Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183583 times)

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #950 on: September 26, 2016, 11:38:47 AM »
The popcorn...ahh the popcorn. We made 2 huge bowls of it this week. But I wanted to make corn bread, I was out of corn meal. So I threw some popcorn into the vitamix...and bam I have corn meal. I have a feeling this is how I am going to get through most of this popcorn. And as a bonus I told my 6 year old that I made popcorn bread and it was the best thing on earth and she wants the leftovers in her lunch tomorrow :)

This is genius!
+1.  Brilliant!


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I ended up making pseudo fudge with the leftover mini marshmallows.  I didn't have enough powdered sugar that the recipe called for, so I used the marshmallows to substitute and ended up using up both of these items.  :D

Used up another fresh from DH's garden zucchini for dinner last night, and 9 peaches from our tree in a cobbler per his request.

I made three salads for lunches this week which used up the fresh spinach, chipotle cheese bites, and an open container of black olives.

riverffashion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #951 on: September 26, 2016, 11:55:55 AM »
The popcorn...ahh the popcorn. We made 2 huge bowls of it this week. But I wanted to make corn bread, I was out of corn meal. So I threw some popcorn into the vitamix...and bam I have corn meal. I have a feeling this is how I am going to get through most of this popcorn. And as a bonus I told my 6 year old that I made popcorn bread and it was the best thing on earth and she wants the leftovers in her lunch tomorrow :)

This is genius!
Wow, now this is some inventive thinking. Props.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #952 on: September 27, 2016, 09:30:48 AM »
I'm so impressed with everyone's ingenuity! 

I just used a jar of red curry sauce last night (well, part of it) that we bought at Trader Joe's a few years ago.  I put it on brown rice and frozen vegetables.  It wasn't the best meal ever, but it was passable.  I'm much more excited about it as a lunch option.   

MVal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #953 on: September 28, 2016, 09:46:41 PM »
Okay, I'm in. I have a crap ton of food in my pantry that needs to be eaten up before I try to move into my own place, which I hope to do in the next few months.

seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #954 on: September 29, 2016, 09:43:47 AM »
I am going to cook a whole chicken in that BBQ sauce I made and turn it into BBQ chicken quesadillas. In my head it should be good we will see. I also have some leftover pinto beans to put into them too. This should pretty much take care of all of the leftovers in my frig. I will toss all of the veggies from last week into the pot with the chicken.

This is turning into one huge project. Next to tackle is my spices. I have so many that have been in there for awhile.

YogiKitti

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #955 on: September 30, 2016, 02:56:38 AM »
I inventoried my pantry and now have a list of what needs to be eaten down in the next few months. Hopefully this will help with coming up with meals instead of just starring at my pantry.

SuperSaver

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #956 on: October 01, 2016, 09:30:16 AM »
Our best friend couple spent the entire weekend over at our new place and they're really good, frugal cooks. They helped us make more progress on our pantry and freezer than my fiance and I had for the prior month. It was nice to show them our food stores and say "help us figure out how to eat this down!" It felt kind of like we were on a cooking show together. :)

*We had a steak,shrimp, veggie stir fry with rice. Used up the last of the frozen shrimp, half the frozen steak, 2 bags of frozen stir fry veggies & a couple cups of rice. Also learned the dab of cornstarch alongside the peanut oil really makes for the best consistency.
*They made pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes and used up some chocolate chips, syrups, vegan butter, lactaid milk and flour.
*Lunch was pesto pasta with broccoli. Used up 1/2 of the frozen pesto, the rest of the linguine and the last bag of broccoli.
*Dinner was roasted chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes, asparagus and gravy. It used up the last of the frozen chicken drumsticks, some of the vegan butter and lactaid milk. I also learned how to make gravy! It was fantastic. Yay for cornstarch.
*Homemade snickerdoodles used up some baking products (but I had to buy the cream of tartar... but, I am fine with a few more versatile baking goods and spices).
*We made a birthday cake with homemade peanut butter icing. It used up half my powdered sugar and some of our kerrygold butter.
*The last day was tacos for lunch. We used up 2 pounds of beef, 1 tomato from their garden and salsa.
*When they left I made the last 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts to make oven baked chicken.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #957 on: October 03, 2016, 01:20:35 PM »
Super, I am bowing down to the experts!  What a fantastic way to spend your weekend.

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I used up the last can of black beans for nachos last week.  I still have my eye on the canned pumpkin....

Last Friday when DH got back into town, he gathered up 7 more tomatoes from his garden.  I used two last night in tomato mozzarella salads, and will use several more in tonight's stuffed zucchini.

There are two zucchini from DH's garden left.  The huge one I'll bake tonight as mentioned above.  The other I'll stir fry later on this week with some garlic chicken sausage bought on sale last month.

I used several cups of frozen strawberries for low carb pancakes yesterday.  These, only with strawberries:  http://genaw.com/lowcarb/blueberry_pancakes.html

I know it's not food, but I am pleased to announce I used up the last bit of remaining CLR and Mr. Clean products last week.  I've discovered vinegar works just as well, and is less expensive and toxic.


DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #958 on: October 03, 2016, 01:37:59 PM »
Last week started off slowly, mainly because it was 100+ degrees and I had no interest in cooking. I had to add 1 banana to the stash in the freezer since it was getting brown and attracting fruit flies :( We mostly ate stuff out of the freezer, and did manage to finish off the last of the carnitas tacos. But later in the week as it cooled down I got back in the game:

  • Finished up the last of the boil in a bag brown rice last week with our usual baked salmon.
  • Hubby had a potluck BBQ to go to on Saturday, so Friday night I used up almost all of the cornmeal to make a large pan of cornbread. Of course he brought half of it home as leftovers, so now that’s in the freezer.
  • I went shopping on Saturday afternoon and had no idea what I was making for dinner that night. I found some shrimp on sale at the meat counter, which sounded delicious. I was able to use the last of a bottle of chili sauce in the fridge in a marinade for grilled shrimp, which made me happy because I’ve been racking my brain and Google trying to find something to do with the chili sauce.  For a side, I cooked up a box of Au Gratin potatoes from the cupboard.
  • Sunday morning was a monster cooking marathon:
    • I made a batch of chili which used up 2 ancient cans of beans from the cupboard. Most of it went into the freezer, but I also ate a bowl for lunch along with a piece of the aforementioned cornbread from the freezer.
    • Made a batch of baked pasta for the freezer. We had a little plain cooked pasta in the fridge left over from making dog food, so I added that in with the rest of the pasta. Yes, in my house the humans eat the dog’s leftovers :)
    • I’d been planning on making some soup for dinner one day last week but it was just too hot. Sunday was much cooler so I went ahead and made the soup then and put it into the freezer. This used up two small tubs of leftover cooked chicken from the freezer, 1 tub of frozen chicken broth (2 cups), 2 packets of very past-date Swanson Flavor Boost chicken stock concentrate (I don’t think they even make this stuff anymore), 3 sad looking carrots, a bag of frozen celery, diced onion leftover from the chili and pasta bake, and the 3/4 cup of quinoa that has been in the cupboard for a year or two. The quinoa is now gone!
    • Seasoned and baked several large chicken breasts, then chopped it up and portioned it out to add to lunch time salads.
    • Then, since I was already messing up the kitchen so much, I decided I’d just go ahead and cook dinner so we’d just have to reheat it later. I made pineapple dragon chicken, which used up a bag of our seemingly bottomless supply of frozen vegetables. This also provided leftovers for dinner tonight since I’m working late.

Shopping this week was a mixed bag. The discount store I like to frequent (Big Lots) had one of their 20% off sales where I usually stock up on dry and canned goods, and I couldn’t resist. The good news is that since I now have a very good idea of what I actually need and use regularly, I didn’t just buy a lot of random crap. For example, I often get jars of spices since they are only $.80 during the sale. Since I recently did a thorough cupboard inventory I knew that I had plenty of spices except for paprika, so I bought 2 jars. Normally I just toss 2-3 jars of everything in the cart, then get home and go “WTF did I do that for?” I did buy tons of cans of tomatoes since I go through a lot of those, 5 cans of pineapple since I was almost out, and tons of pasta since they had the kind I really like and we eat a lot of it. I resisted the temptation to buy any boxes of tea because I am committed to using up the 8 million tea bags I already possess.

I also bought more produce than was probably justified at Ralphs because I had $5 off $15 produce coupon there. But this just means I’ll need hardly anything next week so it works out cheaper in the long run.

I still need to do a freezer inventory.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #959 on: October 09, 2016, 03:10:52 PM »
So one night last week I was on a chair reaching waaay to the back of the cupboard (we have strange, deep cupboards) and I saw that one of the cans of tomato paste back there had burst and spewed tomato goop all over :( The goop got on three other cans of paste... I briefly considered just washing them off but, ug... botulism, not worth the risk for 3x $.35 cans of tomato paste. All 4 cans went into the trash. I was bummed to know that I had failed to manage my stockpile efficiently and wasted food as a result. But I checked out everything else in the cupboard (pulled it all out and did a thorough cleaning of that shelf) and it all looks fine. This just renewed my commitment to finishing off the old crap and doing a better job going forward.

So, here are my accomplishments for last week:
  • Finished off the last tub of lentil taco filling from the freezer. Now I can make up another batch :)
  • I had about 1/4 cup of cornmeal remaining after making cornbread last week, and that isn't really enough for any full recipes. So on Friday when I was making homemade pizza dough, I used cornmeal instead of flour when rolling out the dough. I'll continue to do this until the rest of the cornmeal is gone.
  • I had more pineapple juice accumulated in the freezer (every time I make Pineapple Dragon Chicken, one of our favorites, I save the leftover liquid from the can of pineapples for other recipes) so tonight we're having more copycat El Pollo Loco chicken, which used up all the pineapple juice.
  • Used up the last can of French Onion Soup in place of beef broth when making Slow Cooker Beef Stew last night.
  • Used up the last half of an open jar of raspberry jam as filling in some fruit and grain bars (like home made Nutri Grain bars, but way yummier).
  • I had about 1/4 cup of applesauce left in a jar in the fridge, and combing through the freezer I found another 1.5 cups of frozen applesauce, so I made a big batch of oatmeal applesauce pancakes to freeze and eat for breakfast over the next couple of weeks. The original recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of applesauce, so I had to scale it up to accommodate 1.75 cups which doesn't come out very evenly so I just sort of winged it (3.5 eggs?), but they came out fine.
  • Mixed up a big bowl of tuna for sandwiches for the week instead of buying lunch meat (we have a bajillion cans of tuna).
  • Made another batch of chicken stock from bones and veggie scraps in the freezer.
  • We've determined that the dog is allergic to rice (one of several reasons we've been cooking his food), so we're left with a large quantity of white rice since I normally get brown rice for us to eat. But I guess now we'll be eating white for a while, so I made a batch of chicken fried rice for the freezer for hubby's lunches.
  • Cooked up the 2 butternut squashes that have been sitting on the counter for several weeks. I just made some puree and stuck it in the freezer, but its closer to being eaten now than it was previously.

So the good news is I did an inventory of the chest freezer and its not looking bad at all. I've been doing a good job of rotating the frozen food, apparently its just the food in the cupboards that I let sit for years. The only thing I found that I need to make an effort to deal with is some vegan whipped topping stuff which I had a free coupon for last summer (god I hope it was only last summer). I've also got 4 ancient boxes of jell-o in the Cupboard of No Return so that seems like an easy solution. My frozen vegetable stash has gotten crazy as I have nearly 10 bags of stir fry vegetables, some broccoli, and almost nothing else. Hubby hates broccoli, so I'll need to even out the disparity here.

Shopping this week was... well, I'm not sure what happened. I had very good intentions of only buying milk, yogurt, and some salad stuff. But meat was on sale and I had an iBotta offer for $4 off a chuck roast, but the family packs were way cheaper per pound than the single packs.... and well, now I have two large chuck roasts. And then pork loin roasts were on sale too, and I had found this Slow Cooker 5 Spice Pulled Pork Recipe that I wanted to make to start using up the Chinese 5 Spice blend in the cupboard that I don't know what to do with, and more carnitas to keep using up the adobo chiles in the fridge... and now I have two large pork roasts. And they also had pie pumpkins in stock, and there is nothing more delicious than homemade pumpkin puree... so I bought 5 pumpkins and cooked them up. Fortunately that's enough work that I will not be tempted to do it again for at least another year.

The bottom line is I bought way more than I should have, especially after stocking up on canned and dry goods last week. So, I am hereby officially declaring that for the rest of October I will not buy any food that doesn't go on a salad unless I am COMPLETELY OUT or its TOTALLY free. No more stocking up, we have plenty to eat.

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #960 on: October 09, 2016, 05:25:15 PM »
Bought a jar of roasted red pepper a while back because it would be a "great pantry staple" and we were sure to find it useful it one day.  Not so much.  So I opened it, and they weren't very good.  Rinsed them and let them marinate in a homemade balsamic dressing for the day and then blended them with some harissa & tahini, and stirred in some feta.  Made a quite good sauce for the steak and roast brussel sprout dinner.  And we know never to buy it again.

Ditto I had a can of tomato from a while back (I need to stop paying attention to otherwise good cookbook authors who suggest things are great pantry staples if I have never kept them in my pantry before) that I tried to make into ketchup/bbq sauce.  It wasn't very good, so I put it into the pan with some freebie cider and made pulled pork.  Technically this adds to the food in the house, but it reduces things I don't like and adds to things I do like.


swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #961 on: October 09, 2016, 05:38:11 PM »
Now that the cool weather is setting in, I have been enjoying using all my excess dried spices and teas in brewing crockpot chai concentrate.

Now that everything has been organized, I've been playing a lot of substitute x with y instead of going to the store for x. I tend to free-wheel when I cook so it's pretty instinctive to know if something will work or not. I usually make some version of bliss balls for hubby's lunches throughout the week. Currently working through my dried fruit supply instead of getting more dates, which is the usual base.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #962 on: October 13, 2016, 07:53:16 PM »
Need some help here... I made this 5 Spice Pulled Pork and well... apparently I don't like Chinese 5 Spice blend. I've got a ton of leftovers, any ideas on how I can salvage it? There isn't a thick sauce on it or anything, it is mostly seasoned shredded meat. The only thing I can think of is to slather it in BBQ sauce and hope that covers up the taste.

And are there any non-food uses for Chinese 5 Spice (it might scare away bugs? haha) because otherwise its going in the trash... luckily I got it from the bulk section and didn't buy too much, there's only maybe 3 tbsps left.

EngineerYogi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #963 on: October 13, 2016, 09:34:49 PM »
Need some help here... I made this 5 Spice Pulled Pork and well... apparently I don't like Chinese 5 Spice blend. I've got a ton of leftovers, any ideas on how I can salvage it? There isn't a thick sauce on it or anything, it is mostly seasoned shredded meat. The only thing I can think of is to slather it in BBQ sauce and hope that covers up the taste.

And are there any non-food uses for Chinese 5 Spice (it might scare away bugs? haha) because otherwise its going in the trash... luckily I got it from the bulk section and didn't buy too much, there's only maybe 3 tbsps left.

You might try rinsing the meat off and seasoning it again with a different strong flavor? Maybe taco seasoning?

Waterbug

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #964 on: October 14, 2016, 02:08:06 PM »
I'm in! I've done this challenge on my own before and what worked best for me was to make a written list of the food I had on hand and have a separate column for protein, carb, veggie, and sauce. It was easy to then match up the ingredients for the best meal combinations.

This time around I don't have quite as much to work through. I'll be focusing on using up some random things that have just been around for too long and not getting touched with my regular cooking.

1) Frozen fruit - pears, mixed berries, and mixed fruit including pineapple. I'm not really a fan of smoothies but I could make some for my toddler or purée and refreeze as a Popsicle?  I would like to bake with some of them but will need to find some gluten free and dairy free recipes that taste good without buying a bunch of other random ingredients.
2) Almond flour - possibly use in the baking mentioned above.
3) Tea assortment - I'll start treating myself to some hot tea now that the weather is cooler :)
4) Basil pesto - bought this for pasta but it's a little too much basil for our taste. I'll be making a roast in the next few days and think I may throw the pesto in the crockpot with the roast/carrots/potatoes for a little extra flavor.
5) Marshmallows - maybe half a bag left over from camping. I have no idea.

Here we go!

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #965 on: October 15, 2016, 12:37:24 PM »
You might try rinsing the meat off and seasoning it again with a different strong flavor? Maybe taco seasoning?

Thank you, EngineerYogi. I have long postulated that tacos are in fact the solution to all of life's problems, and it appears that (at least in this case) they are! For dinner last night I took some of the meat, put it in a strainer, and rinsed it thoroughly. Then I heated up just a little vegetable oil in the skillet and added some diced onions and the meat. Once the onions were cooked I added taco seasoning and some water, then let it all simmer for awhile. Put the meat on some fried corn tortillas with cheese and a generous spoonful of salsa, and voila, salvage tacos! I could taste a bit of the original seasoning still, but it was much improved.

For lunch today I tried the BBQ sauce - rinsed some of the meat off then heat it up in a pot with a large quantity of bottled BBQ sauce, then put it all on a burger bun. This too worked well. Again, I could still taste a bit of the original flavor but it was much more edible now.

I've taken the rest of the meat, rinsed it off and portioned it out and put it in the freezer. There's enough for three more meals of tacos or BBQ sandwiches, then we can just forget this ever happened :)

Mtngrl

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #966 on: October 15, 2016, 01:13:57 PM »
Waterbug, when I have a bunch of frozen fruit like that, I mix it all up together for a big fruit salad. If it gets very juicy once it thaws, you can strain off some of the liquid. We like it as is, but you can also stir the thawed fruit into yogurt, serve over cottage cheese or ice cream or use as a topping for pancakes or waffles instead of syrup. Or you can make a fruit crisp -- sprinkle on your favorite topping and bake. Sugar substitutes seem to work fine in a crisp like that.

EngineerYogi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #967 on: October 15, 2016, 10:11:08 PM »
You might try rinsing the meat off and seasoning it again with a different strong flavor? Maybe taco seasoning?

Thank you, EngineerYogi. I have long postulated that tacos are in fact the solution to all of life's problems, and it appears that (at least in this case) they are! For dinner last night I took some of the meat, put it in a strainer, and rinsed it thoroughly. Then I heated up just a little vegetable oil in the skillet and added some diced onions and the meat. Once the onions were cooked I added taco seasoning and some water, then let it all simmer for awhile. Put the meat on some fried corn tortillas with cheese and a generous spoonful of salsa, and voila, salvage tacos! I could taste a bit of the original seasoning still, but it was much improved.

For lunch today I tried the BBQ sauce - rinsed some of the meat off then heat it up in a pot with a large quantity of bottled BBQ sauce, then put it all on a burger bun. This too worked well. Again, I could still taste a bit of the original flavor but it was much more edible now.

I've taken the rest of the meat, rinsed it off and portioned it out and put it in the freezer. There's enough for three more meals of tacos or BBQ sandwiches, then we can just forget this ever happened :)

I'm so glad rinsing and fresh seasoning worked!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #968 on: October 16, 2016, 05:08:02 PM »
This weekend has been an intense "use up all the things" weekend!

Lamb stew in the crockpot - used up some lamb from the freezer, several open bottles of wine, some pucks of sundried tomato pesto I had in the freezer.

Crockpot Chai concentrate - Now that it is cool I'm making a batch every couple of days. Slowly making a dent in my massive spice collection.

Chutney. We got some free pears so figured it was a good way to use up our supply of various things. We have made and canned 4 batches and now I am out of: Vinegar (apple cider, regular, sour cherry) Sweeteners of any sort, onions, ginger, and put a serious dent in the dried fruit (no more tamarind, dried mango (2 different kinds), used  up a bunch of spices as well.

We did a Pear & Cardamom, Pear & Mango, Pear, Peach & Golden Berry, Pear & Tamarind.

I have a duck in the crockpot from the freezer for dinner tonight - and stuffed it with fresh apple, dried figs and prunes.

Cooking some wild rice from the stash with some duck stock (from our last duck) so I have room in the freezer for more stock.

Oh, I also made a bunch of buckwheat crepes for hubby's breakfasts for the next week using up some of our bulk buckwheat flour.

Tonight, duck bones will go into the crockpot for bone broth and we'll be adding some delicious duck fat to our stores :)

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #969 on: October 17, 2016, 01:05:47 PM »
Well aside from the pork incident I had a constructive week:

  • I made a whole chicken in the crockpot, and instead of my usual sticky chicken recipe, I just seasoned it with some A1 dry rub seasoning that I have 3 jars of but never use. This saved me from needing to buy an onion (part of the sticky chicken recipe) since I was out.
  • Subbed apple cider vinegar for rice wine vinegar since I'm out.
  • Made some popcorn to snack on while watching tv one night.
  • Friday night, I made a batch of this Nutella Marshmallow Popcorn as I am trying to use up popcorn, half a bag of marshmallows, and 3 jars of Nutella. I'm not sure what I think of this recipe... I found it difficult to mix the nutella-marshmallow goo with the popcorn, and I found the end result to be sweeter than I care for. It also made way more than we wanted to eat at once. Probably won't do this one again. The good news is I probably only have about 1 more night's worth of popcorn to use... still working on the marshmallows and nutella, but I'm trying to space out the sugary crap.
  • I had one single serve cup of Pasta Roni leftover from camping that I ate for a snack on Saturday.
  • Made some orange-glazed chicken stir-fry for dinner on Sunday since I had 3 oranges sitting around that weren't going to get eaten, so I just juiced them. Another 1/2 cup of OJ went in the freezer.

The biggest accomplishment is what I did not do this week, which is buy a bunch of stuff at the grocery store. I stuck to my plan and only bought some salad stuff, yogurt, and bread. I was sooo tempted to stock up on oats because I am very low and they were on sale for .50/lb, but I managed to talk myself out of it. I thought about what I wanted them for (granola bars, oatmeal raisin cookies, and oatmeal pancakes) and decided that I could find alternatives to make that would use the copious amounts of food that I already have on hand. What a novel concept! (someone should start a challenge or something!). I have found a recipe for cinnamon raisin cookies that do not require oats, so I can still use up the raisins in the cupboard, and I have tons of blueberries in the freezer so I can make blueberry pancakes instead. Not sure about the granola bars, but I know I'll figure something out. I was also tempted to buy some frozen veggies in a variety that hubby likes, but after planning my meals for the week I realized I wouldn't need any, so I can at least wait until next shopping trip.

I've figured out that part of my shopping problem is that I always think "Well I might as well grab it now while I'm at the store, then maybe I won't have to go shopping next weekend..." but I pretty much ALWAYS need to get at least lettuce, cucumber and some fruit, so that rarely works out. Now that I've recognized this pattern, I'm hoping I can be a little more rational. I don't intend to quit stockpiling stuff when its super cheap, but for items that are typically the same price all the time or are on sale frequently, it isn't really necessary.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2016, 01:10:48 PM by DTaggart »

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #970 on: October 17, 2016, 01:54:09 PM »
What a novel concept! (someone should start a challenge or something!).

I think one of the very first challenges I did in this community was a "Skip this week's grocery shop" thread :) There have been a few over the years, and I think this thread was a spin-off from one of those way back in the day. Hubby is going to be gone for 9 days starting next week, and I won't have the car,  so I'm going to be eating down the pantry and avoiding the store, except I will be buying and cooking some mushrooms as a treat since he doesn't like them.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #971 on: October 17, 2016, 02:57:57 PM »
What a novel concept! (someone should start a challenge or something!).

I think one of the very first challenges I did in this community was a "Skip this week's grocery shop" thread :) There have been a few over the years, and I think this thread was a spin-off from one of those way back in the day. Hubby is going to be gone for 9 days starting next week, and I won't have the car,  so I'm going to be eating down the pantry and avoiding the store, except I will be buying and cooking some mushrooms as a treat since he doesn't like them.

I'm just laughing at myself because I've been part of this thread for a couple of months and I just now seem to be figuring out that there's plenty of food in the house, I don't need to buy more right now :)

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #972 on: October 19, 2016, 07:27:08 PM »
Commenting to follow, and for inspiration in teducing food waste and using up some of the weird and wonderful sauces in my fridge and pantry.

I have friends who generously cook in my kitchen then generously leave me with leftover sauces and spices and dressings.

I need to make more of an effort to shape menus around these ingredients, because I would hate to see them go to waste.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #973 on: October 24, 2016, 05:41:20 AM »
I have controll of my freezer, put the pantry ... now that's another story.

I need to find a use for: a packet of soy beans, a quarter packet of popcorn cernels, 2 giant things of hot cocoa mix (I drink hot cocoa maybe four times a year?), a bag of tortilla flour (bought for making tortilla. Exept that was an epic fail), a bag of glutinous rice flour (for making mochi with. Another epic fail), a bag of dried shitake (turns out I'm really, really bad at the part where I need to plan ahead so that they can rehydrate in hot water) and a bag of ice tea mix. Don't know why I bought that one. Expect I was hot and thirsty while shopping (never a good idea).

At least I know how to make use of popcorn. The rest.. not so much.

stashgrower

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #974 on: October 24, 2016, 06:55:10 AM »
I did better this mont on eating legumes and grains from the pantry. I did buy a bulk item on sale, but it was something I ran out of. Got the food bill down to less than half the monthly average (with one week of the month to go).

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #975 on: October 24, 2016, 10:52:21 AM »
I have controll of my freezer, put the pantry ... now that's another story.

I need to find a use for: a packet of soy beans, a quarter packet of popcorn cernels, 2 giant things of hot cocoa mix (I drink hot cocoa maybe four times a year?), a bag of tortilla flour (bought for making tortilla. Exept that was an epic fail), a bag of glutinous rice flour (for making mochi with. Another epic fail), a bag of dried shitake (turns out I'm really, really bad at the part where I need to plan ahead so that they can rehydrate in hot water) and a bag of ice tea mix. Don't know why I bought that one. Expect I was hot and thirsty while shopping (never a good idea).

At least I know how to make use of popcorn. The rest.. not so much.

hot cocoa mix - bust up some mint candies (or freeze dried raspberries or vanilla bean or homemade hard caramel) Stick into pretty packaging and give as "Gourmet" hot chocolate for Christmas :)

You could probably also use it  in your baking as well.

Tortilla flour - I would try again, they seem really simple but it does take some experimenting and getting a bit of a feel for it. It definitely took me more than one or twice to get the hang of it.

Rice flour - Often used in gluten-free baking. If you know anyone who is gluten intolerant you could use it to make them some treats for Christmas or some homemade baking mix. I also use some when I make Kimchi to feed the little yeasties.

Shitake - I made some magic mushroom seasoning for my FIL for Christmas last year, he loves the stuff! The recipe calls for Porcini but you can use any dried 'shrooms you happen to have http://nomnompaleo.com/post/105333542218/magic-mushroom-powder-diy-holiday-gift

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #976 on: October 24, 2016, 12:27:15 PM »
I have controll of my freezer, put the pantry ... now that's another story.

I need to find a use for: [...] 2 giant things of hot cocoa mix (I drink hot cocoa maybe four times a year?) [...]

I was able to use up some hot cocoa mix in some muffins a while back. There are a lot of good looking desert recipes out there that use cocoa mix, just hit up Google.

WootWoot

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #977 on: October 24, 2016, 12:54:57 PM »
I've got a question. I really can't remember when, but my mom's BF gave us some fresh-caught salmon. It could be as much as a year old and it's in the freezer. It was pretty tightly packed, tho I really can't tell if it was vacuum packed or what.

Do you think it's still safe to eat it?

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #978 on: October 24, 2016, 01:04:51 PM »
All right, its my weekly check-in time! Hubby was out of town for a couple of nights so I was able to use up some weird stuff that I know he wouldn't eat, and I did a bunch of batch cooking over the weekend.

  • Finished off the spaghetti sauce from the freezer.
  • Hubby was gone all day/night Friday, and I got off work early. So for lunch I cooked up a couple servings of instant brown rice that's been languishing in the cupboard (and for the record, that stuff is nowhere near instantaneous), and topped it off with half a can of Louisiana style red beans that has been in the cupboard for years. It was an edible lunch, and I ate the other half for dinner. No one but the dogs was witness to the gastrointestinal ramifications of having beans for two meals in a row :)
  • Used up the last of the cornmeal on Saturday for rolling out pizza dough.
  • Made a batch of these delicious Cinnamon Raisin Cookies. The recipe calls for two cups of raisins, I only had a little over 1 cup, but I think its better with fewer raisins so they're not too raisiny. Also, the recipe has you soak the raisins in butter/cinnamon/vanilla for a long time, which was good because my raisins were really sad and dried out after being neglected for so long. I can definitely recommend this recipe!
  • I finally finished off the chili from the freezer, so I made a batch of Mexican Lentil Stew to have on hand to bring for work lunches. This used up some of the ridiculous lentil stockpile, as well as some celery that needed to get eaten.
  • For Sunday's dinner, I made a chicken pot pie, which used a tub of leftover chicken from the freezer, a jar of chicken gravy from the depths of the pantry, and the last remnants of a bag of peas and pearled onions. Leftovers for lunch today!
  • Made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins which used up one of the tubs of pumpkin puree I made a few weeks ago.
  • With all the baking, I finished off a bag of flour, which really wasn't part of the "use-it-up" list but what the heck, I'm on a roll.
  • I bought a zucchini last week in the hopes of making some tortellini soup last week, but it was far too hot for soup. The zucchini was starting to look pretty sad so I chopped it up, blanched it, and stuck it in the freezer for the glorious day when soup weather finally arrives in Southern California. So, it is now closer to being eaten than it was before :)
  • Mixed up a big bowl of tuna for hubby to have sandwiches this week, which used up the rest of the sad celery and several cans of the wall-of-tuna in the pantry. And, as I normally do, I saved the water I drained from the canned tuna to freeze for dog ice treats, which they think is the greatest thing ever.

I had what I feel is a reasonable shopping trip this week. I bought mostly produce and a gallon of milk, a couple bags of frozen vegetables, one large pack of thin-cut steaks that were on sale to put in the freezer, and then a giant package of string cheese which I keep on hand for a quick snack and to put in my lunch because I was out. The meat and cheese were the only stockpile foods so I think I did pretty good. I've also been doing well at keeping my freezer inventory list updated as I take things out or put them in. It really helps when I go shopping when I know for certain what is already in the freezer!

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #979 on: October 24, 2016, 01:06:23 PM »
I've got a question. I really can't remember when, but my mom's BF gave us some fresh-caught salmon. It could be as much as a year old and it's in the freezer. It was pretty tightly packed, tho I really can't tell if it was vacuum packed or what.

Do you think it's still safe to eat it?

As long as it has remained frozen it is definitely safe. The taste/quality may possibly have suffered if it wasn't properly packaged, but it won't hurt you. I'd be willing to wager it tastes fine.

ETA:
Well maybe I'm wrong, after googling it sounds like fatty fish like salmon doesn't last all that long even if it stays frozen. Huh.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2016, 01:10:22 PM by DTaggart »

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #980 on: October 24, 2016, 07:27:02 PM »
I've got a question. I really can't remember when, but my mom's BF gave us some fresh-caught salmon. It could be as much as a year old and it's in the freezer. It was pretty tightly packed, tho I really can't tell if it was vacuum packed or what.

Do you think it's still safe to eat it?

There is safety and there is flavour/quality.  If it has stayed frozen, I'd use some strong flavours just in case it picked up anything in the freezer (e.g. salmon cakes, or a coconut curry).  But I have a strong belief in my freezer.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #981 on: October 24, 2016, 09:07:29 PM »
Yeah, I think I would make fish cakes out of it.

EngineerYogi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #982 on: October 24, 2016, 09:14:14 PM »
I cooked a bag of beans, 3 cups of white rice and a broccoli casserole from pantry and already on hand items. The broccoli casserole was a spur of the moment dish, I found a package of cream of mushroom soup with a recipe on it and had some broccoli that was a day shy of being trashed. I was also able to use up the remnants of a bag of brown rice pasta.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #983 on: October 27, 2016, 08:07:03 AM »
Thank you for the tips DTaggart and swick. I'll test out making some of that magic mushroom-powder. And I'll try to make tortilla again. After all: it took me years to make a decent curry from scratch, but it worked out in the end. I'll also see if I can put the hot cocoa mix in something or another homebaked.

stashgrower

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #984 on: October 27, 2016, 09:39:22 AM »
Finished one bag of quinoa today. Happy news. Worked through more beans again.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #985 on: October 27, 2016, 08:32:01 PM »
Made around of dried pinto beans borracho style for the freezer. Ended up with a lot of extra fluid so I left some beans in the pot and added water, two chicken thighs, an onion, thick sliced carrots, and cilantro for a chicken tortilla soup. So easy and delicious.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #986 on: October 31, 2016, 12:44:25 PM »
Well I didn't do a whole lot this week, mostly just ate down the freezer stash of things I made previously. The weather is FINALLY starting to cooperate and not be 90+ degrees, so I think soup might finally be an option. I did manage to use up a few things:

  • Made Mandarin Beef Stir Fry last night, using up a small can of mandarin oranges that I don't even remember buying and a couple small containers of OJ from the freezer.
  • Had a couple of chocolate peanut butter banana smoothies, using up some old freezer bananas. Pretty sure there's still more buried in there.
  • Used up the last tub of leftover chicken from the freezer making chicken quesadillas. I had planned on making lentil tacos that night but we got home later than planned and wanted something quick. On days like that, anything that is *not* take-out is a super win :)

And once again I did a pretty minimal grocery shopping - produce, a bunch of ground turkey since it was cheap, and some chicken. Oh, and a bag of flour because I was out.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #987 on: November 04, 2016, 10:52:28 PM »
Used up soft tomatoes, slightly stale bread, fresh basil, and half a red onion in a quick bruschetta for a free but totally indulgent lunch.

ATLAtty

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #988 on: November 06, 2016, 07:53:48 AM »
I'm in! Moving in two weeks and trying to get creative with what is left in my cupboard. So far I have a ton of beans and dried goods plus a couple pounds of meat in the freezer.  Fridge is pretty empty but for condiments. Aiming to use up a few pounds of garbanzos for lunches this week, with chili or black beans and rice for dinners.

Anje

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #989 on: November 07, 2016, 02:58:01 AM »
Got really lazy this weekend and didn't go grozery shopping. I had "nothing" on friday, and from that cooked up an omelett with spring onion and cheese, plus some cheese-buns and some lassie when a friend came over. I still had "nothing" on saturday, so I ate muesli yoghurt with a smoothie for breakfast (I was invited away for the rest of the day). Sunday I ate pancakes with spring onion, a kaki, soba noodles with plum sause and some bean-pasta with shrimp.

I make note that when my mind tells me there's "nothing" to eat I could probably live of that for a week. Possibly two. Am still going shopping today as I have no fresh produce left (besides ginger, chili and garlick).

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #990 on: November 07, 2016, 12:55:16 PM »
Well I had another busy week and didn't get as much done as I had initially planned, but still made a little progress using up the oddball stuff. I finally made some soup which used up zucchini, celery, and chicken stock from the freezer, finished off the last of the gross shredded pork and frozen chicken burritos, and made some multigrain waffles this weekend which used up the last of 1 jar of wheat germ (one more jar to go...).

I'm going out of town for a few days, so we bought some frozen junk and "special" treats for hubby (so he hopefully won't just eat at McDonald's for 3 meals a day...), and I'm making a pot roast the day before I leave so he should have some leftovers to enjoy.

Hopefully when I get back next weekend I'll be able to jump back in and get back to using up stuff. I've still got a lot of sugary crap, but I want to take a break from making junk food, especially since we are still finishing off excess Halloween candy. I have excessive quantities of canned garbanzo beans so hummus is on the list, and maybe a loaf of mulitgrain bread since I have some rye flour to use. I do have some plans to make a batch of Nutella brownies, but I'm going to give those to the neighbors as a thank-you for giving us an egg a few weeks back when we were out. I suspect that's probably how I'll end up dealing with most of the sugary food still in the house, good thing the holidays are coming!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #991 on: November 07, 2016, 01:06:52 PM »
Used up Halloween party leftovers by making the salsa, tortilla chips and taco shells into tacos on Saturday.  Leftover chocolate chips and a can of pumpkin pie filling from the pantry will make chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.  We've got an unopened large bottle of apple juice from the party which I'll take to the food pantry if my neighbors don't want it.  DH is doing a good job at drinking the rest of the leftover juice mixers.  He said pineapple and orange juice together isn't too bad.  :)  I'm gifting an unopened bottle of bourbon to someone for his birthday later on this month, and am working on the rest of the leftover alcohol.  This will save me significantly at the liquor store the next several months, LOL.

I made Budget Bytes not refried beans yesterday from the everlasting jar of dry pinto beans and froze 3/4 of the batch.

I blanched and froze numerous tomatoes from DH's garden a few weeks ago.

DH took the container of leftover jambalaya from the freezer to work today.  Yay more freezer space!

Cheers to no food waste.  :)

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #992 on: November 07, 2016, 01:17:17 PM »
Some progress and some realizations.

Progress:
 - Made stock from chicken bones in the freezer
 - Made stock from huge bag of asparagus stalks in the freezer
 - Have been experimenting with the carrot greens that we usually compost. Haven't found a way we like them (raw is out) so will try cooking them today.
 - Used up some cornmeal, mochi and oats in a very tasty gluten-free cornbread for hubby
 - Used up some buckwheat for crepes for breakfasts for the week, topping with rhubarb compote from the freezer.
 - Continuing to put a dent in spices and tea. Used up several boxes of tea over the weekend.
 
Realizations:
I have been resisting getting rid of food that is not healthy for us and doesn't work with our lifestyle. It triggers guilt and craving whenever I have to shift around it (daily) and I feel bad about throwing it out, but it's open and thus far no one has wanted it. I finally threw out:
 - Bulgar
 - Inari pouches
 - Wheat containing soy sauce
 - Semolina
 - Orzo
 - several random condiments that have wheat in them

Onward and upward :)

meadow lark

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #993 on: November 12, 2016, 07:39:30 AM »
I love this thread!  Is that wrong?  It feels like admitting loving porn or something.
I am jumping in late.  We are planning on moving out of our house and into an RV this spring - date will depend on when our house sells, but hopefully April or March.

DW and I have completely separate food - so this will just be about me.  Last year I had a goal for eating everything down before the New Year, and did really well.  But this year, before the Spring, I would actually like to use up things like condiments and spices, too.

I would love to move into the RV and drive to the grocery store, as opposed to moving food into it from the old house.  So in a year's time I know my dill can be no more than a year old!  (As someone who has moved her spices several times!)

This is what I am working with.

My spice collection is smaller than it has been in years, so that is a start.

meadow lark

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #994 on: November 12, 2016, 07:57:18 AM »
Wow - nothing like sharing pics on the internet to make you realize how much you need to clean and remodel your kitchen!

meadow lark

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #995 on: November 12, 2016, 09:13:56 AM »
Did a food inventory.  This is a list only of the foods I need to be reminded to eat.  The other stuff is food I will probably eat and rebuy a few times before we move.

Small Freezer

Pecans
2 Cranberries
Brussels Sprout
Root Veggies
Smart Dogs
Veggie Burgers

Refrigerator

Pickles
Cashew Butter. try a recipe for vegan "cream" sauce on veggies?

Condiment Shelf

Green curry paste with coconut manna in this week's bean soup?used 1/4

Main Selves

Coconut Manna (coconut butter)
Cashews
Sunflower seeds (turned into sunflower butter to hide my dog meds in.)
Sesame seeds
Cocoa
Can of beets in my salad this week
PB powder. Use in Thai Peanut sauce instead of regular PB?
Nutritional Yeast
Quinoa
Oats

And I am working on losing weight, so I am not going to start making chocolate cake to use up the cocoa, so if I have to throw away a few things at the end that is perfectly fine.



« Last Edit: November 20, 2016, 11:42:53 AM by Meadow Lark »

PMG

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #996 on: November 12, 2016, 11:36:01 AM »
Meadow lark,

In regards to cocoa powder, do you eat dairy? I like to mix cocoa into plain yogurt.  Or homemade chocolate milk. It's a treat that actually has some nutrition.  I've also made chocolate granola and added it to oatmeal, thought I don't enjoy it quite as much that way.

PMG

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #997 on: November 12, 2016, 12:04:52 PM »
I also really enjoy this thread. I am not planning to move like some of you all but I like to keep a low stock kitchen. I find that I waste less and eat better. 

I keep a running grocery list on my phone along with a list of things I could make with the ingredients I have at home as well as a list of things I'm hungry for.

Today I made potato soup with greens I froze a few weeks ago from a CSA box. Proud of myself for using them up promptly and not letting them get old and freezer burned. I made enough soup for four meals.

I am skipping grocery shopping this weekend, but I think I'll find enough to eat. I have eggs and oatmeal for breakfasts.  I'll make a batch of pumpkin muffins for snacks. Lunches will be carrots and hummus. And I'm cooking up the last of a bag of bean and lentil mix. I don't enjoy that mix at all but it's is full of healthy stuff and it's super convenient for this week when I'm low on proteins I like. I also still have a serving of grapes and several apples.  Enough for this week, by Friday I'll be excited to get more fresh fruit.

« Last Edit: November 12, 2016, 12:09:52 PM by PMG »

Linea_Norway

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #998 on: November 12, 2016, 01:36:43 PM »
I often buy large portions of meat which are cheaper than small portions. Most of it gets frozen. I noticed recently that the freezer drawers are quite full. I guess we don't need to buy meat for a few weeks, certainly if we added some vegetarian meals as well. I just need to be consequent in taking out meat early in the morning if I want to eat it the same evening.
I can serve with dried selfpicked mushrooms. Unfortunately we don't have any vegetables from own garden. The spinach we had, was eaten freshly in the summer.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #999 on: November 12, 2016, 06:27:39 PM »
In early January, I'm going to work on the other side of the country for two months.  My husband is not likely to use many of the ingredients we have around the house while I'm gone, so I'm really trying to focus on using things that might not survive until I return in March.  I am on a fruit-buying ban, with the exception of lemons and limes. 

Need to use up:

Frozen blueberries
Frozen cherries
Dried cherries
Raisins
Prunes
Dried pears
Canned pears
Big box of apples

I also have two kinds of protein powder and a container of chia seeds to use up, so I'll probably be alternating between oatmeal and smoothies for the next several weeks.  I've been mixing the egg white protein into oatmeal and adding lots of frozen or dried fruits.

Also have winter squash, about 30# of sweet potatoes, and 20# of regular potatoes and 25# of onions in the basement.  Work lunches need to feature squash or sweet potatoes if I want to have a chance of using these before I leave.  Some canning may need to occur as well.  The spaghetti squash will hold through winter.

Other stuff needing to be used:

Frozen "riced" cauliflower
Coconut flakes
Coconut flour
Salmon fillets
Beef liver pate
Labneh

Lots of broccoli, cabbage, leeks, beets and parsnips still coming in from the garden.

Tonight I used up some chorizo along with potatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks and collards in a lovely soup with fresh cornbread made from the last of last year's corn crop.