Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183484 times)

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1600 on: March 24, 2017, 07:17:14 PM »
Dinner tonight used up a spaghetti squash, remainder of a bag of peas, an aged onion, jar of garden tomatoes, some frozen pesto and a good bit of Romano cheese.

Hoping to stay out of the grocery store the rest of the month!

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1601 on: March 25, 2017, 01:22:33 AM »
I have a nice tin Amaretto box standing on the kitchen top, filled with a little remaning Durum wheat. On my way to becoming a minimalist, I think it't time to throw away the 20+ year old Amaretto box and with that declutter th kitchen. I guess I should make some fresh pasta later this week.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1602 on: March 26, 2017, 08:28:19 PM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?  I recently realized that I am approaching tea hoarding status, and it was making a mess, since it's mostly loose tea in the original bulk bags.  I move most of them over to 12oz jelly jars, which is better, and they're more front-and-center now, so hopefully I'll use them.  I went a little cray when I got a really good deal on gunpowder matcha about a year ago, and have a ton of it.  Perhaps I need to commit to doing matcha smoothies and forgoing coffee once the weather warms up.

Today's dinner did well on the food stash:  1.5 c. red lentils cooked into a dahl with a quart jar of tomatoes, lamb curry using ground lamb and a can of coconut milk I stocked up on a few months ago.  Used two of the elderly onions, a cup of pork stock from the freezer, and the remaining frozen garlic cubes, as well as two packages of riced cauliflower from last spring's harvest.  I've been avoiding the red lentils lately because they fall  apart so readily when cooked, but the ended up rather thick this time and I remarked that they were like Indian refried beans, which seemed better than a runny dahl with no texture.  Also used up a jar of apricot chutney between the cauli-rice and the curry.

After dinner a brownie recipe showed up on my Facebook feed and inspired me to make brownies to bring to work, but I don't keep baker's chocolate around.  A quick Google got me a cocoa powder brownie recipe, so I whipped that up using some of the frozen cherries from my tree, and walnuts that have been hanging around for a while.

Breakfasts this week will be homemade yogurt with some chia seeds I'm trying to finish, and fig jam I canned in 2014.

My pantry cupboard now has enough space that I was able to move all my boozy infusions and fermies  from under the sink.  Using those up is a rather scary prospect.  I have peaches in vodka, cherry jump, cherries in vodka, rum raisins, josta berries in pisco, as well as some fire cider, a gallon of homemade apple cider vinegar, and a jar of garlic in honey. 

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1603 on: March 26, 2017, 08:48:12 PM »
The jar of sweet chili sauce is finished.  I repeat, the jar of sweet chili sauce is finished.  It has been washed and is now in the recycling bin.  Now I just need to remember that I do not need to replace it despite finding all these ways to use it in our meals. 

Unfortunately the dulce de leche is not as good in my tea as the caramel sauce was.  Maybe I need to try it in another type of tea.  I have three or four other options I could try instead of finishing off the current main box.

This week I've decided I'm going to finish one of the containers of NZ honey in the pantry, and one of the packages of bacon from the freezer.  I'll be finishing the last of the roasted bell peppers in the freezer in my lunch.

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1604 on: March 26, 2017, 10:25:52 PM »
I am getting better about not bringing home weird ingredients that I then have to use up, but that means fewer contributions to this thread.

I did try out a recipe for baked falafel that let me use up a can of chickpeas floating around in the cupboard for way too long. Also made a nut butter and jelly coffee cake that used up a half-jar of jam as well as making a dent in the container of cashew butter. That recipe is a keeper...I always end up with jams and jellies because people know I am a foodie, but I don't eat them very often.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1605 on: March 27, 2017, 04:21:43 AM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?  I recently realized that I am approaching tea hoarding status, and it was making a mess, since it's mostly loose tea in the original bulk bags.  I move most of them over to 12oz jelly jars, which is better, and they're more front-and-center now, so hopefully I'll use them.  I went a little cray when I got a really good deal on gunpowder matcha about a year ago, and have a ton of it.  Perhaps I need to commit to doing matcha smoothies and forgoing coffee once the weather warms up.

I put it in tins. But I've stopped hoarding loose tea and have started to concentrate on the few types that I like best. We do still have a small tin with smoked tea that we drink seldom. Normally we found out that the standard Ceylon tea that can be bought in big bags is cheapest and also tastes good. I pour an amount of it in a bigger tin and seal the rest of the bag. The tin is used for daily drinking.

Epor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1606 on: March 27, 2017, 07:59:22 AM »
I have peaches in vodka, cherry jump, cherries in vodka, rum raisins, josta berries in pisco, as well as some fire cider, a gallon of homemade apple cider vinegar, and a jar of garlic in honey.

OMG!!! What a treasure! I wish I would find stuff like that vs old packages of dry beans...

This weekend I made some frozen meatballs and took the ham out of the freezer. That should keep me busy for the week. I'm thinking of making some beans/lentils/whatever soup where I can add ham to it. I finished the balsamic vinegar and the white wine vinegar too (about a 1/4 cup in each bottle) - Now I'm working on the coconut vinegar... but that will take a while - I still have another bottle of red-vinegar too! Oh well.


4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1607 on: March 27, 2017, 10:20:29 AM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?  I recently realized that I am approaching tea hoarding status, and it was making a mess, since it's mostly loose tea in the original bulk bags.  I move most of them over to 12oz jelly jars, which is better, and they're more front-and-center now, so hopefully I'll use them.  I went a little cray when I got a really good deal on gunpowder matcha about a year ago, and have a ton of it.  Perhaps I need to commit to doing matcha smoothies and forgoing coffee once the weather warms up.

I put it in tins. But I've stopped hoarding loose tea and have started to concentrate on the few types that I like best. We do still have a small tin with smoked tea that we drink seldom. Normally we found out that the standard Ceylon tea that can be bought in big bags is cheapest and also tastes good. I pour an amount of it in a bigger tin and seal the rest of the bag. The tin is used for daily drinking.
I receive a lot of tea gifts, so I usually keep the tea in the original packaging.  I organize it in a velvet box that originally held monogrammed wine glasses.  I reuse tins, use mason jars of all sizes, and use freezer bags.  If I have a tea that I don't like hot, I try it iced (and usually I like it).  If I don't like the tea at all, then I bring it to work and leave it in the shared tea and coffee area. 

I FINALLY cooked all of the chicken in the freezer.  I also made another 14 cups of chicken stock, which is now in the freezer.  Now, I need to figure out what I want to do with all of the stock. 

I need to start working my way through all of the frozen fruit in the freezer.  Any recommendations?  I have a lot of half open bags.

lentil

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1608 on: March 27, 2017, 10:34:54 AM »
Quote
I need to start working my way through all of the frozen fruit in the freezer.  Any recommendations?  I have a lot of half open bags.

I'm working on this too! So far, I made some blueberry banana bread (http://therecipecritic.com/2016/04/blueberry-banana-bread/) that was tasty, but might have been even better with some nuts. What sort of fruit do you have?

My other major item to use up this week is a tin of steel cut oats. So I could use the rest of my frozen berries as a topping for oatmeal, or I could make some more desserts. Honestly, I am probably going to go the dessert route, and use my steel cut oats for some experiments with savory breakfasts (since I'd actually like to find a long-term breakfast option that's a little cheaper than my current staple). Win-win ;-)

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1609 on: March 27, 2017, 10:51:19 AM »
Quote
I need to start working my way through all of the frozen fruit in the freezer.  Any recommendations?  I have a lot of half open bags.

I'm working on this too! So far, I made some blueberry banana bread (http://therecipecritic.com/2016/04/blueberry-banana-bread/) that was tasty, but might have been even better with some nuts. What sort of fruit do you have?
Pineapple, blueberries (thanks for the recipe!), strawberries, peaches, mangos.
Quote
My other major item to use up this week is a tin of steel cut oats. So I could use the rest of my frozen berries as a topping for oatmeal, or I could make some more desserts. Honestly, I am probably going to go the dessert route, and use my steel cut oats for some experiments with savory breakfasts (since I'd actually like to find a long-term breakfast option that's a little cheaper than my current staple). Win-win ;-)
I use my steel cut oats for overnight oats recipes.  I usually do a chocolate peanut butter variation.  Yum!

Catbert

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1610 on: March 27, 2017, 11:08:01 AM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?  I recently realized that I am approaching tea hoarding status, and it was making a mess, since it's mostly loose tea in the original bulk bags.  I move most of them over to 12oz jelly jars, which is better, and they're more front-and-center now, so hopefully I'll use them.  I went a little cray when I got a really good deal on gunpowder matcha about a year ago, and have a ton of it.  Perhaps I need to commit to doing matcha smoothies and forgoing coffee once the weather warms up.

I put it in tins. But I've stopped hoarding loose tea and have started to concentrate on the few types that I like best. We do still have a small tin with smoked tea that we drink seldom. Normally we found out that the standard Ceylon tea that can be bought in big bags is cheapest and also tastes good. I pour an amount of it in a bigger tin and seal the rest of the bag. The tin is used for daily drinking.

I work on 3 teas and try to ignore the rest.  This helps to finally finish something rather than having the same number of tea containers with just smaller amounts in all.  For me the 3 are:  plain black tea, something without caffeine and speciality tea (earl grey, smokey, green, etc.)

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1611 on: March 27, 2017, 01:36:31 PM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?

I keep all my dry goods in wide mouth mason jars - vacuum sealed if they are going to be stored for longer.


My pantry cupboard now has enough space that I was able to move all my boozy infusions and fermies  from under the sink.  Using those up is a rather scary prospect.  I have peaches in vodka, cherry jump, cherries in vodka, rum raisins, josta berries in pisco, as well as some fire cider, a gallon of homemade apple cider vinegar, and a jar of garlic in honey. 

Aww crap. I totally forgot I should be taking my fire cider, being sick and all. I don't know how I forgot about it!  Thanks for the reminder! ohhh what are josta berries?

Way to go on your progress, sound slike you are getting creative and making some great meals!

The jar of sweet chili sauce is finished.  I repeat, the jar of sweet chili sauce is finished.  It has been washed and is now in the recycling bin.  Now I just need to remember that I do not need to replace it despite finding all these ways to use it in our meals. 

WAHOO!! Way to go! Doesn't it feel awesome to finally get it finished?

- Now I'm working on the coconut vinegar... but that will take a while - I still have another bottle of red-vinegar too! Oh well.

Inasal chicken uses a bunch of coconut vinegar and is amazing on the BBQ, I tried to find the specific recipe I have used in the past but didn't have any luck, here is a search with a few versions. https://foodgawker.com/?s=Inasal




MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1612 on: March 27, 2017, 01:54:00 PM »
Yesterday I was feeling rather domestic and baked the following:

Homemade pizza with homemade pizza sauce which used a can of tomato paste, and nearly finished up a bag of pepperoni.

Flax muffins, which used up a box of flax.  :D

Almond flour dark chocolate chip cookies used an 86% Cacao Bar from Christmas.

I'll use more of the everlasting fridge condiments in a chicken recipe tomorrow.

And I'm happy to report our dried beans have been used up.  :)

Our pantry stash is dwindling... Now if the house would sell...

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1613 on: March 27, 2017, 02:03:44 PM »

Aww crap. I totally forgot I should be taking my fire cider, being sick and all. I don't know how I forgot about it!  Thanks for the reminder! ohhh what are josta berries?


They are a cross between a gooseberry and a currant.  I'm actually not a fan, and will leave them for the birds from now on.  However, there were gooseberries in pisco everywhere we went in Peru, so it seemed like a logical place to put a fruit we weren't going to eat any other way.

Yeah, I was sick a couple weeks ago and completely forgot about the fire cider as well.  Boo.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1614 on: March 27, 2017, 10:46:57 PM »
Last night I finally found the time to make fresh pasta from a remainder of Durum wheat and some normal wheat. Put it in the fridge to make a meal of it tonight.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1615 on: March 28, 2017, 01:56:40 AM »
-----

I need to start working my way through all of the frozen fruit in the freezer.  Any recommendations?  I have a lot of half open bags.
Smoothies. You even get bonus for health benefits and no (added) sugar. And if you have bananas on their last leg (frozen or not) I highly recomend lassie. Banana, yoghurt, a dash of salt and 1/4-1/2 (depending on preference) teaspoon of cardamom, water. Blend. Drink with ice. This is, hands down, my favourite thing to drink. You could also make it with mango. Or anything, really.

Also, if you have frozen fruit/berries: try tossing them into the oatmeal just before you take it of the heat. Or adding it to pancakes while cooking. Or ad it into scones.

Re the josta berries: did you try heating them until soft and pushing them through a siv? That way you'd be left with just the pulp (useable for smoothies, cakes, lemonade etc) and could freeze that in ice cubes? The skin/seeds really doesn't ad anything good to that berry..

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1616 on: March 28, 2017, 08:05:28 AM »

Re the josta berries: did you try heating them until soft and pushing them through a siv? That way you'd be left with just the pulp (useable for smoothies, cakes, lemonade etc) and could freeze that in ice cubes? The skin/seeds really doesn't ad anything good to that berry..

No, I haven't done that.  They're already a PITA to harvest, and we have plenty of better fruit coming in at the same time, so I'll let the birds have them.  I have a goji berry and that one's even worse.

Epor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1617 on: March 28, 2017, 08:24:32 AM »
- Now I'm working on the coconut vinegar... but that will take a while - I still have another bottle of red-vinegar too! Oh well.

Inasal chicken uses a bunch of coconut vinegar and is amazing on the BBQ, I tried to find the specific recipe I have used in the past but didn't have any luck, here is a search with a few versions. https://foodgawker.com/?s=Inasal

Wow... I never heard of Inasal chicken before... the recipes look fantastic! I have some frozen chicken that needs to go too, so I'll give it a try! Thank you very much.

« Last Edit: March 28, 2017, 02:07:42 PM by Eporedia »

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1618 on: March 28, 2017, 09:54:35 AM »

- Now I'm working on the coconut vinegar... but that will take a while - I still have another bottle of red-vinegar too! Oh well.

Inasal chicken uses a bunch of coconut vinegar and is amazing on the BBQ, I tried to find the specific recipe I have used in the past but didn't have any luck, here is a search with a few versions. https://foodgawker.com/?s=Inasal

Wow... I never heard of Inasal chicken before... the recipes look fantastic! I have some frozen chicken that needs to go too, so I'll give it a try! Thank you very much.
[/quote]


No problem! I think I found it a couple of years ago for this challenge trying to figure out what the heckI'm going to do with a big bottle of coconut vinegar I purchased on a whim. Also works well with sugar cane vinegar.

LindseyC

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1619 on: March 29, 2017, 11:40:05 AM »
I'm also a tea hoarder, mostly because people give me a lot of tea! Luckily I drink a lot of hot and cold tea (to avoid sugar drinks) so I generally use it up, although it seems to constantly replenish. I actually a have a tea drawer in my kitchen that doesn't even hold all my tea!

I am FINALLY seeing some progress in eating down my food stores. Other than meat in home cooked freezer meals, all my frozen meat has been eaten up! I am also down on random frozen items although I still have enough frozen veggies to survive a yeah I think. My pantry shelves are where I am really noticing a difference.

I have been cooking bulk meals on Sunday's trying to use ingredients from the hoard with maybe just a few fresh items that I am missing and it seems to be working. This week it's on my to do list to clean out a few dated items in my pantry I know I am just not going to eat. It's my new goal by the summer to be completely down to my barebones!


swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1620 on: March 29, 2017, 12:21:48 PM »
Great progress, LindseyC!

I'm sippin' on some green tea instead of making another cup of coffee.

I have a Tajine in the crockpot that is putting a dent in some dried spice blends we were gifted and some dried apricots. Will also make cornbread to have on the side.

Yesterday I made some buckwheat/chia pizza crust and used up the last of my pumpkin seeds and some sunflower seeds, and more herbs and spices. Recipe is here: http://nyoutritious.com/grain-free-chia-buckwheat-pizza/

 It is definitely not your normal pizza - and I cook it for longer and flip it over, and you can't put too much topping on it, but if you can't eat wheat, it is a good alternative and much better than some of the other alternatives out there.

Anyone go through lots of bananas at once?

I found a couple of recipes for Banana skins! I *really* want to try them,  but we only go through one banana at a time and by the time I have saved up enough to make these recipes, they have gone all black and gross. But if someone is doing a lot of baking or has a big family, might want to try! If you do, please let me know.

http://www.eatmyyythoughts.com/crispy-fried-salt-pepper-banana-skins/
http://www.eatmyyythoughts.com/banana-skin-curry/

I am going to try the tea next time I have a skin: "Under-ripe skins are best for pickling, whereas you can make a delicious banana tea by boiling over-ripe banana skins with cardamom and vanilla"

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1621 on: March 29, 2017, 12:31:49 PM »
I have been cooking bulk meals on Sunday's trying to use ingredients from the hoard with maybe just a few fresh items that I am missing and it seems to be working. This week it's on my to do list to clean out a few dated items in my pantry I know I am just not going to eat. It's my new goal by the summer to be completely down to my barebones!
I'm impressed!  I'm moving at a much slower pace :D

Last night, I made more hummus and used up the last of the lemon juice (squeezed about a cup from lemons from the tree last weekend) and a can of chickpeas.  I also prepped some kale, so I can have a kale salad tonight.  I'm thinking about trying this recipe.  I was craving something sweet, so I used up an almost empty bag of unsweetened shredded coconut to make chocolate macaroons (recipe from Run Fast, Eat Slow).  I only made a quarter batch.

I've also started attacking my tea stash.  Right now, I'm deviating from my morning tea routine.  I am using whatever tea is almost gone (and sometimes blending it with multiple types) to brew my morning pot.  I hope to get down to a reasonable amount of tea in a few weeks. 

I need to make more of an effort on our pantry.  I've gifted and eaten away the jam stash.  However, we have a serious noodle problem--5 boxes of rice noodles, lots of wheat pasta in various shapes, and a few bags of fettuccine.  We also have 3 boxes (with 2-3 packets each) of things that appear to be Shake n Bake-like that my husband purchased.  I'm tempted to leave them until they expire, but I should probably suck it up and use them.  My husband will eat the chicken, and I won't have to eat it.  Wish me luck!

swick, I look forward to your reports on the banana skin trials.  I'm not brave enough!

LindseyC

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1622 on: March 29, 2017, 01:49:30 PM »
Swick - can I come to your house for dinner? Your Tajine dinner sounds delicious!!

4alpacas - i mix my teas too. I really try to drink a lot of cold tea (no sugar) and to make it interesting I often try my own little random blends. Right now I am on a raspberry mint blend with a touch of citrus. Yummy!

I also have a serious pasta issue but mine is all wholewheat spaghetti pasta because the grocery store had a special on 10 boxes for $10 and I had this points offer which gave me back $6 in points for ten boxes. So I bought ten boxes, of course, in fairness it is the healthy kinda and I love pasta.

I have been making a lot of homemade meals that normally use different pasta shapes with the spaghetti noodles which is kinda funny. Tuna casserole spaghetti got me laughs at lunchtime at work and I have yet to take my beef stroganoff spaghetti because I know they will laugh at that too. :)

But the real tough one was spaghetti lasagna, lining up all those noodles was a real PITA. Teehee

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1623 on: March 30, 2017, 01:10:08 AM »

Anyone go through lots of bananas at once?


I did make banana pancakes once. Can't say it will ever become my favorite, but it used a few bananas. Also banana icecream will help.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1624 on: March 30, 2017, 02:57:32 AM »
I found a bag of sad old dried dates in my cupboard and desided to try them in a recipe. So I attempted a healthy date-almond-oat ball. Yum. Also perfectly lightly sweet. Already found a recipe for almond-date-lime-coconut balls to try next - it will help use up my old bag of desicated coconut.

Next up is the dried figs I got for christmas. Anyone tried substituting dates for figs?

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1625 on: March 30, 2017, 03:08:21 AM »
I found a bag of sad old dried dates in my cupboard and desided to try them in a recipe. So I attempted a healthy date-almond-oat ball. Yum. Also perfectly lightly sweet. Already found a recipe for almond-date-lime-coconut balls to try next - it will help use up my old bag of desicated coconut.

Next up is the dried figs I got for christmas. Anyone tried substituting dates for figs?

I would use either one chopped in a granola bar or oatmeal.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1626 on: March 30, 2017, 09:36:24 AM »

Next up is the dried figs I got for christmas. Anyone tried substituting dates for figs?

You can, the only thing is they may not be as sweet as the dates, and the fig seeds may or may not bother you.

I usually make a "spoon sweet" or "Compot" out of dried figs to use as a topping for yogurt and granola or just to snack on. No recipe, I just stick em in a pot, cover with hot water and whatever spices I want to use and simmer them until they are fully rehydrated, they go all jammy and lovely. You can add honey or whatever sweetener you want if you feel it needs it, I don't.

I had such an awesome couple of hours cleaning and organizing my kitchen yesterday! I consolidated a ton of stuff and ended up with a full box of recycling. We have a bad habit of not realizing what we have so we open a new one if we can't find something. Now I know exactly what we have :)

You know how sometimes you need to hear specific advice so you just end up hearing it over and over from a variety of sources all at once, just so the universe makes sure you got the message? Well, yesterday it was "What are you willing to let go of to make room in your life for new?" 

This is hugely related to food because I am still tripping over, shuffling around, feeling bad about food we have purchased that doesn't fit into our lifestyle anymore, but I feel bad about having spent money on or don't want to waste it. The problem is is it is a heavy weight in guilt, in time shuffling it around, it hides the food we do want to use...so I threw out a bunch of stuff (but recycled all the containers) Feels pretty awesome.  I know it is an "eat" all the food challenge and not a "clear out" but this is the first step that will make the eating easier and more conscious :)

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1627 on: March 30, 2017, 11:42:57 AM »
We received an offer on our house, so the need to use things up just got more real.  :)

Last night I tossed a few condiments from the fridge door and some old coffee creamer which expired last year.  I've got another half container left of the latter, which I use in an au gratin potato recipe for Easter.

This weekend I'm going to make brownies to hopefully use up the rest of the cocoa powder, flour and granulated sugar.  I'm thinking I might make frosting to use up the unsweetened chocolate.  DH will be surprised.  :D

And if I make spaghetti this weekend, that will use up a lb of ground beef, a jar of sauce, and the rest of the pasta.  Oh, and if I thaw them, I can toss in the remaining tomatoes from last year's garden.

I love this thread!

Added:  And I just found a recipe for blueberry pie using 2 packets of unflavored gelatin.  This will take care of those two items, and the low carb pie crust I make will use up some almond flour.  Thumbs up!
« Last Edit: March 30, 2017, 12:08:22 PM by MountainGal »

lentil

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1628 on: March 30, 2017, 01:41:50 PM »
I've been using up my steel cut oats (mixed with just a little quinoa) for some tasty breakfasts. And I used up some frozen fruit to make a berry crumble -- yummy, but waaaaay too sweet. Still, it feels good to see the pile of random items keep shrinking. Overall, I think we've eaten better in the last couple of months than ever before...amazing what a little planning ahead can do!

This challenge has been a huge help for me in terms of understanding my grocery spending (and wasting) much better. I've tossed a few things too, or donated the unopened stuff to the food bank, without any qualms -- some things are just not going to get eaten! I still can't quite wrap my mind around the low monthly grocery bills some people here post, but at least ours has shrunk considerably.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1629 on: March 30, 2017, 08:47:05 PM »
We received an offer on our house, so the need to use things up just got more real.  :)

Wahoo! So exciting!


MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1630 on: March 31, 2017, 12:57:30 PM »
We received an offer on our house, so the need to use things up just got more real.  :)

Wahoo! So exciting!

Thank you!  We countered and they accepted.

And, even better:  We may have found the perfect house for us.  Fingers crossed!

seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1631 on: March 31, 2017, 03:17:41 PM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?  I recently realized that I am approaching tea hoarding status, and it was making a mess, since it's mostly loose tea in the original bulk bags.  I move most of them over to 12oz jelly jars, which is better, and they're more front-and-center now, so hopefully I'll use them.  I went a little cray when I got a really good deal on gunpowder matcha about a year ago, and have a ton of it.  Perhaps I need to commit to doing matcha smoothies and forgoing coffee once the weather warms up.


I have a tea hoard. It is insane and shows no signs of slowing down. As I have bought 4 boxes of tea this week alone. I have a lot of loose tea and it is in jars, canisters or the bags they came in. I dont buy special containers for the tea as I would rather spend the money on new tea to try. A few nights a week after our little goes to bed DH and I will make a gigantic mug of tea each and talk while relaxing or playing a game. And we both like very different types of tea hence the hoard. He likes fruity or chocolaty teas. I like Yerba Mate, Black, herbal and Green and please do not put fruit or chocolate in my tea.

Tmrw morning we are going to make brunch (with leftover baked potatoes turned into hashbrowns and eggs) and make London Fogs. And I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to it. So tea is a huge entertainment/date thing for us.

I love coffee but do not do well while drinking it...it spikes my anxiety so I drink tea. And living in the PNW I drink warm tea all winter long and drink iced tea during the summer.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1632 on: March 31, 2017, 05:40:59 PM »
Nearly at the end of my tub of slightly soft slivered almonds.

I've been throwing them on yoghurt with a couple of frozen blueberries and toasted desiccated coconut.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1633 on: April 01, 2017, 01:54:47 PM »
Quote
I need to start working my way through all of the frozen fruit in the freezer.  Any recommendations?  I have a lot of half open bags.

I'm working on this too! So far, I made some blueberry banana bread (http://therecipecritic.com/2016/04/blueberry-banana-bread/) that was tasty, but might have been even better with some nuts. What sort of fruit do you have?
Pineapple, blueberries (thanks for the recipe!), strawberries, peaches, mangos.
I used the blueberry banana bread recipe to make muffins.  I used up all of the pineapple and blueberries from my freezer.  I still have peaches and strawberries left. 

I also made a cake and frosting, so I finished off the powdered sugar from the pantry. 

I used some coconut oil and sugar to make a sugar scrub. 

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1634 on: April 01, 2017, 03:22:14 PM »
The jar of sweet chili sauce is finished.  I repeat, the jar of sweet chili sauce is finished.  It has been washed and is now in the recycling bin.  Now I just need to remember that I do not need to replace it despite finding all these ways to use it in our meals. 
WAHOO!! Way to go! Doesn't it feel awesome to finally get it finished?

Yes :)

And last night we finished the butter chicken curry blend.  It's funny, the fridge door is getting emptier, but I can barely recall what we've finished and not replaced.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1635 on: April 02, 2017, 12:40:32 PM »
Not wanting to go to the grocery store for the win :)

Found some frozen broccoli and chicken stock in the freezer and made some soup.

Used up some of that smoked olive oil in hummus. Definitely didn't need much to give it an awesome smoky flavour that I imagine would be like if hummus and babaganoush had a love child. So Tasty!

Used up some coconut pulp, coconut oil, cocoa, and smooshed it into a pan and refrigerated to make some bar type things. Topped them with Tahini and were delish! I need to play around with it and turn it into an actual recipe, maybe incorporate the Tahini, it tastes a lot like chocolate halva.

Found one last container of stewed rhubarb in the freezer and fed that to hubby for breakfast.

hope everyone is having a great, creative weekend using stuff up!

PMG

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1636 on: April 02, 2017, 02:02:15 PM »
Thanks to this thread I'm keeping my stock low and fridge clear. It was a small tragedy when I accidentally bought a quart of vanilla yogurt instead of plain last week, but I buckled in. Instead of letting it sit in the fridge for months before throwing it out I made myself open it. Then I mixed in tons of cocoa to disguise the asepartame after taste and finished it off over the week. 

Finished the cilantro butter.

Finished the paprika and curry powder, pb.

Will cook the last of the rice tonight.

Will restock much of this on my next shop, but it feels good to be rotating stock.



swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1637 on: April 02, 2017, 03:01:46 PM »
Thanks to this thread I'm keeping my stock low and fridge clear. It was a small tragedy when I accidentally bought a quart of vanilla yogurt instead of plain last week, but I buckled in. Instead of letting it sit in the fridge for months before throwing it out I made myself open it. Then I mixed in tons of cocoa to disguise the asepartame after taste and finished it off over the week. 

Finished the cilantro butter.

Finished the paprika and curry powder, pb.

Will cook the last of the rice tonight.

Will restock much of this on my next shop, but it feels good to be rotating stock.

Way to go! I am loving the feeling of accomplishment I'm getting from being able to cook despite thinking I am "out" of everything, no, it turns out I'm just out of those things that we naturally gravitate towards out of habit.

I am so grateful my parents taught me how to freestyle in the kitchen. I've always known it is a valuable skill, but nothing tests it like being able to use stuff up!

Today: Roasted carrots with some middle eastern spices. Why do I alway forget you can actually cook carrots?

Crashed Spuds using up the rest of the baby potatoes we have that are really too few to serve as a substantial side.

Meat sauce with butternut squash noodles. I have a tiny bit of ground beef to use up, so will make a quick sauce and use up the last squash. I don't have any fresh onions, but have lots of onion powder, should do the trick.


Have another coconut pulp/bar experiment in the fridge.

Produce to use up: 1 lemon, 1/4 a cabbage, 5 carrots, ..ohhh....<---- carroty coleslaw :D

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1638 on: April 02, 2017, 07:22:18 PM »
Guests left four tubs of low-fat yoghurt (i.e. full of sugar) in my fridge. I don't eat yoghurt and husband eats Greek yoghurt, so he took them to work to share.

(We didn't pay for them but I hate wasting food.)

Made a batch of soup this week but I didn't have the combination of spices they suggested and wasn't about to buy more. I used a different combination of chilli flavours, and husband was still happy with it. Three portions for the fridge, three portions for the freezer.

This week I'm focusing on the various bags of frozen veggies that have accumulated in my freezer. I can see BB's broccoli cheddar baked potatoes in my future...

https://www.budgetbytes.com/2016/06/broccoli-cheddar-baked-potatoes/

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1639 on: April 02, 2017, 07:41:09 PM »

This week I'm focusing on the various bags of frozen veggies that have accumulated in my freezer. I can see BB's broccoli cheddar baked potatoes in my future...

https://www.budgetbytes.com/2016/06/broccoli-cheddar-baked-potatoes/
have any cauliflower? I came across this recipe: I'm skeptical and slightly frightened to try...but if it works...it'd be amazing: http://www.feastingonfruit.com/caramel-cookie-dough-milkshake/

Jaayse

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1640 on: April 03, 2017, 04:48:13 AM »
I'm in for this challenge.  I'll be moving in July/August from the West Coast to Italy. 

I will only have 2 months from getting home to eat all my food.  Since I've been gone I'll have to supplement what I have at home with fresh things, but I don't think I will travel with much more than my spices (hopefully).  I foresee a lot of soup and pasta in my future, hopefully while keeping it healthy!

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1641 on: April 03, 2017, 06:59:35 AM »
I'm in for this challenge.  I'll be moving in July/August from the West Coast to Italy. 

I will only have 2 months from getting home to eat all my food.  Since I've been gone I'll have to supplement what I have at home with fresh things, but I don't think I will travel with much more than my spices (hopefully).  I foresee a lot of soup and pasta in my future, hopefully while keeping it healthy!

Mediterranean diet is amongst the most healthy in the world, probably because it includes a lot of veggies and olive oil and doesn't include so much prefabbed and fatty foods.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1642 on: April 03, 2017, 10:42:39 AM »
How exciting, Jaayse!



I have concluded we need to be out of our house by April 23rd, so the professionals can come in to clean it and the carpet for the new buyers.

Since beginning this we're-selling-our-house part of the challenge, I've gone from 43 cans in the pantry to 20 as of last night.  Saturday I used up baking items mentioned on the prior page.  When taking something out of the cupboard above the stove last night, there were items there I hadn't addressed yet.  Expired items tossed:  2 types of vinegar, Worcestershire, Frank's wing sauce, blue food coloring and peppermint extract.  Then DH and I had a conversation about the Liquid Smoke.  This entire time I thought it was something he used when BBQing.  He said it was from our wedding reception (his brother smoked a prime rib).  We married in 2005.  :S

I've got chicken breasts and a jar of sauce in the Crock Pot today.  I'll make the spaghetti mentioned on the prior page tomorrow.  I'll serve both with angel hair pasta to use it up.

Now to figure out easy meals while we reside in the hotel until we find a new house...
« Last Edit: April 03, 2017, 10:46:54 AM by MountainGal »

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1643 on: April 04, 2017, 01:13:11 AM »
I cooked some rice last night to make fried rice tonight, only to emd up with the glorious leftovers of a $600 (for eight people) work lunch.

Rice can wait another night...

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1644 on: April 04, 2017, 01:26:45 AM »
Eat all the food in the office.
Our departments gets 2 large bowls of fruit each week. At the end of the week there are often a lot of apples and pears left that nobody eats. I have on several occasions taken a bunch of apples or pears home. Today 2 of my colleagues commented that we should definitively take the fruit home on on Friday afternoon, because otherwise it will be wasted and thrown away after the weekend. Nice to hear that we all agree on it. :-)

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1645 on: April 04, 2017, 09:52:45 AM »
Was going to go to the grocery store last night. Decided I just didn't feel like it. Now it has become a game to *really* see how long we can go.  I made a damn good supper last night, hubby raved about it. I feel more creative since I'm having to think of new combos instead of relying on the old easy standbys. Sometimes it's a slog, this time around it is fun!

Dinner last night:

Asian-ish meatballs. Ground pork from the freezer, the last of a withering knob of ginger, the end of the butternut squash I had spiralized, the last little bit of cabbage, korean pepper paste, sesame oil, powdered lemon grass, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce and various other things.

Stir-fried asparagus and edamame from the freezer, some rice noodles and I made some sauce from the liquid from cooking the meatballs. Topped with lots of freshly toasted sesame seeds :)

Fresh Produce left: 1 lemon, 5 carrots....oh and some apples I totally forgot about. They aren't very good, I think they were picked wrong or stored wrong or something, they just have no flavour.

Today: Make something with those Apples for Hubby for breakfasts for the rest of the week as he only has one serving of granola left. I could make more granola, but I like to mix it up a bit and need to use up those darn apples.

Dinner: Butternut, zucchini, bacon soup?   I have a couple of slices of bacon to use up and some zucchini in the freezer from last summer that froze kinda watery. With a bit of frozen butternut, it would probably make a pretty good soup.

Loving the updates, Yay for free office food!




jkitiara

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1646 on: April 04, 2017, 11:43:23 AM »
For anyone who has a loose tea hoard, how do you store/organize it?  I recently realized that I am approaching tea hoarding status, and it was making a mess, since it's mostly loose tea in the original bulk bags.  I move most of them over to 12oz jelly jars, which is better, and they're more front-and-center now, so hopefully I'll use them. 
@horsepoor I use jars like this or other random ones I've saved and cleaned. Then I paint a little square on the front with chalkboard paint I had left from an old project so I know what's in it. Stackable, and looks nice too. I sometimes cut the label or instructions off the bag and shove it in there with the tea.

This quart of chalkboard paint will probably last me the rest of my life, even with kids!

This same thing works well for seeds and nuts. I buy them in bulk, keep the giant bags in the freezer and just put a small amount in the jars for everyday use.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1647 on: April 06, 2017, 09:13:10 AM »
Yesterday's dinner used up the last package of salmon in the freezer, some shallots that from the garden that are starting to go, a cup of green lentils, the last quarter of a cabbage, gomashio my aunt gave me way too much of, a cup of pork stock from the freezer, and the remainder of a red bell pepper.

The bean stash is starting to look a little more manageable.  I need to dig into my basket of random ingredients and start using them (mostly canned goods from a few years ago).

The cherry tree is starting to bloom, so that should be my cue to finish using last year's cherries that are still in the freezer.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1648 on: April 06, 2017, 10:08:33 AM »
Great progress, Horsepoor!

Still haven't grocery shopped :D last shop was the 19th f March.

Dinner last night was fishcakes using up some instant mashed potatoes, peas from the freezer and whitefish ends from the freezer, a load of spices and breaded in ground up flax seeds. Served with some home canned chutney.

Ohh for breakfast this morning I made hubs a Cauliflower milkshake!! I had my doubts, so I used some cocoa from the stash. He said the most distracting parts of it were the bits of date that didn't get totally blended. The first sip was a little odd, but after that, it was pretty good. by the end of it, Hubs was wondering if you could indeed trick someone if they didn't know it had cauliflower in it. I could still taste it a bit, but I have super sensitive taste buds.

Dinner tonight will be sausages and roasted Brussel sprouts. I'll probably use up my last can of chickpeas and lemon to make more hummus to go with the last of the carrot sticks as well. I'd love to try to make it to the weekend without having to go to the store!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1649 on: April 06, 2017, 10:39:26 AM »
Swick, I've prepped cauliflower many ways, but never in a milkshake.  Your DH sounds like a good sport, LOL!



I cleared out another pantry shelf in preparation for our move.  Some cans will be packed, and some will go with us to the hotel room which has a microwave.

The angel hair pasta, cod and last year's garden tomatoes from the freezer, jarred spaghetti and 4 cheese sauce are all gone.  I also tossed another 4 expired spices.  Several refrigerated condiments are due to expire next month, so I won't fee too guilty about throwing those away.

We're putting an offer in on the house we looked at last night.  Fingers crossed.  :D