Clearing out the freezer & cupboards challenge

[jenduck]

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 ( but yummy!) with mash, veg from freezer & gravy - warming, delicious & easy on a day like today!

If the oats are old, racingheart, soak them in the melted butter / syrup mix for a while before baking to soften them up.

And I've used sugar and honey before when I've run out of golden syrup and they've worked out fine, albeit a bit crumblier than usual. Make sure all the sugar is melted into the butter before adding the oats.

Love Food Hate Waste have a great website I use lots -recipes, using up food tips, how to get best out of freezer and food storage advice etc etc (I think they have a new app due out soon too, I get the newsletter). They reckon the average family can save £50 a month if we waste less food, all adds up

www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Going shopping today for the first time in ages. Was meal planning and have planned meals for the next 10 days which require me to purchase:
Pizzas
Big potatoes for jacket potatoes
Gammon joint
Fresh fish

And that's it.

Needless to say, that's not everything I'm buying as we need the short-life stuff - milk, bread, lunch bits, fruit, etc, but that is all we need to buy for the main meals. :)

It's great to hear from people who have done this successfully & found it useful.

For flapjacks, I have not made them but my dmum uses honey instead of golden syrup as it's healthier.

Trying to decide between ham & mushroom pie (topped with mash) or ham & mushroom pasta tonight, will depend how much time I have. Shopping later just for potatoes, tinned toms & bananas, other than that really pleased how easy it is to stick to this!

Love this thread!

Replying so I can bookmark it for future reference. Will reply in due course.

It may have already been asked, but I'm on my way to work and don't have time to read through on my mobile....how long does uncooked meat keep in the freezer? Red meat specifically?

I've had some in there for over a year (possibly year and a half). So you think I could stew it?

I would. I'm a bit blase about dates and things though. I would defrost the meat and smell it. If it smells ok, use it.

Nothing gone from cupboard or freezer yet. The chicken I roasted on Monday is still going strong. Risotto tonight.

I have a very sore thumb (now all bandaged up thankfully) and that is slowing cupboard explorations and all but the basic cooking down. Still here in spirit!

Tonight we having chilli mince with tortillas then friday we have staying so we having cheese potato bake :) with fresh bread or garlic bread as got a bread mix that needs using

*Have a friend staying

Ok, so I've slightly failed...

I bought the things I'd planned, but also bought a haggis as I remembered that it's Burn's night tomorrow. I also bought some bread flour to make bread with dd... more stuff to clog up the cupboard!

Good luck with your challenge, hope you save lots of cash.

I've never got anything to eat, yet my freezer is full

I am also trying to save money. I have a cupboard full of tins of soup, beans, spaghetti, sauce jars etc. Having grown up on a farm where you risk getting snowed in for days on end, I have my mothers hoarding mentality in case we starve. ( I live within walking distance of a shop.......).

So I am trying to empty out the cupboards as we dont need 8 of everything.... and also eat up the freezer as it needs defrosting.

I need to do the freezer mostly (did the cupboard recently actually), because we need a new freezer. The damn thing is half broken...so what a good excuse to eat all the food within it!
Anyone else able to answer my meat question above? Anyone else cooked meat that has been frozen a very very long time?

I would use it, if once defrosted it smells ok.

I've eaten lamb that's been in the freezer for at least 18 months and its been fine. Did give it a good sniff once it was defrosted.

DCs are having fish cakes from the freezer tonight and one of the many many tins of beans in the cupboards (they have main meal at school). DH and I are having Mousakka from the freezer.

Managing this with ease at the moment, I should have done it before! Mind you it won't be long before we are eating apple pie morning noon and night.

I have to confess to popping into Lidl and buying bananas and mushrooms (which never freeze properly unless they're in something). That was it though!

We've just finished doing this, just buying a few fresh veg to stave off the scurvy etc. and I finally cracked and had to do a 'big shop' today. Still..... have spent half what I would normally spend on food in a month.

We had a non freezer dinner, but very nice it was! We had panfried river cobbler, coated in seasoned flour... Yum!

Fish pie here tonight,with beans from the freezer [from 2010!].There is also plum crumble with frozen plums dating from the great plum glut of 2011.

We live a 14 mile round trip from the nearest supermarket,and have a 5ft long freezer in the garage.It hasn't been emptied since 2005 and there are frozen baby meals for DD2 in the bottom.She will be 8 in May

Wow, mirage, that's a hardcore freezer!

Dinner was frozen chicken made into a masala curry with the first of my cooked lentils (the rest are now in the freezer in portions). dH said he realy liked the variety we've been having recently: result!!!

I know what your DH means about the variety.

I think we all get stuck with cooking the same few meals over a couple of weeks. Am going to try to be better in future.

Tonight, DD had an M&S meal from the freezer (I get them to have for Wednesdays, fast dinner after late swimming lesson but she was eating leftovers Wed this week).

And I had 2 part baked rolls with a welsh rarebit (M&S) that was due to have been eaten by the 1st week of Jan (but was getting well cooked and was vacuum sealed, so seemed ok).

The au pair had leftover veggie lasagne.

Am going to write up my list of options on the fridge door to prevent me buying more food, especially meat, for the next few weeks. Will still need lots of fresh fruit, veg and dairy (go through a lot of all in our house).

I had cassoulet last night, which the DC adored.

Tonight is steak accompanied by goats cheese and raw beetroot salad with puy lentils and pecan nuts (ok, I cheated and had to buy the beetroot and goats cheese, but I am using up lentils, pecans, red onion and red wine vinegar from the cupboards).

Once I have the food cupboards and freezer sorted, I might start on the cleaning cupboard and toiletries, although it takes a lot longer to go through those.

I may attempt some baking over the weekend.

I defrosted some bolognaise sauce yesterday and put the pasta on to cook. When I went to heat up the bolognaise it was chicken casserole .

So tonight's dinner is chicken casserole with mash and peas.