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).

pistachios - that apple juice sounds good and the apples are a 'buy in advance thing' in budgeting terms. I like the idea that because you know what tempts you, it's DH that will have to go for the bananas.

19.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with carrot soup (we still have kgs of dried carrots).

Dinner: Octopus with lemon or hearts of palm. Crackers, a mix of fermented vegetables and some jarred ones.

I need to find a good recipe for a large amount of green bananas that will NOT ripen.

Got them on last day before half term, so over a week ago, and they are still bright green, hard and essentially like plantains. So looking to curry them!

Joining in to say I can relate very strongly to the stock up mode. It's become so deeply ingrained over the past five years. I'm trying to force myself out of this way of shopping, and eat mostly from what we already have.

I look at what little inroads we've made into the sheer volume of stocks we have and you'd swear we'd eaten nothing. But bar 1 meal that was leftovers from DH's night with friends for which he bought non-stores food, every single meal we've eaten since before New Year has been from stores or the freezer. That's more than 7 weeks!

At this rate, we could plausibly feed ourselves for more than another year (depending on the longing for some variety but I know a lot of people have a set menu that they rotate weekly or every 2 weeks).

NB: I admit that the number of active theatres of war aren't helping to persuade me not to draw some comfort from the stocks although I realise that they're excessive.

I am cheating in that I am still buying fresh food, but less of it as I am using up stuff from the store cupboard if I possibly can.

Made chickpea and tomato salad with two cans of chickpeas
DH made chicken gochujang with a jar of gochujang
More pasta and peas dishes as I seem to stockpile pasta and peas

Would they work for a banana methi, Pookah? (I'm very fond of that.)

Treating them like plantains seems wise. I like them with allspice as a side dish to jerk dishes as well as curries.

@2024Hackathon banana methi sounds fantastic actually, but we don't have any Asian supermarkets with fresh methi near here, would involve a long drive. Last time we did it, we made a morning of it, and went round loads of different stores and came home with too many (just enough lol) snacks to make a huge tub of snack mix! I made loads of methi curry then to add things too after defrosting.

I miss fresh herbs and salads.

I've a black thumb but I think this has to be the year that I try again with sprouting, microgreens etc.

It took a long time before I mentioned to maintain yoghurt starters and sourdough starters but although these have been on the edge at times, I've kept them alive for several years now. It's time to branch out and try something else.

20.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with mixed vegetable soup.

Dinner: Soy glazed fish livers or chickpea tofu with vegetables and rice.

After the conversation with Pookah, I really wanted banana methi and a cashew curry. Maybe we'll have something like this (but no banana) on Friday.

@2024Hackathon I think if I could wind the stores down to one week's food, then build it up to two weeks or even a month, but in a less haphazard way, then everything would be a lot more manageable.

Oh I forgot about sprouting! I have green lentils and chickpeas, and I think some alfalfa. That'll provide lots of vitamins and minerals.

Last night I had shredded turkey in a can of chicken broth. Not very exciting, but surprisingly tasty. And one less in the can stack.

Just catching up! I'm also still buying, but keeping a strict budget and working in as many pantry finds as I can. Made some amazing flapjacks yesterday from a 'Cranks' recipe with molasses instead of golden syrup, which used up loads of oats from the pantry!

I also found a little mango dessert powder picked up in a Chinese supermarket who knows when - made it up, but we both hated it... so I'm afraid that one hit the bin!

Pebble - I also found a little mango dessert powder picked up in a Chinese supermarket who knows when
I'm eyeing up a pandan dessert powder and wondering what to do with it. Stick it in a cake, make it up as a cake filling or just treat it like a milk + powder dessert.

21.02 All from stocks and freezer (except for potato)

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with mixed vegetable soup (I made a lot)

Dinner: Sausages (meat or seitan) with roast potatoes left over from Saturday (DH cracked and bought some potato), the endless red cabbage, some rehydrated carrots. Caramelised onion gravy. (I'll need to soak up some dehydrated onion and make more caramelised onions soon.)

I also have a packet of mango pudding in the cupboard!

I hope yours is better than mine! Very yellow and tasted of coconut rather than mango... don't know why it was just all kinds of wrong! I hate food waste, but not sure I could even classify it as food anyway!😂

I had some mango pudding too. I threw it away. It was terrible. I think I can make my own, better.

Looks like I’m one of the few that doesn’t have a dessert powder to use up. I do have a can of carnation caramel though. Must think of something to make with that.

Sunday we fell off the wagon and got a takeaway for dinner. Monday, I used up leftover rice for a paella type lunch. Satay chicken, Stirfry veg, noodles snd pickles for dinner. Could have done with a little spinach but I didn’t have any.

yesterday we had a leftover Christmas dinner and some apple pie and ice cream from the freezer.

today I had leftovers for lunch and will use a lingering massaman curry sauce for dinner with chicken and veg. Nothing needed.

we may have visitors at the weekend and if that happens I’ll buy some salad stuff and fresh fruit for my small shop.

im starting to see real space in my freezers again which is great

pistachios - I've made some of the recipes from here. Stunningly sweet but that's to be expected. Despite that, I really enjoyed the apple caramel tart.

https://www.carnation.co.uk/recipes/all-caramel-recipes

Thanks @2024Hackathon the apple could be a good one.

I also spoke too soon. Tonight dinner requires coconut milk. I didn’t have a can of it but lurking in the corner of a press was the end of a box of coconut milk powder!
I’ve used a mini food processor and nutribullet on it and it’s still all lumpy so I’ll have to strain it before it can be used.

Made roast vegetable pasta last night for dinner and have leftovers for lunch. i also used the last half a banana for breakfast tis morning.

I went shopping in my big freezer yesterday and restocked the house freezers from there ( Yes i have 3!) So now i have some of the harder to use stuff to hand so i'll actually cook it. Not actually hard to cook with or eat but stuff that takes a while to defrost and if forgotten about in the shed freezer will not be used.

I also did a stock check of food we get from a restaurant supply store and made a list for stocking up there the next time we go. should be able to put this off for a while but its good to have the list ready.

I've always had this mind block about using chicken breast fillets in dinners as they are so expensive to buy in the supermarket. However they are a great base for lots of veg stirfry, mexican dishes and when we buy them from the supply store they are not expensive. I think i need to get over this hang up. Feeding a 4 year old can be torturous! especially as i need to start expanding her palette and this is one thing she will eat that i can supplement with the veg in the dish. I can just separate heres out prior to spicing, saucing etc

Tonight dinner will be risotto with butternut squash i roasted yesterday and leftover brie from christmas. The little one will have yesterdays pasta leftovers with butternut squash

22.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with lentil soup

Dinner: Everyone was back at different times so it was crackers with an array of vegan spreads, pate, freezer coleslaw and jarred vegetables.

23.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast and lunch as usual, with lentil soup again

Dinner: Salmon or roast cauliflower with an array of vegetables. (Frozen cauli doesn't roast as well as fresh but it's OK)

24.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast of yoghurt and granola; lunch of aebleskiver

Dinner: Chicken or mushroom loaf with an array of vegetables.

Making beef casserole for DH to take to friends tomorrow. (I am still packing etc. before work trip so I'm not going.)

Pleased to report back that the mango pudding was delicious!

25.02 All from stocks and freezer

Breakfast of yoghurt and granola. Lunch: tomato sandwich

Dinner: Beef or mushroom stew with vegetables.

Business trip next week. I've decided that what I don't know about what people eat while I'm gone won't perturb me! If they don't eat the curries and other items I prepared then they'll be there for me to rotate in another time.

I like those konjac mango or lychee puddings that aren't supposed to be sold in the UK.

I'm sorry that I don't have a mango powder one after your positive report.

@2024Hackathon i am reminded of the saying, "Control the Controllable's" and think you are dead right to ignore what others decide to eat while you are away.

Went grocery shopping at the weekend and spent €110 on food. The vast majority of it went into the fridge and the fruit bowl. While the freezers are still fairly full the healthy fridge options were very low. Both DH and i are trying to eat better and are in the right frame of mind to actually eat this healthy food so i'm happy to buy it.

My pantry stock is also at a reasonable level so i'm happy to just maintain this amount and replace as used.

I am going to do a proper clear out of the freezers soon though so i can have a list of need to be used items that i can tackle from that.

Ive done some good food prep too for the week. A batch of red cabbage mexican slaw, A corn salsa, A whole chicken slow cooked with mexican spices and shredded. This give options for taco's/salads and soups later in the week that keep us on the straight and narrow. The red cabbage can also be paired with asian flavours nicely so we shouldn't get too bored.