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Clearing out the freezer & cupboards challenge

244 replies

jenduck · 20/01/2013 10:56

So, I am having a very expensive month (car failed MOT, cat got in another fight, birthdays etc) & it has struck me that I have 2 freezers & an understairs cupboard full to bursting with food that needs to be eaten! So, I am challenging myself to see how long I can go without buying anything (other than basics)

Who would like to join me? We could perhaps give each other inspiration for recipes for the random ingredients that we find?

Tonight's dinner is Fray Bentos pie (Blush but yummy!) with mash, veg from freezer & gravy - warming, delicious & easy on a day like today!

OP posts:
jenduck · 22/01/2013 09:42

Dinner last night was good, only bought a block of cheese to grate on top & that should last all week. Also made broccoli & Stilton soup with ingredients which were, quite frankly, past their best & would have previously been thrown away, so pleased with that. DS1 was not keen on the soup, but DS2 (21mo) loved it!

Have a tub of homemade chicken soup for lunch. Cheating a bit for dinner as Dmum is looking after the DSes whilst I am at work, and she always makes us a dinner, too (generally mince, so will maybe have it as a cottage pie, with jackets)

Have noticed that my grapes are starting to shrivel up, does anybody have any ideas for those, please?

OP posts:
PartTimeModel · 22/01/2013 09:48

Signing up - I only have a small freezer but it is chocca. Cupboards are bursting - mainly with lentils Smile but as DD1 seems to be naturally inclined to vegetarianism (she refuses most meat/chicken/fish and has some for some time now) this is no bad thing.

I'm making a risotto (with leftover roast chicken) tonight - the chicken will be chopped up so fine I hope to get it past her & I can have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

rockinhippy · 22/01/2013 10:10

I've been using the snow & ice & freezing cold as an excuse not to shop too, plus DD was very ill last weeks so I couldn't get out & DH has no shops at all near his work & a long detour on his way home, so I pretty much did this the last week or so & I'm pleased to say I managed just fine, though I do have good stores of pasta, rice, cous cous, flours & the likes & we ate more frozen veg than usual.

DoItToJulia · 22/01/2013 10:15

Hummus: cooked chickpeas, tahini, clove of garlic, olive oil. Blitz. The tahini and olive help with the consistency, so start by adding tiny amounts and upping the quantity until you have a smooth ish consistency. It took me a while to get the consistency right, but I did in the end. You can added Harissa, smoked paprika, cumin or other flavours to spice it up! Yum!

jenduck · 22/01/2013 10:18

Woohoo, just seen this is on 'discussions of the day'! Grin

OP posts:
Galena · 22/01/2013 10:35

We have all sorts of freezer meals - we have some pork and beef joints for roasting, meatballs that I make in huge quantities (8 meals worth at a time) and freeze, beef enchilada filling, chicken breast fillets, roast chicken pieces, veg, etc. We also have rice, pasta, potatoes in the cupboards.

Hopefully we won't starve Grin

comixminx · 22/01/2013 10:38

Multitask, that fridgefood site is a good find! It is pretty American so I smiled at all the things you don't even see here but it'll work fine for most things. And I found out what popovers are, after saving read about them in US kids books - little Yorkshire puds, by the looks of it! Heh.

BiddyPop · 22/01/2013 10:41

I am trying something similar this month and next. We're not bad anyway on eating veg, but trying to actually eat veggie meals rather than always having meat, and eat more fish, and use up freezer/cupboards, and not drink drink less.

We've made a veggie curry using jar jalfrezi paste, tin coconut milk, tin tomatoes and half a butternut squash that had been languishing (with lots other veggies too).

I used up frozen leftover rice to make a nasi goreng (loads veggies, curry powder, tin tuna, half tin corn, handful of frozen prawns) - a regular I hadn't done recently.

DD is having another bag of leftover rice today with the couple of tablespoons of leftover curry that she loves from the takeaway (a rare night that there WAS some leftover, I'd frozen that). (I am having pork chops 2 nights in a row as I only froze them in 2s, au pair is veggie and DH is away).

My pork chops, DD's sausage and APs veggie burger last night were with leftover mashed potato, which I fried with an onion and a large handful of frozen peas to reheat it. Tasty!!

DH has made veggie chilli twice (he makes beef chilli regularly enough), and that's used up a few tins of tomatoes and kidney beans (normal) but also a couple of tins of chickpeas as part of the veg.

I am going to put out the stuffed vine leaves as part of a buffet we are doing in a couple of weeks (couple on 1 side got married so street party to celebrate, lady on other side is Greek and rarely gets them but loves them) - it was part of my "Secret Santa" pressie from DBro last year. (I used the black ink tagliatelle, the nice olive oil and bottle of wine easily enough!).

We got a jar of bruschetta tomato mix from an aunt this Christmas, and I plan on making a puff pastry open tart (a la M&S in the Dine In offer last weekend) using that with some of the last 2 jars of my semi-oven dried tomatoes (preserved in olive oil) in the fridge and a bag of mini mozarellas.

And I will make a couple of risottos over the next few weeks too, I've loads of dried mushrooms and a couple of containers of turkey stock.

(Another use for turkey stock is a potato bake using layers of potato, crumbled stilton, shredded ham, chopped rosemary and cracked black pepper, with hot stock over it - GREAT way to use up Christmas type leftovers, we make it every year at Christmas and I froze a spare bag of shredded ham to do it again in the next few weeks a second time).

Hope a few of those ideas help. My mouth is watering at some of the other ideas here!

JerryLeadbetter · 22/01/2013 10:41

Marking my place!

CocktailQueen · 22/01/2013 10:52

Yay, great idea, I'm doing thew same myself! Cleared out food cupboards yesterday and listed foods in there we can eat. Want to empty freezer too. Good luck!

BiddyPop · 22/01/2013 10:52

Actually, leek and potato bake sounds good.

I have leftover prok frozen from a roast - I sliced it VERY fine once it had cooled and intend using it with a Chinese sauce.

If you have bread leftover and won't use it before it goes too stale, make crumbs. I try to have a bag of plain crumbs frozen at all times (for all sorts of uses - leftover mash mixed with a tin/pack of crab meat, half tin corn and chopped spring onions, made into patties and given the flour, egg and crumbs treatment makes great crab cakes and quite cheap!!), but if I have a decent sized bag frozen already, I find making a bag of plain stuffing for freezing is very useful too. JUst your onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper variety - can add extra flavours if you want when using but it means a fast dinner of stuffed mushrooms or tomatoes is very do-able, or stuffing a pork loin to stretch it is not a major hassle on Sundays.

susanann · 22/01/2013 11:11

a great thread. very inspiring!

quirrelquarrel · 22/01/2013 11:13

Just lugged home a load of fruit/veg and bread so I'm set up for a while.
Milk running out and probs off but it's the first time I've bought any in ages and I didn't really miss it.

Sick of pasta! But have loads.
Plus loads of potatoes and cheese.

Apple juice.

Pasta sauce, beer, cider, "hot oat cereal", white flour crackers, couple of tins of baked beans.
Ketchup, mayo that's tasting a bit vinegary by now.
Coffee and lots of tea and hot choc.

Er. Canteen downstairs and money on college card. I have no appetite so will probably just make salads and toast.

quirrelquarrel · 22/01/2013 11:23

OP You could just chop the grapes up and pop them in some plain yoghurt- wrinkly texture will be less noticeable. Unless they're actually rotting!

GreenEggsAndNichts · 22/01/2013 11:25

Oh I like this thread! We'll be moving house in a month or so, and I've been wanting to use some of the stuff in my cupboard as well. We've ended up with so many random items in there because they were on offer, etc, and I should really use them.

So, marking my place for ideas, and will share if I come up with something particularly useful!

Also, I have a lot of steel cut oats, if ideas are forthcoming for those I'd be grateful.. Hmm

quirrelquarrel · 22/01/2013 11:31

^ what's the difference between steel cut oats and normal oats? they sound very healthy! like they'd have a rougher texture?

PartTimeModel · 22/01/2013 11:48

Saw leeks mentioned above - I have to share one of my fav pasta recipes, it's become a 'standard' since I first made it - so easy too:

Pasta with leeks & vintage cheddar

PartTimeModel · 22/01/2013 11:50

^ what's the difference between steel cut oats and normal oats?
I'd like to know too - they are more expensive than regular oats and I think a finer texture, but apart from that I don't know.

fishandlilacs · 22/01/2013 11:55

I have been doing this this week.

Tonights dinner is chicken and mushroom pies using up left over gravy, chicken and some puff pastry I have had lurking in the freezer for ages. With mash and broccolli and carrots

I think I can go the rest of this week or so from here without having to buy anything at all except loo roll. have 4 litres of UHT milk a bread machine and lots of breadflour & yeast in.

fruit & veg might be an issue, but I have bananas, blueberries and apples but i do have tinned in the cupboard and some frozen.

Tomorrow is marinaded salmon probably with noodles.
Thursday will be something with oven chips-thursday is my long work day. probably chicken kievs or fish and frozen peas.
Friday night were out for dinner to celebrate DH & DS birthdays. So thats kind of cheating I guess.

ethelb · 22/01/2013 11:59

DP started new job two weeks ago and we aren't sure when he is going to be paid so we are in a similar situation.

Freezer meals include:
Leon Gobi
Bunny paella x 3
Cottage pie
African ground nut soup
Leek and potato soup
Plus: fish fingers, spinahc and peas

Cub grub is going to consist of a lot of dahl and maybe some black bean burgers. We also have ingredients for humous and tzatziki for lunches.

PartTimeModel · 22/01/2013 12:02

ethelb what is Leon Gobi?

PartTimeModel · 22/01/2013 12:06

ethelb what is Leon Gobi?

GreenEggsAndNichts · 22/01/2013 12:08

quirrel PartTime they're a bit nuttier, I think. The texture is what makes the big difference to me- they have more substance to them than rolled oats. Not as soft. I love them. I'm not sure what the health benefits are, but I do see them in health food shops. (The ones I have were the last tins of Irish oats I found at Tesco before they stopped selling them :( )

ethelb · 22/01/2013 12:14

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/06/foodanddrink.recipe

cauliflower curry with coconut and ground almonds in it. A bit like a veggie korma, but much much naicer.

starsandunicorns · 22/01/2013 12:20

Loving this thread as work has dropped off loads we be just have dps wage we both angency. Found a couple of redued pasties for dp for his pack up to bump it up ( only got 3slices of bread left so he have them and cheese for sarnies ) he hates veg and i did a farm foods veg shop for me. So having loads of diff veg with a potato bake which can be used for my tea tommorrow. Wished i got fozen leeks though really like the sound of potato and leek bake