from the freezer and we have some Ham leftover too. Desserts can be the last of the crumble and custard and the biscuit cake. No idea what for dinner yet but ive a few options.

Bonus of having my mother over is she will make me pastry. Shes amazing at making flaky shortcrust pastry so i can stock my freezer with that. there will be quiche and jam tarts in my future!

I've also got a bag of rhubarb in the freezer from last summers harvest and i will make another crumble for the freezer for use another day. everything needed for this is already in stock.