Eat ALL the food in your house

[Cressida]

OK - does anyone happen to know what to do with whole farro? I meant to buy the pearled kind, and when I first tried cooking it it wouldn't soften even after a couple of hours. The next time, I tried running it through the food processor first - and nothing happened. These grains are literally impervious to the steel blade of the food processor. Should I give up? It's a decent-sized bag.

[Erica/NWEdible]

OK - does anyone happen to know what to do with whole farro? I meant to buy the pearled kind, and when I first tried cooking it it wouldn't soften even after a couple of hours. The next time, I tried running it through the food processor first - and nothing happened. These grains are literally impervious to the steel blade of the food processor. Should I give up? It's a decent-sized bag.

Try soaking it before cooking. At the point when a teeny little white sprout starts to appear, drain and boil as usual. This might take a day or two. If it takes longer than 24 hours, swap out the water at least every 24 hours so it doesn't get icky. It sounds like your farro might be old, though - even whole (non-pearled) farro should cook to softness within a few hours.

[aetherie]

I graduated and moved out yesterday, and the food I had left in the kitchen fit into one small shopping bag - so I didn't quite eat all of it, but I'm happy with the result nonetheless.

[waynesmate]

I'm a bit late to the party, but cheers for the inspiration! I just moved into this house a month ago, so I've been stocking up the cupboards, mostly staples and spices to make cooking a breeze with little else needed. The downside of this is bleeding out money over  the last month - especially combined with buying some kitchen equipment (it's our first time renting a place completely to ourselves that came totally bare).
I will probably do the empty-the-cupboards challenge when I need to move out in December so thanks for planting the idea well ahead of time. 

Until then, I reckon I'll see how many weeks I can go spending "only" $20 on groceries. (I'm sure many people would get by on that alone). Oh also, that's twenty New Zealand dollars. A lot of food here definitely costs more than in the US, but I think quality is pretty good, and there's heaps of Asian markets for cheaper produce, staples, etc. Still have to shell out $3.50/lb for bulk dried beans though.
The $20 challenge could potentially be relatively easy for me, as I love rice and beans, eat leftovers most meals and have many tricks up my sleeve for using them, and am pretty good at cooking creatively with what's in the cupboards.
The $20 is mostly intended for my husband. He's a hard-working man and really likes his New Zealand meat.  I always buy cheaper cuts and braise them or otherwise stretch them. We also eat heaps of eggs. I know they're not as cheap as, say, oatmeal but they're as close as it gets to nature's perfect food supposedly, and they stave off hunger better than anything else for us and we eat them at all times of the day. We also will need milk, and are thinking about switching to unpastuerized. Although it costs more, we'll probably use less.
(In a couple of years I'd love to have chickens, and eat mostly meat my husband's hunted, and fish we've caught and have a bigger garden etc - but that's not happening just yet!)

Anyway, I'm excited about the challenge. Making a really nice big meal is great, but making a kickass meal when most people would say "there's no food in the house" is seriously satisfying in its own way! And on a side note, this is a good time for me to improve my "potatos and onions" cooking (do simple things well and don't cover up the taste of ingredients with too many flavors and spices) as well as to finally stop being a wuss and tackle homemade tortillas! (Very expensive in NZ compared to the US). 

[nikki]

...

Making a really nice big meal is great, but making a kickass meal when most people would say "there's no food in the house" is seriously satisfying in its own way! And on a side note, this is a good time for me to improve my "potatos and onions" cooking (do simple things well and don't cover up the taste of ingredients with too many flavors and spices) as well as to finally stop being a wuss and tackle homemade tortillas! (Very expensive in NZ compared to the US).

I like surprising MYSELF with making really good food when the pickins are slim. Since I've been opting into a CSA, I haven't really had a low supply of food, though.

Homemade tortillas are so easy. I make them weekly from memory. Might I suggest this recipe? http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chef-Johns-Flour-Tortillas/Detail.aspx?src=VD_Summary  And the video: http://allrecipes.com/video/659/how-to-make-homemade-flour-tortillas/detail.aspx?prop24=RR_RelatedVideo

I started with that recipe, but now mix 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. Then add 1/4 cup fat (I've used ghee, butter, soybean oil, and olive oil with success--I usually just eyeball it, too, so probably use less than 1/4 cup sometimes) and mix it all up. Add 3/4 cup hot water. Mix, mix, mix, dump on floured counter, smush around a bit, and cover and let it sit a bit. Break the dough into however many balls you want. Roll one out with a rolling pin, plop it in a pan for a bit... I stopped timing that part. I flip it once or twice. Basically, while one's cooking, I'm rolling the next and dancing around my kitchen. Or washing dishes. Or cooking something else.

So yes... tackle the homemade tortillas. They're terribly easy, good for multi-tasking in the kitchen, and so good.

[waynesmate]

So yes... tackle the homemade tortillas. They're terribly easy, good for multi-tasking in the kitchen, and so good.
[/quote]

Cheers, I will try to tackle tortillas!

I've only tried making corn ones before - if I remember correctly, they were a bit thick and crumbly. I'm sure it's one of those projects where you just have to do it a bunch of times and get a feel. I tend to put those off - more of a cook fidgeting over the pot than a baker-type.

And yep, tortillas make leftover creations a breeze though. We can pretty much live on tacos, and I'm a huge fan of veg + hummus wraps. Also want to try heaps of different variations on rice and beans. Seems like every country "south of the border" has its own variations and I'd love to have a few really exciting rice and bean recipes under my belt. (For example, pickled pork in beans sounds mighty tasty.)

I will give it a go!

[Freckles]

It's funny that Waynemate brought up homemade tortillas tonight and you commented Nikki, as I thought of you and your homemade tortillas earlier this evening when I was making dinner.  I looked up recipes for tostadas, not that I don't know how to make tostadas but because I've always made them as my mama did, which is to fry them.  I wondered if I could bake them so they'd be a little healthier.  One of the recipes I read said something to the effect of "You could go crazy and make your own tortillas, but we just buy them."  It made me laugh to think of "crazy" Nikki, making her homemade tortillas in her kitchen in Korea!

[nikki]

It's funny that Waynemate brought up homemade tortillas tonight and you commented Nikki, as I thought of you and your homemade tortillas earlier this evening when I was making dinner.  I looked up recipes for tostadas, not that I don't know how to make tostadas but because I've always made them as my mama did, which is to fry them.  I wondered if I could bake them so they'd be a little healthier.  One of the recipes I read said something to the effect of "You could go crazy and make your own tortillas, but we just buy them."  It made me laugh to think of "crazy" Nikki, making her homemade tortillas in her kitchen in Korea!

I'm totally okay with that mental association! Tortillas for life!

I'm actually about to marry into a Mexican family, and my future husband has assured me they will adore me because I can make tortillas and most of them have never bothered. Bahahaha!

[CommonCents]

Went to go have some expired tomato soup for dinner last night, and I couldn't do it.  I had one can that expired in 2002!!  I threw it out, but did have one of the ones that expired 2011.  I can't believe I've been carrying that soup can through 8! moves (assuming I bought it on graduating college in late 2001).  This experiment has been eye opening in what I eat and don't eat, and what clutters up my house and is wasted, as I slowly plug away at my stores.  Also a lesson to be careful about couponing - that's why I have so many soups from 2011, buying them at 25-50 cents.  Burnt the 2011 soup so I'm not sure how good it was to start.  But I have a few more cans to experiment on still.  And my husband is gone for 2-3 more night and not around to object.

[4alpacas]

So yes... tackle the homemade tortillas. They're terribly easy, good for multi-tasking in the kitchen, and so good.

Cheers, I will try to tackle tortillas!

I've only tried making corn ones before - if I remember correctly, they were a bit thick and crumbly. I'm sure it's one of those projects where you just have to do it a bunch of times and get a feel. I tend to put those off - more of a cook fidgeting over the pot than a baker-type.

And yep, tortillas make leftover creations a breeze though. We can pretty much live on tacos, and I'm a huge fan of veg + hummus wraps. Also want to try heaps of different variations on rice and beans. Seems like every country "south of the border" has its own variations and I'd love to have a few really exciting rice and bean recipes under my belt. (For example, pickled pork in beans sounds mighty tasty.)

I will give it a go!
[/quote]

I second making tortillas.  It's really easy and inexpensive.  Also, the tortillas are fantastic right after they're cooked.  SO good!

[Cressida]

OK - does anyone happen to know what to do with whole farro? I meant to buy the pearled kind, and when I first tried cooking it it wouldn't soften even after a couple of hours. The next time, I tried running it through the food processor first - and nothing happened. These grains are literally impervious to the steel blade of the food processor. Should I give up? It's a decent-sized bag.

Even really dried out farro should soften. Strange...

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/toasted-farro-and-scallions-with-cauliflower-and-egg
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mixed-vegetable-and-farro-soup
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/cheesy-farro-and-tomato-risotto
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/summer-farro-salad

All look pretty good and inexpensive to me...

Thanks! I will try the risotto, at least, before I conclude that I just have a weird batch of farro.

[DMoney]

Alright, joining this long ongoing challenge.  I'm going to try to limit our grocery bill to $50 for the next 3 weeks while we aggressively eat down whats in the pantry and freezer.  We have pre-paid for a weekly CSA, so some fresh veggies and eggs are already covered.  The $50 will probably mostly cover milk and sundry items for the babies (twin infants).  Excited to save some money this month!

[Erica/NWEdible]

I just made my new favorite food ever. Thought I'd share here.

It's a Thai flavored Larb-ish style salad.
Brown up a pound or so of ground beef, pork, chicken - whatever you like. I used beef and it was awesome.
While meat is browning, shred a cabbage and whisk together a dressing of mostly freshly squeezed lime juice, with a little olive oil to smooth it out and a spoonful of red curry paste (the kind that comes in the tub and is kinda moist, not a dry powder). Just mix it up to your taste - the curry paste has a kick, so go easy if you don't like spice. When the beef is cooked through, toss the beef crumbles with the shredded cabbage and the dressing. If you have some cilantro, fresh mint, green onions, cucumber or carrots lying around, those would all be a good addition but I just went with cabbage and it was amazingly yummy.

[Nancy]

I'm finally joining this challenge. My freezer/fridge/cabinets are packed, and I need to make a dent. I also need to cut back on my grocery spending. So I'm having a zero food budget weekend where I only eat what I already have.

My goal is to pull at least one thing out from the back of the cabinet and eat it each day. Cheers!

[horsepoor]

I just made my new favorite food ever. Thought I'd share here.

It's a Thai flavored Larb-ish style salad.
Brown up a pound or so of ground beef, pork, chicken - whatever you like. I used beef and it was awesome.
While meat is browning, shred a cabbage and whisk together a dressing of mostly freshly squeezed lime juice, with a little olive oil to smooth it out and a spoonful of red curry paste (the kind that comes in the tub and is kinda moist, not a dry powder). Just mix it up to your taste - the curry paste has a kick, so go easy if you don't like spice. When the beef is cooked through, toss the beef crumbles with the shredded cabbage and the dressing. If you have some cilantro, fresh mint, green onions, cucumber or carrots lying around, those would all be a good addition but I just went with cabbage and it was amazingly yummy.

This is sooo up my alley it's way down the street!  Thanks, ground beef and cabbage are two of my favorite frugal ingredients, so this will be perfect heading into summer.  Yum.

I just got back from a week long work trip, and took a fair bit of food with me.  Just got back and the fridge is nearly bare, save the deli drawer, which got packed full of cheese and sausages on my last big shop.  Anyway, it was nice to be able to pull the shelves out and clean them without it turning into a big production.  The cupboards have lots of new space as well.  Planning to stick to a $50 budget for shopping to get us to the end of the month.  Shouldn't be a problem at all.

[nikki]

Due to CSA goodies AND my neighbor giving me some of his CSA goodies the past two weeks (he's been gone a lot and hasn't been able to eat it), my fridge and freezer are PACKED.

I've never had this much food before!!!

It's worth noting that I don't have a full-sized fridge or freezer. It's Korean studio sized, which is somewhere between mini and standard. Challenging.

My method to get through some of the excess produce has been to make things that freeze well, which is why my freezer's packed. Also a bit of bulky storage options and an almost-full bag of veggie scraps for stock.

My goal for the next week is to reduce some of the visual clutter in my fridge and freezer by using up things that are almost all gone, like the lime juice, baked spring rolls, and frozen-blanched bean sprouts. The pantry's looking great these days, so I know I can do it while still eating piles of fresh CSA goodies that come each Tuesday!

Attached: fridge and freezer now. As someone totally averse to visual clutter, I cringe. I cringe.

[1967mama]

Put bran cereal, chia and hemp seeds into individual canning jars.  They were languishing in the back of my pantry cupboard in bags or boxes and no one could ever "see" them.  Sure enough, all 3 were used by various family members this morning!  Victory!

[Nancy]

Don't fear expiration/best by dates:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/12/26/167819082/dont-fear-that-expired-food

I've eaten a lot of delicious, perfectly good, expired food this weekend:
- Ate the remainder of the frozen spring rolls
- ate the frozen spinach with squeezed lemon juice, soy sauce, and minced ginger. Would have loved raw garlic, but no dice- we're out. Still delish
-made raspberry and blueberry oat muffins with applesauce, date puree, and old buttermilk. (score for using up the dates and buttermilk)

This has been a fun challenge!

Also cooked up/ate/froze the dry black beans to go with Spanish rice. Yum!

[waynesmate]

Well, I delayed starting my $20 a week challenge, as I was running low on all of our staple foods (and we have only been in the house a month, don't have that much stockpiled really...)
So I bought some bulk bags of potatoes, carrots, onions, lots of eggs, some inexpensive packs of meat. Cooked three pots of chicken stock and rendered schmaltz, and loaded up on Tapatio and cans of tuna on sale so the challenge should be a lot more feasible. I'm going for longevity here, and to keep my husband on board, so I'm not too fussed about the delayed start. Do want to also pick up some bulk barley and a couple bottles of oil before I start. And red curry paste. Erica, I'm so keen to try your larb recipe! Basically, I want to have the main pantry staples down before starting the challenge.

I have been cutting down on waste, thanks to this thread, and defaulting to using what I have already.

I am glad to report that I make an awesome Barley Mushroom soup yesterday, which was unbelievably simple when I wrote it down afterword:

I sauteed 2 large chopped onions, 2 large chopped carrots, and some chopped celery and mushrooms in a good amount of butter with a little olive oil. Put it in the crockpot with my strong homemade chicken stock and added a 500g bag of barley and split pea soup mix.
Eaten with some fresh dill and a little sour cream, but would've been just as good without them. It was unbelievable, thanks to the chicken stock (so much flavor and body and a good level of salt). I usually doubt that recipes that simple can have so much flavor, but this was legit. I am officially hooked on barley so thanks to everyone who's been mentioning it!

BTW, for chicken stock, I get bags of chicken backs for $4 from an Asian butcher, makes quite a bit of stock plus giving me schmaltz. The homemade chicken stock needs almost nothing added to it to make a meal, it is so good. So much body. No actual chicken meat needed.

[CommonCents]

HELP!

I threw a party, and (thanks in large part to my husband's insane insistence on tripling food to make sure we had enough food) I have WAY too much food leftover that will go bad if I don't manage it.  What can I freeze and in what order do we need to eat the remaining food to make sure it doesn't go bad?
- Pasta salad w/no mayo - pasta, argula, capers, roasted red peppers, balsamic, olive oil, some parm
- White bean salad (cannelini beans, onions, lime, olive oil, parsley)
- Black bean mango salsa/salad w/lime, cilantro, red onion, olive oil (bring in to coworkers with some chips?  I have a ton - due to some rain hiccups, it didn't get placed near chips)
- Homemade hummus (looks like online I can freeze?)
- Watermelon (looks like online says it'll last 7-10 days uncut, maybe can push it further to 2 weeks when we have family visiting?)
- Brownies (freeze?  or bring in a second batch for coworkers)

[tmac]

CommonCents, I'd probably freeze most of it, then work it into other dishes. Soups, tacos, smoothies. The beans, brownies, and hummus would probably be fine just thawed and used as intended.

[CommonCents]

Thanks tmac!  We were thinking the pasta would keep the least well, so we ought to eat that fresh this week.  At least I don't need to be making food for a while!  And DH already thought the black bean mango salsa would be great recast in a burrito with a grilled chicken.

[tmac]

Nice!

Our kids love watermelon slushies -- frozen watermelon, OJ, and /or seltzer. Drink or freeze into Popsicles.

[waynesmate]

The cannellini bean salad could be covered in chicken stock and frozen and thawed as soup maybe? I've been on a dried bean cooking kick and read to freeze them covered in their cooking liquid. I dunno if covering them in liquid is necessary, but probably wouldn't hurt.

That white bean salad would be great on toast. Or with tuna added for a killer lunch.

The watermelon could be used for agua frescas, perfect if you're coming into summer. (The rinds can be pickled too)

Maybe cook extra chicken, and eat the leftovers in hummus wraps? Or cannellini wraps?

Man, all that food sounds awesome.

[Splendid]

I got two daikon radishes in this week's CSA. Any suggestions for them?

[waynesmate]

I got two daikon radishes in this week's CSA. Any suggestions for them?

This link has some suggestions:

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/12/daikon-radish-what-to-do-with-it.html?ref=search

Serious Eats is an awesome food site by the way, my go-to for most things. I'm sure they have plenty of other pages on daikon.

I am going to officially start my $20/week challenge tomorrow. I figure Friday is a good day to start it so we can have some nice new meals on the weekend, then eat delicious leftovers for most of the week.

Luckily, the supermarket was having a big meat sale, so I scored a bunch of beef roasts and casserole steaks and a whole chicken, all for less than the cheapest ground beef usually costs. The freezer is nice and stocked, and the pantry has plenty of eggs, beans, onions, and potatoes. Should be a good starting point! (Again, I'm going for longevity, and to make it attractive to my partner.)

Despite the pangs of guilt, I did chuck out a failed dulce de leche experiment (was trying to use up milk before it went bad and failed horribly), some pretty mangled beet-pickled eggs, and a couple other small failed projects. I tried to think of ways to possibly salvage these things but in the end decided to let it go and move on. Will do better next time!

[waynesmate]

Things I'd like ideas for:

• star anise

...

[/list]

Bit of a delayed response, but I recently learned about throwing in one or two pods when cooking onions. (Might've been from MArk Bittman... can't remember)

[nikki]

Things I'd like ideas for:

• star anise

...

[/list]

Bit of a delayed response, but I recently learned about throwing in one or two pods when cooking onions. (Might've been from MArk Bittman... can't remember)

Interesting idea! I haven't used them once since posting my question :-/

[waynesmate]

Cheers, I am trying your tortilla recipe tonight!

[Splendid]

I got two daikon radishes in this week's CSA. Any suggestions for them?

This link has some suggestions:

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/12/daikon-radish-what-to-do-with-it.html?ref=search

Serious Eats is an awesome food site by the way, my go-to for most things. I'm sure they have plenty of other pages on daikon.

Thank you for the website!

[waynesmate]

I got two daikon radishes in this week's CSA. Any suggestions for them?

This link has some suggestions:

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/12/daikon-radish-what-to-do-with-it.html?ref=search

Serious Eats is an awesome food site by the way, my go-to for most things. I'm sure they have plenty of other pages on daikon.

Thank you for the website!

Glad you like it! It is my favorite food website. They have The Food Lab, where Kenji, who has an MIT degree, devotes all of his scientific knowledge and curiosity to coming up with killer recipes, answering cooking questions, and dispelling cooking myths. They also have "Drinking the Bottom Shelf" which has articles on the best cheap booze. For example, they'll try every bottle of wine at Trader Joe's that's under $5. And hacks, taste tests, etc. Super entertaining and not one bit snobby.
They also like to experiment with cooking everything they can in a waffle maker. Turned out to be the best way to reheat frozen pizza, interestingly enough!

****

Nikki, I'm glad to report the tortillas were a total success! I made a batch for Taco Night, but the beef was taking longer than expected to cook. So we scooped out a bowl of the beef cooking juices/sauce and ate all of the tortillas dipped into it. Then I made another whole batch and we ate those too the same way. It was awesome! I will definitely be making tortillas regularly and can't believe it look me this long to finally do it. So thanks!

BTW, I got the idea for our humble meal from the great book "The Feast of Santa Fe." The author writes about how humble the food supply in New Mexico was for centuries, pretty much just corn, bean, and chilies. He suggests 12 "feasts of simplicity", with the 12th day being Christmas. So the first day you roast a green chiles, mash it with garlic, and eat it with fresh tortillas, maybe with some butter and a little cheese. The second day you boil some beans and add it to the first day's feast. The third day, you add some red chile sauce to the beans. The fourth day you add a little pork to the beans. Etc. In this way you build up to an Xmas feast, although it's just the simple dishes from all 12 days combined.

Point being, reading that made me realize that just sauce and tortillas could be the first night's meal, and tonight we'll add beef,beans, and cheese to it and feast like kings.
(Granted, our beef is all decked out with lard, onions, garlic, chili powders, paprika, vegemite, soy sauce... so it's not exactly austere ;)

[m8547]

I'm moving this month, so I spent the last few weeks eating all the food in my house. As a result, my total grocery bill for May was $53.23! It's amazing how much I had accumulated. I've bought almost nothing the past three weeks, and over $30 of the grocery spending was at the beginning of the month before I started cleaning out everything.

[nikki]

I'm moving this month, so I spent the last few weeks eating all the food in my house. As a result, my total grocery bill for May was $53.23! It's amazing how much I had accumulated. I've bought almost nothing the past three weeks, and over $30 of the grocery spending was at the beginning of the month before I started cleaning out everything.

Bravo! It's awesome how much money can be saved just by using stuff you've already bought :-p

I'll be moving two buildings over at the end of August, and going out of the country at the end of July, so I have two months to reduce the amount of food I have to move as well. I still get my weekly CSA box, so the challenge will be to make awesome meals from my CSA box and things I already have on hand. It will be fun!

I ran out of flour while making tortillas for lunch and added in some gluten-free biscuit mix someone gave me. This stuff is awful--biscuits shouldn't be gluten-free. But mixed in with actual flour, it's not nearly as bad. I'd call this a success! Making my way through the rest of the bag will be interesting, though... it's pretty awful stuff. Sand-like.

[horsepoor]

I just made my new favorite food ever. Thought I'd share here.

It's a Thai flavored Larb-ish style salad.
Brown up a pound or so of ground beef, pork, chicken - whatever you like. I used beef and it was awesome.
While meat is browning, shred a cabbage and whisk together a dressing of mostly freshly squeezed lime juice, with a little olive oil to smooth it out and a spoonful of red curry paste (the kind that comes in the tub and is kinda moist, not a dry powder). Just mix it up to your taste - the curry paste has a kick, so go easy if you don't like spice. When the beef is cooked through, toss the beef crumbles with the shredded cabbage and the dressing. If you have some cilantro, fresh mint, green onions, cucumber or carrots lying around, those would all be a good addition but I just went with cabbage and it was amazingly yummy.

I tried this recipe, but maybe what was missing was the lime juice.  I think I used apple cider vinegar since that was what I had on hand.  This challenge has me reducing the number of vinegars I have around the house, and can now say that I miss rice wine.  However, I wanted to mention that, at least the cabbage I had (red cabbage) had quite a bit of bitterness to it, and this didn't really work out until I added a fair bit of sugar to the dressing, as well as some coconut milk.  I'm not much on sweet dressings, but it really needed the sugar to counteract the bitterness.  Next time I think I'll use Napa cabbage instead and see if that negates the need for added sugar.  Will definitely be trying it again, though.  Something like this as a nice slaw with seared Ahi tuna would be the business.

[swick]

Made a fair bit of progress today. A loaf of no-knead bread will give us a few days worth of breakfasts (the goal is to get at least a few of the open jars of jams and preserves out of the fridge)

Also made some banana chocolate chip muffins out of bananas way past their prime.

Took a large jar of smaltz out of the freezer...used a bit for the pan for some fried eggs - super tasty! Not sure what to do with the rest of it. Anyone have any ideas?

[waynesmate]

I've started to render and cook with schmaltz over the last couple months. Michael Ruhlman has a mini-cookbook called "The Book of Schmaltz: Love Song to a Forgotten Fat." Quite a bit of the content is on his blog or reprinted on other food sites.

I recommend it for sauteeing mirepoix/aromatics for soups, and for frying potatos.

Will surely remember more ideas for it soon!

[unix_kung_fu]

this is sort of related, but I wanted to share that I am so happy that Mariano's is opening up just down the street from me. It's like an in between version of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. The closest grocery store to me has horrible and disgusting produce and everything is overpriced. I was watching for sales/markdowns or having to pay $2.50 round trip bus fare to Whole Foods to get quality and other things the Jewel-Osco didn't have.

Now all the nearby stores are mailing out $10 off w/ minimum purchase coupons and lowering prices overall. The dumpy Jewel-Osco is actually trying to renovate and make things better.. gotta love competition.

Here's to hoping my household can continue to finish eating everything we buy and we resist the urge to buy too much food even at the lower rates.

[Splendid]

Made a fair bit of progress today. A loaf of no-knead bread will give us a few days worth of breakfasts (the goal is to get at least a few of the open jars of jams and preserves out of the fridge)

Also made some banana chocolate chip muffins out of bananas way past their prime.

Took a large jar of smaltz out of the freezer...used a bit for the pan for some fried eggs - super tasty! Not sure what to do with the rest of it. Anyone have any ideas?

Had to look up smaltz. Chicken fat, is that correct? If it is, I wonder if you can use it almost like bacon fat? I use bacon fat to saute stuff, most especially cabbage. Love cabbage done that way, and it would probably be good with other vegetables.

[swick]

Had to look up smaltz. Chicken fat, is that correct? If it is, I wonder if you can use it almost like bacon fat? I use bacon fat to saute stuff, most especially cabbage. Love cabbage done that way, and it would probably be good with other vegetables.

Yup, it's chicken fat. I have been using it so far like bacon grease, the problem is I have so much of it! I usually get drums with backs attached because they are cheapest, butcher them down and then throw the backs (and the TON of skin) in the crock pot for stock. That leaves lots of fat - sometimes as much as the broth!

[waynesmate]

Had to look up smaltz. Chicken fat, is that correct? If it is, I wonder if you can use it almost like bacon fat? I use bacon fat to saute stuff, most especially cabbage. Love cabbage done that way, and it would probably be good with other vegetables.

Yup, it's chicken fat. I have been using it so far like bacon grease, the problem is I have so much of it! I usually get drums with backs attached because they are cheapest, butcher them down and then throw the backs (and the TON of skin) in the crock pot for stock. That leaves lots of fat - sometimes as much as the broth!

I am in the same position. I make stock from bags of chicken backs and end up with so much chicken fat, a ridiculous amount for one person. I'm keeping a jar in the freezer so I only have a small amount in the fridge (I guess it loses flavor easily).
I was initially keeping the gribenes as well (the browned chicken bits and onions leftover from rendering schmaltz) but there was a ridiculous amount of those too.

Some ideas:
-chicken confit
-brown spaetzle in it
-roast potatos in it
-use it in place of butter or mayo on a sandwich
-brown sandwiches in it
-use for fried rice
-pilaf
-couscous
-in savory strudel/pie dough?
-fry/scramble eggs
-gravy
-in tamales?
-in stuffing/dressing

Edited to add: refry beans in it

[swick]

oohh refried beans would be awesome! I didn't know that it loses flavor quickly in the fridge, better put the rest of it in the freezer. Thanks for all the suggestions!

[waynesmate]

I've heard storing it in 1/2 pint jars (or maybe even smaller) is a good idea, so you can just have a little in the fridge at a time.
I've kept it in the fridge for a few weeks though with no problem. Didn't do a taste test so can't say if it really did lose a lot of flavor.

I bet tortillas made with schmaltz would be great with refried beans! I will have to have a go at them.
Also- brussel sprouts sauteed or roasted in schmaltz?
White beans sauteed with onions and garlic in schmaltz on toast... mmmm
Apparently good in gnocchi as well.

Jewish cookbooks have heaps of uses for schmaltz, definitely recommended.

[HappierAtHome]

Somehow my pantry stash has built up again, so it's time to start fighting back via this challenge :-)

Did well last night by turning really really shit slow cooker risotto (seriously - so bad I was contemplating just throwing it out) into arancini. Yum. Extra cheese, breadcrumbs and some red sauce make everything better.

[greenmimama]

I need to join in, we want to move in August, if the house sells, so the eat is on, I will have to get creative.

I already started tonight by making oatmeal from the pantry and stirring in Apple Butter, which was already open and no one liked on bread, also stirred in some yogurt, cinnamon, and blueberries from the freezer and bananas.

I should meal plan from my pantry and especially freezer, I would love to not have to lug that freezer around full and worrying it will spoil.

[nikki]

I threw out the last two packets of instant miso soup mix I inherited from a friend who moved away. Dreadful stuff. Couldn't even force myself to choke it down.

Food shouldn't be miserable, you know? Farewell, shitty instant miso soup.

[CommonCents]

Had the following leftover still from my party: a big bag of leftover chopped red onions, a bunch of avocados, a few tomatos, a few expensive! limes, and a tupperware of chopped garlic.  [ETA: And a bag of about a pound of cheddar cheese I had sliced and some cilantro.]
 
Made shrimp tacos (had frozen shrimp, and marinated in some chipotle sauce I had in the fridge & lime juice) with the above ingredients as the filling.  Missing ingredient: tortillas, so rather than demand we head to the store, I whipped up a batch of homemade tortillas following the recipe posted here.  Surprisingly easy although a bit time consuming.  Maybe less so if you have two burners going at once.  Might increase the salt a bit.  (Also, surprising that it's cooked dry and not fried in oil like I thought it'd be, so a little healthier than I figured it'd be.)

And I'm feeling pretty damn impressed with myself for being able to make homemade tortillas!  My husband was not as impressed as I thought he ought to be.  He was already in the dog house though for suggesting we ought to eat McD's when we passed it by at the train station.

[swick]

Had the following leftover still from my party: a big bag of leftover chopped red onions, a bunch of avocados, a few tomatos, a few expensive! limes, and a tupperware of chopped garlic.

Erica was a great post of freezing Guacamole. I have tried it and it is great! http://www.nwedible.com/2014/03/make-freeze-guacamole.html

[CommonCents]

Had the following leftover still from my party: a big bag of leftover chopped red onions, a bunch of avocados, a few tomatos, a few expensive! limes, and a tupperware of chopped garlic.

Erica was a great post of freezing Guacamole. I have tried it and it is great! http://www.nwedible.com/2014/03/make-freeze-guacamole.html

Yeah I didn't mention it, but we also made some guac separately as a snack for my husband while dinner was being made.  I haven't yet gotten to the point that I think the gauc needs to be frozen - we have family coming over on Sat and I'm hoping it all last until then to make fresh for them, but good to know if the avocado seems like it's starting to go.

[swick]

There are also avocado milkshakes...sounds super strange (especially if you didn't grow up with them) but they are super awesome!

Blend milk, ice cream, avocado and a touch of vanilla (if you like) serve with a thick straw :)

[CommonCents]

Had the following leftover still from my party: a big bag of leftover chopped red onions, a bunch of avocados, a few tomatos, a few expensive! limes, and a tupperware of chopped garlic.

Erica was a great post of freezing Guacamole. I have tried it and it is great! http://www.nwedible.com/2014/03/make-freeze-guacamole.html

You sir, are evil.

I've spent way too much time at work today reading that blog, damn you!

Can't do avocado milkshakes though, sorry.  (Also, don't tend to have milk often in the house.)