Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183582 times)

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #600 on: August 14, 2015, 08:25:24 PM »
What to do with a container of sour cream?

We had to toss out a few bagels today.  I did use 5 over ripe bananas for banana bread yesterday.

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #601 on: August 14, 2015, 08:49:17 PM »
What to do with a container of sour cream?

We had to toss out a few bagels today.  I did use 5 over ripe bananas for banana bread yesterday.


Sour cream is a nice light dessert with sliced strawberries mixed in (add sugar optional).
Or add sweetener to sour cream for dessert topping (similar to cool whip).
BTW, super ripe bananas are excellent when frozen- just peel and place in a bag , and into the freezer. It turns into a ice cream like treat (and healthy). also excellent addition to smoothies in summertime to cool you down.

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #602 on: August 15, 2015, 03:20:03 AM »
There are many recipes online for things like sour cream coffeecake, and in other baked goods. Here's a few suggestions too:

http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/7-ways-with/ways-to-cook-with-sour-cream#more

http://www.thekitchn.com/help-what-to-do-with-leftover-81406

gaja

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #603 on: August 15, 2015, 09:41:39 AM »
I don't know if your sour cream is the same as our, I think bacterial cultures and fat content varies, but we use a lot of sour cream in sauces and casseroles. One of my father's favorite left over dishes go something like: Sliced sausages or other types of left over meat, onions, boiled potates, carrots and swedes, fry lightly in a large pan, add a box of sour cream, cook for 2-3 minutes, serve. I like to add a dollop of chilli paste or some spices, to get a bit fresher taste.

Waffles with sour cream get really crunchy, and you can use it in porridge instead of milk or water. All baking (breads, buns...) get better with sour cream.

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #604 on: August 15, 2015, 09:49:49 AM »
Brown rice cooked up with kidney beans. Mmm. I will hav a side of raw veggies to complete the meal or a veg smoothie.

gaja

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #605 on: August 15, 2015, 10:10:24 AM »
We cooked up a large portion of lasagna yesterday, from food in the pantries. Got rid of some old cheese, meat from the freezer, and pasta. One portion went back into the freezer, the rest was eaten for lunch, dinner and breakfast.

Ox05

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #606 on: August 16, 2015, 08:46:02 PM »
Finally worked through some Bulgar wheat (delicious, healthy and affordable... but also REALLY easy to ignore). Combined it with some chicken, sauteed potatoes/onion, and a pouch of Tasty Bite Vegetable Tikka Massala. Surprisingly simple to make, healthy, cheap, and delicious. Thanks for challenging me!

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #607 on: August 17, 2015, 01:59:57 AM »
Did a full inventory of the freezer on Saturday (cold hands!).

Took out some salmon for dinner. Was informed with one hours notice that we had an unexpected dinner guest (which was a nice suprise), so had to scramble for what to do.

Contemplated fish cakes to stretch the two fillets, but I also had a lovely pork loin in the freezer which, with more notice, I definitely would have served. So I defrosted that under running water and saved the salmon for Sunday. Cobbled together a quick mozarella and tomato salad to start, since we didn't have many potatoes.

Made a sauce for the pork from onions, garlic, an apple and an individual pot of chicken stock, which has been hanging around for ages. All in all a very yummy dinner, and I was pleased with myself for not suggesting we go out or get take away just because it was last minute.

I also discovered I have enough ends of chicken fillets for a meal. When I get a bird with lots of breast meat I shave a bit off and freeze it. I've now got enough of these 'extras' for chicken fajitas, which will feel like a free meal!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #608 on: August 17, 2015, 11:06:29 AM »
Nice Job everyone!

OX05 - for bulgar. I make a vegetarian version of Cig Kofte. Loosely based on this recipe: http://www.unrulybliss.com/recipe/turkish-red-lentil-lettuce-wraps/ They are awesome, everyone in my family loves them! They are great wrapped in lettuce, but the filling can also be fried into little patties much like a falafel - but way tastier!

I have been finding my biggest "Use it up" challenge has been the fresh veggies that we have been getting from the Garden and CSA. Living up North and not having access to fresh veggies for so many years has made me get into the habit of not being very good at remembering to cook with them. 

I have a big crockpot of fennel, onions and apple that I am caramelizing. Will serve with a pork loin roast I found in the freezer for dinner tonight and leftovers for the next couple of days. Planning on making a pan of roasted root veggies to go along with it.

I have been making No-knead bread but substituting 1/2 a cup of the flour for the cornmeal I have been trying to use up for ages (Making progress, I just had way too much) it has been working out very well.

Does anyone have any suggestions for fresh green beans? Usually, I give them a quick stir-fry in garlic and top with some toasted almonds, but it is starting to become monotonous. I do know this is a good problem to have!

gaja

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #609 on: August 17, 2015, 12:11:39 PM »
Made a batch of pancakes yesterday from a liter of sourmilk (kefir) and a bit of sourcream that were almost two months past the date. Really fluffy and nice pancakes, that disappeared almost as fast as I could make them.

Dinner today was the last of our eggs with some tomato soup and pasta. For tomorrow, I've pulled out some pork, think I'll be making a stir fry.

I'm already seeing more space in the freezer and fridge. Not really seeing as big a difference in the food budget as I was hoping for, but maybe if we keep this up...

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #610 on: August 17, 2015, 12:18:08 PM »
Nice Job everyone!

OX05 - for bulgar. I make a vegetarian version of Cig Kofte. Loosely based on this recipe: http://www.unrulybliss.com/recipe/turkish-red-lentil-lettuce-wraps/ They are awesome, everyone in my family loves them! They are great wrapped in lettuce, but the filling can also be fried into little patties much like a falafel - but way tastier!

I have been finding my biggest "Use it up" challenge has been the fresh veggies that we have been getting from the Garden and CSA. Living up North and not having access to fresh veggies for so many years has made me get into the habit of not being very good at remembering to cook with them. 

I have a big crockpot of fennel, onions and apple that I am caramelizing. Will serve with a pork loin roast I found in the freezer for dinner tonight and leftovers for the next couple of days. Planning on making a pan of roasted root veggies to go along with it.

I have been making No-knead bread but substituting 1/2 a cup of the flour for the cornmeal I have been trying to use up for ages (Making progress, I just had way too much) it has been working out very well.

Does anyone have any suggestions for fresh green beans? Usually, I give them a quick stir-fry in garlic and top with some toasted almonds, but it is starting to become monotonous. I do know this is a good problem to have!

Green beans are excellent in eggs ( lighly cook first unless sliced to small pieces ).
Excellent addition to salads, with cooked or raw ( I love them raw ).
Great raw with hummus or dip.
Green bean casserole: add cream of mushroom, onions, salt, pepper and top with dried onions ( and bake ).

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #611 on: August 17, 2015, 12:32:02 PM »
[quote author=riverffashion link=topic=23139.msg771323#msg771323 date=1439835488

Green beans are excellent in eggs ( lighly cook first unless sliced to small pieces ).
Excellent addition to salads, with cooked or raw ( I love them raw ).
Great raw with hummus or dip.
Green bean casserole: add cream of mushroom, onions, salt, pepper and top with dried onions ( and bake ).
[/quote]

Thanks for the suggestions!

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #612 on: August 17, 2015, 07:08:07 PM »
[quote author=riverffashion link=topic=23139.msg771323#msg771323 date=1439835488

Green beans are excellent in eggs ( lighly cook first unless sliced to small pieces ).
Excellent addition to salads, with cooked or raw ( I love them raw ).
Great raw with hummus or dip.
Green bean casserole: add cream of mushroom, onions, salt, pepper and top with dried onions ( and bake ).

Thanks for the suggestions!
[/quote]

This is a great thread for new ideas isn't it? Love it.

Ox05

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #613 on: August 17, 2015, 08:05:01 PM »
Swig! Thanks for the advice, I'm totally going to fry the rest up as patties tomorrow to mix things up a bit!

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #614 on: August 19, 2015, 06:26:05 PM »
Another way to use up green beans: can them! My sister has been pickling green beans for years and they are quite tasty.

I like steamed green beans as one of the beans in 3 bean salad (I also use pintos, chickpeas, kidney beans -- whatever adds up to 3 beans). There are lots of easy recipes for this online.

gatortator

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #615 on: August 19, 2015, 08:19:43 PM »
Does anyone have any suggestions for fresh green beans?

Green bean tacos are awesome! 

It's similar to making peppers and onions for fajitas-- but replace the peppers with green beans and skip the meat.  I flavor it all with cumin, chili powder and garlic.   Serve with tortillas and your preferred taco fixings!



seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #616 on: August 23, 2015, 08:33:41 PM »
I figure out how to make homemade tofu from dry soy beans. It took two days. But the texture is a 1000 times better than the store bought stuff. Fried it up with some miso and soy sauce and served over salad with homemade peanut seaseme dressing...even my 5 year old went nuts for it. Yea for not only saving some cash but making food with what is on hand.

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #617 on: August 23, 2015, 08:40:34 PM »
Used up a bag of Costco shrimp that was in the freezer -- made a fresh veggie stir fry with 3 zucchini, 2 onions, 2 bell peppers, a small bag of carrots, some questionable celery and a homemade stir fry sauce -- threw in the cooked shrimp at the last minute. Dinner was delicious!

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #618 on: August 23, 2015, 09:52:29 PM »
I figure out how to make homemade tofu from dry soy beans. It took two days. But the texture is a 1000 times better than the store bought stuff. Fried it up with some miso and soy sauce and served over salad with homemade peanut seaseme dressing...even my 5 year old went nuts for it. Yea for not only saving some cash but making food with what is on hand.

That's super exciting! I never thought about making tofu (although I've made a million other things from scratch). And the completed meal sounds delicious.

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #619 on: August 24, 2015, 03:07:43 AM »
Thanks to my freezer audit earlier this week, I knew we had enough scraps of chicken breast to make fajitas without buying chicken. So I defrosted them all and was glad to use them up. One bag was dated 2012 (!) and had a little freezer burn, but oh well, serves me right for not using it up sooner.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #620 on: August 24, 2015, 12:44:34 PM »
Used up the rest of the almond flour to make breakfast pizzas yesterday.

Used up the three overripe bananas to make banana bread last night.

I'll use up the rest of the plain pork rinds to bread chicken legs tonight.

Tossed 1/2 cup strawberries yesterday.  We didn't get to them in time before leaving for vacation last week, and I neglected to toss them into the freezer.  :(  However, that's it for food waste this month.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #621 on: August 24, 2015, 03:20:43 PM »
I've used up all my stock, so made new on the frozen chicken bones today.

Also been really enjoying ods-and-end salad the last few days. Only rule is: put in all and soundry you will eat from fridge and pantry. Todays lunchsalad was red onion, olives, feta, some sausage, tomatoes, pineaple (all random leftovers), a heap of lettuce and plenty of herbs to liven things up. It's quite the creative prosess: I've never har this fun with salads before.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #622 on: August 25, 2015, 02:04:09 PM »
This is going to be pleasant for my wallet.
Spent $ 19 this weekend for every last food-item I need until next week. And then I only need some milk, fresh fruit and cheese to last another full week.

Today made two more lunchsalads with ods and ends. Hope capers fits  - found  a jar in the back of my fridge and made use of it.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #623 on: August 26, 2015, 09:42:37 AM »
Soaked and boiled a pot of pinto beans for instead of opening a can of refried beans for burritos last night.  DH bought a HUGE bag of pintos earlier this year, and we've slowly been going through it.  Used up the last evelope of very strong taco seasoning mix.  Blegh.  I'll continue making my own blend.

Zucchini will go into tomorrow's Crock Pot lasagna, as will a container of homemade tomato sauce from the freezer.


swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #624 on: August 26, 2015, 09:55:03 AM »
This is going to be pleasant for my wallet.
Spent $ 19 this weekend for every last food-item I need until next week. And then I only need some milk, fresh fruit and cheese to last another full week.

Today made two more lunchsalads with ods and ends. Hope capers fits  - found  a jar in the back of my fridge and made use of it.

Popped capers are life transforming! Drain em, pat em dry and heat up a bit of olive oil. When really hot, add the capers and stir them around until they begin to golden and crisp. Just a minute or two. Drain em on paper towel. I add em to everything.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #625 on: August 28, 2015, 01:20:39 AM »
Popped capers are life transforming! Drain em, pat em dry and heat up a bit of olive oil. When really hot, add the capers and stir them around until they begin to golden and crisp. Just a minute or two. Drain em on paper towel. I add em to everything.
Thank you for the tip. Will try. :)

Today I'm making pumpkin soup with the very last of last years pumpkin puree. Good to have it out of the freezer before the new pumpkin season. Also using up half a can of coconut milk and some of the never-ending supply of home grown chilies.

Made croutons from old stale bread for the first time ever this week. Can't believe I've never made them before. Takes next to no time - tastes amazing. Now I'm looking forward to testing out different herbs and a bit of cheese with them and so on..

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #626 on: August 28, 2015, 02:48:06 AM »
Had dinner all prepped and ready to cook when husband called to tell me he wouldn't be home for dinner! Cooked it and froze it all, as we're away for the weekend and it wouldn't have lasted all chopped up. Glad to have a ready done meal in the freezer I guess, but I was annoyed at the time.

Without this thread I may have just let my annoyance take over and wasted most of it, but now I wouldn't dare!

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #627 on: August 29, 2015, 10:07:25 PM »
Used up a jar of extra virgin olive oil today, just in time for it to be replaced by a 3L tin I picked up for $16.99. It was the last one on the shelf so I asked for a rain check for 2 more :-)

HappierAtHome

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #628 on: August 30, 2015, 05:18:39 AM »
Working on some chocolate right now ;-) that counts, right? It was in my pantry!

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #629 on: August 30, 2015, 07:18:03 PM »
Working on some chocolate right now ;-) that counts, right? It was in my pantry!
Totally!

I used leftover whipping cream (used to make tikka masala a few weeks ago), a little hot fudge, and strawberries to make a dessert because I was craving something sweet. 


Juslookin

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #630 on: September 03, 2015, 05:10:30 AM »
I've been reading and catching up. We had a pipe burst over the winter and cause major damage to our first floor and kitchen. I was without a kitchen for most of the summer. The result was massive food bills.

We set up a makeshift kitchen in the basement with an electric burner, microwave and toaster oven but it was a challenge to say the least.

Now that I have my kitchen back, (and it's gorgeous), I need to get back to eating down our stock.
I have two fridge/freezer combos, a chest freezer and an upright freezer. I actually have another chest freezer but we emptied that in the spring and it sits unplugged.

We grow a lot of our fruit and veggies. We have raised our own chicken and pork. Right now I am raising a beef cow. So at certain times of the year we can fill those freezers up easy. This year with the work in the house, (we did it ourselves, my husband is a wonderful carpenter), we didn't process anything out of the garden, we're just eating it. This is fine because I still have an overabundance from last year.

I will do a freezer inventory this week and get on track. I'd like to save a ton of food money this month.

So last night's dinner was chicken quesadillas for two of us and shepherds pie for the other two. I didn't have enough beef or chicken leftovers for four so I combined them. I thawed a gluten free strawberry cake and we all enjoyed desert, a rarity.

Dexterous

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #631 on: September 13, 2015, 01:44:36 AM »
We embarked on this task a month ago without posting, and right as we about finished... our friends moved across country.  They provided us all of their food that they didn't want to transport, which completely filled our cabinets/freezer.  It's now time to start over, with some foods we typically don't eat!  Fun.

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #632 on: September 13, 2015, 11:41:50 AM »
We embarked on this task a month ago without posting, and right as we about finished... our friends moved across country.  They provided us all of their food that they didn't want to transport, which completely filled our cabinets/freezer.  It's now time to start over, with some foods we typically don't eat!  Fun.

Excellent! Free food, money saved, great challenge :)

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #633 on: September 28, 2015, 06:05:18 PM »
Salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, carrot, apple. Corn tortillas, hot sauce, and salt. I eat a plant-based diet, but was expecting to not fill up. I did and was pleasantly surprised.
Also, I don't enjoy fruit in salads ordinarily but figured I needed to bulk up the meal so added & was actually good.

YellowCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #634 on: September 29, 2015, 01:50:34 AM »
I'm in! I'll be moving from Germany to the US in just 12 days! I have a tiny kitchen, so not a huge stash of food, but still need to get through the random bits and bobs floating around in there...I've planned to make some veggie burgers to use my canned beans, sweet potatoes, and breadcrumbs (still leaving me with an excess of breadcrumbs!) and need to find a good use for 1/2 jar of tart cherry jam. It's awesome jam but I'm not much of a jam eater - bought it for my mom - and don't want to buy any baking supplies to turn it into something else. Does anybody have a good, vegetarian recipe for something savory one can make with cherry jam? I'm thinking of mixing it with balsamic vinegar for some salad dressing, or with fresh tomatoes & veggies for a chopped relish type thing. Dunno. What are your thoughts? I'm hoping to be ~zero waste when I leave on the 10th, though worst case scenario I contribute to the great German compost pile...

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #635 on: September 29, 2015, 06:01:26 AM »
need to find a good use for 1/2 jar of tart cherry jam. It's awesome jam but I'm not much of a jam eater - bought it for my mom - and don't want to buy any baking supplies to turn it into something else. Does anybody have a good, vegetarian recipe for something savory one can make with cherry jam?

Couscous, roast squash or sweet potato and a spiced cherry jam/onion compote/chutney on top with some nuts?

YellowCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #636 on: September 29, 2015, 07:11:08 AM »
That sounds tasty - thanks! Will have to think about how to spice it properly...probably with something reasonably hot, like cayenne. Onion, cherry, and cayenne pepper chutney could work!

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #637 on: September 29, 2015, 12:59:29 PM »
I'm in! I'll be moving from Germany to the US in just 12 days! I have a tiny kitchen, so not a huge stash of food, but still need to get through the random bits and bobs floating around in there...I've planned to make some veggie burgers to use my canned beans, sweet potatoes, and breadcrumbs (still leaving me with an excess of breadcrumbs!) and need to find a good use for 1/2 jar of tart cherry jam. It's awesome jam but I'm not much of a jam eater - bought it for my mom - and don't want to buy any baking supplies to turn it into something else. Does anybody have a good, vegetarian recipe for something savory one can make with cherry jam? I'm thinking of mixing it with balsamic vinegar for some salad dressing, or with fresh tomatoes & veggies for a chopped relish type thing. Dunno. What are your thoughts? I'm hoping to be ~zero waste when I leave on the 10th, though worst case scenario I contribute to the great German compost pile...

My coworker has an excellent recipe with tart cherries-
Soak in whiskey 24 hrs at least.
Sauté cherries in butter.
Add sauted mushrooms & Worcester sauce .
She uses as a steak sauce, but could be used for anything I image.
I am vegan, so would use probably coconut oil as substitute for butter.
Probably good over sauted greens, brown rice or quinoa.

Gray Matter

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #638 on: September 29, 2015, 03:33:32 PM »
I have a slight twist on this.  DH and I overspent this month on groceries (damn Costco!), and I want to make it up in October.  So, my goal for a family of five:

$600.00     October's monthly grocery allotment
-272.31      Amount overspent in September
-100.00      School lunches for October
$227.69    Total Amount Budgeted for October Groceries

This won't be easy, but should be doable as we have food in the pantry and freezer, including a turkey, and still have a box of veggies each week from the CSA (not sure when that stops, but sometime in October).  It'll be made a little more challenging by the fact that I'm hosting my mom and aunt for a long weekend, and we're taking friends to the cabin for another weekend, but with lots of planning and foresight (NOT my forte), we should be OK.

I'll check in periodically this month.

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #639 on: September 29, 2015, 04:16:30 PM »
I have a slight twist on this.  DH and I overspent this month on groceries (damn Costco!), and I want to make it up in October.  So, my goal for a family of five:

$600.00     October's monthly grocery allotment
-272.31      Amount overspent in September
-100.00      School lunches for October
$227.69    Total Amount Budgeted for October Groceries

This won't be easy, but should be doable as we have food in the pantry and freezer, including a turkey, and still have a box of veggies each week from the CSA (not sure when that stops, but sometime in October).  It'll be made a little more challenging by the fact that I'm hosting my mom and aunt for a long weekend, and we're taking friends to the cabin for another weekend, but with lots of planning and foresight (NOT my forte), we should be OK.

I'll check in periodically this month.

If you tell us what you hav, perhaps we can offer up ideas :).

Kaikou

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #640 on: September 29, 2015, 05:06:34 PM »
this sounds like foun! :0

so do we list what we have in house and then people share recipes?

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #641 on: September 29, 2015, 05:08:17 PM »
this sounds like foun! :0

so do we list what we have in house and then people share recipes?

Yes, excellent!

Nancy

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #642 on: October 05, 2015, 09:04:25 AM »
What's your favorite recipe involving cucumbers?
-Have done: cucumber salad, tabbouleh, pickles, cucumber muffins

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #643 on: October 05, 2015, 09:22:24 AM »
What's your favorite recipe involving cucumbers?
-Have done: cucumber salad, tabbouleh, pickles, cucumber muffins


Cucumber is really good in smoothies. Gives a sort of light sweet taste and nice smooth texture. Blend with any combination of fruits or veg. And some some of milk (iuse substitute, am vegan)
Kale, spinach, apple, banana, pineapple, any kind of melon or berry, mango, carrot, celery are all good options.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2015, 09:27:27 AM by riverffashion »

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #644 on: October 06, 2015, 12:13:15 PM »
I'm jumping back in.  We've acquired a lot of weird food items in the past few months.  Our freezer is overflowing.  Our shelves are full, and I'm still shopping for new food. 

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #645 on: October 06, 2015, 02:35:23 PM »
Im out of black tea, so I've decided not to buy more- just quit caffeine (which I've done a few times over the years). Looking forward to the natural energy that always follows :)

Nancy

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #646 on: October 06, 2015, 05:00:15 PM »
Smoothies! They totally fell off my radar. Thanks! Also good on you for quitting caffeine!

YellowCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #647 on: October 07, 2015, 12:19:36 PM »
Well, I'm in the last few days before I move and I've done all the cooking I'm going to do. Most of my leftover fresh veg, onions, olives, etc. got turned into a surprisingly tasty pot of rice & beans ++ tonight. I've got enough leftovers to keep me through the remainder of my time here, lined up neatly in the fridge. I gave some usable food to a colleague who lives in the same building (rice, breadcrumbs, an extra head of garlic) and I think the pitch pile will be as follows: a bit of fresh ginger, a few Tbsp jam (I tried hard but can't eat all of it!), and yogurt my mom bought a few weeks ago & didn't finish (I'm wildly lactose intolerant, and couldn't eat it if I wanted to). Germany is big on composting so I don't feel very guilty for the (minimal) waste. I've also got some great bread spread in the fridge and I'm thinking of having that for breakfast Saturday before I leave, with just a little bit of celebratory German bread. Which happens to be the best bread in the whole world...so! Pretty pleased. I'm excited to repeat the experience when I return home to various half-empty containers of bits & bobs. It's actually quite fun :)

Gray Matter

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #648 on: October 09, 2015, 04:58:47 AM »
Doing OK so far on the grocery budget--have spent about $47 out of a budget of $227 for the month (for five of us--trying to make up our deficit spending from last month).  Plan on cooking a small turkey that's taking up space in my freezer this weekend and making a few meals from that.

The biggest challenge will be next week when I'm hosting my mom, dad, and aunt Thursday-Sunday.  I haven't been good at entertaining on a budget in the past, so that will be an interesting challenge for me.

One kinda funny thing.  I had some bread dough in the freezer and wanted to bake it to go with crockpot split pea/potato/broccoli soup (getting creative with whatever's in the fridge).  It was a busy day with lots of coming and going, so I tried speed up the rising process by putting it covered in the oven at a low temperature.  Despite coating the cling wrap, it still stuck and in pulling it off, the whole loaf collapsed.  I baked it anyway, and oh. my. god.  It was so delicious.  Dense and chewy and WAY better than the usual light and fluffy stuff.  The kids devoured it--we ate a whole loaf in one sitting.  Sometimes things are salvageable in unexpected ways.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #649 on: October 10, 2015, 12:42:49 AM »
Glad to see this thread still going as I could use it right now.

I have tons of work travel this month, so avoiding buying stuff that won't get eaten will be a huge plus.  In addition, we have a beef quarter coming shortly, so making room in the freezer will make it way easier to put the new meat in in some sort of order. 

Have some beans and grains that I need to admit we're never going to eat, so they need to be cooked up and fed to the chickens.  Also need to suck it up and figure out what to do with the heart and tongue from last year's beef quarter.

Haven't been doing smoothies but have a couple cans of pumpkin and lots of vanilla whey powder, so "pumpkin pie" smoothies are going to be a staple breakfast for the workdays that I'm not out of town.  I've also been working on eating down the stash of various fruit preserves by mixing them into plain yogurt.  I got way overzealous with the jam-making when I first learned to can, but we never have toast, so there aren't many opportunities to use the stuff.