Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183656 times)

frugalfelicia

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1200 on: January 23, 2017, 08:36:01 PM »
Made salmon burgers tonight, not bad, but not sure I'd make them again.

LMBB

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1201 on: January 23, 2017, 08:44:11 PM »
Funny, I made salmon burgers tonight too. It was kind of a hodgepodge fish night since we had a little of this and that to use up. DH and DD1 had salmon burgers, I had a mahi mahi burger with pineapple salsa, and DD2 and DM (my dear mother who lives with us) had fish sticks.


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PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1202 on: January 24, 2017, 12:47:12 AM »
Shortly before starting up on "eat all the food" again, I had bought a couple of taco kits marked down with a manager's coupon because they were about to expire.  Dozen hard taco shells, flavouring packet, and a small packet of salsa in each.  Not that I thought this was a very efficient way to buy salsa or spices, but thought the tacos might make a nice change from my usual meals.  I tend to buy taco/burrito kits once in a blue moon, usually when they come with a coupon for free grated cheese.  But these were cheap enough to go ahead and get them just for the fun of it.

I'm vegetarian, so I usually use the flavouring packets to make a kind of "Mexican rice," not necessarily to eat with the tacos.  I also had a taco sauce packet left over from a previous occasion, and I've got some more flavouring packets left too.  As soon as I eat down my freezer a bit, I'll make a batch of rice with one of them, and get it portioned away in single serve containers.

Anyway, had already finished one box of the tacos, and decided tonight was a good night to make a start on the other.  Took some cheese (cut up in small chunks and frozen, rescued from a cheese tray after a function months ago), and heated up a couple of tacos with the cheese inside.  Around Halloween got a good deal on several packages of veggie burgers, cooked them all up and froze them.  So I defrosted and chopped one of those up with some of the taco sauce.  A whole fresh avocado, and a big plate of salad (brought home from a function at work on the weekend) completed the meal.  So yummy.

Also took the time tonight to freeze one portion of the veggie/couscous/soya chunk stew that I made few days ago.  I packed all the remaining soya chunks in the freezer portion, and I have one portion left in the fridge, which I added another of the veggie burgers to, just to change things up a bit.  And I took a container of pumpkin puree out of the freezer, which I think has been there for quite a long time.  Still looks fine, not freezer burnt or anything.  I will use some on the dog's evening food, and will use some to make something else with later in the week - could add to another soup or stew, or, since I have a package of muffin mix that I bought on impulse a while back (and haven't opened!) I could probably use some to make slightly healthier convenience baked goods!

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1203 on: January 24, 2017, 05:20:19 AM »
I managed to not buy any food at all last week!  To be fair, I was traveling for work part of the week, but it still feels like a nice achievement.  Things are getting a little more bare (especially in the carbohydrate department), but I want to challenge myself even more to keep eating through my pantry and freezer.

Last night I finally made the soba noodles I bought about a year ago.  I made a dressing with black vinegar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and chili-garlic paste, and then added roasted sweet potatoes and onions (cooked yesterday) and roasted eggplant and tofu (from the freezer) - yum!  I also used my InstantPot to cook some butternut squash and get it processed and into the freezer.  I'm totally converted to pressure cooking as the easiest way to cook squash if all you want to do is mash it and use it for baking, etc.

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1204 on: January 24, 2017, 05:25:19 AM »
Totally trying out lentil tacos tonight with the can that has been in my cupboard for two years. Thanks everyone!

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1205 on: January 24, 2017, 07:24:01 AM »
I am finishing the bag of frozen peas in my lunch today. Planning to finish the puff pastry this week with a balsamic beef (also freezer), cheese & mushroom filling. Did not buy the frozen fruit on sale.  But added 9 cups of chicken/duck stock to the freezer. 

I got two bags of black chia seeds in a swag bag at a Christmas foodie event.  I see people make some kind of tapioca-type pudding with them, or sprinkle them on yogurt or salad.  Is there anything else I should be trying?  (I have already put the sampler of hemp seeds into my granola where I won't notice it.)

I'm a red panda

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1206 on: January 24, 2017, 08:58:17 AM »
Had extra cream cheese after the people we do Christmas with requested pumpkin pie instead of a cheesecake. It was about to expire, so we made a fudge recipe.  Not exactly fudge, but very delicious treat!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1207 on: January 24, 2017, 09:11:26 AM »

I got two bags of black chia seeds in a swag bag at a Christmas foodie event.  I see people make some kind of tapioca-type pudding with them, or sprinkle them on yogurt or salad.  Is there anything else I should be trying?  (I have already put the sampler of hemp seeds into my granola where I won't notice it.)

These are a few of my favorite ways to use chia:

Chocolate Chia seed pudding. I usually sweeten with dates instead of what they suggest. Maple syrup works well too. I prefer this to the "Tapioca" style because sometimes chia seeds don't look all that appetizing, or I don't want to be picking them out of my teeth later.  Also this seems less healthy in pudding form :) http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/chocolate-carob-chia-pudding-dairy-free-sugar-free/

Refrigerator Jam pretty much any fruit combo will work, so it is good for using stuff up. Don't always need the extra honey depending on the fruit you usehttp://thankfulexpressions.blogspot.ca/2013/07/strawberry-rhubarb-refrigerator-jam.html

Rasinetes Protein bites - cuz, yum!  Alos handy to have on hand for grab and go snacks. http://teaspoonliving.com/2015/06/raisinets-protein-bites/

Lemon Energy Bites - Also delish, I really like making them with Brazil nuts instead of almonds! http://www.theleangreenbean.com/lemon-energy-balls/

Lemon Chia Pancakes (grain-free) Good if you have lots of coconut flour to use up. Again, use whatever sweetener you want, if any. http://www.anthonysgoods.com/blogs/recipes/102442374-lemon-chia-pancakes

Chia Buckwheat Pizza Crust Okay this is a WEIRD one. My hubby made it while I was out of town and when he said he wanted to show me when I got back I was suspicious. I looked at the recipe and was even more suspicious. Then he made the "gloop" and I was thinking there is no way. Turns out I was wrong. It is surprisingly tasty. It is not really, yeast pizza dough, but it is the best gluten-free sub we have found and it is VERY filling. You just got to make sure you really bake it well before adding the toppings. We usually flip it over and bake for longer than it says. It might take some experimenting to figure out how you like it, but if you can't do gluten it is worth playing with. http://nyoutritious.com/grain-free-chia-buckwheat-pizza/

Instant oatmeal packets I use to make these up for Hubby to take to work or for mornings he started really early. I don't know if they call for Cia, but I always add some to the mix.http://www.theyummylife.com/Instant_Oatmeal_Packets

recklesslysober

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1208 on: January 24, 2017, 10:19:54 AM »
I am finishing the bag of frozen peas in my lunch today. Planning to finish the puff pastry this week with a balsamic beef (also freezer), cheese & mushroom filling. Did not buy the frozen fruit on sale.  But added 9 cups of chicken/duck stock to the freezer. 

I got two bags of black chia seeds in a swag bag at a Christmas foodie event.  I see people make some kind of tapioca-type pudding with them, or sprinkle them on yogurt or salad.  Is there anything else I should be trying?  (I have already put the sampler of hemp seeds into my granola where I won't notice it.)

I like to let a couple tablespoons of them sit in a cup of water until they thicken up (you can leave it in the fridge overnight) and then add that to smoothies - it makes the smoothie thicker but doesn't change the taste. I've started substituting that for almond milk.

You can also make drinks with that mixture if you add it to juice - http://www.butteryum.org/blog/2016/6/23/chia-seed-drink. Delicious! Tastes like a jello drink. :) 

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1209 on: January 25, 2017, 10:47:03 AM »
I got two bags of black chia seeds in a swag bag at a Christmas foodie event.  I see people make some kind of tapioca-type pudding with them, or sprinkle them on yogurt or salad.  Is there anything else I should be trying?  (I have already put the sampler of hemp seeds into my granola where I won't notice it.)
I use black chia seeds in my overnight oats.  I think it makes the dish feel more like dessert/pudding, which I like.  Kinda like http://wholefully.com/2016/03/07/8-classic-overnight-oats-recipes-you-should-try/

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1210 on: January 25, 2017, 11:02:55 PM »
Also took the time tonight to freeze one portion of the veggie/couscous/soya chunk stew that I made few days ago.  I packed all the remaining soya chunks in the freezer portion, and I have one portion left in the fridge, which I added another of the veggie burgers to, just to change things up a bit.  And I took a container of pumpkin puree out of the freezer, which I think has been there for quite a long time.  Still looks fine, not freezer burnt or anything.  I will use some on the dog's evening food, and will use some to make something else with later in the week - could add to another soup or stew, or, since I have a package of muffin mix that I bought on impulse a while back (and haven't opened!) I could probably use some to make slightly healthier convenience baked goods!

For supper, I finished the rest of the veggie/couscous stew (except for the one portion that I froze a couple days ago) along with the veggie burger patty I mentioned above.

I also came home for a late lunch before going back to work for an evening meeting.  I have ramen-like noodles that come in a package with multiples, but plain, no flavouring package and not individually wrapped.  I guess they're just chow mein noodles?  Anyway, I did a quick microwave of a handful of julienned broccoli/carrot/cabbage mix, then mixed with the noodles, added a spoon of peanut butter and a couple splashes of soy sauce and stirred it all up.  Quick, easy (especially using pre-chopped veggies) and yummy!

Went grocery shopping tonight and bought ONLY produce and bread (except for replacement bottle of multi-vitamin).  Will write more in the "Uber Frugal" thread, but just noting it here to celebrate the fact that I didn't even look at the cereal, granola bars, canned goods, etc.  Just fruit and veggies - oh, and a container of hummous.  I am so pleased with myself!

SmartyCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1211 on: January 26, 2017, 10:45:18 AM »
Joining the party! I have a bunch of stuff in my pantry and freezer where I bought something for a recipe, used as much as the recipe called for, and now I have the rest just sitting there. Last night I made up a bunch of instant oatmeal packets from the link above, and DH (the oatmeal curmudgeon . . . who insists he likes oatmeal right up until the very moment someone offers it to him for breakfast) asked me to include him when I make oatmeal in the morning. We'll see, LOL.

Lots of frozen fruit in the freezer and protein powder in the cupboard - smoothies haven't sounded as appealing in cold dark December and January, but I'm going to start adding them to the mix again. My goal is to run through ALL the frozen fruit before I buy any more. Ditto dried fruit. Also lots of seeds and nuts - I may be making my own almond milk for a while.

Suggestions most welcome for using up coconut flour, almond flour, preserved lemons, and dried ancho chiles. Plus, we never manage to use up all the fresh cilantro or parsley before it gets wilted and sad (hello expensive compost pile), has anyone had luck with drying or freezing it?

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1212 on: January 26, 2017, 12:30:04 PM »
Smartycat - Danielle Walker has some great coconut and almond flour recipes! Her website is called Against All Grain and her books (from the library, of course!) have many more as well!

Pulled a roast from the freezer for dinner two nights from now to thaw in the fridge. Found a big bag of frozen mixed veggies that will go with the roasted chicken I'm doing tonite in the Instant pot. Pulled a bag of bread ends that I've been saving to make stuffing in the crockpot as a side tonite.

Thinking two to three days ahead keeps me ahead with thawing meat for meals. We buy 2 sides of beef and 60 chickens every year from a farm so I have to be very intentional about using it up before it's time to get next year's meat. Chickens are in July and beef is the end of October, for us.

Fresh Bread

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1213 on: January 26, 2017, 11:31:40 PM »
Tonight I'm making this:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/37178/pumpkin+spinach+and+lentil+lasagne

It uses up half a box of lasagne from the cupboard that's been there a while, but in honour of Ultra Frugal January, I'm using a lentil & ricotta recipe instead of buying meat. It's about half the price.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1214 on: January 27, 2017, 12:36:25 AM »
Had to toss an expired bottle of salad dressing, a soggy cucumber and some pita bread that went mouldy in two days (we've had really hot weather here).

Portioned and froze the bacon I bought on sale.

Used up some bacon, eggs and veggies in fried rice, which will feed me for several days.

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1215 on: January 27, 2017, 03:28:39 AM »
Any ideas for a 'gentleman's relish' that seems to be mostly anchovies (why yes, it was a Christmas present)?

Could I just add it to some pasta sauce with a tomato base. Or will DH notice and cry foul?!

Poundwise

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1216 on: January 27, 2017, 08:47:07 AM »
Plus, we never manage to use up all the fresh cilantro or parsley before it gets wilted and sad (hello expensive compost pile), has anyone had luck with drying or freezing it?

Yes, I rinse the parsley/cilantro and let it dry a bit in the colander. Slip into a freezer bag and freeze! It is fine for using in stocks, soups, or stews where you are going to cook it anyway and the texture is not so important.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1217 on: January 27, 2017, 08:59:51 AM »
Any ideas for a 'gentleman's relish' that seems to be mostly anchovies (why yes, it was a Christmas present)?

Could I just add it to some pasta sauce with a tomato base. Or will DH notice and cry foul?!

I totally had to google. Never heard of this! The recipes I found had these serving suggestions:

Use right away as a spread on toast with sliced cucumber or watercress, or use as an additional ingredient to a cottage pie or scrambled eggs, or as a salty condiment for a baked potato, an addition to tomato-based sauces, and even as a topping for a seared steak. Gentlemen’s relish will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to three months.

theadvicist

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1218 on: January 27, 2017, 09:14:31 AM »
Thank you Swick. It is a bit of an unusual one, DH literally threw the container at me and said "WTF is this?"

Always a gracious and grateful present recipient, that one. (Thankfully this was not in front of the giver).

Thanks for all the suggestions!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1219 on: January 27, 2017, 09:39:07 AM »
Thank you Swick. It is a bit of an unusual one, DH literally threw the container at me and said "WTF is this?"

Always a gracious and grateful present recipient, that one. (Thankfully this was not in front of the giver).

Thanks for all the suggestions!

It is super interesting! Even a wikipedia article about the history of it. I don't think it is a gift I would make for someone unless I was *sure* it would be something that they would enjoy, it is definitely an odd one :)

SmartyCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1220 on: January 27, 2017, 02:59:20 PM »
Thanks for the suggestions on fresh herbs and coconut/almond flours!

After sorting the pantry and spice cupboard, I found a few things with both an oversupply AND recent still-unopened purchases (SmartyCat’s grocery store motto: as God as my witness, I will never run out of cumin again), so I returned a few things to Trader Joe’s today. Heh - it returned a whopping $7.47, but now my stores of tahini, cumin and TJ’s everyday seasoning are more reasonable.

Also down: 5 black tea bags in battered packaging plus some random whole spices-> Thai iced tea base, mirin -> homemade teriyaki sauce, and this week’s abundance of fresh herbs and lemons were made into chimichurri-inspired green sauce.

Catbert

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1221 on: January 27, 2017, 02:59:50 PM »


Suggestions most welcome for using up coconut flour, almond flour, preserved lemons, and dried ancho chiles. Plus, we never manage to use up all the fresh cilantro or parsley before it gets wilted and sad (hello expensive compost pile), has anyone had luck with drying or freezing it?

Do you drink gin & tonic?  I use a quarter of a preserved lime (just like preserved lemon except lime) instead of fresh lime in my G&T.  Or use a blender to get the preserved lemons into paste/slug.  Then you can toss a little in salad dressing,mix with veggies, or anywhere else salt with a citrus tang would be appropriate. 

When I have extra parsley, cilantro or other soft herbs I pulverize in the blender (including soft stems) and then mix with olive oil.  This will greatly extend the life of the herb.  Or mix with butter instead and call it a compound butter.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1222 on: January 27, 2017, 04:39:06 PM »
Any ideas for a 'gentleman's relish'

I really expected this to be something very different...

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1223 on: January 27, 2017, 11:02:13 PM »
As I logged out of my online banking website earlier today, there was a link to this article:

https://discover.rbcroyalbank.com/how-a-failed-thai-take-out-order-inspired-us-to-eat-the-house/

Now, if you ignore the fact that a family of 4 has a "usual" weekly grocery budget of $250 (and that the $250 doesn't include the kids' school lunches, or, presumably, a semi-regular habit of getting $60 of take-out), then this is a pretty awesome article!

A quote from the end of the article:

What’s more, I realized that I probably didn’t need to buy groceries as often as I had been — clearly we were stocking some serious surplus and had spent money in the past year on food we really didn’t need.

From our eat-the-house experiment, we became more diligent about what we bought, more disciplined about eating what we had on hand, and more conscious about spending money unnecessarily.

Your Challenge
So what’s in your cupboard? While you might not have a full week’s worth of food supplies stored up in your home, you probably have a few days’ worth of sustenance on hand. Why not challenge yourself to eat your house this week? The immediate savings will be a great plus, and the longer-term awareness of what you’re stocking is sure to mean lower grocery bills and less food waste down the road.


Can't quite believe that's from my bank...

Anyway, back to my personal "Eat the House" efforts over the last couple of days. 

  • I finished one box of cereal yesterday.  I have many more.  Too many to disclose to you people, who might judge me for my clown car cereal stockpile.  I only buy it on sale, or when I have a coupon, or (the very best) when it's on sale and it has a coupon on the box, like for 2-4-1 movie tickets.  But I don't know why I feel the need to keep SO MANY boxes in the cupboard.  I had another bowl today, from another open box.
  • Also yesterday, rediscovered three "balls" of mozzarella in the freezer, bought about this time last year majorly marked down in the food section of Shoppers Drug Mart.  IIRC, they were expiring and had manager's special coupons on them, bringing them down to $1 each.  I bought all of them.  Took one out of the freezer, and a couple of slices went very very nicely toasted under the broiler on the olive focaccia style bun from the bakers dozen I got from the discount rack when I grocery shopped earlier this week.  Also, I put sliced avocado on top.  Yum.
  • Rice.  It's like the cereal all over again.  I have real rice (nice stuff too - healthy brown rice, tasty basmati rice) and I have flavoured packaged rice, and I have rice and grains that you can heat in the bag in the microwave, and ... it's too much.  There are literally packages of rice falling on me whenever I try to get something out of a particular cupboard.  Again, these would have been bought on sale, and with a coupon, so relatively cheaply, but hello?  Those coupons are in the coupon inserts all the time!  I can wait until they go on sale again a few months from now!  Anyway, I cooked one package of "broccoli cheddar" rice tonight, along with some add-ins, and will shortly portion it into single serve containers.  The add-ins included the left over water used to cook my potatoes and onions for dinner tonight, the last of a bag of frozen broccoli, an onion, and a couple of handfuls of the teeny tiny little red lentils that cook in the same amount of time as rice does.  I think it's going to be good.  It smells good, anyway!

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1224 on: January 28, 2017, 04:22:28 PM »
Suggestions most welcome for using up coconut flour, almond flour, preserved lemons, and dried ancho chiles. Plus, we never manage to use up all the fresh cilantro or parsley before it gets wilted and sad (hello expensive compost pile), has anyone had luck with drying or freezing it?

For cilantro & parsley, have you tried making compound butters?  Apparently they freeze really well.  Otherwise, put it into the freezer for the next time you make stock.

For the alternative flours, I like http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2016/10/best-low-carb-cranberry-muffins.html (just make sure to add more cinnamon, cardamom and/or nutmeg).

Preserved lemons I use in lots of things.  Chop them up finely for roast vegetable salads with a tahini & lemon dressing.  Add them to zucchini fritters.  Mix it into a spiced eggplant shashuka with poached eggs and crusty bread.  Add to avocado toast.  Put into orzo salad and sprinkle with pine nuts.  Put it into couscous before you add boiling stock to re-hydrate.


alexanderhamilton

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1225 on: January 30, 2017, 03:36:08 PM »
I just joined the forum and am so excited to use up the stuff in our pantry and freezer. I am too cheap to throw things out so we are eating them!
I have had some won ton wrappers in the freezer (scared to know how long). Not a clue as to why I bought them but saw a recipe on smittenkitchen for wonton soup and voila! It made enough won tons to freeze some for another round of soup.
I look forward to stop hoarding food and buy what we will really use instead of shuffling it around or having piles fall because it gets so crammed but nothing to eat!

LMBB

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1226 on: January 30, 2017, 06:08:44 PM »
I had some mixed peas and carrots on the verge of freezer burn and some frozen turkey gravy leftover from thanksgiving, so I decided to make pasties (note to the Cornish and the Yoopers, these were not legit Cornish pasties). I used my grandma's famous pie crust recipe and a rotisserie chicken from Costco. Shredded the chicken, mixed with the gravy and peas/carrots. These are a big hit in my house because who doesn't like to eat pie for dinner? I will eat almost anything inside of a pie crust. As a bonus, I turned the bones of the rotisserie chicken into a delicious stock using veggie scraps that I keep in a bag in the freezer too.

PMG

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1227 on: January 30, 2017, 06:21:33 PM »
Many of you talk about making stock from veggie scraps.  I've done a bit of googling, but it's still a mystery to me.  If I peel the carrot because I don't want to eat the pesticides and things on it, then I certainly don't want to use the carrot peel in stock.  But I could see using the tops and bottoms off onions, or onion skins?  Maybe the really leafy part of celery than can be a little too much leaf for raw eating or soup.  The bottom white pithy part of the celery.  Garlic peels.  Potato peels?  Again I run into the pesticide thing. 

What does your stock usually include?

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1228 on: January 30, 2017, 06:33:48 PM »
I don't think you are supposed to use potato skins, at least that is what I have always heard?

Basically, I use whatever veggie scraps I have on hand, but I only do it with organic veg so pretty much in the summer when we are growing our own or from our CSA.

Dinner tonight is a big pot of stew from fridge leftovers. Using up some leftover roasted squash, sweet potato, eggplant, some sad looking onions, some ground beef, some leftover tomato sauce. Looks good!

LMBB

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1229 on: January 30, 2017, 07:20:19 PM »
Many of you talk about making stock from veggie scraps.  I've done a bit of googling, but it's still a mystery to me.  If I peel the carrot because I don't want to eat the pesticides and things on it, then I certainly don't want to use the carrot peel in stock.  But I could see using the tops and bottoms off onions, or onion skins?  Maybe the really leafy part of celery than can be a little too much leaf for raw eating or soup.  The bottom white pithy part of the celery.  Garlic peels.  Potato peels?  Again I run into the pesticide thing. 

What does your stock usually include?

It's mainly carrot peels and tops, celery stalks and leaves, and onion layers and peels. All normally organic. I usually buy far too much celery and before it goes bad I freeze what I am not going to use immediately to use in my stock.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1230 on: January 30, 2017, 07:25:45 PM »
Oop. Was grocery shopping night. Forgot my wallet. But a win because it veggie-hash skillet in my cast iron pan! Tonight's dinner was: kale, sweet potato, onion, garlic, ground sausage, and 1 egg. Flour tortilla. Cholula.

PMG

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1231 on: January 30, 2017, 08:07:17 PM »
Many of you talk about making stock from veggie scraps.  I've done a bit of googling, but it's still a mystery to me.  If I peel the carrot because I don't want to eat the pesticides and things on it, then I certainly don't want to use the carrot peel in stock.  But I could see using the tops and bottoms off onions, or onion skins?  Maybe the really leafy part of celery than can be a little too much leaf for raw eating or soup.  The bottom white pithy part of the celery.  Garlic peels.  Potato peels?  Again I run into the pesticide thing. 

What does your stock usually include?

It's mainly carrot peels and tops, celery stalks and leaves, and onion layers and peels. All normally organic. I usually buy far too much celery and before it goes bad I freeze what I am not going to use immediately to use in my stock.

This makes sense. Thanks. I often buy the organic carrots but then I don't peel them!  I can save tops though. I'll start a collection.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1232 on: January 30, 2017, 08:08:18 PM »
Threw a few chicken breasts in my instant pot with some bbq sauce that has been on my shelf for a while. 
I also used up a container of steel cut oatmeal.

SmartyCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1233 on: January 31, 2017, 09:56:31 AM »
Thanks again for all the suggestions! I’m going to make compound butter with this week’s leftover cilantro.

Adding to the “used up” list: sunbutter, arrowroot (both went into no-bake sunbutter crunch bars from Against All Grain), about a million individual soy sauce and red pepper flake packets from all the takeout we used to order, homemade 7-spice blend, 1 lb raw almonds, and a few things I use all the time and will restock (soy sauce, chili oil, maple syrup).

Those oatmeal packets are the bomb! Once I’ve used up our stores of breakfast stuff, these are worth keeping on hand in the pantry.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1234 on: January 31, 2017, 10:08:02 AM »
Thanks again for all the suggestions! I’m going to make compound butter with this week’s leftover cilantro.

Adding to the “used up” list: sunbutter, arrowroot (both went into no-bake sunbutter crunch bars from Against All Grain), about a million individual soy sauce and red pepper flake packets from all the takeout we used to order, homemade 7-spice blend, 1 lb raw almonds, and a few things I use all the time and will restock (soy sauce, chili oil, maple syrup).

Those oatmeal packets are the bomb! Once I’ve used up our stores of breakfast stuff, these are worth keeping on hand in the pantry.

Nice! Glad you are finding them handy :)

I think one of the best ways to stay on top of those little packages is to put them into a more useable or thought about form. I consolidate as much as I can, it creates space, makes things easier to find and allows me the satisfaction of getting rid of packaging :)  So for soy sauce, I just empty the packages into the soy bottle. Spices and such I just dump into whatever spice jar they belong with. All the little bits add up quick!

Re: Preserved Lemons - I use them in any savory dish that calls for regular lemon. This is one of my favorites:http://www.jaysbakingmecrazy.com/2016/01/06/paleo-lemon-butter-chicken/

Also, I recently tried dehydrating some strips of preserved lemon. They turned out really well so I am going to dry a few more and put them in a salt grinder with some chunky salt and make a "Preserved Lemon Salt" for Christmas next year.

RE Herbs: If you happen to have a vacuum sealer with a wide mouth canning jar attachment, you can wash and spin dry your herbs and then vacuum seal them. As long as you reseal after you use them they can last for a couple weeks in the fridge.


plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1235 on: January 31, 2017, 10:17:45 AM »
Many of you talk about making stock from veggie scraps.  I've done a bit of googling, but it's still a mystery to me.  If I peel the carrot because I don't want to eat the pesticides and things on it, then I certainly don't want to use the carrot peel in stock.  [...]
What does your stock usually include?

I initially put in carrot peels and onion skins.  Now I compost those - I feel that carrot skin has a taste I really dislike and onion skins weren't worth it.  I once put in bell pepper, and that was not a good taste either, almost as bad as the time I tried broccoli trimmings. 

I just put carcass, bones and meat trimmings into a big container in the freezer, and when it is full, I put that and a quartered onion into my pasta pot (using the insert) with salt and a bit of vinegar.  It usually is the last parts from a duck + a chicken, or 2-3 chickens.  I don't do garlic because it gives too strong a flavour.  Simmer for 2-3 hours.  Taste.  Then I just pull out the pasta insert that has all the bones and bits, and have stock left in the pot.  I do not skim, or pre-roast the bones, or make sure that it is all of one type of animal (I rarely have fish, but I don't make fish stock because of a bad experience).  I could then pull off the usable meat, but instead it just goes into the city green bin program.  Except if I have a duck neck.  I always pick at that - so yummy.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1236 on: January 31, 2017, 12:41:33 PM »
My pantry challenge month is just about over. I still have to total up my totals for the month but I'm pretty sure I'm right around $150 which was the goal. I have to admit I'm a little bit excited about doing a more normal shop next weekend - chicken breasts are on sale and I am totally going to stock up!

I had another good week on the clearing out old crap front:

  • There was half a tub of leftover lasagna sauce in the freezer from last month. It wasn't enough for a meal, but I heated it up and mixed in some jarred spaghetti sauce and we had a lovely spaghetti dinner.
  • I used up the last ancient package of cornbread mix and a couple tubs of chicken taco meat from the freezer to make Chicken Taco Pie.
  • Thursday night, hubby was eating at a work event so it was "Fend For Yourself" for dinner. I took the last 4 sad old corn tortillas from the fridge, cut them into wedges, and fried them into tortilla chips. I topped the chips with half a can of refried beans (hubby won't eat beans so this was a good opportunity to use them up), and some cheddar cheese. Microwaved for a minute or two to heat it all up, then added some salsa for a cheap plate of nachos. Not the healthiest meal I've ever eaten, but it was tasty. I stuck the other half of the beans in the freezer, and ended up eating them for lunch over the weekend.
  • Dinner Saturday was another round of breaded chicken drumsticks (SO MANY BREADCRUMBS) with butter parmesan noodles (SO MANY SPAGHETTI NOODLES). Slow and steady progress.
  • Dinner last night was the last 2 burgers from our Omaha Steak package we got for Christmas - this was the end of the Omaha Steak package! Rejoice. I topped them with the last 2 slice of swiss cheese that have been languishing in the fridge all month.
  • Made yet another batch of granola bars to use up stale puffed rice cereal (will they ever end???), some flaxseeds and chunky peanut butter.

I also finally did a freezer inventory, although I still need to type it up and make it pretty. I am pretty low on meat, hence the excitement for the chicken sale. The chest freezer is about 1/2 empty, and pretty much everything I have is in normal, rational person quantities. The only thing that I think is getting a bit old and screaming to get used are 2 bags of white chocolate chips, so I guess I'll have to make some cookies!

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1237 on: January 31, 2017, 09:10:44 PM »
For dinner tonight, I had a weird combo of leftovers:

1.  Small serving of boiled potato and onion
2.  Leftover "rice and peas" from a huge plate I was sent home with after a function yesterday
3.  Leftover coleslaw from the same function - it had so much dressing on it, I added an equal amount of shredded broccoli/carrot/cabbage mix from the fridge, for a gigantic serving of veggies - my mom would be so proud!

Also did some batch cooking today, with an emphasis on cooking up stuff that's overstocked or been hanging around for a while, as well as using some of the produce I've bought more recently:

1.  Pot of rice, using an Uncle Ben's herb and wild rice blend.  Added a handful of tiny red lentils (cook in the same amount of time as the rice), some exotic dried berries that look and taste kind of like cranberries, and also added a couple of small onions.

2.  Using three roti from the freezer (that were annoyingly stuck together until defrosted) and most of a can of fava and garbanzo beans, and part of a pkg of taco seasoning, plus some onion and a little salsa and taco sauce, I baked some burritos with potato and sweet potato chunks roasted in the pan alongside. 

3.  Excess potato and sweet potato roasted separately, stirred up with chopped garlic in oil.

4.  The rest of the can of beans, with some diced carrot/celery/red peppers from the freezer (salvaged from a veggie tray after a reception, and flash frozen), with the rest of the taco seasoning and some water and oil, also went in the oven at the same time.  When I took it out, there was too much water still, so I threw in a handful of couscous to soak it up. 

5.  Half a pkg of low fat banana muffin mix, with some rehydrated dried apple chunks that have been in my cupboard forever, and using a very liquid pumpkin puree from the freezer instead of the water.  I also wanted some raisins in them, but I seem to be out.  But someone gave me very fruit heavy trail mix for Christmas, so I picked enough raisins out to add to the muffin mix.  Baked in a cake pan instead of muffin tins for easier cleaning.

6.  In the morning, my dog gets 2 cups of a high quality dental/maintenance diet, but in the evening, when I'm going to be adding salt and water to her food (due to a medical condition) I give her a cheaper grocery store food.  Have been giving 1 cup, and supplementing with odds and ends of leftover people food.  Tonight the leftover food was:  lightly cooked sweet potato peels, some leftover rice and peas (I couldn't finish it all), scraps of roti left in the bottom of the bag, and all of that was topped with the liquid from the can of beans which already has salt in it, so no need to add more!)
« Last Edit: January 31, 2017, 09:13:05 PM by PJ »

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1238 on: February 01, 2017, 08:17:01 AM »
Officially joining in preparation for Uber Frugal January.  My main goal is to eat everything in my freezer & chest freezer so that by summer it's empty and ready for the new harvest.  There's also a few things languishing in the pantry that will be good to use up.

The trick will be to plan ahead and make some big meals every weekend so that it keeps things easy for me on weeknights.  I also want to turn my freezer full of ingredients (mostly veggies and meat) into a freezer full of ready-to-go single-serving meals.

Had a great January!  I spent a total of $94.50 on groceries, which is at least $70 lower than my average from last year. Both of my freezers are still pretty much full, but I did make a little progress on the ingredients vs. finished meals ratio.

Wins: 

Defrosted and cooked a turkey that had been in my freezer for about 14 months.  Made some great turkey noodle soup and now have that, plus some turkey meat and turkey broth in the freezer.

Cooked and froze all of my squash and onions from last fall.  Now to tackle the potatoes, rutabaga, and beets!

New challenges for February:

I have lots of home-canned goods from a few years ago that need to get eaten.  I always get a little nervous about eating them, especially when they've been around for a few years, even though I followed all the proper food safety guidelines and they should be totally safe.  I think it'll be fine once I get back in the habit of using them.

I need to figure out how best to balance eating down my food stores with eating a healthy overall diet.  I think I just need to give myself permission to buy fruits and vegetables as needed to supplement what I have at home already.  (For example, I don't really have any green vegetables in the freezer, so will need to buy those.)

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1239 on: February 01, 2017, 10:52:38 AM »
This morning's breakfast finished one of 4 jars of jam in my house.  Another (homemade and gifted to me) probably needs to be thrown out.  It is ... odd.  And now it's also quite old.  Realistically, I'm not going to eat it.  And I have two more jars that I will eat, so will try to remember to toss that one tonight, since I want to do a bit more fridge cleaning out anyway - assess what else is in there that needs to get used.

Also, yesterday I did a little re-org in my tea and coffee cupboard.  I'm out of regular ground coffee until I make it to Starbucks to get another pound ground (have a couple of pounds in stock - from my sister who works at Starbucks and gets free coffee but doesn't drink enough at home to use it all up).  Found a small sample type pack of "coconut coffee."  Not my favourite flavour. (Oh, the alliteration!  And the Canadian spelling two words in a row!)  Actually, not a huge fan of flavoured coffee at all.  But mixed half and half with unflavoured decaf, it'll do for a couple of days.  That will let me wait until I'm driving past a Starbucks before stopping in, rather than making a special trip.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1240 on: February 01, 2017, 01:50:53 PM »
Also did some batch cooking today, with an emphasis on cooking up stuff that's overstocked or been hanging around for a while, as well as using some of the produce I've bought more recently:

...snip

4.  The rest of the can of beans, with some diced carrot/celery/red peppers from the freezer (salvaged from a veggie tray after a reception, and flash frozen), with the rest of the taco seasoning and some water and oil, also went in the oven at the same time.  When I took it out, there was too much water still, so I threw in a handful of couscous to soak it up. 

Half of this mixture (taco bean couscous?) went into taco shells, along with some chunks of cheese from the freezer (salvaged from the same reception, as I recall!) and avocado slices.  I called that lunch, and it was delicious.  Though, between the packaged taco seasoning, and the packaged taco shells, it was certainly not low sodium!  Now that it's settled a bit, I'm more than ready for a great big glass of water!

Poundwise

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1241 on: February 02, 2017, 11:57:18 AM »
I was burrowing through a lower cabinet and found that I seem to buy a package of kidney beans every week, I don't cook a package of kidney beans every week.  This means I have 7 more bags than I need. So, chili will be on the menu soon!

My challenge this month is to plan 3 meals a week using items from the back of the pantry.

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1242 on: February 02, 2017, 12:22:01 PM »
Working on clearing out the freezer. 
I pulled out a package of chicken sausage to add to my dinner, lunch, and dinner tonight. 
Continuing to cook random pieces of chicken  (buy in bulk and don't use it all, so I freeze it) in my Instant Pot (SO amazing to cook from frozen in ~30 min)
Eating frozen vegetables (eating broccoli right now)

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1243 on: February 02, 2017, 03:38:21 PM »
I was burrowing through a lower cabinet and found that I seem to buy a package of kidney beans every week, I don't cook a package of kidney beans every week.  This means I have 7 more bags than I need. So, chili will be on the menu soon!

My challenge this month is to plan 3 meals a week using items from the back of the pantry.

Wowza.  That's a lot of kidney beans.  That will make a lot of chili.  And that will make a lot of ... "fresh air."

But I'm not that much better (though I have a bit more variety in the cupboard).  I know that I have some brown lentils, and some split peas, and some bean soup mix, and some canned beans of various kinds, and as well, the only thing I've really been using regularly, which is the teeny tiny little red lentils that I throw in almost every time I make rice, because they cook so quickly.

Anyway, for what was supposed to be a late lunch, I brought food to work with me.  The rest of the bean/veg/couscous mix, plus an olive focaccia roll toasted at home with mozzarella cheese.  Just getting around to eating it now (5:40 local time) before going to my evening function.


swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1244 on: February 02, 2017, 04:18:43 PM »
On the menu for dinner is what my grandpa referred to as "Garbage Soup" 

Tonight's version includes some leftover Ham stock, some frozen spinach and shredded zucchini I had thawed for other meals but didn't end up using when our schedule got all messed up. Some instant veggie soup powder that my mom makes and I *think* I have some frozen meatballs somewhere in the freezer.

One thing that has helped is I have started a grocery list/price list and started keeping track of our staples. Our actual staples and not foods we *think* should be staples, but in reality, don't use often enough. Like no matter how great a deal that 50 lb of Pinto beans is, it isn't a staple we use often enough to justify getting it in that big of bag - although at one point it would have been.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1245 on: February 03, 2017, 12:49:15 AM »
So, I dropped by my mom's place tonight, to carry in her new shredder from the car and set it up.  In passing (can't remember how it came up) I mentioned that I was overstocked on certain food items, and trying not to buy anything other than produce, dairy and bread.

Somehow this translated into her sending me home with:

A can of lentils of indeterminate age
An open box of Girl Guide cookies
A bag (2 cups?) of sesame seeds from the bulk store

Any suggestions for how to use the sesame seeds?  I don't really want to make a lot of baked goods (because then I will end up eating a lot of baked goods!) so would prefer suggestions of how I can use them up a little bit at a time.

For supper, I ate pretty light - coleslaw type salad, and roasted potato/sweet potato with garlic, cooked the other night.  Because it was all "fresh" type food, it doesn't really count toward eating all the food in my house.  Except for the salad dressing, which, it turns out, is expired.  Any thoughts on how long past expiry date you'd use salad dressing?  (It was creamy cucumber, if that matters.)

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1246 on: February 03, 2017, 10:12:00 AM »

A bag (2 cups?) of sesame seeds from the bulk store

Any suggestions for how to use the sesame seeds?  I don't really want to make a lot of baked goods (because then I will end up eating a lot of baked goods!) so would prefer suggestions of how I can use them up a little bit at a time.


You could process the seeds in a blender or food processor until they turn into Tahini. Then you can use it in baked goods, on toast, in hummus (you can use other staples then chickpeas to make Hummus - maybe those lentils?)

I hit on this recipe to make nut milk out of nut butters:http://www.thepretendbaker.com/easiest-cashew-milk-ever/

 and I have been making myself a "Helva" style hot chocolate by whizzing some water, tahini, cococa, a little vanilla and whatever sweetener you want in the blender and heating it up. I ususally use dates but if you want it even more Helva flavoured honey would be best!

Or, to be boring, you can store sesame seeds forever in the freezer and just take out some to toast whenever you need them :)

Ohh or toasted and tossed on these amazing chicken wings: http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/amazing-salt-and-pepper-chicken-wings/ The recipe doesn't call for them but I always add them they make em look super extra fancy


Poundwise

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1247 on: February 03, 2017, 10:23:18 AM »
Another idea for sesame seeds is a lot of Korean cooking. 

You can make  a simple marinade for pork chops, chicken, or thin strips of beef:
1/2 - 1 cup rice wine
couple tablespoons of soy sauce (less for chicken)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt (a little more for chicken)
1/2- 1 tsp black pepper
1 or 2 Tbsp sugar, brown or white fine
chopped clove garlic
chopped white and light green parts couple of scallions
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

All measurements are approximate, adjust as you like. Soak meat in marinade for about an hour, then broil or bake according to thickness of meat.




4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1248 on: February 03, 2017, 10:31:16 AM »
You've received better advice, but I like to toast sesame seeds and then toss them on everything.  If I make frozen broccoli, then I add some sesame seeds.  Bam! Tasty! On salads!  On savory overnight oats. 

We finished a package of chicken sausage last night (pulled from the freezer, 2 more to go). 
Used boxed dessert gift (from Christmas) to make a pie for a potluck tonight

I'm working on drinking down my tea collection.  Our dry goods are out of control, but our freezer looks a lot better.

LMBB

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1249 on: February 03, 2017, 11:38:40 AM »
I made an ancient box of jello for the kids to snack on. (Now I make my own gummies but need to use up the old crap too I guess). One of the teachers at daycare is leaving and so we took a Christmas gift from 2 years ago - cookie mix in a mason jar- and made it into going away cookies. They tasted great, even though the mix was old. 2 more pantry items cleared.


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