Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[seemsright]

My next challenge--a jar of orange marmalade I bought for one of my recipe re-tests. I'm not really into jam on toast or biscuits...I wonder what else I can do with it?

I can help with this!  Use it to make a marinade/glaze for pork.  You can google for specific recipe, but here's what I generally do - sauté some garlic and red pepper flakes (if you like) in olive oil until it's fragrant.  Add the marmalade, some Dijon mustard, some Worcestershire sauce (or soy sauce - you're looking for an umami booster here), and some salt and pepper.  Stir together until it's all melted and smooth, then let cool.  Use some of it as a marinade for whatever pork you like, however you like to roast it - it's great on a tenderloin.  I have thinned extra marinade with a little broth and let it simmer while the pork cooks, then finished with a little butter and/or cream and used as a sauce for some pasta.  (This is all great with some broccoli, roasted until crispy.)

I like to make orange chicken with orange marmalade. Just take the chicken, put in pan, dump the jar of marmalade over it, add some pepper and maybe some salt and if you are feeling fancy a bit of garlic. Bake till done, eat with steamed veggies and rice. Every winter I make marmalade it is my favorite thing ever.

[MountainGal]

@seemsright, I successfully used your fridge door roast idea yesterday.  Into the slow cooker went a large roast, along with the rest of a bottle of BBQ sauce, some Worcestershire and soy sauce, a can of mild Rotel with chilis, various spices and minced garlic, topped off with the remaining box of chicken broth.  Cooked all day on low, it turned out tender and flavorful.  I served it with leftover air fryer eggplant fries and the rest of the leftover rice for DH.  And your orange chicken and marmalade sound delicious!  @dividend, as does your glaze.

@oneday, alas, I do not remember which brown sugar brownie recipe I used.  If you do an online search, there are many different recipes which will also fit your other ingredients on hand.

Excellent job, @Noodle!

Lately:
-We were out of town last weekend and have been finishing up restaurant brunch and family BBQ leftovers for lunches.
-I made a homemade version of a McGriddle using homemade almond bread, the last package of locally raised country sausage, eggs and cheddar.
-Fridge condiments/door items:  Used a bit of the horseradish on last night's beef, some syrup on the McGriddles, spicy ranch on the eggplant fries, and a small container of bacon grease in which I scrambled the eggs.  I also finished up a jar of stuffed green olives.
-Tonight's ratatouille will utilize the zucchini, Roma tomatoes (three from a friend's garden), an eggplant, and can of tomatoes.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I made good progress with our garden items over the weekend:
-Shredded and froze a zucchini, for future muffins
-Roasted four squash, pureed & have in the freezer for future soups
-Pickled 4 batches of jalapenos & other peppers. My husband/teen snack on those

Tonight we're having a chicken, tomato basil dish from the freezer, and for lunch I had a chicken curry (freezer). I love having single serving lunch options ready to go.

[MountainGal]

Nice work, @MaybeBabyMustache!

It's my Friday which means it's clean out the fridge day here at the office.  Munching on celery with the rest of my mom's dip from last weekend, more blueberries, a cheese stick, and the next to the last serving of sliced deli chicken.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone.

[Dutch Comfort]

Working on finishing last weekend's BBQ leftovers (we had a party of 10, so I stocked up, but had a lot left). Mainly easy fruit and snack size veggies, so this is great for snacking (munching on some seedless grapes as I type!).
Currently, the freezer is overflowing and we have 2 fridges running. So my first effort is to get to 1 fridge and find some freezer space.
We have to get into the school-flow again, so I have stocked up on lunch and snack items for the teens. Now I need to see what gets finished first to see what their current favorites are (and then only buy when they've eaten all other things as well.....).

I'm just planning dinners, while we will have breakfast and lunches from fridge and freezer available items.

Tonight: fish (some salmon and some battered fish from freezer), pre-cooked potatoe (fridge) and veggies (fridge)/applesauce (fridge).
Tomorrow: chicken soup (fridge/freezer), french bread (pantry), burgers (freezer) with condiments (spotted some slices of cheddar in the fridge)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Thanks, @MountainGal ! Back at ya. Hope you have a great weekend.

I bought a bunch of snacks & easy options for the family, as I head to Japan for work tomorrow. That means, all of the teen taxi duties are on my husband, so meal prep is challenging.

Also:
-Teen ate the entire giant tub of raspberries that I purchased yesterday. All were eaten for breakfast
-Other teen finished off all of the frozen fruit, and overly ripe bananas. He doesn't eat breakfast or lunch on school days, ate prefers to come home & make protein smoothies. :-|
-Made both teens breakfast this morning, ahead of soccer games. That finished off some bagels, & the milk.
-Made the teens lunch as well (feeling helpful, as they are super busy right now), which wrapped up a package of chicken from the freezer
-Also made myself lunch from the freezer 2x, with two different chicken curry dishes
-My husband grilled steak tonight, from a bag that was marinaded & frozen
-Used up a giant bowl of garden tomatoes & basil to make a caprese salad. The mozzarella is almost past its prime, so I'll need to finish that off quickly as well.
-Managed two use up, not one, but two bags of pasta in the pantry, that contained only 1/4 of the original amount. It's so nice to get those out of the way.

[MountainGal]

Save travels, @MaybeBabyMustache!  @Dutch Comfort, luck to you getting down to one fridge!

Significantly reducing the number of snacks from the monthly grocery order has resulted in a lean inventory, especially when it comes to camping munchies.  Friday before we left, I packed:

-A small bag of keto snack mix
-A small bag hot and spicy jerky leftover from my Christmas stocking
-A twin package of beef sticks
-The large bag of pork rinds leftover from a July social gathering.  There's still some left-it just keeps on going, LOL.
-Bumped up the remaining container of mom's dip by adding in some mayo and chopped up piece of bacon cooked the night before leaving.
-Warmed up the leftover ratatouille from Thursday and served it on Saturday evening.
-Made fresh cobb salads which used a boiled egg, more of the bacon, the last can of chicken bought last year, more of the shelled sunflower seeds I've been focusing on for over a month, etc.
-Sunday campsite brunch used the rest of the homemade pancake mix with some of the Eggbeaters I bought to try out, as well as the 3 remaining pieces of cooked bacon.  Oh, and (finally) a bottle of maple syrup.  :)  Even DH was on the same page as I with the latter, LOL.  We also polished off a bag of strawberries.
-I also packed a medium size bag of shelled pistachios which I didn't get to.

Fresh produce is down to 1/3 bag baby spinach, an unopened bag of coleslaw, and one each yellow squash and zucchini.  I'll do a grocery pickup tomorrow and we'll do a Sam's Club haul Thursday.  I want to get the latter completed before cold weather hits.

[BiscuitsandGuy]

I’ve lurked forever here and read this entire epic thread - y’all are rockstars!

I’m joining in now for several reasons, including but not limited to (1) holy grocery prices!, (2) disappointed with our food waste, (3) overall financial goals, and (4) several bags of homemade chicken broth leaked all over and outside freezer so I need to defrost and clean it.

This is a wonky time to be trying to get a grip on things as we’re gearing up for back to school plus me back to the office. But better late than never! Some of my personal challenge areas are large items lurking in the freezer (a turkey, a brisket), some things I made and froze but am not crazy about, and an entire inside fridge freezer full of random odds and ends. I also have a pretty picky DH and two young kids who have the usual young kiddo finickiness. It’s a challenge to get folks besides myself to reliably eat leftovers around here.

Looking forward to making some progress here.

[MountainGal]

Welcome, @BiscuitsandGuy!  Sorry to hear about the broth leak.  And thank you!  You mentioning the large items reminded me of the fact we are going to smoke a ham this weekend and I need to pull it out of the freezer to thaw.

Last night I made deconstructed Po'boys which used 1/3 bag of the coleslaw.  Another 1/3 is currently in the slow cooker along with chicken breast, zucchini, spaghetti squash, etc. for a type of pad Thai.  Tomorrow the remaining slaw will be used in wraps along with leftover pulled pork from the freezer.

As a side last night, I sauteed up the yellow squash and the rest of the baby spinach.  Continuing to put produce scraps aside for our chicken owning neighbor.  Am very pleased with the lack of food waste.

[GardenBaker]

Welcome @BiscuitsandGuy My mother just thawed out a turkey from her freezer too and we had Thanksgiving in August complete with dressing, butternut squash and cranberry sauce. It was a fun dinner and helped clean out her freezer.

This week I thawed some sirloin steak from the freezer and will grill it like fajita meat. I have some bell peppers in the fridge to use up too, so we'll have beef fajitas tonight.

[Dutch Comfort]

Slowly but surely getting there:

Teens happily joined me in getting fruit snacks and leftover salads out of the fridge for lunch a few times this week.
I expect to be able to shut down the 2nd fridge tonight after dinner.

Had progress with:
- leftover salads from 2nd fridge, all gone now!
- snack tomatoes went down easily during work
- sliced a full cucumber to a teen and served with humus as a snack between school and sports practice
- had breakfasts and lunches all from fridge and freezer, so this is going according to plan

2nd fridge is now down to some fresh produce (bell peppers, tomatoes, chives etc.), which I will turn into a salad for dinner tonight and add some broccoli and potatoes to it (from 1st fridge).
Thawing some chicken (freezer space!) to eat with the salad tonight.

My parents gave me a lot of pears, so I have to eat them and find some recipes to make sure they don't go to waste.

Next plan: empty the freezer..... so getting rid of all kinds of half-eaten icecream boxes and the icecream-popsicles which are still in there (there will be loads of icecream based deserts the next couple of days.....).

[MountainGal]

@Dutch Comfort, excellent job on the fridge emptying!

Today is clean out the office mini fridge day.  Lunch will consist of leftover BBQ pork, a cheese stick and two stuffed green olives.

Last night while munching I came across a dark chocolate reindeer from my Christmas stocking.  I was rather disappointed about its quality, so I decided I'll grate it and make brownies.

This weekend I'm going to bake sugar cookies and give them to various neighbors.  I'll frost them with the tub frosting bought for holiday baking last year.  I'll also bake more almond bars to address more of the sliced almonds.  This should wrap up last year's baking ingredients.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I was out of town last week, and my husband isn't as diligent about working through the leftovers as I am. I cleaned the fridge, and tossed a few things. At least now, I'm starting from a clean fridge & know what we have.

-Ate leftover Greek takeout for lunch, & have enough for one additional meal
-Made my son 2 fruit smoothies. Used some garden strawberries in one batch, and wrapped up all of the bananas & juice in the second batch
-Used all of the garden tomatoes in the fridge. Mostly in salads, but it was a nice milestone to have them all cleared out, ahead of picking more yesterday

We are hosting two pool parties this weekend (15 y.o. + friend group today, 16 y.o. + friend group tomorrow), and we have a bunch of "party food" now on hand. I'll keep an eye on what we have leftover & work our way through that as well. Teen boys eat a lot of food, so it's possible that nothing will be left over!

[Noodle]

Thanks for the orange marmalade suggestions. I ended up going a different direction and making a batch of jam-oatmeal bars, which I had forgotten as a way to use up random preserves. I used this recipe which was super-easy in the food processor. They do come out a little on the crumbly side but I liked the more delicate texture. (Do follow the advice about lining the pan with foil, though) I have to take a dish to a potluck next week, so stuck these in the freezer for that purpose.

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/oatmeal-jam-squares.html

Had some aged peaches in the back of the fridge that became a batch of peach butter. I make my own yogurt so I think the peach butter will be nice with that.

Cooked off a steak that needed to be used from the freezer--my big achievement was broiling it without setting off the smoke detector (it wasn't grilling weather). Put the last of a bag of mini-falafel over a bagged salad from Trader Joe's.

I did a pretty good clean-out before I left in terms of using up perishables, so I am back to working on the weird pantry items. I think the next is a bottle of Trader Joe's yellow curry simmer sauce. That's easy...I'll just use it the way it was designed.

[Dutch Comfort]

Did a grocery run yesterday, but managed to keep the 2nd fridge turned off. The first fridge is now fully stocked, but we should be OK for the week.
Not much left the fridge, freezer or pantry this weekend, since we were mostly out with friends (street BBQ on Saturday, unexpected visit on Sunday where we were invited to dinner). 
Few things I need to do this week:
- use up some frozen bananas - probably make a banana bread or banana-oatmeal muffins for teen-snacks
- grate some bits of leftover cheese and freeze it so it won't go to waste
- eat icecream / serve icecream to the teens

[Linea_Norway]

Don't any of you get anxious about having an empty fridge or freezer? I do. I case of an emergency i like to have a reasonable store of food. But on the other side, I am a forager and want to eat whatever I foraged before it expires. And I don't need to store it for kore than a year. So it is a fine balance.

When I look in my fridge before making dinner, I always get more inspired to make something from fresh food, rather than finding something frozen or dried. But maybe I should rather go through my "best before" app, and select something from the stored food. And then make a plan to eat from it, maybe the next day, so I can prepare to buy or find/soak other ingredients if necessary.

One challenge I have is that I stored many bags of dried, edible leaves. In spring time, these are perfect for salads as a lettuce replacement. But what to do with them when frozen? Sometimes I throw some into a curry. They have neutral taste that can't compete with curry, but I presume they add healthiness to a dish. I have also used a handfull in a smoothy. I already made veggy burgers, but half the amount of burgers was put in the freezer again and forgotten there.

Another challenge are my dried, edible mushrooms. I have a crate full of a large variety of species that I dried before testing how they tasted. I have a cookbook that have described every one of these species with a suggestion for a dish. That is why I picked so many. I should just go ahead and make a plan.

Oh, I forgot to mention my homegrown vegetables and herbs that I have this year. Not the big quantities that they are a problem, we have been eating what I picked so far. The herbs though, produce a lot of leaves, like the mint and the sage, both with a strong taste. For mint, I checked out a lot of recipees with mint and already made a couple of those, including mint vinegar. Sage is maybe more difficult, but I'll make plans for that as well.

So I guess planning is the way to go.

Yesterday I prepared meat from the freezer, grilled on the stove. With green beans from the freezer and 4 small homegrown bell peppers.

[Roadrunner53]

When my fridge is full, I am very happy! However, when I have leftovers to put in the fridge and there is no room, I am unhappy! LOL!

[MountainGal]

When I ran out of tub frosting for last weekend's sugar cookies, I made homemade icing which used a cup of powdered sugar.  The sugar is also a remnant of last year's holiday baking.

Traded some cookies for some neighbor's zucchini and pickling cucumbers.  In one of the large zucchinis, I stuffed thawed locally grown beef, seasoned rice cauliflower, cheddar and mozzarella, and leftover diced tomatoes.  I drizzled it with some of the last remaining bottles of BBQ sauce.  It's rather zingy so it added a lot of flavors.  I made two lunch bowls out of the leftover "stuffing."

Leftover veggies and a bit of the beef with cheese log went nicely with other ingredients onto a charcuterie board.

Recently finished a bottle of BBQ sauce, syrup, and mayo.

Froze the remaining bottle of lemon juice nearing its expiration date into molds, then transferred it to a freezer bag for winter.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to old bananas in time to bake banana bread.  Saving $1 is not worth getting sick.

We went out for appetizers Saturday evening, ate half, then split the rest later that night for munchies.

DH thawed leftover andouille and BBQed them Sunday night.  I ate half of one that night, and the other sliced into an omelet the next day.

Continuing to use bacon fat in which to cook eggs.

I'll make homemade Alfredo sauce to use the can of evaporated milk with a 09/22 expiration date.

Tomorrow night's avocado tuna salads just may finish off the sunflower seeds.  ;-)

Time to focus on cornmeal due to its expiration date.

[Dutch Comfort]

half-week fridge check:

- bag of lettuce is gone, together with bell pepper, pickles, few eggs and tomatoes it made a huge salad on Monday
- on Tuesday we fried the leftover boiled potatoes and added a few baked potatoes to it.
- cheese was grated and used over pasta yesterday. Still some remaining, but I'm planning pizza-night tomorrow, so this will be used up

Today: green beans, iceberg lettuce with cucumber, bell pepper and tomatoes (and maybe some pickles or eggs if I can find them), some meat and baked potatoes
Tomorrow: pizza day which will use up the mozzarella in the fridge, tomato-sauce from freezer, last of grated cheese and various meats and leftover veggies from fridge (and some flour/yeast from pantry)
Saturday: probably some soup from freezer and burgers or grilled cheese on the side

Breakfast and lunch (lunchboxes for the teens) will continue to come from pantry, fridge and freezer. So I'm hoping on a good dent in this in the next week or so.
Icecream is still in freezer (just a few popsicles were gone), since we're first finishing all kinds of diary products in the fridge.

Next challenge: make a good freezer inventory so things will be used up! Frozen bananas are still in there, waiting for being transformed into banana-oatmeal muffins or banana bread. Now I just need to DO IT.......

[Linea_Norway]

This week we ate a lot of my foraged mushrooms fresh. One of DH's selfcaught trouts from the freezer. I have also dried some mushrooms and pickled and confitured some. Now just a plan to eat them. I did use a mushroom recipe book for idead to eat two different species today, one in a cake and one in a barley risotto. The latter tasted really good. I used a couple of vegetables from the freezer as well.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We hosted two pool parties for the teens this weekend, and one lasted pretty much all day, and had 15 teen boys. So, we went through a lot of food! We'd only planned one meal (pizza + snacks & drinks), but the kids were having so much fun, that they stayed & ate our dinner. We'd planned for kid friendly anyway, so they loved the hot dogs, potato salad & watermelon. Plus, of course, round two of ice cream. As all of the other parents said, they weren't on their electronics, & they were all having fun together, so it was a win.

For the rest of the week, we've eaten other leftovers, and today I cleaned the fridge & made a list of what needed to be used up:
-I made myself an interesting lunch wrap of a tortilla, tiny amount of takeout Greek sauce, a piece of cheese, garden tomato, & leftover chicken. All foraged from the fridge
-I froze some leftover pizza, to have next week when things are particularly crazy
-I made a meal plan for tonight, taking advantage of what's left in the fridge: grilled chicken salads & pizza (kids)
-Reviewed the freezer for easy options during the week, as my husband is traveling. Plus, made a very slimmed down shopping list.

[seemsright]

Tonight's dinner. Leftover slow roasted pork, leftover peppers and onions, leftover pineapple from our pizza last night is going to be turned into sweet and sour pork that I serve over rice.

Should be pretty damn good. And I get to clean out the fridge...win win

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We ate a lot of leftovers for dinner last night, and then I froze everything left. Good progress was made on the fridge cleanout.

We have two late soccer games this evening, so we'll have a Trader Joes frozen option for tonight (orange chicken + fried rice). Tomorrow, my husband will grill burgers, which will use up some garden tomatoes + buns from the freezer.

[Dutch Comfort]

Friday: pizza-day, finishing frozen leftover tomato sauce and various meats from fridge
Saturday: grilled cheese sandwiches with a cucumber/tomato salad

Today a grocery run, picking up fresh veggies and bread for the coming days. Did plan the menu for 5 days, using all kinds of items from freezer/pantry:

Today: traybake using the last few bbq-meats from freezer and fresh veggies
Monday: boiled potatoes, cauliflower and sausages from freezer
Tuesday: green beans, baked potatoes and meatloaf
Wednesday: pasta night
Thursday: all leftover veggies or canned veggies if there are no leftovers, French fries from freezer and burgers from freezer.

Breakfast and lunches will be from fridge and freezer.
Today we finished the last bottle of wine from the fridge…….. I think this counts…….

[Serendip]

My hubby is leaving for a week tomorrow so I'm going to eat from the fridge/pantry while he is gone and see how that goes. Would love to spend $0 on groceries for the week! Thanks for all the inspiration on this thread :)

[BiscuitsandGuy]

I had little successes last week, have to start somewhere! I spent $86 on groceries for last week, and used some odds and ends from fridge/pantry and a few small things from the freezer:
- a couple strips of bacon, questionable lettuce and a soft avocado went to BLATs
- the last of a bag of shredded Mexican cheese blend and a few remaining tortillas when to quesadillas for the kids
- a bag of chicken Marsala from the freezer went over pasta one night (this didn’t freeze all that well but thinned it out with chicken broth and it was edible)
- frozen grilled chicken and random fridge veggies went to packed salads for work lunches

Food waste: some berries and two zucchini that were lost in back of fridge, some leftovers that didn’t get eaten before we left for Labor Day weekend trip

I’m trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of bread I was given last weekend. White hot dog buns and sliced bread. Maybe just process them as bread crumbs.

Groceries for this week were $160, which is way more than last week but includes 3 chuck roasts I bought on sale to freeze and some extra stuff to help ward off takeout temptation.


 

[MountainGal]

@Dutch Comfort, I think it counts!  LOL

@Serendip, glad you found inspiration here!

I added leftover green beans, and two boiled eggs DH didn't get to on top of last Thursday's salads.

Earlier this year DH made bacon from a locally raised pig.  Although he followed the recipe, it came out way, way too salty, so he rinsed and froze it.  Saturday, I cut up a few slices and cooked it in the air fryer along with asparagus.  It was so good!  I cooked two more slices and put them on top of last night's breakfast for supper eggs benedict.  Leftover bacon and asparagus will pair nicely with tonight's cod and shrimp.

Had the remaining blueberries and cucumber slices along with some cheese and pepperoni slices for lunch yesterday.

For taco Tuesday tomorrow I'll serve seasoned ground beef in romaine leaves for me, and tortillas for DH.  On the side will be sauteed yellow squash from DH's garden and zucchini from a neighbor's garden.  Cherry tomatoes continue to come in a few at a time from DH's garden.

Wednesday's air fried zucchini fries will use more of the neighbor's zucchini.  I'll grate the remaining zucchini for bread.

And, as @BiscuitsandGuy, posted, I had a bit of food waste.  Yesterday while organizing and wiping down the refrigerator in anticipation of this week's monthly grocery pickup, I removed the carton of cottage cheese from the back with an 08/5/2022 expiration date.  I hadn't realized it was in there for so long.  Tossed it without investigating the contents.  I also tossed one of the lunch bowls I made last week and didn't get to, along with the fresh produce scrap bags as my chicken owning neighbor has been out of the state.

Regarding the latter, DH and I briefly discussed the idea of composting.  We shall see.

[Dutch Comfort]

We will host a lunch/high tea party on Sunday. I started the prep by looking up recipes. Yesterday evening, I made a grocery list and went to our pantry with that list. I could cross a lot of the list, since I already had it in my pantry (big win....)! We will need the 2nd fridge again, but hopefully just for the Saturday and Sunday (with the current energy price level, I want to keep that fridge from running too long). I will send leftovers home with the guests!

Today: cucumber/tomato salad, canned corn, french fries and meat from freezer
Friday: chicken stir fry with noodles
Saturday: leftover pasta, soup from freezer and burgers
Sunday: lunch/high tea party, so no dinner planned

Still manage to get breakfast and lunch options from fridge and freezer. I start to see some dents in the freezer!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dutch Comfort - the tea party sounds fun!

With my husband out of town, we've been scrappier with meals, which has been nice:
-Finished off a bag of chicken (freezer)
-Made lots of protein smoothies
-Last night for dinner, I added two eggs to leftover fried rice. It was delicious, & just filling enough.

For tonight, DS16 & I will have a chicken curry (freezer), while DS15 will have a leftover burger. I need to freeze some fruit that didn't get eaten, but otherwise, the fridge is looking good.

[GardenBaker]

Last night I used an overripe banana, the last of an open container of almond milk and frozen strawberries to make a smoothie for a small dinner. I also heard a tip from a friend to soak a banana peel in water to fertilize my vegetable plants with; she recommended letting it soak for a week, remove the peel then water the plant with the phosphorous rich water.

Tonight I'll thaw some salmon from the freezer for dinner and reheat some leftover sides that have been in the refrigerator.

[Serendip]

My hubby is leaving for a week tomorrow so I'm going to eat from the fridge/pantry while he is gone and see how that goes. Would love to spend $0 on groceries for the week! Thanks for all the inspiration on this thread :)

5 days in --the only food I've purchased was a chocolate bar for a big hike (9 hours!), although someone bought me lunch on Wednesday (and then I took the leftovers home which has given me another two meals)

Will roast spaghetti squash and cauliflower this morning so i have those ready in the fridge. Will also make some oat or nut milk since I'm all out. And will rummage through the fridge to make sure there isn't anything else that needs to be used up asap. I might have collards that need to be used--perhaps I'll make a baked orzo this weekend.

[MountainGal]

@Serendip, I like your idea of roasting the veggies ahead of time.

DH cooked several more slices of the bacon and we had some on last night's cauliflower crust pizza.

Wednesday, I arrived home late so instead of making dinner, we grazed on what we had on hand.  I finished the last of the pepperoni slices and had hatch chili chips with sour cream.  DH made a burrito out of leftovers and helped finish the chips.  Tonight, I'll make what I was going to Wednesday:  Air fried chicken tenders and the zucchini fries.

Today is the usual clean out the office mini fridge day which will include the last deli turkey slice, a cheese stick, and the remaining black olives and cherry tomatoes from home.

[Catbert]

BiscuitsandGuy - If you need more ideas of what to do with extra bread:  panzarella (bread and tomatoes); bread pudding; or this recipe (which sadly might be behind a paywall):

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023349-juicy-tomatoes-with-parmesan-olive-bread-crumbs?action=click&module=Collection%20Page%20Recipe%20Card&region=Summer%20Tomato%20Recipes&pgType=collection&rank=8

It's a savory toasted bread crumb recipe that goes on lots of things besides fresh tomatoes.  I put it on salad every night and others have suggested using it on top of pasta with a tomato sauce.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We made good progress this week, and finished off a bunch of odds & ends.
-Garden strawberries, used in protein smoothies
-Salad mix used for lunches
-Curry used for 1 dinner & 1 lunch
-Leftover buns finished off. All remaining burger patties frozen for future use.
-Finished off a bag of chicken (freezer)

I went to brunch with a friend this morning, and brought back 1/2 a breakfast burrito. The 16 year old polished that off quickly. :0

[Serendip]

Success- one week gone with no grocery shopping 🛒
Will see how long I can stretch it.

I made a quinoa salad to add all sorts of veggies to (shishito peppers, yellow zucchini, kale, cherry tomatoes, red onion, basil, mint, etc)..bonus is that it’s tasty too.

Had ricotta which needed to be eaten so I made a (somewhat odd but tasty) chocolate pudding with cocoa since I’m now out of dessert chocolate too :)

[Linea_Norway]

We are visiting FIL and left an almost empty fridge at home.
At FIL I looked for margarine to put on sandwiches. The contents of the pack had strange different colors. After I smeared it, the knife smelled bad. So I ended up throwing away the sandwich and checked the pack. It had an expery date in 2020. So did the other, unopened pack. So we could throw away both.

[okisok]

This past week I used up a partial bag of baking mix and some chocolate chips by making Bisquick cookies. This board made me look up recipes to use those items together. I even filled out the recipe with some almond flour that expires soon. They turned out pretty good, as they all got eaten in two days.

I used up the last of the dried coconut by mixing it in with my breakfast yogurt over a few days. A few heels of bread got toasted and whirled in the blender to get added to the breadcrumbs bag in the freezer.

There's still some frozen veggie broth in the freezer I'd like to use. When it cools off, I'll probably use it in soups.

I've had a little food waste--some cucumber and celery bits I didn't use them fast enough in salads; a small opaque bag of grapes that spoiled in the crisper; some quinoa I didn't love. I finally tossed the last of the frozen rice pudding after using most of it in smoothies. Everything went in the compost except the quinoa which has meat broth so it's waiting on trash day.




 

[Dutch Comfort]

Plus from last weekend: 1 managed the whole high tea party on 1 fridge (advanced tetris skills!!!!!)

The leftovers did not go with the friends, so we're stuck eating leftovers this week. This morning we started and DD was happy with her english scones as breakfast.
And since we did not plan any dinner (lunch/high tea was more than enough) we still have hungry teens in the house, so DS had some italian meatballs with some pasta as a late dinner yesterday.
 
Leftovers still to eat:
1. vitello tonato (small portion..... as lunch extra)
2. tomato salad (small portion, will go as salad with our dinner tonight)
3. quiche (lunch portion, will see if DH has eaten this today, since he is at home, otherwise it will be my lunch for tomorrow.....)
4. lemon/almond cake (we can snack on that for the rest of the week)
5. apple - cinnamon muffins (I think I will freeze some tonight, 1 already went as a snack to school with DS)
6. scones (breakfast and snack for DD and me)
7. italian meatballs (I think enough for 2 teenage dinners. I will freeze for some quick dinner options on sports nights)
8. mascarpone/strawberry desserts (will go as dessert tonight)

Used up this weekend:
- 1 leftover pasta lunch from freezer
- 1 box of chicken soup from freezer
- a pack of burgers, which also used up a few lingering slices of bacon and a few slices of cheddar from the fridge
- 2 cans of tuna from pantry
- 1 jar of ansjovis from pantry
- last part of a pack of quiche dough which was in the freezer
- 1 little jar of pesto from pantry
- 1/2 pack of pasta that I do not like, but DS did not have a problem eating it. So the next half will go to him as well, when he is craving pasta!

So this week it is eating leftovers and then identifying new projects to finish, since our pantry is still overflowing.

[fuzzy math]

Here's a round up of what's gone from my life lately:

- fridge pickled a bunch of peppers from gifts from the neighbors and from my kid's friends family
- DS1 has been on a personal mission to eat up all the chicken strips / patties from the freezer
- pawned off some weird chicken fries (bought during the 2020 scare when no other frozen chicken was available) on my neice / nephew
- pawned off some weird frozen mac n cheese pouches on neice / nephew
- have been grilling a lot of chicken and pork, decided to use up the most empty sauce jars. Finished off an Indian curry squirt, some GF teriyaki marinade and am working through a memphis bbq bottle like there's no tomorrow
- slow cooked the rest of the peppers that didn't get pickled with a bunch of gifted tomatoes
- cooked a pound of dried beans, made a chili with the tomato mixture (that I then accidentally poured cinnamon in instead of cumin), salvaged said chili by scooping out spices and adding new spices. Finished off almost all of it, have 1 portion left.


Not food related, but have repurposed some items in my home (2 throw pillows into a sofa back cushion) and a backpack for a kiddo. These were otherwise scenarios where I would have spent money for a different solution, so it feels pretty similar to the sentiment in this thread.

[okisok]

DP was gifted a bottle of chili honey. He, DS, and I all tried it and didn't care for it. I took it to work where some colleagues have commented before that they really like it. So I decluttered a very temporary item!

[Serendip]

Managed 10days without buying any groceries 😁

 My SO is home for just a night so we picked up some oat milk for coffee and a few other things (lemons & limes) and then when he leaves again tomorrow afternoon I will resume my eating-down-the-fridge-&-pantry experiment.

I have a bunch of collard greens to use so I might try to make them into snacks with my kale chip recipe and see how that goes.

Also baked coconut flour cookies but they were a bit odd IMO. If anyone has ideas for using up coconut flour—I’ll take them!

[oneday]

Great to see you all still hear valiantly keeping food waste at bay :)
@MaybeBabyMustache @seemsright @Noodle @dividend @Dutch Comfort @BiscuitsandGuy @GardenBaker @Linea_Norway @Roadrunner53 @Serendip @Catbert @okisok @fuzzy math

@MountainGal thanks for the tip on the recipe; I'll do some searching to optimize what I have.


Used up recently:
~2 c. slighly frost bitten summer squash
1 banana
1 nectarine
2 tomatoes
less than 1 quart grape tomatoes
less than 5 oz whole raw almonds
1 serving leftovers (needs BBQ sauce)
1/2 bag pink beans
less than 1/2 gal soy milk
less than 32 oz plain greek yogurt
less than 32 oz sliced cheese, various varieties
less than 2 lbs baby carrots
2 lbs grapes
2 red onions
8 oz red lentil linguine
7 oz riced vegetables
1/2 dozen eggs
1 lb butter

Next on the chopping block:
cucumber
marinara sauce, noodles, olives
hmm...

[Dutch Comfort]

Fridge check before ordering groceries revealed that we did a good job eating leftovers this week. Plan for the rest of the week:

Wednesday: pasta dish with a side salad of rucola/tomato
Thursday: sweet potatoes, chicken from freezer and leftover veggies or canned veggies
Friday: fish from freezer, baked potatoes and broccoli
Saturday: busy day with DH out of town, so it will be something from the freezer (soup with fresh bread is always a good idea, according to DD)

Lunch for today will be the last bits of the leftover quiche. We still have enough in fridge / freezer to have breakfast / lunch and snacks.

Items to be used up:
- grapes in fridge
- pears in pantry
- few grape tomatoes in fridge
- 1 serving of greek yoghurt (used part in a recipe, now need to eat the rest)
- 1 serving of regular yoghurt
- leftover 1/4 jar of tomato salsa
- leftover 1/2 jar of capers
- leftover 1/2 mini-jar of pesto (few tablespoons left)
- 1/2 bag of a new type of soy crisps....... nobody really liked them, but maybe I can convince a hungry teen after school.....
- 1/3 bag of bread sticks
- cheese with italian herbs - need to cut into snack sized portions to send with the teens to school

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We did too good of a job eating leftovers. I had to go to the store yesterday evening (basically unheard of) to pick up additional fruit & veggies.

-Finished off the beef kebabs, and most of the rice. I'll serve rice tonight to one lucky diner, and finish it off.
-Turned the rest of the ground beef into taco meat, and we've had that for one dinner, and will have the rest tonight.
-Realized we were out of a brick of cheese, so I diced up slices for taco night.
-Found some Keto friendly taco shells for my husband. He was jazzed, as he hasn't had a taco shell in years. They were actually pretty good, & I also had one. However, the tacos were so good that we went through nearly 2x as much volume as usual, leaving stingy leftovers for tonight.
-Continuing to eat up the garden tomatoes. They are so juicy & sweet. The kids just slice up a bunch, sprinkle them with salt, & eat them with their meals.
-I've been using up oat milk in protein smoothies for the kids. I have way too much almond milk, because I couldn't pass up the sale price, combined with $1 off offers. I need to find more creative ways to get through them, vs just in my coffee.

[fuzzy math]

Since my last post I've tackled using up some real straggling items in my pantry:

- 2 bags of vegan marshmallows (ugh - leftover from DD's brief stint with vegetarianism) made into rice krispie treats
- 1.5 boxes of GF lentil lasagna noodles went into a lasagna (still 0.5 box left to go)
- tube of Italian tomato paste went into the lasagna

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We've done such a good job of whittling down our prepped freezer leftover meals, that today I struggled to find an option. This is pretty unusual at our house. Instead, we'll be having a few options, since there wasn't one meal big enough for everyone. Two servings of chicken fajitas, one serving of tacos (DS15 didn't eat after practice last night, so that's carrying over), & one serving of barbecued chicken. All with a big salad to round it out, and a bit of rice, if anyone wants extra carbs.

[MountainGal]

Doing well, everyone!

@Serendip, regarding coconut flour, in the past I've made low carb crepes, coconut flour cheddar biscuits, and pistachio cookies.

@MaybeBabyMustache, do you remember what brand of taco shells?

~I finally addressed the hollandaise sauce envelope by making breakfast for supper two weekends ago, and on poached eggs and Traeger baked homemade sourdough bread this past Sunday.
~Making fresh produce from DH's garden a supper side priority.  So far, we've had sauteed yellow squash, air fryer yellow squash and zucchini, cherry tomato (SO good!) caprese salads, and ground beef stuffed zucchini.  Up next will be zucchini fritters and bread, sliced tomatoes and mozzarella, and air fried eggplant fries.
~Made my own tartar sauce for Tuesday's air fried cod.  DH prefers mine vs. store bought.
~Romaine has been used in several salads, and tonight will be served underneath enchiladas and will be kielbasa "buns" this weekend.
~Baby spinach will go into weekend smoothies and will be sauteed with yellow squash Saturday night.
~Last night I made chicken crust pizza with homemade sauce using one of many cans of chicken, and a can each of tomato paste and sauce.  The sauce recipe made enough for last night's pizza and two more which I froze.
~Sunday we'll bake one of the pizza kits bought earlier this year from a neighbor kiddo's school fundraiser.
~Snacks:  The rice crackers and Cheeze-It Puff'd are almost gone, and a small bag of pistachios was consumed.  I'm going to make a cheesy diced green chili artichoke dip in the slow cookier this weekend which will pair well with pork rinds.  I'll use the soft block cheese given to us by a coworker of DH's.
~Condiment clearing:  Finished a jar of blue cheese dressing and bottle of BBQ sauce.  Threw away a very old bottle of hot sauce.  We have opened bottles of spicy ranch, chipotle mayo, and creamy queso sauce to utilize.
~The current container of blueberries is plump and juicy rather than tart which I am happy about.

Tomorrow is clean out the office mini fridge day consisting of cherry tomatoes, strawberries, shredded cheese, and a can of tuna from the cupboard.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - it was these. https://guerrerotortillas.com/products/nutri-ricas-carb-watch-flour-tortillas/ Guerrero Carb Watch, with flax seed.

[Serendip]

Used the last 1/2 cup of black rice to make a macadamia nut, coconut, beet & black rice porridge (there was actually a recipe for this in one of my cookbooks). People are so creative..

@MountainGal --I like the idea of coconut crepes, might try those. Or some biscuits!

My hubby is coming back tomorrow so today I will do some more cooking with the odds & sods as he surely will want to go grocery shopping upon his return :)

Todays goals: make collard chips & homemade granola.

[MountainGal]

Thank you, @MaybeBabyMustache!

Sounds good, @Serendip!