Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-DH finished off the leftover chicken wings for dinner last night
-DS17 had a cheese pizza that had been in the freezer forever. He said it tasted like cardboard, so the leftovers are going into the garbage & it won't be a repeat purchase. If a teenager judges your pizza that harshly, it must be bad, because he thinks Dominos and the like are incredible.
-I had a chicken patty over a salad, using up more salad fixings.

I'm making tacos tonight, which will hopefully use up the last of the sour cream & some cheddar cheese.

[Josiecat22222]

one packet of chicken tenders out of freezer! Also used up the tail ends of a couple of bits of cheese for garlic cheese crust on fresh asparagus.

used a can of eggplant/tomato and onion sauce from trader joes-- surprisingly tasty on some red lentil pasta!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Josiecat22222 - that garlic cheese crusted asparagus sounds fabulous!

DH is grilling steak tonight, which we will eat with mashed potatoes & salad. I'm suitably excited. Both were new purchases. However, I did cut up part of a Hickory Farm beef stick, and have some of that for a snack yesterday & today. Our neighbor got us a large box of Hickory Farms meat & cheese as a thank you gift.

Also today:
-DS17 ate the rest of the bread
-I ate the remaining tuna salad on pretzel chips, because see above

[Josiecat22222]

@MaybeBabyMustache - it was great!  I have done similar with green beans (but seriously, everything is better with a little butter and parmesan!!)

made a dent in some larger packages - half way through a two pound bag of mozzarella (made keto bagels for the low carb fellas), I think there are only 2-3 servings left of each bulgur and red lentil/quinoa pasta.  Focusing on using those up this month.  Still have some freezer items, but there is definitely progress being made!!

[Dollar Slice]

Anyone have a suggestion for a "petite sirloin" cut of beef? I googled and got suggestions for 1. Grilling whole 2. Braising 3. Slicing thin for fajitas or cheese steak

Which are drastically different from each other and now I'm confused. Someone gave them to me. I'm not really a red meat/steak person. It was a weird and unsolicited gift but they meant well, lol.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dollar Slice - if it looks like a reasonably nice cut of beef, I'd probably just grill it whole. From there, you could thinly slice it after cooking if desired.

[Dollar Slice]

@Dollar Slice - if it looks like a reasonably nice cut of beef, I'd probably just grill it whole. From there, you could thinly slice it after cooking if desired.

It is super lean, kind of giving me bottom round vibes?

Maybe good for a stir fry...

[seemsright]

@Dollar Slice - if it looks like a reasonably nice cut of beef, I'd probably just grill it whole. From there, you could thinly slice it after cooking if desired.

It is super lean, kind of giving me bottom round vibes?

Maybe good for a stir fry...

You could also use it for a beef stew, or a beef noodle soup. I just used a beef sirloin roast that I braised in a crock pot, with mushrooms, carrots, and other veggies that needed to be used, added a can of tomatoes I had, some Italian seasoning a bit of water,  and let it cook for 10 hours on low. We used it more like a ragu that we ate over pasta. the first night, then I took some of the leftovers and put them in a hot skillet and seared it and we ate it with rice and other random from the fridge for rice bowls. And tonight I am taking the rest and turning it into a beef veggie soup. We will get almost a week of lunches and dinners out of one beef roast.

Yes this meat would work for a stir fry, just cut thin so it is not tough and you would be good to go.

[MountainGal]

@MaybeBabyMustache I looked up loobia polo and it does sound delicious!

Similar to @fuzzy math, I went on a 4-day trip which was camping.  I remembered to freeze the leftover au gratin potatoes and one other item before leaving.

Camping food included:
~Leftover ham which DH grilled one day for lunch, and for a supper, I diced some into the au gratin potatoes I did pack and warmed them up together.  The 3.5-pound ham purchased for an early Easter supper went a long way.
~Evening snack plates finished the remaining Irish cheddar from St. Patrick's Day, a can of olives, various crackers and bag of sliced salami.
~Brunch and breakfasts used the two remaining potatoes and 6 boiled eggs.
~I sauteed half of the yellow squash and zucchini to go with one of the camping suppers and will cook up the rest this evening.
Also:
~Bagged spinach:  About a third went into a one pot recipe which consisted of Sam's Club beef franks and Birdseye vegetable pasta, a third was sauteed with the aforementioned yellow squash and zucchini, and the remaining contents will be the base for tonight's tuna avocado salads.  If I remember I will also make Mexican pickles to use the remaining cotija cheese.
~Tomorrow's pork tenderloin will be topped with bourbon whiskey cherries bought during the holidays.
~I just nibbled on rice cookies also bought during the holidays.  Only 3 packages of 2 per remain.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Froze leftover taco meat
-Defrosted/toasted a couple of hamburger buns, and made DS17 two chicken sandwiches after he got home at 8 pm from a tennis match
-I'll have lasagna (from the freezer) for lunch today
-We are having pad Thai & edamame for dinner tonight, which will use up the prepared pad Thai sitting in the fridge as well as maybe 1/3 of the edamame
-I'm planning to make cranberry muffins today, to use up some of the freezer cranberries

[MountainGal]

Because I spent so much last month for regular groceries and a Sam's Club pickup, I'm challenging myself to push back grocery shopping until after payday.  I'm also back to focusing on condiments as they are abundant.

This Thursday:  Mini wontons and Quest pizza bought last month.  I'll doctor up the latter with pepperoni slices and extra cheese.  Condiments:  Teriyaki and ranch.
Friday and Saturday:  Out
Sunday:  Leftover pork tenderloin, air fried sweet potatoes from the freezer.  Horseradish and ranch.
Mon:  Cod tacos in cheddar cheese shells, broccoli and cauliflower from the freezer.  Spicy ranch or spicy aioli.
Tues:  Slow cooker beef roast, the rest of the frozen sweet potatoes.  BBQ or horseradish, ranch.
Wed:  Oven fried keto chicken legs bought last month with frozen mixed veggies.
Thurs:  Mini wontons and veggies from the freezer.  Teriyaki and soy sauce.
Fri:  Takeout
Sat:  Something easy as it's tax prep day.
Sun:  Salmon bought last month, veggies.
Mon:  ?
Tues:  Grocery day :)

[Dollar Slice]

You could also use it for a beef stew, or a beef noodle soup.

Thanks for your ideas. I like a beef noodle soup...

I ended up having a really bad flare up of my chronic GI illness and barely ate anything but bread and rice for a couple days, so I tossed them in the freezer. But I'll remember for later! Easing back into some easily digested foods with pasta and overcooked broccoli... my favorite. LOL.

[Dutch Comfort]

Easter weekend came and went, but we're still munching on the Easter chocolate eggs...... Thankfully the last bag is now on the table and with two teens, this should not last much longer.

Had quite a good week:
- Last bag of french fries from freezer got used on Easter Monday
- I found 3 leftover pieces of bacon-burgers in the freezer. Was enough for dinner yesterday with some sweet corn (can from pantry) and baked potatoes and a salad made out of things in the fridge (2 small leftover portions of bagged salad, tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet corn, together with a honey-mustard-dressing that is already in the fridge for way too long).
- DD just came home after school and I made her a nice stir-fry lunch of a lingering pack of pre-sliced veggies that were about to go bad and 1/2 pack of noodles that was in our pantry for at least 1 year (she doesn't care if there is no meat in there, as long as there are noodles!). Just a snack-size portion was leftover and I will put this in the fridge for the first teen that goes hungry.
- Today will be chicken from freezer with the potatoes and veggies that are in the fridge (I just saw a stem of broccoli in the veggie drawer, so this will be gone tonight!).

I have way too many eggs in the fridge at the moment, so I'm thinking about a cake for the weekend, using 1/2 jar of lemoncurd which is in the fridge. I do not expect any complaints from the rest of the family.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Made cranberry muffins, using up: cranberries (freezer), orange juice, the end of a sour cream container & a freebie Greek yogurt that I got at the store. The recipe called for plan yogurt, but those two blended together worked just fine. DH says they are great.
-I ate the leftover lasagna, and a chicken patty on a salad for lunch. The salad also finished off the remainder of a bagged salad.
-The teens finished off all of the pasta, and DS17 continues to plow through the bread by having grilled cheese sandwiches any time he's between soccer or tennis matches.
-I'll be out of town with the teens this weekend (last college tour for DS18!), so I defrosted rotisserie chicken for DH. He likes combining it with veggies for a stir fry type thing. That should keep him going tonight & tomorrow.

[fuzzy math]

*confession whisper* I threw away about 10 different things that were never going to get eaten. Oversize candy canes gifted to us, some really horrible (free) low sugar hazelnut chocolate spread, a jar of alfredo that I couldn't remember the opened date, some cereal the kids refuse to eat.

Successes:
- finally finishing (as I type) a container of taco meat that I swear was replenishing itself in the fridge
- ditto to a large container of green beans
- DH ate some mexican restaurant leftovers
- we actually finished a package of corn tortillas before they got too ancient
- hard boiled a billion eggs to feed to the dogs
- convinced younger DS to eat some non preferred yogurts
- showed DH specifically which items we already have too much of (he suffers from pantry blindness) before he went to the store

[MountainGal]

Nice work, everyone!

Similar to @fuzzy math, I must confess I threw away the remaining cup or so of baby spinach.  It had a best by date of way too long ago, and it's not worth getting sick over.

Details to my post above:
-A half bottle of red wine that has been in the fridge for way too long went into today's slow cooker beef roast recipe.
-A half box of low sodium chicken broth went into the above.
-The remaining half box of the above will go into Thursday's wonton veggie soup.
-I'll add ginger and garlic to tonight's green beans for some added antioxidants.
-Condiment check in:  The regular and spicy ranches are almost gone and have been added to the grocery list.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@fuzzy math and @MountainGal - sometimes it's better to toss things & have a clear view of what you have & will actually eat. The old stuff cluttering up space (both physically & mentally) can be distracting.

-The teens & I were out of town over the weekend, but DH ate a bag of rotisserie chicken from the freezer.
-DH made burgers for us on Sunday, and we managed to use up hamburger buns from the freezer
-We are more hamburgers for dinner today, and froze the last two remaining patties
-DS18 & I had a cauliflower taco rice bake from the freezer for dinner yesterday
-I was bored with the cauliflower taco rice bake (it made a TON, and we've already had it for dinner like 6 times, I swear, so when I dutifully pulled it out of the freezer, I cursed a bit), so today for lunch I pan fried potato chunks, and served some of the taco rice bake over that, with a little cheese. It was fantastic, and that means I can have it again for lunch tomorrow.
-I've continued to use up a lot of mint & garlic scapes that we're growing

[MountainGal]

@MaybeBabyMustache agreed regarding the distraction.  And LOL at cursing the never-ending leftovers!  Because I am a low carber for the most part, I looked up a cauliflower taco bake recipe and added it to the week of the 21st's meal plan.

Edit to yesterday's post:  The red wine hadn't been opened yet.  Half of it went into the slow cooker yesterday morning (which, the beef turned out very tender) and the other half we'll have to drink.  Oh, darn.  ;-)

I haven't been to the grocery store since the last week of March, and things are still going well.  I'm appreciating the money savings. Shopping from the garage freezer and discovering things I'd forgotten about helps.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Cauliflower taco rice bake is officially gone
-We snacked on two mini Hickory Farms items & used up one cheese & one summer sausage that were part of a thank you gift from a neighbor
-DS17 finished off a bag of pizza rolls, after a late night soccer practice
-I picked red lettuce from the garden, & used that in DH's salad
-I had entirely freezer leftovers for lunches this week: taco rice bake (once as a burrito, 2x over a diced potatoes) & lasagna

For dinner tonight, here's the plan:
-Salad using up lots of fridge ingredients (DH)
-DS18 will have the pulled pork that I tossed in the freezer after a cooking subscription delivery fail way, way back. I'll serve that on a bun for him
-DH, DS17 (if he's home on a Friday night, which would be crazy rare) & I will have the leftover chicken shawarma. I'll freeze whatever's remaining.
-I'll drink a glass of wine from the open bottle, because I'm dedicated to this cause ;-)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Finished off one more summer sausage & cheese, as part of our Hickory Farms gift set
-The small portion of chicken shawarma left over was used as lunch yesterday, along side a potato, which I diced & pan fried. I served it with some tzatziki sauce we had in the fridge + feta.
-I finally made the Trader Joes appetizer leftover from Super Bowl Sunday. It was actually quite good!
-For dinner last night, I made a large salad for DH, using up lots of fridge veggies. Both teens had grilled cheese sandwiches, using the end of a block of cheddar, & some bread that needs to be used. I baked up Bare chicken, finishing that bag. We were going to have edamame, but it was starting to go bad, so it needed to be tossed.

For lunch today, I'll have the remaining dinner leftovers before we head out of town. And with that, our fridge is looking pretty good ahead of our trip!

[sayonara]

Moving out of the mountain cabin I've been staying in for the past 6 months into my van for the spring & summer with (very) limited refrigerated space. Making use of all the good stuff from the house before I do:

- Beef from the Freezer that was given to me by my neighbors from cows on their property -> Seared & thin sliced into homemade soup with rice noodles, soy sauce & a bit of spice
- Frozen Whole Chicken -> Dry Brined then Roasted Whole in the oven over corn (also from the freezer). When I had enjoyed most of the meat, bones were used to make homemade broth along with garlic, onion, salt & pepper.
- Frozen Bananas - Cabin is a long ways from town. When I go, I buy a bunch of bananas, eat what I can while fresh, and slice & freeze the rest. I've got a couple full ziplocks, and have been eating the frozen banana slices as an (incredibly delicious & healthy) dessert when I'm feeling like something sweet. They also go great on oatmeal.
- Remaining Eggs, Brown Sugar, Butter, Oatmeal -> Oatmeal Cookies :)

 

[fuzzy math]

After 2 birthday parties and clearing out a relative's fridge while they're on vacation, I anticipate having a lot to report here in a few days! At one point we had 4 different types of cake but I managed to pawn one off on someone.

[Dutch Comfort]

Birthday party here as well. Now the fridge (both of them) and freezer are overflowing with leftovers. First goals (for this week) are to finish the cakes and to make sure that one fridge can be turned off..... I will start with some greek yoghurt and some gifted low carb granola for breakfast and try to feed the cakes and loads of other snacks to the teens!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We are back from spring break, and have replenished our supplies.

-The teens ate basically all of the supplies I bought for the road trip & snacks in the room, which saved a lot of money. This was particularly helpful, as on mountain food selections were incredibly limited, due to end of season.
-I've been eating freezer leftovers for the majority of my lunches, which is keeping a good handle on  the food in the freezer
-Last night, I defrosted a package of hot dogs that had been in the freezer since who knows when (Labor Day?) & we grilled those. Bonus, used hoagie buns that were also from the freezer.
-I put aside the mini mustards that came with a meat & cheese gift pack we received, and my mom will take those with her when she's here in June. They regularly buy that particular brand.

We currently have the following in the fridge:
-one slice of leftover lasagna (today's lunch)
-beef & rice stir fry dish (at least two dinner leftovers. Should probably freeze one of two containers). Will be dinner this week
-taco meat. Will be dinner tonight. Freeze remaining leftovers.
-1.5 hot dogs. Will serve to the picky teen on the night we have the beef & rice stir fry, as he won't eat that.

[fuzzy math]

- currently finishing off a big tub of greek yogurt that DD asked for and ignored
- on track today to finish all the berries we bought on last week's grocery sale
- DS2 ate all our and our on vacation relative's hot dog buns with a couple packages of sausages
- have almost finished a costco broccoli floret bag in record time
- stopped buying junky cereal for the time being and the kids are finally eating cheerios
- cut some old apples and baked them for a dessert or oatmeal topping
- used up all the milk (I secretly poured the 1% from the relatives into our whole milk so the kids wouldn't know)
- used up relative's cheese
- fed 2 cucumbers to the chickens
- am finally caught up on the crazy over supply of eggs and am down to a "reasonable overstock"

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) everything I like to splurge on at costco was on special so we have an extremely full fridge right now. $10 off a spiral ham??? why not! The rest of the stuff is dips, nut bars and a package of fruit jelly mochi. Not exactly meals in the making.

[seemsright]

My fridge is about empty. I must be doing well the teen is complaining. I absolutely love it when the fridge gets this low. I come up with the best freaking meals ever.

Tonight I had chicken and white bean chili. Last week I made some enchilada sauce   So I took the bit of leftover chicken I had cooked, some white beans, a bit of the veggies from the bottom of the fridge, a half of a onion, a wilted red pepper, the dry looking carrots and some broth I made in the crock pot with the veggie scraps I froze in the freezer. Added that enchilada sauce and man I am just glad I have some leftover.

My task tonight is to figure out what I have left in there and make my grocery list. I am going to try to make the list as small as possible. Groceries in this part of the country has gotten insane IMO. And I am trying to do what I can to at least not go over budget, which is darn hard to do any more.

 

[Dutch Comfort]

I decided to freeze some leftovers: 2 servings of meatballs and 3 servings of creamy chicken are now waiting in the freezer to be eaten.
Cheesecake got finished yesterday (yeah! Fridge space!!!!), only 4-5 servings of apple pie remaining.

Almost finished the raisin bread that I was gifted: 1 small serving remaining.
Today I will have leftover tuna-pasta-salad for lunch. Dinner will be baked potatoes (I will use yesterday's leftover boiled potatoes, cut them up and just bake them with some herbs/spices. Family favorite of DS and DH) with green beans and some bacon burgers from freezer.
And today will be the 2nd fridge check. See whether I can already empty fridge nr2 as much as possible (and take inventory to incorporate items in meals/snacks). I want to clean and shut down this energy-slurping thing!

[Dutch Comfort]

Accomplishments yesterday and this morning:
Apple pie is down to 2 servings. 1 pot of greek yoghurt gone (2 large 1kg pots remaining). Raisin bread gone. Low-carb gifted granola down to 1 serving.

Today:
Lunch will be the last of the tuna-pasta salad with a boiled egg. Snacks will be loads of cherry tomatoes (I have around 1.5 kg left.... so enough snacking material) for me and various other leftovers for DS/DD.
Dinner will be pasta (sports-night) with a nice glass of leftover red wine (somebody has to drink it!). I have noticed a strawberry-tiramisu leftover (around 3 servings), which will be desert.
Need to get the teens to eat the remainder of the bag of strawberries before they go bad.

Fridge nr2 still filled, although I start to see some dents and already transferred some items to fridge nr1.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Used up the leftover bananas from our ski trip + 3 more freezer bananas to make a double batch of muffins
-All taco meat is consumed. I had taco salads for two lunches, and the teens each had a taco quesadilla
-Discovered a 1/4 bag of pizza rolls in the freezer, when DS17 needed "dinner" at 3:30, ahead of a long sports day. Those are now gone.
-Lasagna is gone
-Remaining 1.5 hot dogs will be dinner for DS18 tonight, and I'll have the rest of the Asian beef rice dish

[Roadrunner53]

I am sure somebody in the past has mentioned this, but it is new to me. I ran across an article on making vegetable broth out of veggie scraps. Every time you cut up onions, carrots, celery and bits and pieces of peppers, garlic, mushrooms you throw the scraps into a ziplock and throw it in the freezer. You even put in the onion skins! I finally had a good sized bag and made veggie broth. I do need to expand my learning on this as far as putting spices into it. I put the veggies and water into my large crockpot and cooked it all day long. Strained it and put it into two 2 quart sized mason jar. I was pretty pleased and the flavor was pretty good. I used it for a hot beverage and was pretty tasty. According to what I have read, certain veggies like broccoli or cabbage or brussel sprouts should be used in small amounts due to the sulfur aroma. I need to use more garlic, bay leaves, Italian spices. I used minimal salt and it could have used a bit more. I also used some cherry tomatoes that were getting wrinkly. The only drawback is that the ziplock bag does take up quite a bit of room in the freezer as it continually gets filled up. I also had a little bit of chicken broth from a can of chicken meat I froze. I think this is such a good frugal way to use veggie scraps. I wish I had known this years ago! I have thrown out tons of veggie scraps. Oh, and after making the broth, if you have no immediate use for it, you can freeze it in ice cube trays or other things. What a great way to get the last bang out of scraps! Not earth shattering but buying broth at the grocery store isn't that cheap. I am guessing you  could throw chicken bones into the bag too for flavor.

[Dutch Comfort]

More accomplishments this week:
- DS and DH finished the last apple pie
- DD and DS ate the strawberries (after I put them in front of them in snack format)
- Had to toss the strawberry-tiramisu because it smelled bad
- DH and me finished the red wine...... (major accomplishment!)
- I started on 1 pot of greek yoghurt.... 2-3 servings remaining, gifted low-carb granola is gone.
- Got DS to eat leftover pasta as a salad with some pesto and mozzarella cubes (all leftovers) as lunch.
- Made a leftover salad for dinner yesterday from bagged salad/tomatoes/mozzarella cubes/boiled egg/ cucumber and some pesto (all leftovers from last weekend). Tasted quite good!
- DS and DD finished the fresh sliced bread, so if they want more they have to dig in the freezer!

For dinner tonight, I have to see what we have left in the fridge. DS will have leftover pasta after soccer training, so 1 person in this family is OK.
For lunch, I need to check with DD, since she is at home today. Next 2 weeks it will be school holiday, so with 2 teens at home all day, I suspect I will go through a lot of food. Now to find a way to incorporate leftovers/fridge &freezer items into their diet.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We currently have very minimal leftovers in our fridge, which is unusual. The only thing in there is some leftover spaghetti & meatballs from last night's dinner. Everything else is gone.

For tonight, I think we'll have a phone it in freezer dinner: bagged salad, wings & spring rolls.
I'm making a chicken dish tomorrow, and then head out on Sunday for a hiking trip with my mom. DH hasn't given any indication of what he's making while I'm gone, but i'm sure he'll be fine. ;-)

[Linea_Norway]

More accomplishments this week:
- DS and DH finished the last apple pie
<...>

Last week, I baked a cake. According to the recipee, it was for a 22 cm cake mold. And it said I could use a 20 cm cake mold and just bake it longer. I had just bought a 20 cm cake mold to make smaller cakes than in the 26 cm mold that I usually use. But after I made the batter, it was so much volume that I had to use the 26 cm mold anyway. We have been eating the cake all week. Luckily I had tested out how to make whipped cream more solud and that worked like a dream. I used vanille sauce powder.

Last night I used up some foraged mushrooms (Boletus edulis).

Tomorrow I will use up a box of frozen cooked pears from our own harvest. Today I baked some fruit bread (a bit similar to lard buns) where I used dried fruit from our own garden, as well as commercial dried cranberries and raisins that we had. I did not go to the shop to purchase apricots.

I have gotten a fancy for our homemade blueberry/raspberry wine. I regularly take a small glass in the evening. Much cheaper than drinking portwine. After two years, our own wine is in very good balance.

[Dutch Comfort]

It is school holiday week and the teens are doing their best to eat all leftovers!
1st success is that I could turn off the second (electricity eating) fridge yesterday! I will clean it tonight and then I'm hoping I can keep this thing turned off for a few months (till the next birthday party in July is my goal).
Other accomplishments:
- Had fresh asparagus on Sunday. Used the cooking water to make a nice asparagus-soup yesterday. Enough left for lunch today.
- DS, DD and I ate all kinds of sliced meat and some cream cheese on bread yesterday for lunch.
- A brown banana got turned into banana pancakes (for the same lunch..... yes they are teens and are eating TONS of food).

Now that I only have one fridge, I need to take inventory of this one (and the freezer) and see what can be eaten down further this week. Dinner plan is as follows:
- Today: leftover baked potatoes with green beans and some meat from freezer / leftover pasta for DS (soccer training)
- Tomorrow: burrito's with chicken from freezer, beans from pantry and bell peppers from fridge (and heavy cream/cheese from fridge).
- Friday: whatever is in fridge/freezer (I know for sure that there is some pizza in freezer, but I first need to check the fridge on Friday morning if I can come up with another meal with things that should be used up. Then we will have the pizza on Saturday).

Breakfast and lunches should be OK, since we should have enough sliced bread/cereal/eggs/bread toppings to make a decent lunch/breakfast (and I'm not planning a grocery run till Sunday!).

[fuzzy math]

- finished off 2 tubs of cottage cheese (with help from the dogs)
- made french toast yesterday and today for breakfast for the family - used up a ton of extra bread and eggs
- gave eggs to a family member, now down to under a dozen!
- finished off a peanut sauce marinade
- DS and I finished off the last of 6(!) sale packages of spicy sausages
- thawed and grilled some bratwursts
- kids have been eating some Helados mexican ice cream that they were initially avoiding
- used up a ton of random ground coffee for drip coffee and delayed buying more espresso beans

This weekend's goals:
- make the last bag of microwaveable popcorn
- use up some frozen cheese
- find one other freezer item to use up

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Back from a trip, and working on fridge leftovers created by DH, before he left on a trip. We're ships passing in the night.

-Made Mac & cheese for lunch for DS17, using the last box
-Fed the teens lots of berries, to use them up quickly. Berries rot quickly.
-Cut up three apples for lunches, to get them out of the fruit drawer
-Finished the rest of the Greek leftovers, from Thursday takeout

Leftovers that need to be eaten in the next day or so:
-Fried rice
-Baked chicken
-Spaghetti & meatballs

I also have a few containers of dips/sauces that I need to check out, & likely toss what's left.

[Dutch Comfort]

Did a grocery run yesterday and ended up buying way less, since I checked on the fridge/freezer inventory first. We should be OK till Thursday now (maybe Friday as well, but let's see how the week will develop).
Things out of the freezer/fridge:
- all pizza's were eaten this weekend (when DD and I came home on Friday from prom-dress-shopping.....)
- made pancakes for dinner on Saturday, which used up some milk, eggs, pancake mix and bacon
- DS ate the leftover pancakes for lunch on Sunday
- made the burrito's (that we originally planned for Thursday) yesterday, so no wasting food there
- made a giant batch of meatballs yesterday evening. Enough for dinner for 2 days this week.
- used up the last serving of a tub of greek yoghurt this morning. Only 1 large tub remaining.

Had to toss some milk, a few olives and an opened can of ansjovis.

Plan for this week is to keep on feeding the teens and make sure all leftovers are gone before our long weekend (starting Thursday).

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dutch Comfort - we are also looking for prom attired, but ours is of the suit variety. It's a fun season of life for the teens!

-The fried rice & baked chicken are gone.
-I think there are a couple of meatballs left

I defrosted taco meat to have for dinner tonight.

For lunch, I will likely have a salad with a few leftover samosas, & fruit. DH cut fruit for the teens this morning, but one had to be at school an hour early for an AP test, so he ran out of time.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Taco meat is gone, minus a portion I'll have over a salad tonight.
-I had a sandwich for lunch, leaving us with just one lonely slice of bread.I also used up almost all of the deli meat. Must buy more bread for DS18, who will hopefully make more sandwiches. It's a cycle!
-I'm also working my way through the bag of green apples I bought. I love green apples & thought DS18 did as well. Turns out, it's just me.
-Dinner tonight will be gyros (meat from Costco) & naan bread (freezer), with diced tomatoes, feta & onions. Should be good.

[Dutch Comfort]

Last day before our long weekend. We will have guests for a BBQ/Dinner on Sunday, so I need to check my inventory before I go shopping for dinner!

Today, I promised the teens banana pancakes and French toast for lunch (we just had a quick small breakfast).
Pasta for dinner (sports night) and then fresh buns for breakfast tomorrow.
And then..... it's time to scan fridge/freezer and pantry to see whether I will do some shopping tomorrow or whether I can extend till Friday (or even Saturday/Sunday)....

[fuzzy math]

-Hosting a middle school boy sleepover. DH wanted to buy soda and chips but I pulled some out of the stash and a trip was averted
-I finished the last of a bag of GF chicken strips
-Cooked some freezer salmon earlier in the week
- Finally finished a giant pot of split pea soup
-I cooked a magical ham that's served at least 12 meals so far and has a lot left. It needs to be chopped on and frozen
- Returned some gross mochi to costco
-Working through some mashed potatoes
-Finished a coleslaw tub
- Finished a short dated sour cream
-DH ate some frozen gyoza that have been passed over
- Cooked some frozen sausage for the sleepover kids
- The cheese drawer looks more empty than any other time recently

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@fuzzy math -  we just hosted an impromptu (like, 15 minutes notice) for a pool party for the high school tennis team, after they moved on to the state finals. There was pizza delivery (obviously, all gone), two giant bag of chips (1/4 remaining each), various sodas (1/4 or so in each), and popsicles (all gone).

-Last green apple was eaten for lunch today
-DH ate the remaining chicken shawarma for dinner, while I ate asparagus risotto from teh freezer

I have a ton of bagged salad I need to start making my way through, as well as deli meat (we need bread) & fruit.

[Dutch Comfort]

I could postpone the shopping till Saturday. We hosted a nice BBQ party on Sunday and ate leftovers yesterday.
So now everything is back in 1 fridge (big sigh of relief) and we just need to eat what's in there:

Today: leftover lunch, enough veggies to snack and dinner will be cauliflower with potatoes and leftover sausages.
Tomorrow: another leftover lunch, fruits/veggies to snack and big salad for dinner (my FIL gave me fresh salad from his garden)
Thursday: I think pasta will do the trick and will check on lunch items left in the fridge
Friday: might need to check the fridge on Thursday-night to see whether I need to go shopping.....

Another long weekend ahead (bank holiday on Monday). Here is to hoping the fridge is in better shape then.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Used up the last of one package of deli meat & package of sliced cheese, to make a sandwich for lunch yesterday. Also at a small amount of chips, finishing off one of the pool party bags.
-Made chicken fajitas last night, using up the jalapeno, avocados & some of the cilantro. Need to keep on top of the cilantro, as it goes bad quickly.
-Tonight will be leftover chicken & rice, tomorrow will be gyros, & Thursday will be leftover fajitas. Hopefully that will keep waste at bay.

[MountainGal]

I cannot believe another month has passed since I last checked in!

-I made a cauliflower rice taco bake as per @MaybeBabyMustache mentioned last month.  It did indeed go a long way!  We had it for supper and lunches several times, and I froze a portion.
-The other half bottle of red wine went into the slow cooker with another beef roast.  It sure does help breakdown rather tough cuts of meat.
-Things really haven't moved in the condiment front.  I'll work on that.
-May grocery spending was a bit up because I stocked up at Sam's Club.  May's order didn't include canned items and I noticed during Sunday's inventory are running a bit low.  They can wait at least another month, however.
-Leftover gingerbread cookies from the kiddo's holiday decorating project were zapped in the food processor with melted butter and made for a flavorful blueberry cheesecake crust.
-I made my first lentil Bolognese and substituted kale, artichoke hearts and kimchi for carrots and mushrooms and angel hair pasta for spaghetti.
-Leftover hamburger buns made tasty, toasted cheese bread on the side of the above.
-Leftover bacon grease is perfect to cook eggs in.
-A random clean out the fridge night was rather successful and included mini wontons, teriyaki sauce, smoked salmon, baby spinach, kimchi, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella.
-Takeout for me the past month included a personal size pizza which served as three meals, sesame chicken which also was divided into three meals, and a breakfast burrito which I cut in half for two breakfasts.
-DH grilled up some copycat In N Out burgers with beef he ground himself.  We served them on leftover buns from a volunteer event with deconstructed bacon wrapped shrimp on the side (air fried shrimp with leftover oven baked bacon chopped then sprinkled on top).
-We ate leftover beef franks from the same event last night with sauteed baby spinach.

[Dutch Comfort]

So far, so good. No shopping this week yet..... and I'm trying to keep out of the shops till Sunday (then we really need fresh veggies etc.).
- Finished the last pot of greek yoghurt with some non-popular granola. Now I need to buy more yoghurt to finish the 1.5 box of non-popular granola.....
- All non-regular veggies in fridge were eaten by both us and the guinea pigs, just a few carrots remaining (for the said guinea pigs)
- Fridge is starting to look empty (even DH commented on this, which is a huge accomplishment!)
- Freezer still has a lot of bread in it and bits and pieces of everything, so I need to take inventory there. Only 7 weeks to go to our big trip and I would like to have the freezer empty at that moment, so I can shut is off during our holiday.
- All chocolate from the pantry was eaten, so if we do not restock, we should be good (which is also a much healthier option).

Tonight will be leftover boiled potatoes, which I will fry (family fave here) with some meat from freezer and some cucumber/tomato salad. Leftover pasta for the sports-guy after practice.
I found some french bake-off bread, which I should turn into a meal soon because , so that will be my challenge for tomorrow.