Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1186039 times)

SAfAmBrit

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3250 on: August 07, 2021, 04:30:50 PM »
I was on my own so the challenge was 0 waste / 0 food purchase until next Sunday 8/8. Done really well and stuck to the plan. I am missing bread as I discovered I had no bread flour. I am Vegan so you will notice an absence of meat.

Lentil lasagne with Zucchini - this was really good - filled me up and made 3 meals
Tomorrow - Spanish chickpea rice stew - this was amazing and the flavor seemed to develop every day. This is definately a new favorite

Competed out of the cupboards this week

Dried Chickpeas
Cashews and cashew butter
2 barito wraps hiding - I made vegan quesadilla's
A bag of gnocchi - it was out of date but I survived!
Potatoes
Down to 1 jar of lentils
1 1/2 bag peas (I had more than 1 /2 bag?)
frozen cauliflower rice
Onions
Open can of coconut milk in the cupboard.

Lasagne sheets - alas not - have more

For snack I have made fruit scones. - Made them again today - lovely with morning cofee

So today - cauliflower rice risotto with peas - https://thenutfreevegan.net/cauliflower-rice-risotto-with-peas/ - that will finish my onion and cauliflower rice and maybe peas - done - not a bad quick dinner.

I am going to make some Tapioca pudding - i have had tapioca pearls forever in my cupboard - not sure if this will empty it but worth a whirl - in progress

Tomorrow - still thinking - Traveling Monday - Wednesday so no bulk cooking this weekend.



« Last Edit: August 07, 2021, 05:50:47 PM by SAfAmBrit »

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3251 on: August 07, 2021, 04:39:49 PM »
Gave away 30 serrano peppers today, so someone will at least enjoy them. Technically, they are from our garden, but I'm still counting it!

We are overrun with delicious garden goodies. The only thing we're staying on top of well are the blueberries. Because, I send the kids out to pick them, and they come back with an empty bowl, having eaten them all while they are picking. ;-)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3252 on: August 08, 2021, 01:07:18 PM »
Gave away 30 serrano peppers today, so someone will at least enjoy them. Technically, they are from our garden, but I'm still counting it!

We are overrun with delicious garden goodies. The only thing we're staying on top of well are the blueberries. Because, I send the kids out to pick them, and they come back with an empty bowl, having eaten them all while they are picking. ;-)

I picked a bowl full of blueberries, and spent an hour or 2 cleaning them. I intend to make jam from them.
I also picked cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus).

Do your children pick blueberries with their fingers? I use a device that can pick 8-10 at the time, which is more than you can eat at the same time.
https://www.europris.no/p-baerplukker-rod-150860

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3253 on: August 08, 2021, 01:23:59 PM »
Gave away 30 serrano peppers today, so someone will at least enjoy them. Technically, they are from our garden, but I'm still counting it!

We are overrun with delicious garden goodies. The only thing we're staying on top of well are the blueberries. Because, I send the kids out to pick them, and they come back with an empty bowl, having eaten them all while they are picking. ;-)

I picked a bowl full of blueberries, and spent an hour or 2 cleaning them. I intend to make jam from them.
I also picked cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus).


Do your children pick blueberries with their fingers? I use a device that can pick 8-10 at the time, which is more than you can eat at the same time.
https://www.europris.no/p-baerplukker-rod-150860

Our blueberry bushes are pretty new (3 years, I think), so we're only getting 15-20 per day. Enough for the kids to stand, pick & eat all at once.

I also pickled 10 jars of mixed peppers (jalapenos, fresno & banana peppers). Gave away a zucchini & a bunch more serrano peppers (50 or so).

We used up the shishito peppers we were given yesterday. Rubbed them with olive oil & salt, popped them on the barbecue with the rest of dinner. They were so delish.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3254 on: August 09, 2021, 01:11:21 PM »
Mushroom season has started at our cabin. I foraged quite a few and have now a bag full of oven-dried brittle stems (russula). And 6 small boxes of various other species. I should either dry them or eat them this week. And I still hadn't finished last year's batch. Instead of drying, I can also put them in oil (confit). I might do that with the 2 most tasteful species.

This evening we ate up some vacation leftovers (sour cream and tortilla chips) in a salad.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2021, 04:05:20 AM by Linea_Norway »

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3255 on: August 09, 2021, 01:23:14 PM »
@Linea_Norway, that is a handy looking device!  And when I'm in a carbohydrate mood, sour cream and tortilla chips are one of my favorite snacks.

@MaybeBabyMustache, reading about your kiddos picking and eating blueberries made me smile.

@SAfAmBrit, nice going!

This weekend:
~Made one of two of a new to us brand of cauliflower crust pizza which I discovered I do not like.  I'll bake the remaining one to avoid food waste, but won't buy that brand again.
~Baked up another salmon filet and used one of the frozen lemon cubes on it.
~Used a pound each of locally raised beef and pork to make 8 burger patties.  We ate them last night for supper, and they will make tasty lunches for a few days.
~Traded a neighbor local peaches for some of her zucchini.  I sautéed one of the latter for supper last night.
~A different friend gifted us 3 beautiful tomatoes and a few dozen eggs.  I served one of the tomatoes in caprese salads last night.
~Finished the rest of the mashed cauliflower
~Nibbles:  Finished the bag of smoked almonds, had a few pieces each taffy and dark chocolate, and a dark chocolate nut bar.
~Conducted a canned item inventory and completed and submitted a large box store list.  I like to stock up before cold weather hits.
~The freezer bag of leftover Easter ham is thawed, and I'll make either ham and cheese omelets or a quesadilla with it tonight.
~Fish tacos will take care of another fish fillet, some tortillas, and shrimp tomorrow night.  I'll try and remember to use another lemon juice cube.
~Wednesday's enchiladas will use another pound each of locally raised beef and pork, more tortillas, and the can of enchilada sauce bought several months ago.  I've got an open container of tomato paste I should add as well.


MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3256 on: August 09, 2021, 01:29:22 PM »
Your meal options sound great, @MountainGal ! If you were close by, I would hook you up with all of the zucchini you would accept. :-)

I remembered to open a container of soup (shelf stable, tomato, bought during the height of food shortages) for lunch today. The 15 y.o & I had that, and grilled cheese sandwiches. As a special treat, I added bacon to the grilled cheese. So hard to go wrong there.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3257 on: August 09, 2021, 01:36:08 PM »
LOL.  Thank you, @MaybeBabyMustache!  One of the zucchinis is larger than my forearm.  I'd love to post a picture, but will describe instead:  The mutual neighbor dropped it off yesterday along with two "regular" sized ones.  Being a smart aleck, on the large one the grower of said zucchini taped a note saying:  "You're Welcome" with a smiley face.  :) :)

Your soup and sandwich lunch sounds delicious.

Dutch Comfort

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3258 on: August 10, 2021, 03:09:28 AM »
Was in a baking mood yesterday. So now I have a batch of oatmeal-banana-walnut muffins and a nice lemon pie in the fridge. This took care of 4 leftover lemons and 2 brown bananas and some cupboard stuff that I had anyway.
Dinners are set for the week:
-salad, baked potatoes and pork chops today
- taco dinner tomorrow
- grilled fish, leftover potatoes and all leftover veggies on thursday
Friday we will leave, so this clears out the fridge.
Freezer is not empty , but hopefully the kids will take some attempts to empty is a little more at lunch/breakfast.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3259 on: August 10, 2021, 04:08:23 AM »
I made several jars of jam from blueberries and cloudberries. These will be eaten over the next half year. I might make more if I find more berries. This is the season to make new batches. At least this is a food that I know I eat a lot.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3260 on: August 10, 2021, 10:59:10 AM »
Today, I prepared a pasta meal with 3 types of selfpicked fresh mushrooms and 3 types or selfpicked green plants from the freezer. Finally a dent in the selfpicked food.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3261 on: August 10, 2021, 04:24:30 PM »
Great work, everyone! I love seeing how people use their fresh produce.

I picked 10 cucumbers over the past couple of days, so we've been working our way through those. The English ones are hands down the best. Some of the others are a little bitter, even when removing the peel & seeds. The kids have been snacking on large bowls of sliced English cucumbers, with a sprinkle of salt.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3262 on: August 12, 2021, 01:26:59 PM »
~I used the last avocado in a crema to top Tuesday's tacos
~I served broccoli slaw with Tuesday's fish tacos and last night's enchiladas.  One more supper should take care of the rest.
~Used the last sad looking lime last night.
~I'll serve sautéed portobello mushrooms and asparagus with tonight's pork ribs.  The produce drawer contents are once again shrinking.
~Used up the rest of the mozzarella and most of the marbled cheese in last night's enchiladas.  Here's to the grocery pick up tomorrow!

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3263 on: August 12, 2021, 03:15:13 PM »
I need to start coming up with a weekly/monthly "things to use up" list. My fridge is overrun by zucchini, to the point where other items are pushed to the back & forgotten.

We're in the sports/back to school/crazy new schedules phase of life, so I picked up Greek takeout last night on the way home from picking up a sweaty soccer player. It was fabulous, & generated leftovers.

I'm hoping we can get by with a light(er) grocery shop this week, and focus on what we have to use up.

dividend

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3264 on: August 12, 2021, 03:35:49 PM »
This is, I think, in the spirit of this thread.  I took some stuff out of my freezer - a whole 15# turkey, a 4# pork shoulder, 20+ chicken thighs, frozen cooked hominy, and cubed pork.  Did a big smoking session and then processed and parceled out all the smoked meat.  Then I put a bunch of stuff back IN the freezer - sliced smoked turkey breast, smoked chicken thighs in 2-packs, 2 cup containers of smoked turkey bean soup, pozole, and 12 individually wrapped burritos stuffed with smoked chicken, refried beans, and Spanish rice.  It was a good trade-off, because I converted some big unwieldy chunks of meat into lots of things ready to eat (or make a super quick meal from).  And what didn't get frozen has fed us all week this week.

Now I need to update my freezer inventory.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3265 on: August 12, 2021, 03:44:20 PM »
@dividend - very much in the spirit of the thread! You've taken ingredients & made them into meals.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3266 on: August 13, 2021, 01:11:51 PM »
Okay, I feel like I'm making a bit of progress:
-Finished off the rice & almost all of the kebabs for dinner last night
-My husband ate a few leftover wings this afternoon, cleaning out that container
-I made a teen a grilled cheese sandwich, using the last of the shredded cheese & a couple of slices of sandwich bread that we can't seem to use up
-I finished off the leftover Greek takeout (ended up being 2 full meals, and 1/2 of another for me - that was one entree!)

Still to be removed from the fridge:
-Zucchini, so many. Tried to give them to a neighbor who requests them, but she's camping. Those will head out on Sunday. I'll also make breaded zucchini to go with dinner tonight
-Leftover deep dish pizza. Dinner tonight
-Salmon (my husband's leftover dinner tonight - he doesn't eat gluten)
-Tomato soup. Maybe tomorrow's lunch?

SAfAmBrit

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3267 on: August 14, 2021, 05:39:16 PM »
Continuing on the plan - I can almost see what is in the cupboard!


Competed out of the cupboards since I started on 8/1

Dried Chickpeas
Cashews and cashew butter
2 barrito wraps hiding - I made vegan quesadilla's
A bag of gnocchi - it was out of date but I survived!
Potatoes
Down to 1 jar of lentils
1 1/2 bag peas (I had more than 1 /2 bag?)
frozen cauliflower rice
Onions
Open can of coconut milk in the fridge
Small amt of Fusilli
Emptied 1st box rice - 3 more open to go



Lasagne sheets - alas not - have more


 Made the tapioca - it was amazing - discovered I have enough tapioca pearls to make it about 10 more times - will have it again

Made the Spanish rice again for dinner - about to eat it!

I bought 8 things to support my menus for the next 7 days otherwise I will only be using what is in the house.

Freedomin5

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3268 on: August 14, 2021, 08:09:50 PM »
Made mung bean dessert soup today. Also bought some fresh veggies so I can make a chickpea curry. Made hummus this week to again use up the chickpeas. Lastly, I made mung bean cakes. As you can probably tell, I went a bit overboard with the mung beans and chickpeas last year during my COVID stock up frenzy.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3269 on: August 15, 2021, 02:28:30 AM »
Yesterday I made a lasagna and used up my selfmade fermented wild garlic that was one and a half years old and taking up space in the fridge. I also had to throw away one and a half jar of homemade rose harissa that I made before the summer. The half jar was full of mold. And the full jar had a little spot on top that I didn't trust, so I threw that away as well. That really annoid me. I have made lots of jams that didn't mold. For the harissa I used a recipee and it probably didn't get enough cooked before putting it in the jar. Or the jar was somehow not clean enough.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3270 on: August 15, 2021, 08:41:41 AM »
@Linea_Norway - I hate it when that happens with food waste, but better safe than sorry.

-My 14 y.o. made a delicious mango habanero sauce last night, which we had with chicken wings. That used up jalapenos (subbed for habaneros) that we had in the garden, & the last of a bag of chicken wings
-I made a peach/mozzarella/basil salad that used up a lot of garden basil, some peaches that were beginning to get wrinkly, and the fresh mozzarella that's almost past the expiration date
-We also had a salad filled with lots of garden goodies
-The teens both had soccer games, and it was hot yesterday, so they had smoothies multiple times. I love smoothies, because it gives me a chance to use up bananas from the freezer, frozen mangoes, and protein powder. Plus, they are delicious.
-I also had 1/2 a cheese sandwich yesterday, using up the sliced bread we bought a while back
-My 14 y.o. is reasonably picky, but I encouraged him to eat waffles (freezer) vs going out & buying more bagels. He begrudgingly did, and now appears to like the waffles. Win/win, as it creates some freezer space.

I'm planning to make some sort of zucchini dish to go with grilled chicken tonight. And, gave away five zucchini yesterday!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3271 on: August 16, 2021, 12:37:26 PM »
@dividend, well done with your smoker project!  We have a smoker and love it.  I've been using it to bake suppers as it is too hot to run the kitchen oven.

@MaybeBabyMustache, your breaded zucchini post reminded me about the zucchini fritters I like to make.  Those will go with tonight's cauliflower crust pizza.  Which leads me to:

Remember the large zucchini I mentioned last week?  Well, I finally got around to shredding it yesterday and it yielded approximately 11 cups.  Two cups went into zucchini bread yesterday, a friend picked up a few bags this morning, I froze one bag, and the other will go into the aforementioned fritters tonight.

Tonight I'll bake the remaining cauliflower crust pizza we don't care for.  I'll shred the remaining marbled cheese on top.  Tomorrow night I'll make homemade tortilla chips from low carb tortillas, and make a plate of nachos for supper.

And, once again, last week I noticed we were running out of food storage containers.  I was going to buy more, but before doing so, decided to take a current inventory.  In just the kitchen fridge and freezer, I counted 9.  Instead of buying more, I am going to make a concentrated effort to use up the food currently stored in them.  So far from the freezer, ham and beans went with DH for two lunches this week, one contained four slices of homemade blueberry cheesecake, two of which have already been consumed :), and a third contains chicken Alfredo with spaghetti squash for two of my lunches.  That's what, over a square foot of gained space in the freezer?

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3272 on: August 16, 2021, 12:57:59 PM »
@MountainGal - I'm currently zucchini-less! I've given away/used up everything. Of course, more are actively growing, but it's so freeing! I made zucchini muffins out of one big zucchini. We also have the same problem with food storage containers, and I refuse to buy more, but instead target a few things I want to use up. It works pretty well as a motivation to get things back into circulation.

-We made more wings to use up our habanero mango sauce
-I made a grilled cheese for lunch, with tomato soup. That uses up both bread, cheese & some of the soup. I think I'm going to have to tap out of the grilled cheese sandwiches, because my stomach definitely prefers a more salad based lunch with a lean protein. Can't win them all.
-Used up the last bit of trail mix (someone ate all of the M&Ms out of it) & a can of peanuts in a zucchini muffin recipe that calls for diced walnuts. They turned out great, and it emptied two containers out of the pantry. Double win.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3273 on: August 17, 2021, 03:47:32 PM »
Congratulations, @MaybeBabyMustache!  And, yes, it's amazing how quickly zucchinis grow.  And, LOL at someone eating all the M & M's.  Sounds like something I might do.  0:)  Great job clearing out the two containers.

Regarding containers, I should mention I also use glass jars after cleaning and removing the labels.  The best frugal tip I found online for the latter is to use rubbing alcohol.  It seems to zap the label adhesive quickly.  Homemade pancake mix is in an old preserves jar, spice blends are in smaller jars, and I regularly use medium jars for DH's overnight oats, and smaller jars to shake up homemade dressings.  And months ago, an old glass coffee jar was filled with dried beans and sent home with a neighbor.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3274 on: August 17, 2021, 03:59:22 PM »
-We had a tiny cantaloupe ripen (size of a baseball), so I used it in a smoothie
-Made caprese for dinner, using garden tomatoes & basil
-Lots of garden veggies & herbs in our salad
-And, defrosted salsa chicken from a previously prepped meal. We'll have this in a tortilla or over cauliflower rice (Keto husband)

The kids are getting free breakfast & lunch at school (I believe this is a new national policy for the year), which is cutting way down on our food consumption!

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3275 on: August 17, 2021, 08:11:48 PM »
Had a container of blueberries drying out in the fridge.  Made blueberry cornmeal bars with them, even though I was tired.  They're yummy!  Although a finer grind of cornmeal probably would have been better...

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3276 on: August 18, 2021, 12:32:25 AM »
Yesterday I finally used up the first of 2 jars with homemade wild garlic salt. On top of a fish tha5 DH caught some weeks ago.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3277 on: August 21, 2021, 12:01:50 AM »
Two more days to cook before leaving home again. I did not buy more food. Tonight we will eat leftover homemade pizza from the freezer, with leftover ruccola salad. And on Sunday we will improvise something from freezer ingredients. I plan to try the "soup from leftovers" that I heard about and use up the can with homemade chicken stock in the freezer.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3278 on: August 21, 2021, 09:56:08 AM »
We have officially used up all of the freezer bananas. I'm guessing we had 20+ at the start of the summer. They've all been used up in smoothies. Hurrah! The freezer is looking more organized.


Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3279 on: August 21, 2021, 01:50:12 PM »
I used up a jar of homemade confit puffball mushrooms. First on a pizza. And today the remaining as a starter. And I made 3 new jars from various fresh mushrooms, as they are in season.

SAfAmBrit

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3280 on: August 21, 2021, 04:23:51 PM »
This week I did not cook as Mon - Friday I ate the Spanish rice (Saturday) and the rice and black bean burrito mix (Sunday) leftovers

This week I have cheated - I have a fresh veggie hotpot in the open - I was craving vegetables. I did however finish a Zucchini and a shriveled pepper in it. Everything not a fresh veggie came from the pantry!

Competed out of the cupboards since I started on 8/1

Dried Chickpeas
Cashews and cashew butter
2 burrito wraps hiding - I made vegan quesadilla's
A bag of gnocchi - it was out of date but I survived!
Potatoes
Down to 1 jar of lentils
1 1/2 bag peas (I had more than 1 /2 bag?)
frozen cauliflower rice
Onions
Open can of coconut milk in the fridge
Small amt of Fusilli
Emptied 1st box rice - 3 more open to go
Finished a can of dried french onion - not sure when I bought it and I have another.
Jar of nutritional yeast
Bag with small amount Faro in it

Lasagne sheets - alas not - have more

It is a milestone birthday next week and apparently I will be going away for it. Emptying the fridge is now paramount - only fresh veg remaining will make a small salad, finished the almond milk - so the unexpected trip is supported by the August challenge.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3281 on: August 22, 2021, 01:01:30 PM »
Today I made a wok with some diced potatoes, a box of diced bacon from the freezer, a box of dices root veggies from the fridge, 2 boxes of leftover selfpicked mushroom that I didn't confit yesterday, one bellpepper that was the last veggie in the fridge, half a can of leftover tomatostuff, half a box of cream goat cheese, half a can of sour cream and half a box of leftover alm tree fruits that I froze in spring. It tasted good and there is little left in the fridge when leaving tomorrow. We will bring along the potatoes and some of the cheese.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3282 on: August 22, 2021, 01:41:11 PM »
Just successfully reheated leftover French fries in the oven. I've never been able to get them crispy before, and wouldn't have requested them from the restaurant, but they packaged them up with the rest of my dinner. Hurrah, saved food that the teen had with his lunch. Other teen had leftovers from his own dinner.

Tonight I'm making chicken fajitas (peppers from our garden), guacamole (jalapeno, tomatoes & cilantro from our garden) & blistered shishito peppers (also from the garden).

When I went to Costco yesterday, the fruit drawer was officially empty, minus a handful of limes. I was impressed with our fruit consumption, and lack of waste.

Poundwise

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3283 on: August 22, 2021, 02:25:16 PM »
Repurposed some leftover cooked oatmeal from two days ago... pancake batter was way too thin so I added a cup of the oatmeal, broke up the lumps, and sweetened with a couple of tablespoons of honey (I had to heat the bottle of crystallized honey in warm water to remelt it into a liquid). Family gave it a thumbs up!

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3284 on: August 22, 2021, 04:37:36 PM »
Made 8 batches of pickled Serrano peppers (and, gave away another 60+ or so). I cut our plant way back, as it was taking over the entire bed.

Beardog

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3285 on: August 22, 2021, 04:46:38 PM »
Have some bulgur wheat that's been hanging around in my cupboard for a couple years.  Read on line bulgur is still usable after this length of time since it is precooked.  So I made tabbouleh using the abundant parsley and mint from my garden.  I think I will experiment with other recipes, but I have alot more bulgur, parsley and mint so I think this will be appearing frequently on my menu in the coming months.

seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3286 on: August 22, 2021, 08:33:56 PM »
Have some bulgur wheat that's been hanging around in my cupboard for a couple years.  Read on line bulgur is still usable after this length of time since it is precooked.  So I made tabbouleh using the abundant parsley and mint from my garden.  I think I will experiment with other recipes, but I have alot more bulgur, parsley and mint so I think this will be appearing frequently on my menu in the coming months.

I am currently trying to use up the bulgur in my pantry. It makes a great overnight oats type breakfast. 1/4 cup bulgur in a jar, add fruit and what ever else you would like in your over night oats, a bit of something sweet and cover with a milk option let sit overnight...it is freaking amazing. The texture is that of steel cut oats that are not mush. My 11 year old even loved it.

seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3287 on: August 22, 2021, 08:38:48 PM »
My 11 year old hates leftovers. I am currently really trying to have less food in our house. I am tired of managing it. (I am part of a massive garden group so my freezer is packed full of produce and I think I brought home 75# of produce today so it will take all winter to eat it down)

I told my 11 year old my plan to try to get away for Thanksgiving this year but to do that we will have to 'hack' the budget and 'turn in' the things we have all ready bought aka the food in the house, the food growing in the garden and use all of it. This would mean that she would have to eat leftovers...that kid ate leftovers and is helping to make food and a plan to use it all. She is also thinks she has just what she needs for school this year..I will use the supplies I have Mom...She loves to travel so it is a win win.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3288 on: August 22, 2021, 09:23:29 PM »
My 11 year old hates leftovers. I am currently really trying to have less food in our house. I am tired of managing it. (I am part of a massive garden group so my freezer is packed full of produce and I think I brought home 75# of produce today so it will take all winter to eat it down)

I told my 11 year old my plan to try to get away for Thanksgiving this year but to do that we will have to 'hack' the budget and 'turn in' the things we have all ready bought aka the food in the house, the food growing in the garden and use all of it. This would mean that she would have to eat leftovers...that kid ate leftovers and is helping to make food and a plan to use it all. She is also thinks she has just what she needs for school this year..I will use the supplies I have Mom...She loves to travel so it is a win win.

I like your plan. My son is picky (older, at 14), and when he doesn't want what the rest of us are having, he makes something for himself. He doesn't have to eat leftovers, but he can make something out of other items we have on hand. Often that's a protein smoothie, with frozen fruit & a banana. Or, pasta from the pantry, and some sort of protein from the freezer. He also is in charge of making dinners for the family, once per week. I thought having him cook would help him broaden his palate. He's actually become a really great cook, but doesn't eat 90% of what he makes. Win some, lose some. :-)

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3289 on: August 23, 2021, 01:27:45 PM »
Have some bulgur wheat that's been hanging around in my cupboard for a couple years.  Read on line bulgur is still usable after this length of time since it is precooked.  So I made tabbouleh using the abundant parsley and mint from my garden.  I think I will experiment with other recipes, but I have alot more bulgur, parsley and mint so I think this will be appearing frequently on my menu in the coming months.

I am currently trying to use up the bulgur in my pantry. It makes a great overnight oats type breakfast. 1/4 cup bulgur in a jar, add fruit and what ever else you would like in your over night oats, a bit of something sweet and cover with a milk option let sit overnight...it is freaking amazing. The texture is that of steel cut oats that are not mush. My 11 year old even loved it.

Thank you for the tip, @seemsright!  I will try that.  Sounds delish!

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3290 on: August 24, 2021, 08:36:54 PM »
We made a lot of progress on leftovers, because I got home later than expected from soccer practice, and didn't have time to prep my original dinner:
-I finished off the chicken fajitas & guacamole + tortilla
-My husband ate the last of the salmon
-One kid had 1/2 the remaining pasta & some chicken
-Another kid has the last 1/2 of pasta & meatballs
Everyone had green salad, with plenty from the garden. It wasn't the best dinner ever, but it certainly cleared out the fridge!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3291 on: August 25, 2021, 01:39:58 PM »
Husband and I went camping for our anniversary.  @Linea_Norway, I thought about you as there were so many different mushroom species in the forest!  Different colors, shapes, sizes....  It was remarkable.

Happy birthday, @SAfAmBrit!

Everyone is doing such a great job at avoiding food waste!  I love the fact you have included your children in this endeavour.

~Yesterday and today's lunch used up an open can of black olives and a handful of cherry tomatoes from husband's garden
~Last night's tacos used a tomato from a friend's garden, an avocado, and a bit of broccoli slaw
~Tonight's supper will include the remaining eggplant tempura, leftover pasta from camping, and another friend's tomato

seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3292 on: August 26, 2021, 10:32:16 PM »
Tonight's dinner used all of the things, I made fried rice, leftover grilled cabbage, carrots, celery, rice, ham, eggs, picked onions (I have no idea how long they have been in the fridge, I know I made them) and a bit of soy sauce all cooked in a bit of saved bacon fat. I also had some homemade kimchi and sauerkraut that a friend made that my preteen cannot get enough of.


Starting to see the back of my fridge...man it can get out of hand fast. 

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3293 on: August 27, 2021, 08:37:48 AM »
@seemsright - that sounds like a delicious "use it up" meal.

We had several meals of leftovers throughout the week, and they really helped us empty the fridge.
-Finished off the leftover steak
-Defrosted carnitas, and had a carnitas burrito (featuring fresh garden tomatoes & cilantro)
-Kids ate more chicken that we're trying to use up (freezer)
-We made lots of smoothies, using up bananas, blueberries (garden), protein powder & frozen fruit

The fridge is looking good, as we roll into the weekend (and, grocery shopping)!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3294 on: August 31, 2021, 01:10:28 PM »
@seemsright, I love stir fried rice!!!

Lately:
~Sunday's supper used up the rest of the store bought cherry tomatoes (silly me, I forgot the fact my husband said to not buy any due to his upcoming garden harvest), a neighbor's home grown cucumber, and a small yellow squash from husband's garden.  The latter two were SO good.  When I peeled the cucumber, my husband said from across the room that it smelled good.
~A 14" gluten free pizza yielded three servings for just me (husband ordered a calzone).
~Last night I cooked up the remaining one of two catfish fillets.
~Because husband bought two packages of mozzarella mini balls, I've made sure we are eating them so they don't go to waste as I mentioned happened in a prior post.  They go well with the abundance of cherry tomatoes.
~For snacks, I finished a bag each of almonds, cheese crisps, and a small bag of toffee popcorn.
~We finished the crock pot zucchini bread I made.  Giving a neighbor friend's bachelor brother a small bag of it helped to use it up.
~Sliced cucumber went well with sliced deli chicken and cheese for three different lunches.
~The rest of the broccoli slaw and remaining lime and avocado will go on top of tonight's shrimp soft tacos.
~Wednesday and Saturday nights will focus on finger foods such as frozen taquitos, bacon wrapped shrimp, and crescent dough wrapped little smokies.

The above aside, all that remains in the produce drawer is a 1/2 bag of baby spinach and a 3-pack of turnips.  I'll turn the latter into fries to accompany this weekend's BBQ.  (We keep apples, oranges, bananas, and husband's garden harvests on the counter.)

Much to my chagrin, last night I tossed a bag of cauliflower florets because we didn't get to them in time, and a few of the store bought cherry tomatoes because they were bad.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3295 on: August 31, 2021, 01:29:26 PM »
Way to go, @MountainGal!

We tried a new recipe (oven baked chicken shawarma) & used up garden tomatoes, an open container of tzatziki sauce (the inspiration for the recipe) & a variety of other fridge ingredients. Plus, I cheated & didn't use flat bread, but used bake at home tortillas that I'm trying to use up, which were a passable substitute.

I also made a use it up granola bar recipe, which used stale cereal, the last of a bag of granola, as well as coconut oil my husband bought & never uses it. I don't love the recipe (the coconut flavor is a bit overpowering), but it works. Oh, and I was out of natural peanut butter, so I tossed a can of peanuts into the food processor & refilled my jar. That can needed to be used up anyway, so it was a double win.

I made up a huge batch of taco meat this weekend, and we'll have that for dinner tonight (rest in the freezer). It will also use up: garden tomatoes, the end of a block of cheese, and more of the bake at home tortillas.

Beardog

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3296 on: August 31, 2021, 02:12:39 PM »
@MountainGal Do you have a link to the recipe you used for crock pot zucchini bread?  I've rediscovered crock pot cooking recently.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3297 on: August 31, 2021, 04:34:37 PM »
Here's a query for the food preservation peeps... had a rough grocery delivery today and tub of fresh mozzarella leaked 100% of its liquid all over everything in the bag, soaking everything. I got refunds for what was ruined and cleaned the rest, but would like to minimize waste. The cheese was still in the tub, but without any liquid; will it be ok or should I repackage it with some salty water - or is there something else in that liquid that preserves it somehow?

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3298 on: August 31, 2021, 04:36:27 PM »
@Dollar Slice - I've had good luck keeping feta in salty water, but that fits well with the taste of feta. I'd try that here, then rinse before use, and use more quickly than possible.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #3299 on: August 31, 2021, 04:52:18 PM »
Husband and I went camping for our anniversary.  @Linea_Norway, I thought about you as there were so many different mushroom species in the forest!  Different colors, shapes, sizes....  It was remarkable.

Happy birthday, @SAfAmBrit!

Everyone is doing such a great job at avoiding food waste!  I love the fact you have included your children in this endeavour.

~Yesterday and today's lunch used up an open can of black olives and a handful of cherry tomatoes from husband's garden
~Last night's tacos used a tomato from a friend's garden, an avocado, and a bit of broccoli slaw
~Tonight's supper will include the remaining eggplant tempura, leftover pasta from camping, and another friend's tomato

Thanks @MountainGirl

 

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