Storecupboard clearout/useup thread

[JontyDoggle37]

Inspired by the 'freezer roulette' thread a while ago (which I did and now have a lovely organised freezer with properly labelled food! 😄) I'm now aiming at my store cupboards. Just opening the doors without moving anything, I can see tinned fish, random boxes of specialty dried pasta I've used once, coconut flour (why?!?) and a variety of other stuff that really shouldn't be there. I can't bear wasting food though, so I'm determined to find tasty ways to use up as much of it as possible. I'm spending time this afternoon making a list of what I've got, then I'm going to try and use up at least two things off of the list per week. Anyone else up for a cupboard clearout?

Oh HughJ dh is also gluten free (well wheat free). He's not coeliac just has a bad time with wheat, I don't like it either. If you're interested, I made a good pastry at Christmas without wheat ( i guess it could be made with rice flour ) and no normal baking powder. No eggs either.

Thanks ppeatfruit, a thickener it is :)

I'm finding this thread very motivational - just put a fruit loaf in the breadmaker for tomorrow so I added a good couple of dollops of marmalade to the ingredients and also some oat bran that has been hanging around for ages.

I think I'll try to use up something old and manky each day until my cupboards are back in order again, its rather satisfying :)

I need to do this too. I have 3 packs of lasagne - any idea of something I can make with it that's less of a faff than classic lasagne?

Also an unopened packet of pearled spelt and another of mung beans. And a barely used packet of cornmeal.

Any suggestions?

Sukiitake Maybe cut up the lasagne into whatever pieces you want.

Hugh Fearnley W's River Cottage Veg Every Day has recipes for spelt used like rice , risottos etc.

Lasagne is a lot less faffy to make if you make the bolognese bit (or a veggie substitute) in advance. Then on the day you make the bechamel and layer up as normal. The flavour of the bolognese is better too, as it matures a bit after the initial long slow cooking.

Soak the lasagne sheets and use to make that thing where you fill them and roll into cylinders, then bake sprinkled with cheese? Can't remember the name of it...

I've got a number of sachets if blancmange to use up, my kids don't really like it - any magical ways to transform it into something?

Cannelloni, that's the name. Less faff than a lasagne perhaps?

You could make a trifle with the blancmange (instead of the custard layer) Or ice cream!

This recipe might be useful to anyone with evaporated milk to dispose of...

It's one of Mary Berry's recipes, so it must be good 🙂

This is the ginger cake recipe, sorry that it's in imperial but that's the way it was given to me. It keeps well, and a friend swears by having it hot with custard for pudding (never occurs to me, I grew up with it as a regular in the cake tin)

11oz self raising flour
3 level tsp ginger
1 level tsp bicarb
0.5 level tsp salt
8 fl oz hot water
4oz melted margarine
4oz Demerara sugar
8oz golden syrup

Sieve flour, ginger, bicarb and salt into large bowl. Place rest of ingredients in a saucepan to soften. When warm, beat into dry ingredients really thoroughly, preferably with a mixer.
Bake in a lined, shallow tin, 11" x 9" at 160deg for 45 minutes.

Oo yes, cannelloni is a great suggestion - I've only ever made it once, using tubes, which was really fiddly (you had to pipe the ricotta and spinach mix in) so lasagne sheets will be much easier. Thanks!

PartTime Good recipe thanks! I love the amount of ginger in it. I use a lot in mine too and some cardamom, sometimes some of that sticky whole ginger you get in jars (chopped). DS lives in a sort of commune and they devour my gingerbread in seconds !

What a good thread
Would anyone mind pointing in the right direction of this freezer thread please?

Here's the freezer thread.

Ginger cake, mmmmmm. Imperial measures are fine. I've never moved across to metric for baking!

Today I started to make a beef stew using a pack of dried prunes that were torturing me from the cupboard. Imagine my shock when I opened the packet, tipped them in and thought 'those are very dry looking... arghh they're dates!'. Had to fish them all out again.

Anyway, beef stew is well underway but now I've discovered that I have about four packets of dried dates. What can I do with those? As much as I'd like to make about 5kg of sticky toffee pudding with them, I suspect that's not the best idea.

Soak some chopped dates and add to porridge? Or just chopped into granola or musli type breakfast. Not 5kg worth.. but can use gradually

I haven't made this but it sounds nice. Delia Smith - sticky prune and date cake.

She has several more recipes on her website that use dates, including chutney, which would probably use quite a lot. Her recipe uses fresh dates, but I'm sure it could be adapted to the type that come in packets.

This is like the recipe I was looking for, which is in my ancient copy of her complete cookery course. Uses dates, marmalade and condensed milk.

I've 'only' got about 750g of dates, I just thought that would probably equate to about 5kg of sticky toffee pudding!

Never thought of using them on porridge though, thanks.

Thank you Gasp

I do mostly hate her recipes but Delicipusly Ella does some good things with dates. Like energy ball type things that are quite nice.

I also use them on savoury stuff. Pickle them in a small amount of white wine vinegar with thinly sliced red onions. Lovely in a spinach and toasted almond and pitta salad with lemon, EVOO chilli etc etc

treacle you could make date jam (it wouldn't need sugar) Take out the stones first if they need it, add water and or apple juice . Leave the top off a a heavy saucepan and keep an eye on it. Boil till it goes sticky.

ppeat the date jam sounds lovely and easy too!
Finally getting back to some storecupboard decluttering - sun dried tomatoes going into a chicken dinner tonight. Got to finish doing my meal plan tonight to figure out what else I can use up this week!

Jonty If I were you I'd soak your SD tomatoes first in boiling water otherwise they'll be chewy !

thanks ppeat I've got the ones in oil so they're not chewy
I did this recipe and served it with rice: damndelicious.net/2014/11/22/chicken-sun-dried-tomato-cream-sauce/
Bloody lovely! 😁 DH scraped the plate! Because of the cream I probably put a bit more of the herbs/black pepper/chilli in than the recipe says otherwise I find they can get 'dampened' by the cream, so it was quite bold flavoured but very tasty. Still haven't done my meal plan for the week, still off sick so will probably do it in the morning once DS is at the childminder.