Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[oneday]

@fuzzy math your sheet pan veggies sound amazing and not at all like bottom feeder fodder!


Victory, y'all. Brownies used up the last of the cocoa powder and the granulated sugar. So far, they are a hit with the neighbors.

In a month or so I will try to use up the unsweetend baking chocolate. And some of the sweeteners (honey, Stevia, powdered sugar, etc.) Maybe this recipe (posting so I can find later).

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I'm eating a lot less (excellent news) & not snacking (also great), so I'm finding it harder to get through some of the snacks & treats in our pantry. I'm reminding myself that this is the goal, and that after those items are cleared out, I don't have to buy the same items at the same rate.

I made a knock off PF Changs lettuce wrap recipe yesterday, which was great. Had to toss a moldy onion. The recipe largely used pantry ingredients, minus the ground chicken & water chestnuts. I doubled the recipe, so we have enough for a second dinner. I served it with TJs fried rice (freezer) & a cauliflower rice for my husband, who can't have fried rice.

I also prepped & marinaded the chicken shawarma that I'll roast for dinner tonight.

As is typical for us at the start of the week, our fridge is packed. We have: at least two dinners with the chicken, another dinner with the lettuce wraps, leftover hamburgers. Tons of fruit & lots of salad fixings.

I do need to toss a tiny amount of taco meat that I assumed a teen would eat, and then didn't.

[Linea_Norway]

Yesterday we ate the frozen pizzas that I bought before our vacation. I topped them with home grown tomatoes, basil, bell pepper and chili, pluss parmezan cheese from the fridge and slices of ham that we just bought in Sweden because it was cheaper than at home.

Tonight DH will cook with meat from the freezer and fresh veggies.

Tomorrow I will make a curry with homegrown beans, sugar peas, chards, kale, chili and fresh potatoes, pluss beans and kale from the freezer, as well as a chunk of frozen meat.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Used up the old pepperoni in the freezer. It topped a veggie frozen pizza that we also wanted gone. Served with a pepperoni pizza for the teens. Three items, out of the freezer!

I had a work dinner last night, so wasn't able to participate in leftover eating. In fact, I brought home most of my entree, as it was quite large.

Things that still need to be eaten this week:
-Bagged salad
-Berries
-Bananas
-Remaining burgers (use or freeze)
-Chicken shawarma (use or freeze)
-Chicken lettuce wraps + leftover fried rice

We should be able to make our way through most of this the rest of the week, but need to stay on top of it, and adjust what we pull out/put in the freezer based on teen dinner attendance.

[Linea_Norway]

Today I made pasta with spinach, combined with 2 bags of dried foraged mushrooms, and from the freezer: a foraged plant and 2 homegrown plants. In addition to the leaves of caraway plants in pots outside. I used up a lot of the cheese we had.

[Anette]

@Anette - we've made these low carb fritters before, and they were delicious. https://gimmedelicious.com/low-carb-zucchini-fritters/

Wanted to thank you again. We had a family get together at our house today for lunch and I needed vegetarian / keto / gluten free options so I made some antipasto, crust less quiche and the zucchini fritters as part of the lunch together with two dips and it worked out great. I will certainly make the fritters again.
Hope everyone had a lovely Sunday

[Josiecat22222]

made vegan taco lentil/walnut meat to continue to work through the oft-lamented metric shit ton of lentils in my house.  It is delicious and I am now eating it on top of salads.

Last night made white beans pasta pesto and broccoli to work through the dried white beans.  It was ok, but a bit bland.  3-4 servings left.
I also learned that white beans can be frozen in their broth. So I froze (2) 2 cup aliquots to be used in another dish.  Once the pasta is gone, I think I'll make shakshuka one night and then NYT cheesy white bean tomato bake another.

Have instituted a rule that I will make at least one meal a week with either dried lentils or dried beans (I have green lentils, brown lentils, red lentils and beluga lentils and dried white beans, pinto, kidney and black....all from the pandemic  and another with a dried grain (I have TONS of white rice, and moderate amounts of farro, bulgur, barley, wild rice, etc).  It's going to be at least a year until I need to buy any of those again.

[Linea_Norway]

We will be moving homes in 18 days. In preparation we have eaten all but one portions of meat from the freezer. I have baked bread from all halfopen bags of whole grain flowers. There is still some frozen bread left, but that will be eaten before we move. We finished a lot of the frozen veggies. What is left is some stuff we don't want to eat anyway. Maybe it's time to ditch it.

I have also started to harvest a lot of what I am growing in pots outsides. I hope my chillies and bell peppers will get ripe, otherwise we will eat more green ones. I will dry one more batch of green chillies before giving away the plants.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Anette - glad to hear you enjoyed the zucchini fritters!

Our teens are with my parents this week, so we've been eating a bunch from the freezer, combined with garden veggies & steak my husband bought. We were able to thinly slice the steak, and we eat a lot less than teen boys, so we've made the steaks last.

Other things we've eaten:
-Lots of garden strawberries
-Made a Greek salad from garden tomatoes & cucumbers + feta from the fridge
-Used a bag of edamame (freezer) to accompany kebabs from the freezer
-Used a partial bag of potstickers as another side
-I finished off the last of the plums, froze all of the berries for smoothies

We also avoided a trip to the grocery store, and leave on vacation tomorrow, so we've made a huge dent in the freezer & the fridge is looking good!

[fuzzy math]

Well we managed to get pantry moths again in our new home 1800 miles away from the old pantry moth site. Didn't bring any food so I'm not sure how it happened. Ended up tossing only a few items (including an almond pizza crust kit that once the box was opened revealed a breeding site that could be part of a horror film). I bought a ton of clear plastic pantry organization containers (with universal lids!) and have been transferring items to them. I think its really going to help my kid's bad habits of letting small amounts of cereal languish. Its also super zen peaceful to open the pantry and just see foods instead of brightly colored packaging.

We've been eating out a lot between social events, work freebies, using up credit card food credits and mystery shopping. I've also been playing the hell out of the Safeway/Albertsons summer game and earned about $300 off of grocery purchases. The game ended yesterday and I'm kind of relieved because I was spending a large chunk of time playing and redeeming deals. I bet our grocery spend this month ends up being under $400 because of it.

Today I must strip some chicken drumsticks and remake them into a chicken marsala type thing before they go bad. I bought the drumsticks seasoned and the seasoning is really overwhelming.
Its also do or die day for a couple pasta dishes the fam has made. Going to try to pawn them off one last time (I'm GF can't eat them).

[Josiecat22222]

finished off a bag of vegetable dumplings with homemade fried rice.  One bag out of freezer before freezer burned!

Tonight made beefless bulgogi and broccoli with leftover fried rice....pretty good....now I've finished the fried rice but I have two more servings of beefless bulgogi and broccoli...which means I get to finish off the rice noodles in the pantry!!!

It is ridiculous how excited I am to be ridding myself of a package of rice noodles.

DS is out of town for next two weeks, so it's just DH and I.  We are *only* buying meat (for him) and produce for me as we are working through the pantry and freezer.  Keep tuned people!!!

[Linea_Norway]

We are now sort of in the middle of a move. We just spent almost a week in the new house house without our stuff. Today driving back to the old house. But unfortunately I left some lettuce in a plastic bag and a self-picked mushroom in the fridge. I hope they haven't walked away when I come back in 11 days.

[Zamboni]

I'm heading overseas at the beginning of next year for a multi-month work stint. The plan right now is to sublet my place, but this plan also involves eating all the food in my house in the next 6 months.

I keep a full freezer and pretty stocked pantry, which means there's going to be plenty of baking. It began this week with:
regular banana bread, which is almost eaten already
almond flour pumpkin bread

I wonder how long I can go without going to the grocery store? Probably not that long without running out of eggs or fresh veggies, although I have some peppers and tomatoes and eggplants in the garden, so it will be interesting to see how little I can spend on food while still eating well from September-November. August and December are a lost cause with family visiting . . . I'll do my best but they will request specific things.

[fuzzy math]

Its blackberry season and we are picking about 2-3 quarts of berries a day. So far none of them have made it to the freezer, we keep making things with them or just eating them straight. Yesterday we hosted a bbq and made a blackberry pie. Today might be the time where we have enough that we get some in the freezer for the fall. We also picked up some apples that had fallen off a tree - we shall see if they're edible or not. This week we've got lots of sausages, potato salad, chips, pasta salads and other junky snacks to work through from the party. Game on!

Did not see any pantry moths today, I think we're finally beyond their life cycle.

I bought a giant tub of short dated spinach (marked down to $1 from $5) and the entire thing got eaten. Also finished off the chicken marsala, leftover potatoes, rice, lunchmeat and DH polished off the pasta. Finished off a creamery strawberry milk in a glass jar and got it returned to the grocery store immediately for my $2 bottle deposit back too.

[Linea_Norway]

We are back at the "old" house, 12 days before the move. Yesterday we arrived home on Sunday late afternoon with no shops open. I investigated the cupboards and found a tin of green beans, a tin of bamboo shoots, a tin of water chestnuts and a portion bag of rice. From my own plants outside I forage green bell pepper (they are not ripe yet), some chard and kale. In the fridge I found eggs and a green homegrown chili pepper. So I threw the veggies into the wok with some asian sauces and served with boiled rice and boiled egg.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@fuzzy math - sorry to hear about the pantry moths. Hope you've gotten them all now!

@Josiecat23503 - I'm tuned in! We similarly had no kids for 10 days or so & made a lot of progress. How are you doing?

Teens are back home, after spending time with my parents. They crushed all of the fresh food in the house, and we started digging into the berries & tomatoes in the garden. One teen ate 2 lbs of cucumbers in 2 days. My digestive system wouldn't be up for that type of challenge. He also polished off all of the carrots & hummus.

I made protein smoothies multiple times over the past few days. Those use up protein powder (free from Buy Nothing), almond milk (I can't use it in my coffee, as I discovered it bothers my stomach), & lots of berries from the freezer. It's nice to make progress on the freezer, and it's looking a lot better.

While the kids were gone, we ate plenty from the freezer, and made a dent in the entrees (leftovers) as well. Hurrah!

The fridge is now totally replenished, ready for teen athletes. Both play 2 sports, one plays 3. They are always working out, attending practice, or...eating. ;-) If we stay on top of the fresh fruit & veggies, I'll be thrilled.

I need to:
-Pick & dry thyme
-Same with the basil
-pickle some of the jalapenos. The many, many jalapenos
-Ensure we get through the fresh tomatoes

[Josiecat22222]

Hey @MaybeBabyMustache ~ *waves from the other coast*

We are doing well with the plan to only buy produce and meat and work through the pantry in the absence of DS.  That said....teenagers eat a good bit, as noted! So the pace has slowed down considerably.  Meals are being prepared which are normally good for one family dinner and a serving or two of lunch are now lasting 3 nights!!!!  DH and I are joking that we need to work on the pantry now because once he goes to college we will never get through it all!!

This week we:
 made the last of the wild rice (3 servings left in the fridge)
 Made sweet and spicy vegan meatballs, using up a bottle of chili sauce, a bottle of jelly and a packet of vegan meatballs from freezer ( 3 servings also left in fridge)
Made a delicious loaf of roasted garlic bread (learned the yeast....which expired 18mo ago.....didn't rise much, so it's more like a ciabatta....but still tasty...so we got rid of 6 cups of flour and a little jar of yeast purchased early in the pandemic.
beans alla vodka (gone) which made use of some of our dried bean stash


I have made a rule that I need to make a dish that uses either dried lentils or dried beans at least once a week.  Last week was the beans alla vodka....this week is lentils....maybe burgers?

Hope everyone is doing well!!!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Josiecat23503 - no clue how we're going to adjust our meals when the boys are out of the house. When they are gone, meal prep is so easy (we have one super picky eater), and we can actually plan how many people will be dining, and what time we are eating. That's just a dream with people in & out for various events. We typically choose to time our dinners around one kid's schedule. Because, getting everyone together is not an option. So, tonight is DS17's night. We'll have tacos before he heads off to soccer practice. Shortly after he leaves, DS16 will show up from tennis, & he'll eat a delayed version of tacos.

One of the only snacks I buy that's really "teen" friendly, and not something we'd eat is cereal. If we were left with a pantry of that, we'd be in trouble, because I'm not eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

[Josiecat22222]

still two servings of wild rice and sweet and spicy meatballs in fridge....and a zucchini ...

So, tonight's dinner plan is stuffed zucchini with onion, wild rice, crushed tomato etc and will save the meatballs for another day with baked potatoes.  Still amazed at how long it takes to eat through things without a hungry teenager.

[draco44]

still two servings of wild rice and sweet and spicy meatballs in fridge....and a zucchini ...

So, tonight's dinner plan is stuffed zucchini with onion, wild rice, crushed tomato etc and will save the meatballs for another day with baked potatoes.  Still amazed at how long it takes to eat through things without a hungry teenager.

Oh man, can I come over? That sounds great. Enjoy your meal!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We continue with our plan (we've been doing this since the boys were maybe 1 & 2, when we discovered we were eating out a ton) of cooking on Friday-Sunday, and making enough for leftovers during the week. This has gotten more complicated, as it's really unpredictable to know who will be at dinner at any given time. Also, some days the boys don't want heavy meals (before practice, etc). As a result, our freezer is regularly stocked with extra dinner entrees. I'm hoping things become more predictable once school starts back up (Monday).

-I froze leftover burger my husband made, as we have way too much food going into the weekend.
-Used the last of one package of bagels for a teen lunch
-Took the other teen to lunch during what was supposed to be senior portraits, but the studio was closed with no notice. Unimpressed. DS17 & I had a lovely catch up, though, so at least there's that. We brought home leftovers, because of course more food.
-Tonight DS16 claims he'll eat with us ahead of practice, so he'll hopefully wrap up the last of the taco meat, the tortillas & the shredded cheese.
-DH & I will eat the rice & grilled chicken.

That sends us into tomorrow with one piece of salmon, and anything still left by the end of the day. Maybe we don't need to cook tomorrow. We've advised everyone that Sunday is mandatory family dinner, and the night before school starts. Still need to figure out what we're making for that.

I seriously need to get on top of the garden produce this weekend.
-Eat strawberries. Because, yum! And, it's not an overwhelming amount
-Pick last of the herbs
-Pickle all peppers
-Figure out what to do with the tomatoes

[Josiecat22222]

still two servings of wild rice and sweet and spicy meatballs in fridge....and a zucchini ...

So, tonight's dinner plan is stuffed zucchini with onion, wild rice, crushed tomato etc and will save the meatballs for another day with baked potatoes.  Still amazed at how long it takes to eat through things without a hungry teenager.

Oh man, can I come over? That sounds great. Enjoy your meal!

@draco44 -- it was really tasty! Come on over!!!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Had rice & chicken for dinner tonight, and froze the leftover chicken
-DH finished off the last of the salmon
-DS16 had a taco quesadilla, using up the rest of the taco meat
-I had a bowl of strawberries & a tomato, both from the garden

Still need to pickle the peppers, and use up as many tomatoes as possible tomorrow. I know we're having steak on Sunday (the teens have both agreed to be home for family dinner, because...steak), and need to figure out a dinner for Saturday. Highly doubt either of the teens will be home, so maybe caprese salad + some sort of protein from the freezer (and salad, which we have with every dinner).

[Josiecat22222]

made stuffed zucchini boats (again) but this time used up wild rice and sweet and spicy meatballs in the mix.  Totally a hit.  Will remember this as a way to use up ingredients during the "zucchini is on massive sale" season of the summer.

This week I am focusing on condiments/bits and bobs of sauces, pastes etc languishing in the door of my fridge.  So, tonight is general tso's cauliflower which will use up some bits of sauces. 

I think later in the week we will have pasta and I will use up the bits of tomato paste and possibly harissa.....may need to be a spicy cream sauce.

How are you all doing?

[Monocle Money Mouth]

In an effort to use up a half gallon of buttermilk and sticks of butter I had leftover, I ate a LOT of pancakes this week.

I also tried substituting regular milk with buttermilk in our cornbread recipe. That actually worked really well.

[StarBright]

I started eating my pantry and freezer down about a month before we went on an extended vacation.

Good Thing! We had a power outage when we were gone and the surge shut off the outlet that my chest freezer was plugged into.

We came home and smelled something faintly gross. There was one rotten rack of ribs in the freezer and two bags of rotted green beans. I can't imagine what it would have been like if we hadn't made the effort to eat everything down before we left.

[Dutch Comfort]

School will start this week (YEAH!!!!) and tonight I will check the fridge and freezer for all items that need to be used this week. My fridge is a mess at the moment, so I'm looking forward to have a better overview of everything that I have on hand.
Freezer is stuffed, but needs defrosting, so this will be my main challenge for the next weeks.
Started this morning with some yoghurt from the fridge, walnuts and line-seed from the pantry.
First start: LEFTOVERS!!!!!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@StarBright - that sucks about your freezer! But, so much better than it could have been. I'm sure that was a relief.

-I pickled all of the jalapenos, so all of the mini bowls are out of my fridge.
-I also made a big caprese salad yesterday, & used up a lot of fresh tomatoes. Our basil was kind of sad looking, due to the heat, but that got used as well.

Today is the first day of school, so traditional pizza delivery. Otherwise, we have plenty of leftovers in the fridge.

[Dutch Comfort]

Had to ditch a few leftovers (some pulled chicken which was not smelling OK anymore, some coleslaw (also not smelling good) and some homemade tzaziki (same ugly smell)) which feels like a fail...... but it frees up space in the fridge.
DS finished the leftover pasta-salad yesterday, so that was a win.
This morning I made some banana pancakes from 1 lonely brown banana, an egg and some flour I had on hand.

Today we have to finish the leftover Tabouleh that DD made during the weekend. This is an excellent lunch dish!

More checks on the fridge contents are needed before it will be in good shape......

[Josiecat22222]

have cannelini beans in the instapot.  Going to make Shakshuka tonight and will have leftover beans to use up the rest of the week.  But, this got a package of dried beans out of the pantry!

[Dutch Comfort]

I just cut up all kind of veggies from the fridge, scrambled a few eggs, toss in some leftover ham and mix with fried rice and Indonesian spices. Teens will not complain about this for dinner (served with shrimp and cassave chips, fried unions and spicy peanuts). All from the contents of fridge and pantry! There will probably be leftovers, but with two hungry teens I do not think the leftovers will last very long……

[Josiecat22222]

Made coconut flour protein balls this morning. Taste like cookie dough!! And used up 1/3c of coconut flour and some protein powder. Yum!!

[Anette]

Made coconut flour protein balls this morning. Taste like cookie dough!! And used up 1/3c of coconut flour and some protein powder. Yum!!

Would you please share your recipe?

[Josiecat22222]

@Anette, sure thing!

Mix:
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup peanut butter
4T milk (dairy or nondairy- whatever you prefer)
3T choc chips
1T honey
1/2 cup protein powder (I used French vanilla)

mix ingredients together then roll into balls - I get about 12 and calculate them to be about 135 calories and 7g of protein each.  I keep them in the fridge.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Oof, it's been a journey. I got COVID, and isolated from everyone else in my house, so there was a lot of delivery happening. We never do that, but there are just moments when it saves you. I'm now feeling marginally better (still masking, to keep the teens from hopefully getting it), and trying to use up what we have:

-I found an open container of fresh mozzarella slices. I had 1/2 a bagel with fresh mozzarella, garden tomatoes & salt & pepper for both lunch & dinner. YUM. I also made that as a side for DS17. We have a few slices of cheese left, but the gnarly squirrels cleared off all of our tomatoes over the past few days, so I'll need to get creative.
-DS17 also finished off all of the garden tomatoes
-I froze plums that I received from a neighbor, but wasn't going to eat before I left last weekend
-I made a breakfast wrap, using the last egg, a tiny amount of shredded cheese someone left in a bowl, & a tortilla.

Over the weekend, I need to make applesauce out of the large bag of apples I picked up off Buy Nothing. And, make a menu plan, because we've now gone 10 days without one, and I'm getting twitchy without one.

[Dutch Comfort]

Good week where a lot of bits and pieces from the fridge were eaten, so it looks way better now:

Wins:
- all veggies are gone (except for some tomatoes and cucumbers, but these are a stash in this house and get eaten all the time)
- shredded a small piece of cheese on the tortilla's yesterday
- used up the heavy cream in said tortilla's instead of sour cream
- teens are back to school, digging in on the to-go snacks which free up some space in the pantry
- made a cake last weekend with everything I had on hand and it turned out delicious!

Fails:
- a few last bites of the fried rice needed to be tossed
- found a leftover box with some beans in it...... were not smelling right, so out it went

Challenge for next week:
- start meal planning again (I feel you @MaybeBabyMustache, I'm nowhere without a meal plan.....)
- use bread from freezer, since I have about 4 loafs in, which is way too much! Grilled cheese sandwiches for the win!

[Josiecat22222]

@MaybeBabyMustache, UGH. I hope you feel better soon! 

Still plugging along here.... made a thai curry last night which consumed 2 cans of coconut milk and some rice and am bringing soup and homemade bread to a dear friend's mother who just had surgery (so using more flour and other ingredients).

With the storms this week, the temperature dropped into the 70s and it felt like fall.  Which meant all I wanted to do was cook!! Luckily for my waistline, the temp goes back up to 90s this weekend and I'll be back to lighter fare.

[Dutch Comfort]

It was a good week! Usually I have a grocery delivery on Thursday, but decided to postpone it for a week, since the fridge/freezer/pantry still had enough. And it worked! We still came up with good meals. Maybe not the preferred ones, but the meals were nutricious and healthy and we used up a lot of items.

Wins:
- home made lasagna used up a pack of burger patties (instead of ground beef, but it worked...... I didn't need to put any salt in the tomato sauce), a box of tomato sauce that I got for free, leftover cheeses (some mozzarella and some grated cheese) and various colors of bell peppers. Leftover lasagna was another meal for DS after soccer training and one lunch serving for me.
- DD craved a vegetarian spinach dish when she returned from school camp, which used spinach from freezer, potatoes from pantry and a few eggs.
- Made a huge salad from all kind of leftover veggies yesterday before I had to go to a school meeting. Healthy and delicious...... Teens and DH had a pasta dish from pantry/freezer items.
- tonight will be French fries from freezer, some meat from freezer and a cucumber/celery/tomato salad.
- 1st loaf of bread is almost gone..... 3 to go!

Fails:
- Made tabouleh on Sunday, but forgot the leftovers..... Needed to toss it on Wednesday because it tasted weird.....

Challenges:
- FREEZER!!!!!!! 3 loafs of bread and loads of frozen meat.
- My dad gave me a large bag of freshly picked pears. Need to eat those and/or use it in a cake. Baking might be a nice project for this evening.....

[Josiecat22222]

Strong work, @Dutch Comfort !  I have this recipe in my file for when it gets a bit cooler, but maybe it will work for some of your pears:
https://thehomepage.co.uk/skye-mcalpines-tagliatelle-with-gorgonzola-pear-and-walnut/.  If you try it, please let me know if you like it!

Little bits of progress here:
  Made a caesar salad last night for the fellas and turned some hot dog buns I'd stuck in the freezer after a cookout into croutons.  They were so good!!
   Made a batch of barley and have been using it as a base for grain bowls with roasted veg for lunches.  Also used IP to make some cannelini beans which are also in there.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Okay, I made a huge double batch of applesauce over the weekend, using up the enormous bag of apples I got off of Buy Nothing. I turned that into two dozen apple sauce muffins.

I also pulled a bunch of overly ripe bananas out of the freezer, and used those to make two dozen banana muffins. All muffins went into the freezer, so I didn't exactly make any freezer space, but I did turn ingredients into easily consumed food, which is a win.

While I did resort to takeout one night over the weekend, I had leftovers for one lunch, and two dinners.

I also made up a huge batch of chicken fajitas, using all of the remaining garden peppers. We've had that for two dinners, and will likely finish off the rest tonight.

I'm flying to Japan on Sunday (work, and I'm really dreading it), so I need to sort out easy meal options for DH & the teens.

[fuzzy math]

I've been intentionally buying less at the grocery store and seeing what kind of reactions the family has. So far nothing really but its helping the grocery bill for sure. We had gotten in a really bad habit when we lived rurally (and during Covid) of buying more than a week's worth of items. Now I only do it for things on extreme markdown (ie, the 1.97/lb ground turkey I bought yesterday)

Wins:
- Used up some iceberg lettuce DH bought in a salad that I mixed with Good lettuce.
- Used up the leftover vegetables and meat from a family dinner we hosted
- Kids have finished off a bunch of random cereals and freezer bread / english muffins
- Made falafel from an embarrassingly old package, paired with a costco sized tatziki that I've nearly finished on my own (surprisingly healthy - 50 calories for 2 TBSP vs 120 calories for most salad dressings)
- Thawed and finished a cube of ground beef to make room for newer ground beef I bought on sale
- Finished a package of imitation crab before it went bad (i have a habit of forgetting)
- Froze some cheese before it went bad
- kids finished the flour tortillas
- used the last of the coffee we moved to our current home
- mixed some leftover chicken breast with a weird cheese dip that DD made and ate it


Loses:
- I'm going to have to toss some rice noodles, they spike my blood sugar too much. DH is out of town and kids won't eat them
- some free picked blackberries went moldy. The season is really over and much of what is left is questionable.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Nice work, @fuzzy math - both the using it up & reducing the purchasing.

I've been super tired, after an international work trip, but a few wins here & there:
-Scraped together a very not impressive meal on Friday, when my flight was 5 hours delayed. Found some tomatoes & basil in the garden, added fresh mozzarella that was about to go bad. Served that with breaded chicken from the freezer.
-Helped DS17 with a school project that required a baked good. We had everything for chocolate chip banana bread, so made that, & used up four bananas from the freezer.
-Tonight, I was helping DS17 with college applications, so DH jumped in to help with dinner. Defrosted two packages of thinly sliced steak & hoagie rolls, & added a package of provolone that I bought over the summer. He made delicious Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. The teens were big fans.

[Dutch Comfort]

Pantry is getting in shape, with teens back in school and grabbing snacking items when they are in/out of the house.
Fridge is OK-ish, freezer is still a work in progress.

Wins:
- DD finished a bag of granola, which I got for free to try.
- I'm keeping on top of fruits and veggies, which results in far less waste.
- Cans of beans / carrots / peas / corn are slowly making their way out of the pantry (I had way too many cans....) - burrito's for the win!
- DD finished an old portion of soup which was still in the freezer. Glad to have that one eaten away. Also used up 1/2 bag of croutons in said soup.
- Made a large batch of fried rice. Have about 7 portions of leftover, which will serve as easy dinners when teens go to sports training.

Fails:
- not all pears made it into my cakes/dishes/fruit bowls. Had to toss a few.
- had to toss some soy-milk. Note to self: only buy one liter instead of two.....

Challenges:
- the freezer....... still a lot of bread and meat in there (and the leftover fried rice).

@fuzzy math good job on the groceries! I was used to plan delivery once a week. Now brought it back to once every two weeks, since I do not get to the minimum amount every week. Works wonders for my pantry.

[Josiecat22222]

Used dried black beans to make refried beans and black beans which will become black beans dip for dinner tonight
Made fresh bread for grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade tomato soup last night using up a couple of cans of diced tomatoes and some tomato paste

[Dutch Comfort]

I love the shape of my pantry as it currently is. Just a few things that need attention, but mostly OK.
Fridge is also OK. Full now (grocery run yesterday), but will empty nearing the end of the week when everything will be eaten away.

Wins:
- made a batch of beef stew (meat from freezer) yesterday which will be dinner today and tomorrow.
- used all tomatoes and 2 bell peppers in a salad yesterday
- teens have already eaten 3 portions of the fried rice leftovers which I've frozen. Only 4 left (I expect this week).
- We finished all chocolate from the pantry...... in time for the holidays! No more chocolate will enter the house before the holiday season!
- We have 2 new guinea pigs..... they will take care of veggie-scraps as from now.

Challenges:
- still that bread from freezer.....
- the remaining contents of the freezer (already prepared some spring rolls to go with the fried rice). I also noticed some chicken bones and veggie scraps in there, so I might need to make some chicken broth / chicken soup in the next week or so.
- going through all leftover condiments in the fridge

[seemsright]

With this summer being crazy busy my kitchen got out of hand. Also had a huge garden, with a couple friends and one of those friends loves to can things, make things and what not. So my fridge and pantry are full of that stuff too.

It is coming down to I just flat out do not want to manage the inventory. Keeping track of all of the odds and ends is just so much damn effort. I am over it.

So this fall I am going to really pare down.

I have 300# of winter squash in my garage. Making a batch of pumpkin butter this week to share with my garden friends.

Tonight I took some pasta, and some preserved lemons with some sad lemons in the bottom of my fridge added some olive oil, and roasted veggies. And made some of the best lemon pasta I think I have ever had. Will make it again. I also have some preserved limes in my fridge (from the friend who likes to make stuff) That I need to figure out what to do with.

[Dutch Comfort]

Had a good week:

- made pulled chicken from freezer meat for a dinner party last Saturday. No leftovers!
- planned pasta night yesterday but found out we had no ground meat from freezer to go into the pasta sauce. Since I did not want to go grocery shopping, I made a nice other dish instead using up some pork and pie-crust from freezer and bell peppers, onions, cucumbers and salad from fridge.
- DD finished last of frozen berries from freezer in her breakfast this morning

This weekend, I will be out with friends, while DH will have to entertain the teens. Not sure how I will find my freezer and fridge on Sunday......

Wins:
- pulled chicken used up chicken from freezer, can of diced tomatoes and various herbs/spices
- pie crust and pork, both from freezer, were used yesterday
- leftover olives and sliced deli meat was used on a pizza on Sunday, also using up a can of spiced tomato-sauce from pantry
- made a tortilla-pie for dinner last Friday, using up ground meat, can of diced tomatoes, bell peppers, tortilla's and some odd cheese scraps which I grated
- DS made banana pancakes for lunch yesterday, using up the brown bananas

Losses:
- some mustard which was accidently left outside the fridge and became all dried out.....

Challenges:
- going through the loafs of bread from freezer now......
- some milk and buttermilk in fridge need to be used. Might involve some baking.....
- another batch of pears that my father brought me.

[Catbert]

seemsright - For preserved limes, try in a gin and tonic instead of a fresh lime wedge.  If I've had a jar for awhile (or the new lime season is starting) I puree what's left along with the salty liquid.  Add a spoonful to lime curd or salad dressing.  Can you tell I like salt?

Traditional use would be in a middle eastern chicken dish.

Dutch Comfort - If you ever have dried out mustard again, use the crusty jar to make an oil and vinegar type dressing.  I always try for one last use of mustard and jam by making salad dressing with the almost completely empty jar.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I just got back from another trip (this time, 10 days in France to celebrate my sister's 50th, so way more fun than an international work trip), and am trying to spend the weekend getting organized & meal prepping. So far:

-Made lunch for the teens, which means they will eat whatever I put in front of them. Made good progress with the berries & veggies/hummus. Also made naan grilled cheese sandwiches, which are a big hit.
-Made chicken to go with leftover delivery salad yesterday, and turn it into a meal
-Made applesauce muffins, to use up some of the applesauce (somewhere above) that I mentioned making out of a bag of freebie apples & freezing.
-Took 5 freezer bananas out & used them to make chocolate chip banana bread, which was outstanding.
-Had an eclectic breakfast of banana bread + chicken
-Defrosted orzo from the freezer (leftover from a delicious chicken skillet dish) & had that as another lunch this week
-Prepping 5 lbs of ground beef for taco meat. Some will stay out for this week, the rest will be packaged into 1lb portions for the freezer
-I'll also prep 5 lbs of chicken shawarma, for dinners this week, and the rest into the freezer for upcoming dinners

[fuzzy math]

Been a while since I posted, I'm going to try to remember a few week's worth of eating!

 - Used up some freezer buns with some pulled pork for DS
- Ate almost all of the produce we bought a few weekends back at a salvage produce stand - the rest went to the chickens
- Finished off the snacks we brought home from a party - all except some berries and some cheese which I froze
- I made 7 layer bars for that party, used up some older coconut flakes and the last of the chocolate chips
- Had DH finish off all the gluten containing items languishing in the fridge (pasta, some breaded chicken)
- Gave the chickens some oatmeal that DD made and didn't finish.
- Made DS some pancakes using mix that DD abandoned. Getting DD's rejected meals pawned off on others is a full time job
- Hosted a dinner party or 9 (!) using things we had in the house already without buying more. Made bourbon chicken, rice and broccoli
- Froze a portion of apple juice from a big jug so the next time we make bourbon chicken we don't have to buy more.
- Didn't have the needed chicken stock for that same recipe so I substituted a partial cube of vegetable bullion
- I've been drinking a lot of hot tea as the weather has changed. Finally using up some teas that are probably 5 yrs old
- DD has been experimenting with seasonings and lots are finally getting used.
- Have more hamburger buns, going to thaw some beef and make burgers tomorrow.
- DS ate some regular yogurt that no one liked
- I ate some greek yogurt that no one liked with some peaches that had gotten too soft in the fridge
- I started making my own trail mix using bulk bin nuts. Not only is it cheaper but I like everything in it for once and there are no unwanted allergens
- Made DS a grilled sandwich using some old frozen lunchmeat


Proud to say that for our family of 5 (2 adults, 2 teens and a teen sized tween) we're sticking to about $180 a week for groceries. When the money is spent I just stop shopping unless something specific is needed for a recipe DD is making. I try to encourage her to cook, its enjoyable for her and she struggles with having a limited number of foods she likes so any time she wants to make something its a YES.