Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183420 times)

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1450 on: March 06, 2017, 05:19:29 AM »
Two whole empty shelves in the pantry! I can certainly use them for overflowing serveware and vases. This is making my life so much easier - less shifting of stuff from one place to another while I look for things. I also used up a boxed cake mix someone bought me. It was, alright, but still has an 'artificial' taste to me. At least it's gone.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1451 on: March 06, 2017, 08:01:11 AM »
Hey horsepoor, there's a thread in Ask a Mustachian, about maxing out a per diem.  I remembered that you'd been eating well while away, and thought you might have some good suggestions for the fellow.

Hi PJ - thanks, I will take a look.  I had an apartment with a full kitchen, so I was pretty much cooking like normal, but I do have some hacks for shorter trips involving hotel stays. 

Even with eating everything (I thought) down before leaving in January, I was really surprised at how little I wanted to buy when I got home.  DH and I went and bought salad and eggs on Saturday, and yesterday I went to WinCo and stocked up on my preferred butter and canned tuna, and bought a few more veggies.  Made a nice soup last night with white beans (have two canisters full!), chicken breast from the freezer, onions from storage, and a jar of soup base and salsa from the canning stocks.

Last year I bought an immersion circulator with Christmas gift cards, and recently came across instructions for knock-off Starbuck's sous vide egg bites.  Yesterday I made four servings in mason jars with some bacon, mushrooms, bell pepper and Swiss cheese.  These are good!  I think they could be made on the stove top with a little rack to hold the jars off the bottom of the pot, and kept at a bare simmer (90 minutes).  Anyway, great way to use up some random scraps of veggies and have breakfasts ready to grab all week.

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1452 on: March 06, 2017, 08:54:28 AM »

Last year I bought an immersion circulator with Christmas gift cards, and recently came across instructions for knock-off Starbuck's sous vide egg bites.  Yesterday I made four servings in mason jars with some bacon, mushrooms, bell pepper and Swiss cheese.  These are good!  I think they could be made on the stove top with a little rack to hold the jars off the bottom of the pot, and kept at a bare simmer (90 minutes).  Anyway, great way to use up some random scraps of veggies and have breakfasts ready to grab all week.

These sound great. Can I ask do you just keep them in the fridge for the rest of the week? Do you reheat (and if so, how?) or eat cold. Thanks. Really looking to expand my 'eat on the go' breakfast repertoire.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1453 on: March 06, 2017, 11:02:12 AM »
Hey horsepoor, there's a thread in Ask a Mustachian, about maxing out a per diem.  I remembered that you'd been eating well while away, and thought you might have some good suggestions for the fellow.

Hi PJ - thanks, I will take a look.  I had an apartment with a full kitchen, so I was pretty much cooking like normal, but I do have some hacks for shorter trips involving hotel stays. 

Cool.  I don't travel for work, but will look forward to stashing away ideas for keeping food costs low when travelling in general.

In other news, today I ate apple pie for breakfast.  Am going to bake my own bread this month, so all my grocery money can go to produce (and cat litter!).  But I probably won't get to that for a day or two, and my supply is running low.  I haven't been excited to eat the rest of the pie (which had been in the freezer) for dessert after dinner, mainly because it tasted a tiny bit stale/freezer burnt.  So as I peered into my fridge this morning, I thought, oh, just eat the darned thing and get it out of here.  It was fine.  Not to self.  Do not freeze non-commercial pies for months on end without at least trying to wrap the darned thing in an extra layer of protection against freezer smell contamination. 

Today I *must* go grocery shopping, and before I can do that, I need to figure out what I'm going to bring to the Toronto MMM meet-up tomorrow.  We're going uber frugal, meeting in the food court area of the underground shopping mall system downtown, and bringing our own meals, plus some folks will probably bring a little bit to share.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1454 on: March 06, 2017, 11:30:46 AM »
Yay, going home tomorrow!  I ended up throwing out:  1/3 bag frozen peas, 1/3 bag frozen pearl onions, some crumbled sausage, a very small sweet potato, and about a cup of shredded cabbage. That's pretty much it.  I am bringing along an unopened tub of hummus, sliced bell peppers, crackers, salami and odds and ends of cheeses.  Some of that will be eaten on my 11 hour trip tomorrow.  I also have some rice and dried beans in my suitcase, but they'll be the first thing in the bin if my suitcases are overweight.  I could have just about zeroed everything out if I hadn't forgotten my lunch on Tuesday, and gone out with a coworker last night, but the waste is within acceptable limits. Oh, I also left three bottles of beer for the neighbors; hopefully they enjoy them!

What a nice neighbor!  :D

PJ, good job finishing the pie!

~~~~~~~~~~
I am happy to report other than frozen veggies, proteins, and a bag of blueberries, all the frozen leftovers are gone, except for 2 containers of Budget Bytes Not Refried Beans (which used up the remaining dried beans last month)!  I used the last lb strawberries in low carb crepes yesterday, and last year's garden tomatoes are going into tonight's ground turkey chili.

I also tossed about 3 dozen very old take out condiment packets, and washed out the mason jar they were in.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1455 on: March 06, 2017, 11:59:38 AM »
Thanks MountainGal,

I guess I did a good job of making it sound like eating apple pie for breakfast was a real chore, eh?  ;-P

You, on the other hand, have accomplished a real feat!  I can't imagine how long it will take to get to the point you described, in my freezer.  I think I would start filling it back up with new stuff before I got there!

Also, I keep my condiment packets in an old coffee can, repurposed from a copious number of them Dad used to keep various screws, nails and washer in, in the basement workroom.  But I try to keep them circulating, and I really only have vinegar and ketchup, and the occasional other odds and ends.  When it builds up too much, I actually take a minute and empty them all into the ketchup and vinegar containers, and throw out any I'm not likely to use.

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1456 on: March 06, 2017, 12:37:13 PM »
I am going to do this this week. I don't want to buy groceries until my credit card statement rolls overs since I've had a spendy month. So I just made a list of all the food I have in my house and I'm planning out the best way to eat it all so I don't have to buy anything. Should force me to be more creative with my cooking this week!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1457 on: March 06, 2017, 12:40:38 PM »
So I just made a list of all the food I have in my house and I'm planning out the best way to eat it all so I don't have to buy anything. Should force me to be more creative with my cooking this week!

Feel free to share your list to crowd-source some ideas! We like playing Iron Chef or, I suppose it is more like Chopped? on this thread!

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1458 on: March 06, 2017, 01:03:35 PM »
Well, the week before last, work got crazy busy so I was largely in survival mode for a while. Things are settling down (I hope?), so this past weekend I was playing catch-up, did a large "start of the month" grocery shopping, and prepped a ton of food. The freezers are now *packed*. 

I have used up all of the freezer bananas in smoothies, but still have some more protein powder (and I still need to try making a homemade chocolate protein mix). Saturday I made a double batch of lentil tacos and mexican rice, so we had tacos for dinner, then I made up 21 burritos for the freezer (used up all the flour tortillas I had on hand and 8 cups of frozen chicken broth), and still had enough for another taco dinner night. This is my problem in using up lentils... all of that was from only TWO CUPS of dry lentils. I still have 6 jars!! I also chopped up a red bell pepper and bunch of celery and froze them before they started suffering from being in the fridge too long.

I used 1 cup of bread crumbs (so I'm almost down to only 2 giant bags) making a giant batch of turkey meatballs for the freezer (7 dinners worth). Since ground turkey was on sale this week I had bought a ton, so I also made a dozen turkey burger patties and a batch of baked pasta for the freezer, plus 2 more 1 lb packages of ground turkey went straight into the freezer. And I made 30 breakfast sandwiches to freeze for hubby to help him resist the temptation of McDonalds breakfasts.

And since I was spending so much time shifting stuff around the chest freezer, I did Future Me a favor and made sure the things I would need to access for dinners this week were on top so I can grab them easily. Thank you Weekend Me!

Sooo in all... used up some stuff but have a lot of new stuff too :) We're hopefully doing Fun Things next weekend so I don't want to feel obligated to do a bunch of work in the kitchen, which is why I prepped so much stuff yesterday.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1459 on: March 06, 2017, 01:06:27 PM »

Last year I bought an immersion circulator with Christmas gift cards, and recently came across instructions for knock-off Starbuck's sous vide egg bites.  Yesterday I made four servings in mason jars with some bacon, mushrooms, bell pepper and Swiss cheese.  These are good!  I think they could be made on the stove top with a little rack to hold the jars off the bottom of the pot, and kept at a bare simmer (90 minutes).  Anyway, great way to use up some random scraps of veggies and have breakfasts ready to grab all week.

These sound great. Can I ask do you just keep them in the fridge for the rest of the week? Do you reheat (and if so, how?) or eat cold. Thanks. Really looking to expand my 'eat on the go' breakfast repertoire.

This is the first time I've made them, but yes, I just popped them in the fridge.  I used wide-mouth pint mason jars, so there was a lot of empty space.  Wide mouth half pints would be better, but I was worried about water seeping in, so I went with the taller jars (I can, so I have a million jars).  I had one for breakfast this morning that was gently reheated with 30 seconds in the microwave.  It had a couple cold spots, but I think they'd get rubbery if microwaved too long.  They would probably be good cold, too.  These are the general instructions I used, though I used about 1/3 c heavy cream instead of cream cheese since that's what I had on hand.  https://anovaculinary.com/easy-homemade-sous-vide-egg-bites/


PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1460 on: March 06, 2017, 02:25:51 PM »
I have used up all of the freezer bananas in smoothies, but still have some more protein powder (and I still need to try making a homemade chocolate protein mix). Saturday I made a double batch of lentil tacos and mexican rice, so we had tacos for dinner, then I made up 21 burritos for the freezer (used up all the flour tortillas I had on hand and 8 cups of frozen chicken broth), and still had enough for another taco dinner night. This is my problem in using up lentils... all of that was from only TWO CUPS of dry lentils. I still have 6 jars!! I also chopped up a red bell pepper and bunch of celery and froze them before they started suffering from being in the fridge too long. 

Your post reminded me of something I read in another thread, where someone was complaining about the way red lentils seem to disintegrate when cooked.  And then my brain put together your comment about too many lentils, and your comment about making chocolate protein mix for smoothies, and then I googled, and sure enough!  Did you know that lentils in smoothies is something people do?  Obviously, if you did make up a batch of some kind of lentil chocolate mix (I found mostly recipes for lentil/berry smoothies or lentil/green smoothies) you'd need to refrigerate or freeze it.  But maybe when you do a big batch of lentil cooking, you could put some of them aside to experiment with lentils as your smoothie protein source?

FYI, if your search engine does predictive text stuff, once you start typing "chocolate lentil..." you may find some autofill options that include muffins, cookies, and cakes.  So, there are lots of other options for eating your lentils, apparently!

SingleMomDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1461 on: March 06, 2017, 06:27:11 PM »
Kale-mushroom-carrot potato cakes. Got 3 patties out of 1 left over baked potato.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1462 on: March 06, 2017, 07:03:30 PM »
I have used up all of the freezer bananas in smoothies, but still have some more protein powder (and I still need to try making a homemade chocolate protein mix). Saturday I made a double batch of lentil tacos and mexican rice, so we had tacos for dinner, then I made up 21 burritos for the freezer (used up all the flour tortillas I had on hand and 8 cups of frozen chicken broth), and still had enough for another taco dinner night. This is my problem in using up lentils... all of that was from only TWO CUPS of dry lentils. I still have 6 jars!! I also chopped up a red bell pepper and bunch of celery and froze them before they started suffering from being in the fridge too long. 

Your post reminded me of something I read in another thread, where someone was complaining about the way red lentils seem to disintegrate when cooked.  And then my brain put together your comment about too many lentils, and your comment about making chocolate protein mix for smoothies, and then I googled, and sure enough!  Did you know that lentils in smoothies is something people do?  Obviously, if you did make up a batch of some kind of lentil chocolate mix (I found mostly recipes for lentil/berry smoothies or lentil/green smoothies) you'd need to refrigerate or freeze it.  But maybe when you do a big batch of lentil cooking, you could put some of them aside to experiment with lentils as your smoothie protein source?

FYI, if your search engine does predictive text stuff, once you start typing "chocolate lentil..." you may find some autofill options that include muffins, cookies, and cakes.  So, there are lots of other options for eating your lentils, apparently!

Interesting! I've always described lentils as "tasting like whatever you cook them in" so this seems plausible (although my initial instinct was "EWW" since I usually cook lentils in chicken broth and so envisioned that mixed with chocolate... no, just no). Between the protein powder and the lentils, I think I have some serious smoothie experimenting to get to.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1463 on: March 07, 2017, 12:54:37 AM »
Good luck, DTaggart, let us know how it goes!

So, if I thought there was anyone else around here who got as much food as I do from work, I'd probably start my own gauntlet thread called "Eat All the Food You Bring Home from Work!"

This weekend, because of the leftover pancake mix and eggs from Shrove Tuesday's pancake supper (it was open to the community and we weren't sure how many would show up - bought extra just in case) the hospitality team decided to make eggs and pancakes for everyone after church.  I had some after the early service, and was handed a take out container with another serving of 3 pancakes and more like 2 servings of eggs after the late service.  So, for lunch today, I toasted a rosemary focaccia roll from the freezer, spread a little mayo, and half the eggs (warmed up).  Served with the last of the crash hot potatoes I made the other night.  Dinner was corn bread, tomato and cucumber, and an orange for dessert.  Too healthy!  So evening snack of pancakes with syrup.  ;-)

Nothing from pantry or freezer today, plus I went grocery shopping, so I actually brought more food in.  But I only spent $22, on produce, plus eggs, cream and pita bread.  Price matched and got some really good prices on some of the produce.  Got a bag of avocados again, at my "not great but ok to buy" price - has been a few weeks since I bought any, and I've been missing them.  They won't be ripe for a few days though.  2 Bananas, 2 Apples, box of 10 kiwi (rock hard - will take weeks to ripen all of them, probably), 1 cucumber, 2 red peppers, 1 cabbage, 2 clamshells of tomatoes at 1 lb each, 1 bunch green onions.

Planning to take some food to the Toronto MMM meet-up tomorrow, so did a little cooking when I got home.  Going to do some more cooking later this week, hoping to make quiche or muffin tin type egg patties with veg and cheese later this week (for the freezer) as well as getting started on chopping up and cooking the cabbage I bought tonight.  Some for freezer just as plain cabbage to add to later recipes, but I'll also probably make a dish with cabbage in it, and some coleslaw.  And just because I like cabbage, but find it hard to use a whole one by myself, will also feed some of that to the dog!

Tonight I fed the dog the last of the oatmeal that I cooked the other night - I think that means I'm down to 2.5 packages!  Also gave her the off cut ends of the cucumber, and surprisingly, she also gobbled up the whitish ribs from inside the red pepper that I chopped up tonight (seeds removed). 

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1464 on: March 07, 2017, 02:37:58 AM »
About this protein powder... Is this cheap?
On TV some time ago they had a guy who trained weight lifting and at almost only protein shakes. They tested his values and found out that he actually had a lack of proteins in his body. They changed his food to normal healthy food and after some time his health was normal again. It was said that people who train normally don't need protein powders.
What is the reason some of you eat it?

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1465 on: March 07, 2017, 03:41:13 AM »

This is the first time I've made them, but yes, I just popped them in the fridge.  I used wide-mouth pint mason jars, so there was a lot of empty space.  Wide mouth half pints would be better, but I was worried about water seeping in, so I went with the taller jars (I can, so I have a million jars).  I had one for breakfast this morning that was gently reheated with 30 seconds in the microwave.  It had a couple cold spots, but I think they'd get rubbery if microwaved too long.  They would probably be good cold, too.  These are the general instructions I used, though I used about 1/3 c heavy cream instead of cream cheese since that's what I had on hand.  https://anovaculinary.com/easy-homemade-sous-vide-egg-bites/

Thanks for the info and recipe. 30 secs in the microwave is something even I can manage in the morning! I don't have the equipment to sous-vide, but i may try baking the mix in a muffin tray, I think that would work and be quite portable.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1466 on: March 07, 2017, 07:33:17 AM »
PJ- then you'll need to eat all the kiwis all at one due to becoming ripe at the same time :-)


Breakfast: Multigrain pancakes with frozen berries and walnuts. Topped with cinnamon and PB.

Lunch will be left over oatmeal or chili.

Tonight I have some wontons in the freezer. I can add.... a soba noodle soup. Maybe with kale and carrots.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1467 on: March 07, 2017, 08:12:49 AM »
About this protein powder... Is this cheap?
On TV some time ago they had a guy who trained weight lifting and at almost only protein shakes. They tested his values and found out that he actually had a lack of proteins in his body. They changed his food to normal healthy food and after some time his health was normal again. It was said that people who train normally don't need protein powders.
What is the reason some of you eat it?

I bought it when I was doing a lot of strength training and wanted an easy to prepare, high(er) protein food I could have for breakfast. I don't have time to cook real food before work, so my breakfast options are usually re-heated pancakes or waffles, or a smoothie. Smoothies are good because you can vary them a lot and usually get lots of nutrients in there with little effort - Want more vitamins? Add spinach or kale. More protein? Add protein powder. More fiber? Add some oatmeal, wheat germ, or flax meal. I certainly don't think eating them for every single meal is desirable though!

Now I'm just trying to use it up, because I got tired of getting up at 4am to work out :)

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1468 on: March 07, 2017, 09:03:29 AM »
So I just made a list of all the food I have in my house and I'm planning out the best way to eat it all so I don't have to buy anything. Should force me to be more creative with my cooking this week!

Feel free to share your list to crowd-source some ideas! We like playing Iron Chef or, I suppose it is more like Chopped? on this thread!

Ok here goes!
eggs, potatoes, chicken breast, frozen corn, peas & carrots, rice, popcorn, pasta, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, frozen blueberries, oatmeal, yogurt, tuna, crackers, lasagna noodles, black beans, flour, sugar, baking soda & powder, various condiments & spices. There might be some more random stuff hidden away in my cupboards but pretty sure that's most of it. I have a few ideas for simple meals but if anyone has creative ideas I'd love to hear them!

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1469 on: March 07, 2017, 09:41:41 AM »
PJ- then you'll need to eat all the kiwis all at one due to becoming ripe at the same time :-)
Kiwi day sounds AMAZING! 

My DH ordered Indian food for dinner, so I have leftovers for lunch (and we still have more in the fridge).  I have all of the ingredients to toss together posole for dinner tonight.  I've been kicking butt at cleaning out my freezer, and I have made slow progress on our pantry.  However, I did notice a difference last night.  The pantry is full, but not overflowing anymore. 

My grocery bills have been slightly lower than usual, and we are eating out less than normal.  I'm also proud of moving out of my comfort zone in cooking. 

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1470 on: March 07, 2017, 09:47:53 AM »
So I just made a list of all the food I have in my house and I'm planning out the best way to eat it all so I don't have to buy anything. Should force me to be more creative with my cooking this week!

Feel free to share your list to crowd-source some ideas! We like playing Iron Chef or, I suppose it is more like Chopped? on this thread!

Ok here goes!
eggs, potatoes, chicken breast, frozen corn, peas & carrots, rice, popcorn, pasta, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, frozen blueberries, oatmeal, yogurt, tuna, crackers, lasagna noodles, black beans, flour, sugar, baking soda & powder, various condiments & spices. There might be some more random stuff hidden away in my cupboards but pretty sure that's most of it. I have a few ideas for simple meals but if anyone has creative ideas I'd love to hear them!

A few things came to mind:

Mexican-Style Lasagna:  chicken breast, frozen corn, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, lasagna noodles, black beans, spices - or all of these minus the lasagna noodles (unless they were broken up) would make a good soup too.

Fish cakes: potatoes, tuna, peas & carrots, crackers (for coating) Spices - I usually go Indian flavours, curry, turmeric, cumin etc.

Black bean brownies?

Blueberry oatmeal bars? Or muffins...

I made some fantastic, extra mushroomy risotto using up a package that apparently expired in 2012 (oops) But it was delish and I used a couple of containers of Turkey stock and an onion. Served with some fresh Asparagus because I got to the bottom of my stash without realizing it, so progress!

Hubby looked in the freezer and said" Hey, I see the bottom! Oh wait...there is a shelf in there? I didn't know that!"

I still haven't found a great way of storing my 25 lbs of coconut. The box is sitting on my counter.



PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1471 on: March 07, 2017, 10:31:29 AM »
So I just made a list of all the food I have in my house and I'm planning out the best way to eat it all so I don't have to buy anything. Should force me to be more creative with my cooking this week!

Feel free to share your list to crowd-source some ideas! We like playing Iron Chef or, I suppose it is more like Chopped? on this thread!

Ok here goes!
eggs, potatoes, chicken breast, frozen corn, peas & carrots, rice, popcorn, pasta, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, frozen blueberries, oatmeal, yogurt, tuna, crackers, lasagna noodles, black beans, flour, sugar, baking soda & powder, various condiments & spices. There might be some more random stuff hidden away in my cupboards but pretty sure that's most of it. I have a few ideas for simple meals but if anyone has creative ideas I'd love to hear them!

A few things came to mind:

Mexican-Style Lasagna:  chicken breast, frozen corn, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, lasagna noodles, black beans, spices - or all of these minus the lasagna noodles (unless they were broken up) would make a good soup too.

Fish cakes: potatoes, tuna, peas & carrots, crackers (for coating) Spices - I usually go Indian flavours, curry, turmeric, cumin etc.

Black bean brownies?

Blueberry oatmeal bars? Or muffins...

I made some fantastic, extra mushroomy risotto using up a package that apparently expired in 2012 (oops) But it was delish and I used a couple of containers of Turkey stock and an onion. Served with some fresh Asparagus because I got to the bottom of my stash without realizing it, so progress!

Hubby looked in the freezer and said" Hey, I see the bottom! Oh wait...there is a shelf in there? I didn't know that!"

I still haven't found a great way of storing my 25 lbs of coconut. The box is sitting on my counter.
Oooh I really like these ideas, especially the mexican-style lasagna. I think I'll try that tonight, will let you know how it goes. The only thing it's going to lack is cheese.. oh well. I don't think I have enough oatmeal to make bars, and I'm not sure how to make fish cakes but I can probably find a recipe or at least some general instructions.
What do you plan on doing with 25 lbs(!) of coconut?

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1472 on: March 07, 2017, 10:36:41 AM »
I'm not sure how to make fish cakes but I can probably find a recipe or at least some general instructions.
What do you plan on doing with 25 lbs(!) of coconut?

Fish cakes are dead simple. Boil potatoes, mash them. Add any spices you like. Add the drained tuna, frozen veggies (I usually just use peas) any aromatics you like. From into patties - if it isn't sticking, you can use an egg to bind. Coat in crushed crackers (or bread crumbs or whatever you have) and pan fry them till golden brown and crispy. Works with Salmon as well, or any other white fish.

I can't do dairy so I make my own coconut milk, it was just so so so much cheaper to buy the big box :)

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1473 on: March 07, 2017, 11:25:11 AM »
I'm not sure how to make fish cakes but I can probably find a recipe or at least some general instructions.
What do you plan on doing with 25 lbs(!) of coconut?

Fish cakes are dead simple. Boil potatoes, mash them. Add any spices you like. Add the drained tuna, frozen veggies (I usually just use peas) any aromatics you like. From into patties - if it isn't sticking, you can use an egg to bind. Coat in crushed crackers (or bread crumbs or whatever you have) and pan fry them till golden brown and crispy. Works with Salmon as well, or any other white fish.

I can't do dairy so I make my own coconut milk, it was just so so so much cheaper to buy the big box :)
Sounds pretty easy, will give it a try. Much better than my uninspired idea to eat the tuna on the crackers haha

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1474 on: March 07, 2017, 11:33:44 AM »
PJ- then you'll need to eat all the kiwis all at one due to becoming ripe at the same time :-)
Kiwi day sounds AMAZING! 

Yes, I have had this happen.  But usually, if I eat a couple before they are *perfectly* ripe, and a couple after they are a little *too* ripe, then I can spread it out over 4 or 5 days.  That's what I'm hoping for anyway.  Ditto on the bag of 5 avocados, actually!

swick, LOL at your hubby and the shelf in the freezer!

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1475 on: March 07, 2017, 11:36:09 AM »
About this protein powder... Is this cheap?
On TV some time ago they had a guy who trained weight lifting and at almost only protein shakes. They tested his values and found out that he actually had a lack of proteins in his body. They changed his food to normal healthy food and after some time his health was normal again. It was said that people who train normally don't need protein powders.
What is the reason some of you eat it?

I bought it when I was doing a lot of strength training and wanted an easy to prepare, high(er) protein food I could have for breakfast. I don't have time to cook real food before work, so my breakfast options are usually re-heated pancakes or waffles, or a smoothie. Smoothies are good because you can vary them a lot and usually get lots of nutrients in there with little effort - Want more vitamins? Add spinach or kale. More protein? Add protein powder. More fiber? Add some oatmeal, wheat germ, or flax meal. I certainly don't think eating them for every single meal is desirable though!

Now I'm just trying to use it up, because I got tired of getting up at 4am to work out :)

Ditto.  I don't know if I'll buy more once my current supply is gone, but especially in summer, a smoothie with fruit and protein is an easy, portable meal replacement.  I don't think it's good to rely on them too much though.  As with anything, stick with whole foods as much as possible.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1476 on: March 07, 2017, 01:06:43 PM »
I can spread it out over 4 or 5 days.  That's what I'm hoping for anyway.  Ditto on the bag of 5 avocados, actually!

For the avocado, have you tried making guacamole and freezing it in ziploc bags?  Our favourite Mexican stand at the market used to defrost them and then just cut off the corner like you would for a pastry piping bag, and it was great for stopping the avocado from oxidizing.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1477 on: March 07, 2017, 01:42:13 PM »
I can spread it out over 4 or 5 days.  That's what I'm hoping for anyway.  Ditto on the bag of 5 avocados, actually!

For the avocado, have you tried making guacamole and freezing it in ziploc bags?  Our favourite Mexican stand at the market used to defrost them and then just cut off the corner like you would for a pastry piping bag, and it was great for stopping the avocado from oxidizing. 

Great tip!  I'll keep it in mind next time I have too many to eat at once. 

Normally though I'm pretty much a minimalist cook.  Slicing the avocado onto a sandwich or dropping chunks on the side of my plate to eat as part of a salad or a cooling bite between hot stew is about where I'm at.  Mashing?  Mixing in other ingredients?  Sounds like a lot of work ... ;-P

The other thing I do is wait for them to hit ripeness and then throw them whole into the fridge.  That seems to slow down the ripening enough to buy me an extra day or two to get them into my tummy!

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1478 on: March 07, 2017, 02:14:09 PM »
http://lilinhaangel.com/2014/12/peanut-butter-and-banana-weetabix-breakfast-bar-recipe/

Ok, that is intriguing.  And it uses both Weetabix and oats!  I don't have any bananas right now, but that's going on the "to make soon" list!

I thought the recipe looked great, and I had all the ingredients, so gave it a try this afternoon.  Nope, nope, nope.   Even the Mister didn't like them, and he likes all baked goods! 

Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic - I thought it would be sort of like banana bread, with more texture and a bit of peanut taste.  They just didn't seem to bake in the center, so the banana is sort of slimy, and there's a weird aftertaste.   YMMV, but for us, it was just a waste of bananas.

I might try a recipe I saw for Weetabix/cinnamon cookies though - I still have ton of Weetabix to use up.  (Husband does not particularly like Weetabix!).

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1479 on: March 07, 2017, 04:59:06 PM »
Oh well.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1480 on: March 07, 2017, 08:37:53 PM »
PJ- then you'll need to eat all the kiwis all at one due to becoming ripe at the same time :-)
Kiwi day sounds AMAZING! 

My DH ordered Indian food for dinner, so I have leftovers for lunch (and we still have more in the fridge).  I have all of the ingredients to toss together posole for dinner tonight.  I've been kicking butt at cleaning out my freezer, and I have made slow progress on our pantry.  However, I did notice a difference last night.  The pantry is full, but not overflowing anymore. 

My grocery bills have been slightly lower than usual, and we are eating out less than normal.  I'm also proud of moving out of my comfort zone in cooking. 
I'm killing it!  I made shredded chicken in my instant pot (~4 pounds), which is now portioned out for my lunch tomorrow and for random meals for the rest of the week. 

I also made the posole recipe from Budget Bytes for dinner, and it's really tasty.  I made cornbread to accompany the soup.  Super yum! I had a cup of hot cocoa for dessert.  :D

My lunch is a few cups of broccoli, shredded chicken, and the leftover rice from the Indian food delivery last night. 

I used up a few cans from the pantry and polished off a bag of flour.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1481 on: March 08, 2017, 12:16:08 AM »
Even though I recently bought new meat, I still try to empty the freezer. Yesterday we ate some slices of roast beef from the freezer for dinner.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1482 on: March 08, 2017, 01:24:24 AM »
http://lilinhaangel.com/2014/12/peanut-butter-and-banana-weetabix-breakfast-bar-recipe/

Ok, that is intriguing.  And it uses both Weetabix and oats!  I don't have any bananas right now, but that's going on the "to make soon" list!

I thought the recipe looked great, and I had all the ingredients, so gave it a try this afternoon.  Nope, nope, nope.   Even the Mister didn't like them, and he likes all baked goods! 

Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic - I thought it would be sort of like banana bread, with more texture and a bit of peanut taste.  They just didn't seem to bake in the center, so the banana is sort of slimy, and there's a weird aftertaste.   YMMV, but for us, it was just a waste of bananas.

I might try a recipe I saw for Weetabix/cinnamon cookies though - I still have ton of Weetabix to use up.  (Husband does not particularly like Weetabix!). 

Thanks for sharing your experience.  That's a disappointment, but I will (soon) either try another Weetabix recipe out of the many that I found online, or see if I can adapt that one at all based on your feedback.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1483 on: March 08, 2017, 01:57:03 AM »
Used up this week:
-bag of frozen cod (thai fish cakes)
-rice (fried rice)
-pasta (salad)
-all the frozen black beans (chili)
-2 boxes of tea (I have been known as a tea-hoarder, so this is good)

Now have, due to cooking new, previously untried food:
sechuan peppercorns - like 100 g of them (that's probably like a decade worth of tingly pepper - luckily I like it)
sumac - again, they sell sumac in big packs, don't know how I will ever get through it all.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1484 on: March 08, 2017, 07:38:09 AM »
Today I brought leftover salad from home and put in a little-used refrigerator at work. When I went to collect it at lunch time, I saw a can of quark with my own initials written on it. It is also my favorite type and therefore it was very likely that it was indeed mine. It was still closed. The best-before date was in August 2015, about 1 and a half year ago.

I took it to the cafeteria and after eating my salad, I opened it. It looked normal and smelled normal. My colleagues and my boss were explicitly warning me not to eat it, because they were concerned I would get sick. I couldn't help tasting a tiny bit of 1 half spoon. It even tasted normal! Had I been at home, I would probably have tasted a much bigger spoon. Now I didn't. I guessed that if I would indeed get sick, that my boss would not appreciate it after giving me various warnings.

But it really makes me think. Can you really eat vacuum packed quark that has been standing cool all the time one and a half year after best-before date?

I often eat food after the best before date when it comes to dried food, like rice, pasta, outdoor food, my own dried mushrooms. I use my eyes and nose to check whether it is still OK.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1485 on: March 08, 2017, 09:18:51 AM »
Anje - Sumac is one of my go-to spices. I use it pretty much anywhere yu would want a citrusy or slightly tart note. I use it in rubs, in stews, in soups, salad dressings...pretty much everywhere the flavour will match.

Linda_Norway - I'd personally pass on the quark. Unaged dairy goes faster than aged, and I was extremely sick once from wheel of Gouda that has been stored properly, but a little too long. I wouldn't wish that form of food poisoning on anyone!

4alpacas - Awesome progress, you are rocking it!

I haven't been using up as much as I like, the risotto made way too many servings. So I have been eating it, but probably won't get to most of the other stuff I was plotting to eat before Hubby comes home.

As I use stuff up, I am writing it on a list. SOME of it we may choose to restock on, but  I'm finding it useful to write down everything so we have a record and can be mindful of the types of things we buy that we think we need, but probably don't :)

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1486 on: March 08, 2017, 10:29:45 AM »
As I use stuff up, I am writing it on a list. SOME of it we may choose to restock on, but  I'm finding it useful to write down everything so we have a record and can be mindful of the types of things we buy that we think we need, but probably don't :)

Yes, I'm starting to develop a tiny list too.  Am resisting the re-stocking of some stuff (like salsa, for example) because it is already a "more commonly used" condiment in my house, and I want to push myself to use the "less commonly used" stuff up.  But then, it will be the salsa that gets restocked and not the other stuff!

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1487 on: March 08, 2017, 03:58:08 PM »
http://lilinhaangel.com/2014/12/peanut-butter-and-banana-weetabix-breakfast-bar-recipe/

Ok, that is intriguing.  And it uses both Weetabix and oats!  I don't have any bananas right now, but that's going on the "to make soon" list!

I thought the recipe looked great, and I had all the ingredients, so gave it a try this afternoon.  Nope, nope, nope.   Even the Mister didn't like them, and he likes all baked goods! 

Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic - I thought it would be sort of like banana bread, with more texture and a bit of peanut taste.  They just didn't seem to bake in the center, so the banana is sort of slimy, and there's a weird aftertaste.   YMMV, but for us, it was just a waste of bananas.

I might try a recipe I saw for Weetabix/cinnamon cookies though - I still have ton of Weetabix to use up.  (Husband does not particularly like Weetabix!). 

Thanks for sharing your experience.  That's a disappointment, but I will (soon) either try another Weetabix recipe out of the many that I found online, or see if I can adapt that one at all based on your feedback.

I wasn't upset - sometimes the recipes that start out disappointing end up favourites.  I think if I try it again, I will eliminate the banana and substitute other fruit.  I was thinking cranberries/raisins, and honey in addition to the 'syrup' it calls for to replace the moisture of the bananas. (I used maple syrup).  DH suggested some dried apples too.   And he said today that after being refrigerated overnight, they taste better.  He's eating them, anyway.  : )

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1488 on: March 08, 2017, 06:30:10 PM »
Had corn tortillas and ripe avocados. Yes, chips and guacamole were made.

Creative cooking at it's best. Woohoo!

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1489 on: March 09, 2017, 01:29:48 AM »
http://lilinhaangel.com/2014/12/peanut-butter-and-banana-weetabix-breakfast-bar-recipe/

Ok, that is intriguing.  And it uses both Weetabix and oats!  I don't have any bananas right now, but that's going on the "to make soon" list!

I thought the recipe looked great, and I had all the ingredients, so gave it a try this afternoon.  Nope, nope, nope.   Even the Mister didn't like them, and he likes all baked goods! 

Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic - I thought it would be sort of like banana bread, with more texture and a bit of peanut taste.  They just didn't seem to bake in the center, so the banana is sort of slimy, and there's a weird aftertaste.   YMMV, but for us, it was just a waste of bananas.

I might try a recipe I saw for Weetabix/cinnamon cookies though - I still have ton of Weetabix to use up.  (Husband does not particularly like Weetabix!). 

Thanks for sharing your experience.  That's a disappointment, but I will (soon) either try another Weetabix recipe out of the many that I found online, or see if I can adapt that one at all based on your feedback.

I wasn't upset - sometimes the recipes that start out disappointing end up favourites.  I think if I try it again, I will eliminate the banana and substitute other fruit.  I was thinking cranberries/raisins, and honey in addition to the 'syrup' it calls for to replace the moisture of the bananas. (I used maple syrup).  DH suggested some dried apples too.   And he said today that after being refrigerated overnight, they taste better.  He's eating them, anyway.  : ) 

Can't have been too bad, then! ;-)

Had corn tortillas and ripe avocados. Yes, chips and guacamole were made.

Creative cooking at it's best. Woohoo! 

Sounds great to me!

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1490 on: March 09, 2017, 01:40:35 AM »
Oh!  Almost forgot to say ... used up a bottle of salad dressing (balsamic vinaigrette) on some veggies I took to work for lunch today. 

I have another unopened bottle of some kind of fancy vinaigrette, part of a gift of fancy foodstuffs for my birthday or Christmas - 2 years ago.  Plus I have some creamy kind of dressing in the fridge too.  Should still take me a long time to get through those bottles.  I don't use very much dressing.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1491 on: March 09, 2017, 02:21:07 AM »
Hmmm, with dairy I usually would bin it, but with anything dry I have no qualms.. Best before is 'best' before but definitely still edible after (whereas  'use by' means use by).  If the lid was not raised at all I'd say it was safe but who knows.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1492 on: March 09, 2017, 07:44:50 AM »

You are all so inspiring! I have been here for about a couple weeks only and my outlook is so much different now. I'm still eating the fridge - we ate leftovers two evenings instead of just tossing it out on garage day (Sat).  I used up some strawberries that were starting to get soft and made some fridge jam last night - without your inspiring ideas, that also would end up in the garbage also.

This weekend I'll pay super attention at groceries, getting just some veggies/fruit. I think I'll start with the freezer next week.




swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1493 on: March 09, 2017, 10:12:51 AM »
<...> and I was extremely sick once from wheel of Gouda that has been stored properly, but a little too long. I wouldn't wish that form of food poisoning on anyone!

Really, this is shocking to hear. I am Dutch and have lived in Gouda and I always buy that cheese in Norway in pretty large quantities at a time. In the Netherlands we used to just cut of a chuck of the cheese if there is any green or blue growth on it and then we eat the rest. The older the cheese the safer this is to do, from what I have understood. Although I have not eaten cheese that have been in my fridge for more than 4-5 months. Usually it is eaten long before that.

well, I guess I should say *I* stored it properly, But I got it from a possibly not entirely legal expat Christmas Market in Turkey. The things one will do for good cheese :) By the time it gave me food poisoning, I had been rationing it out for 4 months or so.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1494 on: March 10, 2017, 01:49:16 AM »

You are all so inspiring! I have been here for about a couple weeks only and my outlook is so much different now. I'm still eating the fridge - we ate leftovers two evenings instead of just tossing it out on garage day (Sat).  I used up some strawberries that were starting to get soft and made some fridge jam last night - without your inspiring ideas, that also would end up in the garbage also.

This weekend I'll pay super attention at groceries, getting just some veggies/fruit. I think I'll start with the freezer next week.

Well done, Eporedia!  Jumping right in with making fridge jam = awesomesauce!

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1495 on: March 10, 2017, 05:51:08 AM »
Swick: thank you for the tip. I tested it out with (store bought) pizza last night. It goes with pizza.

And on that note: the sad pizza is now no longer filling up my freezer..

But tonight I'm making okonomiyaki, and so the new ingredients keep coming in. Dried fish and seaweed can't be too bad, right?

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1496 on: March 10, 2017, 04:11:33 PM »

Well, weekends are my grocery time! I promised myself that I will look in the fridge, freezer and pantry before heading out. I'll let you know how it goes.


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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1497 on: March 10, 2017, 05:18:38 PM »
We're going to a friend's house tonight for "happy hour," and I made a few things to bring over.  I made caramel corn, which used some of the corn syrup leftover from the pecan pie I made at Thanksgiving. I also made a savory popcorn with parmesan and parsley. 

I also made more chicken stock.  I've cleaned out all of the chicken bones from the freezer!  Woohoo!  Our freezer is now somewhat organized and not overflowing with stuff. 

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1498 on: March 10, 2017, 05:38:53 PM »
Finished the last of the cardamon syrup in the last of the almond milk.  Flavoured steamed milk was a great reward for walking home in -10C today.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1499 on: March 10, 2017, 05:41:55 PM »
We're going to a friend's house tonight for "happy hour," and I made a few things to bring over.  I made caramel corn, which used some of the corn syrup leftover from the pecan pie I made at Thanksgiving. I also made a savory popcorn with parmesan and parsley. 

I also made more chicken stock.  I've cleaned out all of the chicken bones from the freezer!  Woohoo!  Our freezer is now somewhat organized and not overflowing with stuff.

WHOOT! Way to go!

Dinner tonight is http://www.myfoodstory.com/spicy-korean-chicken-thighs-recipe/  with a Asian-ish cabbage slaw using up odds and ends from the crisper, some corn tortillas that need using up and some homemade kimchi. Using up lots of little bits of things :)

Instead of ginger "paste" I grated some fresh stuff, the fiberous bits I tossed into a hot of water, added some cinnamon and made a tea out of it.

Finished the last of the cardamon syrup in the last of the almond milk.  Flavoured steamed milk was a great reward for walking home in -10C today.
Sounds like a great reward! Warming and getting that awesome "Using Up All The Things" feeling :D