Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183528 times)

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2250 on: July 08, 2018, 04:08:19 PM »
Defrosted what I thought what chicken curry (surprise - it was a chicken fiesta rice dish) from the freezer yesterday for lunch for myself + the husband. I ate more for lunch today, & have a smallish serving for tomorrow's lunch. It's always good to clear out the freezer!

Now I need to figure out to do with all of the tomatoes I froze before my trip.

My go-to for frozen tomatoes (I freeze a bunch whole every summer since I get them free at work but don't have time to process them much.) involves dumping them in a pot with a little water and cooking them down for a few hours.  Then you can immersion-blend them and have the basis for tomato sauce or tomato soup.  I find that the skins are fine as long as you blend them up :)

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2251 on: July 09, 2018, 01:18:14 PM »
High fives, @lentil !

Don't you just love surprises, @MaybeBabyMustache ? LOL

@SquashingDebt , soup with fresh tomatoes sounds delicious!


DH had one of two of the leftover pumpkin pie slices.  Said you cannot tell it's 7.5 months old.  Yay freezer utilization!  There's one more serving in this particular Not Refried Bean container.  One more to go in the freezer.  I'll give DH a break, LOL.

Saturday night I made a snack tray for a guest and us using up pantry and fridge odds and ends:  Leftover fancy crackers, pita chips, salami and pepperoni from a weekend excursion, a can of olives, 3 types of cheeses, almonds, and a few other items.  People think I'm fancy when I do these, LOL.

This week's focus is jarred sauces.  A jar of Ragu meat is in the Crock Pot with a $5 pork roast.  I'll serve it tonight over angel hair or a hamburger bun for DH, baby spinach for me.  Later this week I'm making chicken Alfredo with Ragu Classic Alfredo sauce.  I'll serve it on top of zoodles.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2252 on: July 26, 2018, 06:10:05 PM »
@MountainGal - you'd think I'd learn to label, after multiple surprises, but . . . nope ;-)

I've found a reasonable rhythm for menu planning. We've always done "cook on weekends, eat leftovers" during the work week. That works well, but we typically run out by Thursday. What I've started to do on Thursdays is to consider it my eat down single servings from the fridge/freezer, or other random freezer items day.

Here's our menu from the week:
Friday - naan pizzas
Saturday - grilled hot dogs & corn
Sunday - beef kebabs & rice
Monday - leftover pizza
Tuesday - leftover hot dogs & corn, with an addition of side pasta
Wednesday - leftover kebabs & rice
Thursday - kids will have hot dogs & pasta, my husband will have kebabs & rice, and I'll have eggplant cutlets from the freezer + the remaining rice.That should pretty much clear out the fridge
Friday - I'm thinking tacos, but will start a fresh cycle of meal prep

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2253 on: July 29, 2018, 05:08:32 PM »
Defrosted what I thought what chicken curry (surprise - it was a chicken fiesta rice dish) from the freezer yesterday for lunch for myself + the husband. I ate more for lunch today, & have a smallish serving for tomorrow's lunch. It's always good to clear out the freezer!

Now I need to figure out to do with all of the tomatoes I froze before my trip.

My go-to for frozen tomatoes (I freeze a bunch whole every summer since I get them free at work but don't have time to process them much.) involves dumping them in a pot with a little water and cooking them down for a few hours.  Then you can immersion-blend them and have the basis for tomato sauce or tomato soup.  I find that the skins are fine as long as you blend them up :)

I used the frozen tomatoes (plus a couple that I'd cut last night for a barbecue but didn't end up using) in this recipe. It's one of my favorites. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/19376/fresh-tomato-basil-sauce/
We had everything on hand, & I have SO MUCH basil, so it worked well. We now have 2L of tomatoes sauce in the freezer, ready for future dinners.

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2254 on: July 29, 2018, 07:47:56 PM »
I have a ton of extra stuff in my pantry due to combining two households. Going to try and do some baking to get rid of the extra flour, sugar, etc. And not do many groceries so we can finish up the rice, pasta, dry goods that we have way too much of now. Only groceries will be fresh fruits and veggies. Any ideas for somewhat healthy recipes that use up baking supplies? I don't want to eat a million cookies, and there's only so many people I can pass them off to.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2255 on: July 30, 2018, 09:44:46 AM »
@PoutineLover - how about muffins? You can adapt the healthiness quotient as you like. My two top favorites are http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fresh-cranberry-muffins & http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sugar-spot-banana-muffins. For the banana muffins, there is no butter, and I often sub oatmeal for the wheat germ. I bake large batches of muffins at a time, and then freeze for future use. These are a little sweeter, but I find these granola bars to be quite flexible to use up random ingredients around the house. https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2016/04/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-granola-bars/

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2256 on: July 30, 2018, 11:06:20 AM »
Those are great ideas, thanks @MaybeBabyMustache! Muffins would make great breakfasts and snacks on the go. My freezer doesn't work great, so I'll have to see if they're still good if I do that, but I could probably make a batch a week or so if not.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2257 on: July 30, 2018, 12:57:41 PM »
@PoutineLover , zucchini bread comes to mind.  If I remember correctly, the recipe I used to follow (I'm a low carber now) uses several cups of flour.  :)

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2258 on: July 30, 2018, 01:04:12 PM »
Zucchini bread sounds tasty and healthy @MountainGal! From a quick google search just found this recipe that looks easy: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/6698/moms-zucchini-bread/
3 cups of flour! And I can probably mix whole wheat and white. Luckily I'm also having a bunch of guests this weekend so they can help me make and eat all this good stuff. Plus I've been meaning to get more into meal planning so this will add to my repertoire of tasty recipes that will keep me fed all week. Keep the good ideas coming!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2259 on: July 30, 2018, 01:10:46 PM »
Thumbs up, @PoutineLover !! :D

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2260 on: July 31, 2018, 10:46:53 PM »
I have a ton of extra stuff in my pantry due to combining two households. Going to try and do some baking to get rid of the extra flour, sugar, etc. And not do many groceries so we can finish up the rice, pasta, dry goods that we have way too much of now. Only groceries will be fresh fruits and veggies. Any ideas for somewhat healthy recipes that use up baking supplies? I don't want to eat a million cookies, and there's only so many people I can pass them off to.

It doesn't help much on the sweeteners, but what about using some of the other ingredients in main dishes? Cornmeal can go in polenta or a tamale pie, or cornbread to serve with a summer salad. Flour can go in dumplings or a biscuit topping on a pie, or in a quiche crust. Also, if you want to get through a lot of sugar quickly, candy might use it faster than baking. Obviously that's not at all healthy, but it would give you fewer batches of things that need to be given away and the bonus is that you don't have to heat the oven, just a burner on top of the stove. (If you don't have AC, that might need to wait until a little bit cooler weather.)

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2261 on: August 05, 2018, 04:27:23 AM »
Finished up the container of tamarind paste making pulled pork yesterday (tamarind, gochujang, soy, ginger, lemon/honey 'tea base' - which is really a marmalade, and stock). From now on I'm just going to process the blocks - more work, but much better flavour.

Finished up the garlic-horseradish jelly with my steak last night. This stuff is so good (https://www.foodiepages.ca/The_Garlic_Box_Inc/p/Horseradish_Garlic_Jelly), but with the SO mostly low carb, it isn't reasonable to keep it in the house.

Astatine

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2262 on: August 05, 2018, 04:51:17 AM »
We’re getting renovations done starting in 7 days. Eek!

Tonight’s dinner wasn’t the best but did use up 3 tins of food and some veggies.

Ingredients
Tin of eggplant and tomato
Tin of cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained
Tin of tuna in spring water, drained
1 Small head of broccoli, cut into small florets, steamed in the microwave
1/2 red onion thinly diced

Mixed together with some cracked black pepper and a tiny splash of balsamic vinegar.

It was edible but not great. Would not recommend unless desperate :p

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2263 on: August 06, 2018, 12:38:07 PM »
Used up lately:

Spaghetti squash served under a jar of pesto and canned chicken
Strawberries frozen last month
A bag of almond flour
A remaining half bag of shrimp
Leftover cauliflower and cheese, black olives, cream cheese

Working on the rest of the baby spinach and some sad looking cherry tomatoes

ToniaB

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2264 on: August 19, 2018, 09:39:51 PM »
This is such a cool challenge! I'm excited to give it a try! Things I used up today:

Tuna Pasta Salad:
- a bag of pasta
- 3 cans of tuna

Trail Mix Cookies
- Frozen Bananas
- Chia Seeds
- Honey
- Trail Mix left over from camping

I found some simple recipes for bread on pinterest I'm going to try out! I have a lot of flour to use up!

PoutineLover

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2265 on: August 20, 2018, 08:36:30 AM »
Zucchini bread turned out awesome! Definitely something I'll do again, it was great to have as breakfast. Considering doing muffins next time to make it even simpler to eat on the go. Making progress on the pantry, and my birthday is coming up so I can make a cake for that :) Soon I'll have only one bag/box/bottle of each item..

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2266 on: August 20, 2018, 01:05:09 PM »
Welcome, @ToniaB !!!

Glad it did, @PoutineLover !

DH began harvesting our first garden at the new house a few weeks ago, so I've been trying to utilize the fresh produce.  Also, we traded a yellow squash and an eggplant for some of our neighbor's green beans and beets.  So far, I've made:

Sauteed smoked sausage and yellow squash
Fried eggplant breaded in pork rinds and Parmesan cheese
Beet puree under boneless pork chops
Sauteed yellow squash and baby spinach (the latter from the store, not garden) under bison and ground beef burger patties
Cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, shredded mozzarella and basil
Green beans cooked with a few slices bacon

Tonight is shredded beef roast on top of sauteed yellow squash and spinach.  The roast is in the Crock Pot with a can of enchilada sauce and 1/2 box low sodium beef broth.

Dee_the_third

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2267 on: August 24, 2018, 06:55:54 PM »
People, halp

A few months ago DH and I went camping for a few days, and in a burst of enthusiasm for dehydrating food to bring along I dehydrated...bananas.

What do I do with them?? They're not crunchy for snacking like banana chips, they're kind of weird textured and I don't know what I was thinking. I should have just frozen them and used them for banana bread like I usually do, ugh

Dollar Slice

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2268 on: August 24, 2018, 07:21:55 PM »
What do I do with them?? They're not crunchy for snacking like banana chips, they're kind of weird textured and I don't know what I was thinking. I should have just frozen them and used them for banana bread like I usually do, ugh

What happens if you try to rehydrate them? Maybe you could soak them in something flavorful (rum?) and then bake with them.

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2269 on: August 25, 2018, 11:48:12 AM »
chop up, rehydrate, put into a pan with some peaches or apples and a bit of butter, cinnamon? (This is assuming that they're somewhat raisin-like in texture.)

That could be a topper for oatmeal or yogurt?

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2270 on: August 25, 2018, 03:51:50 PM »
I have joined up with a cookbook book group (we all cook the recipes from one book and compare notes) which is lots of fun, but the downside is you end up with a lot of weird ingredient leftovers.

The kitchen was starting to overflow, but I have been making some headway over the last few weeks:

A bunch of peaches and a random nectarine that were too far gone to eat fresh are going into a batch of peach lemonade.

Turns out that pita bread that I left in the refrigerator with the bag open and got totally dried out is good crumbled over a green salad with vinaigrette.

Used up a packet of flavored tuna in one of said salads.

Used up the end of a box of pasta to finish up a batch of meatballs and pasta sauce (originally made for something else.)

Used up the end of a bag of quinoa paired with leftovers of a batch of ratatouille, to make up work lunches.

Made a batch of peanut butter Rice Krispie squares to use up the box of cereal.

Defrosted barbecue chicken and put it over corn cakes that didn't quite turn out right.

Next project:

Make a batch of watermelon gazpacho to use up a not-great watermelon I got hold of.

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2271 on: August 25, 2018, 04:11:21 PM »
Another jar from last year's laksa experiment is finished. The next jar has a best before Sept 2018, but is also more a sauce than paste, so there are fewer servings in it.

frugi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2272 on: August 26, 2018, 07:54:40 AM »
I have way too much food in the house for a family of 3, so I'm joining you here!    My immediate goal is to skip grocery shopping this week.  My longer-term goals are to reduce food waste, grocery spending and to empty out my chest freezer so I can defrost it.  This is what we're having for dinners this coming week:

M- Chicken thighs, cauliflower, and mushrooms in tikka masala simmer sauce with brown basmati rice and yogurt
T- Tacos w/ground beef and black beans, hard shells/low carb tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa
W- Turkey Bolognese with whole wheat macaroni, green beans
Th- Grilled shrimp* with quinoa, stir-fry veggies
F- Pizzas from frozen whole wheat crust kits, topped with turkey pepperoni, veggies, pesto, etc.
Sa- Frozen potstickers, stir-fry veggies
Su- Breakfast for dinner, including turkey sausage, eggs and pancakes
M (Labor Day)- grilled ribeye with chimichurri, Russian salad with beets, annnd I'll probably have some more zucchini and tomatoes from my neighbor to consume as well

We'll see how it goes!
*https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/mark-bittmans-spicy-grilled-shrimp
  This recipe is awesome.  I use smoked paprika, of which I have plenty to use!



4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2273 on: August 26, 2018, 05:28:43 PM »
I have way too much food in the house for a family of 3, so I'm joining you here!    My immediate goal is to skip grocery shopping this week.  My longer-term goals are to reduce food waste, grocery spending and to empty out my chest freezer so I can defrost it.  This is what we're having for dinners this coming week:

M- Chicken thighs, cauliflower, and mushrooms in tikka masala simmer sauce with brown basmati rice and yogurt
T- Tacos w/ground beef and black beans, hard shells/low carb tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa
W- Turkey Bolognese with whole wheat macaroni, green beans
Th- Grilled shrimp* with quinoa, stir-fry veggies
F- Pizzas from frozen whole wheat crust kits, topped with turkey pepperoni, veggies, pesto, etc.
Sa- Frozen potstickers, stir-fry veggies
Su- Breakfast for dinner, including turkey sausage, eggs and pancakes
M (Labor Day)- grilled ribeye with chimichurri, Russian salad with beets, annnd I'll probably have some more zucchini and tomatoes from my neighbor to consume as well
Welcome!  You've got quite a menu for the next week!

I used a few items from my pantry to make overnight oats--can of coconut milk, oatmeal, peanut butter, dates, and cinnamon.
I made lunches for the beginning of the week using items from the pantry and freezer--brown rice, frozen chicken breasts, 2 cans of water chestnuts, peanuts, and a sauce package. 

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2274 on: August 27, 2018, 12:48:26 PM »
After reviewing my Excel spreadsheet, I must say I am disappointed by the Grocery/HBA category.  My goal is to spend just $200 on groceries next month.  We'll see!  Starting in 2019, I'm going to break down the categories to see just how much we spend on food vs paper/cleaning supplies vs HBAs.

Lately:
~Used a can of coconut milk in a package of free Alfredo rice.  DH finished the rest of it last night.
~Used up the rest of the blueberries in a mug muffin yesterday for breakfast, and in my cocktail last night.  ;)
~Some unsweetened cocoa powder went in my homemade iced java mocha yesterday.
~Continuing to use produce from DH's garden as he harvests it, so it doesn't go to waste.
~Last week's beef roast made 6 servings including enchiladas, which I microwaved for the first time since I'm not operating the oven this summer.
~Made my own tartar sauce and fry sauce instead of buying condiments, saving on landfill waste.

Tonight I'll take a look at the 1/3 bag of baby spinach to see if it's salvageable.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2018, 12:32:13 PM by MountainGal »

Hula Hoop

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2275 on: August 27, 2018, 01:16:40 PM »
We're planning to defrost the fridge, which seems to collect water every few years when it needs to be defrosted.  Today we had frozen chicken curry, rice and a buffalo mozzarella ball that expires tomorrow for dinner as well as a salad made with various things that need eating.  Tomorrow we'll eat some ground beef that needs to be eaten and later in the week some frozen fish filets and frozen peas.  We also need to get rid of some frozen spinach, some home made ice cream, some soup and various odds and ends like cheese and fresh veggies.  I'm aiming to the defrosting over the weekend.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2276 on: August 28, 2018, 08:21:06 PM »
I made dinner from stuff we had in the house again--rice, frozen broccoli, and frozen chicken breasts. 

I also made some granola bars with items in the pantry.  I used up two almost empty containers of honey. 

I've been doing a great job at cleaning out our freezer and pantry.  I supplement the pantry items with free produce from my friends' gardens.  We've been eating a lot of tomatoes and zucchini!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2277 on: August 29, 2018, 11:17:02 AM »
Fresh produce is the best, @4alpacas !

Good luck with the fridge, @Hula Hoop !

As I mentioned Monday, this week's focus has been on the spinach:
Mon:  Served some underneath leftover chicken enchilada casserole
Tues:  Brought a BST (bacon, spinach and cherry tomatoes from DH's garden) salad to work
Today:  I'll have the rest of it in another salad using leftover spicy ground beef topped with sour cream

Next focus:  Going to experiment with the stash of caffeine containing tea (blueberry acai to start with) to make iced tea for work in lieu of coffee.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2278 on: August 29, 2018, 05:00:01 PM »
I came home from a long weekend (the kids & husband were at home) & cleaned the fridge & inventoried for food options. We've avoided eating out/take out so far. Tonight we will eat pasta + chicken (freezer). Tomorrow I will defrost a chicken curry.

One of my goals for Monday (day off!) is to go through our fridge & freezer to get a sense for what we have, and work on a  menu plan for the next few weeks that will help empty things out.

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2279 on: September 04, 2018, 04:51:07 AM »
Today I used up the last of the pasta that was left in the house when the SO went low carb and I didn't want to give the food bank expired goods. Today's lunch includes spaghetti that was best before Nov 2014.

Now what do I do with that plastic container that is the perfect size for holding dried noodles?

krmit

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2280 on: September 10, 2018, 02:24:56 PM »
Just discovered I'll be moving in late October, so time to reduce grocery expenses AND the amount of food to move! Anyone got a vegetarian recipe for dry white beans?

firelight

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2281 on: September 10, 2018, 03:30:10 PM »
Thanks to this thread, we've been pretty good at eating down our pantry and groceries that we are not wasting as much now. However, of late, we've run into circumstances where we don't have much to eat at home but are raving of hunger. How do you find the sweet spot? Also what is the ideal number of backup meals that you would have at home? And how do you make sure you cycle through them so they are not super old when you do need them?

If it matters, we are a family of four (2 adults, a four year old and a one year old).

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2282 on: September 10, 2018, 05:51:56 PM »
However, of late, we've run into circumstances where we don't have much to eat at home but are raving of hunger. How do you find the sweet spot? Also what is the ideal number of backup meals that you would have at home? And how do you make sure you cycle through them so they are not super old when you do need them?

We have soup and 1 cup portions of meat in the freezer which can be defrosted pretty quickly. There are always eggs and cheese in the fridge. Before we went lower carb, we used to keep 2 quesadillas in the freezer, which just took 12 minutes to cook.

Menu planning is a big help to remind us to defrost things for when we get home. And we're not above having a quick handful of nuts or cereal to tide us over.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2283 on: September 10, 2018, 07:10:33 PM »
Thanks to this thread, we've been pretty good at eating down our pantry and groceries that we are not wasting as much now. However, of late, we've run into circumstances where we don't have much to eat at home but are raving of hunger. How do you find the sweet spot? Also what is the ideal number of backup meals that you would have at home? And how do you make sure you cycle through them so they are not super old when you do need them?

If it matters, we are a family of four (2 adults, a four year old and a one year old).

We usually have the following "emergency" meals available:
-Frozen pizza
-Frozen meat (taco meat, grilled chicken)
-Tortillas (for a quick taco meal)
-Pasta
-Homemade tomato sauce (freezer)
-Homemade pesto (freezer)
-Costco meatballs (freezer)

In a pinch, we could also make breakfast sandwiches, breakfast tacos, etc. Lots of quick & easy options that are always at the ready for a packed day.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2284 on: September 10, 2018, 09:50:51 PM »
@firelight We keep frozen prepared meals around for the time when we have no creativity to put together a meal from ingredients and are REALLY hungry.  I'm a big fan of evol mac & cheese. Cheesey & comforting.  My DH likes pork buns from Trader Joe's. 


firelight

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2285 on: September 10, 2018, 11:40:24 PM »
Thank you so much. Do you rotate the meals you have in freezer? Or do they stay good enough even after months in the freezer?

gatortator

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2286 on: September 11, 2018, 10:52:12 AM »
Just discovered I'll be moving in late October, so time to reduce grocery expenses AND the amount of food to move! Anyone got a vegetarian recipe for dry white beans?

http://www.theprudenthomemaker.com/rosemary-white-bean-soup. -- switch to veggie broth
https://www.budgetbytes.com/tuscan-white-bean-pasta/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/smoky-white-bean-shakshuka/


I typically use this to covert dry beans to can bean equivalents.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/dried-bean-conversions-and-measurements-1388322
« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 10:55:07 AM by gatortator »

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2287 on: September 11, 2018, 12:51:23 PM »
Because we went camping, I didn't get to the eggplant from DH's garden last week and had to toss it.  Boo.  Oh, well, he picked another last night which I'll cook tomorrow.

Items used up from the freezer the past several weeks:
~Beef sausage
~Bag of frozen, breaded okra
~Package of Nathan's dogs
~Made a funky low carb Crock Pot "lasagna" last week which used a package of ground pork, a can of chicken, a package of frozen spinach, the rest of the cottage cheese, the majority of the mozzarella, a jar of Alfredo sauce, and a few other items.  DH said it was good.
~1/2 container of cashew milk ice cream  ;)
~Tonight:  A container of leftover traditional low carb lasagna from July
~Tomorrow night: Pork roast
« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 12:54:21 PM by MountainGal »

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2288 on: September 11, 2018, 08:44:50 PM »
Thank you so much. Do you rotate the meals you have in freezer? Or do they stay good enough even after months in the freezer?

We typically don't rotate. I may pick up a few Trader Joes frozen entree options & have a variety of those available in rotation. But, with the items mentioned above, those are our top favorites & we have them regularly. We keep them in the freezer for maybe 3 months max, but mostly because we rotate through them before then.

krmit

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2289 on: September 11, 2018, 10:25:30 PM »
Had a really good eat down the pantry dinner - a few homemade frozen burritos popped in a pan with the last jar of last year's green tomato sauce, which made for some tasty pseudo-enchiladas.

iris lily

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2290 on: September 12, 2018, 10:37:16 AM »
This is the time of excess garden  produce. There is no freekin way I will be “ Eating all the foods in the house.” Much will be composted. Our own stuff, and then our friend has buckets and buckets of pears and she drops of some to us.

Nederstash

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2291 on: September 12, 2018, 01:41:28 PM »
This is the time of excess garden  produce. There is no freekin way I will be “ Eating all the foods in the house.” Much will be composted. Our own stuff, and then our friend has buckets and buckets of pears and she drops of some to us.

I got a bag of pears as well! I don't want that many pears! But they were going to waste if I didn't take them... and they were free. Argh! Mustachian dilemma. I'll take some into work I guess.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2292 on: September 12, 2018, 01:57:54 PM »
This is the time of excess garden  produce. There is no freekin way I will be “ Eating all the foods in the house.” Much will be composted. Our own stuff, and then our friend has buckets and buckets of pears and she drops of some to us.

I got a bag of pears as well! I don't want that many pears! But they were going to waste if I didn't take them... and they were free. Argh! Mustachian dilemma. I'll take some into work I guess.
I love pears!

We have a few fruit trees, so I always share our excess with friends, coworkers, and neighbors.  My favorite part of the sharing is that sometimes we're gifted a delightful treat. 

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2293 on: September 14, 2018, 12:52:38 PM »
I tossed in a half box of broth, a can of chipotle peppers, and a jar of homemade plum preserves from last year in with the pork roast Wednesday.

Last night we used up a bag of shrimp, a yellow squash from DH's garden, and the rest of the salad mix given to us by a friend while camping last weekend.

The pantry is now back to where I can see the back of it, and I can see the bottom of the freezer drawers.

Zoot

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2294 on: September 15, 2018, 03:37:41 PM »
For all those with excess pears, two words:  PEAR PRESERVES.  My grandmother made these every year and I have SUCH good memories surrounding the making and eating of this wonderful stuff.  :)

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2295 on: September 15, 2018, 06:42:33 PM »
We made lunch out of leftovers, so our leftover area in the fridge is looking cleared out. I'm planning to make butternut squash soup tomorrow, and I think I have a small bag of frozen butternut squash. I'll add it to the package I bought today & double up my recipe, making one batch for the freezer & one for dinners this week.

I also defrosted chicken & dumplings yesterday, and had one serving for lunch immediately, and one today.

For dinner tonight, we're having burgers from the freezer.

When my husband is out of town, we do well at eating down the freezer/fridge. :-)

PMG

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2296 on: September 16, 2018, 08:27:10 AM »
For all those with excess pears, two words:  PEAR PRESERVES.  My grandmother made these every year and I have SUCH good memories surrounding the making and eating of this wonderful stuff.  :)

And pear sauce!  Just like apple sauce. Growing up we ate applesauce with almost every meal. Mom would put a few pears in each batch instead of sugar but apples were practically free while pears were expensive.

GermanStache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2297 on: September 16, 2018, 09:40:14 AM »
. Somewhere, a Depression era grandmother is quaking in her slippers, but I love it!


That made me laugh out . So funny  😂😝

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2298 on: September 16, 2018, 05:13:53 PM »
For all those with excess pears, two words:  PEAR PRESERVES.  My grandmother made these every year and I have SUCH good memories surrounding the making and eating of this wonderful stuff.  :)


Oooh, if you want to splurge on vanilla beans, this is my all-time favorite jam:  http://foodinjars.com/2011/02/pear-vanilla-jam/

SO GOOD.

Zoot

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2299 on: September 16, 2018, 06:42:07 PM »
Oooh, if you want to splurge on vanilla beans, this is my all-time favorite jam:  http://foodinjars.com/2011/02/pear-vanilla-jam/

SO GOOD.

This looks AMAZING--and in the spirit of this thread, I actually have a couple of vanilla beans in my pantry that I need to use up.  I think I have a project for next weekend (assuming I can find some good pears)!  :)

 

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