Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183492 times)

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1300 on: February 09, 2017, 06:54:28 PM »
Eating down the freezer, some of the portions of pork tenderloin that I got on sale a few months back.  And I'm almost done the various Christmas granolas and will go back to my homemade version.

This week I think I will focus on either the raspberry vinegar that my parents gave us a while back or the bbq sauce we got on a screaming deal when the grocery store stopped carrying the brand.  I really should deal with the bag of cornmeal which is now off the list for family dinners.  I found a yummy looking recipe for cornmeal muffins, and I'm hoping that they will freeze well (I may modify it and add cranberries too).

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1301 on: February 09, 2017, 08:06:07 PM »

This week I think I will focus on either the raspberry vinegar that my parents gave us a while back or the bbq sauce we got on a screaming deal when the grocery store stopped carrying the brand.  I really should deal with the bag of cornmeal which is now off the list for family dinners.  I found a yummy looking recipe for cornmeal muffins, and I'm hoping that they will freeze well (I may modify it and add cranberries too).

I really like this recipe, if you want to do cornmeal and cranberries:  http://joythebaker.com/2009/12/honey-cranberry-cornmeal-quick-bread/

I'm sure it would freeze just fine if you cut slices and then froze them.  Actually, I also have cranberries and cornmeal to use up, so maybe I'll make some this weekend too :)

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1302 on: February 09, 2017, 09:14:18 PM »
This morning I added rocky road to my shopping list, something sweet to go with my mum's birthday present.

This afternoon I realised I have half a kilo of marshmallows that expire in March.

*lightbulb*

Homemade rocky road it is!

I also topped up the barbecue sauce bottle, rice canister and a few other bits and pieces and tossed the emptied bottles and packets.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1303 on: February 11, 2017, 12:47:01 AM »
Today I finished off the last of some scones given to me last Sunday (for breakfast/lunch, warmed up and topped with homemade - not by me - raspberry jam).  For supper, I had a nice big bowl of split pea soup sent home from work with me last Friday.  Do you sense a trend?

Have a couple of servings of white kidney bean/potato/onion stew left in the fridge, everything else got eaten through the week or put in the freezer to stop it from going bad.  So I either needed to pull from the freezer, or make something else.  I have a couple packages of boil in bag rice that expired months ago, really want to use them up.   So made a batch of yellow split peas with veg (onion from my 10 lb bag, celery, red pepper, and carrot from the reception-salvaged veg platter stock in the freezer).  Added Mexican type spice mix, since once of the rice dishes has a similar flavour profile.  This way I can have complementary proteins, rice and legumes, for several meals this week.  Will probably still stash one or two containers in the freezer, and pull out an older dish or two, just for some variety.  I also have some hummous, cheese, bread, that I should alternate with my hot meals.  But will need to do a quick stop in the grocery store for some fresh veg - maybe tomato and cuke for the cold dishes, and some avocado for sure!


PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1304 on: February 11, 2017, 03:22:46 PM »
So, I was going to pop out to the grocery store today, but decided not to.  I will wait until I'm going past there, either tomorrow or Monday.  Or Tuesday or Wednesday, if I can hold out that long.

I had toast with peanut butter and honey for a late breakfast.  Then had some instant noodles (but the kind without seasoning, when you buy 8 or 10 "blocks" of noodles only in a package), with half a bag of broccoli slaw steamed on top.  More veggies than noodles!  Poured off most of the water, mixed in some peanut butter, some soy sauce type marinade (both the marinade and my regular soy sauce have been around for a long while) and a little oil.  Simple and tasty.  Couple of (finally ripening!) kiwi for dessert.

Later, I'll have a couple of tacos shells with melted cheese and my white kidney/potato/onion mixture on top.  Wishing I had some avocado slices to go with it, but even if I'd gone to the store today, you can pretty much guarantee the avocados wouldn't be ripe for a few days. 

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1305 on: February 11, 2017, 05:07:11 PM »
I had friends over for last night. Put together an awesome cheese plate with what I had in the house.

I'm going to make rocky road for my mum's birthday, that will use up marshmallows, nuts, and chocolate. 

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1306 on: February 11, 2017, 05:12:51 PM »
Finished the jug of apple cider vinegar that has been in the pantry for a very long time.  Now we have pickled red onions.

I did _not_ buy maple syrup even though it was on sale today because we have at least two containers in the pantry. Plus honey, and jam, and dulce de leche.

I really like this recipe, if you want to do cornmeal and cranberries:  http://joythebaker.com/2009/12/honey-cranberry-cornmeal-quick-bread/

Today we bought eggs, so I will make the cornbread muffins tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1307 on: February 11, 2017, 05:18:54 PM »
I did _not_ buy maple syrup even though it was on sale today because we have at least two containers in the pantry. Plus honey, and jam, and dulce de leche.

Well done, plainjane!  I have been surprised lately by how often I need to remind myself that things will be on sale again in the future, and therefore I do not need to buy it all now!

SimpleCycle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1308 on: February 11, 2017, 08:06:07 PM »
I want to join in!  I am relatively new to posting, but have been working on the freezer and pantry for a while.  But I find it's really slow going because I a) have a preference for following recipes, so I only use up an ingredient or two at a time, and b) keep buying more food!

I have stopped buying anything I don't have plans to use that week, with a few exceptions.  At some point we will have eaten down the meat enough to need to restock, but it hasn't happened yet!

Things I plan to use this week:
-mahi mahi from the freezer
-some stewed tomatoes
-a can of black beans and a bag of black beans
-some frozen asparagus
-a half finished box of pasta
-a half a jar of pasta sauce that's in the fridge
-two cans of tuna
-some frozen peas

However, I did buy a big bag of frozen green beans, a Costco quantity of shredded cheese, 8 chicken thighs, and 2 lbs of chorizo, all of which went into the freezer.  I have a hard time balancing wanting to use up/clear out with not wanting to pass up a good deal.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1309 on: February 11, 2017, 08:34:56 PM »
Welcome, Simplecycle!


We finally went in and stocked up today, chicken was on sale (as much as it ever goes on sale here) so we got a bunch of breasts, wings, and thighs. Also got really good deals on all of our regular veggies, lots of unadvertised sales and good selection, yay!

So we have a bunch of fresh stuff to use up now that will also help us use up some pantry/freezer stuff.

Planning to make: (PJ, you might want to skip reading this, it is mostly meat)

Breakfast fruit cobbler with coconut flour
Butter chicken - going into the freezer in lunch size portions for Hubby
Thai style roasted eggplant and chicken curry - going into the freezer in lunch size portions for Hubby
Kahlua pork (got a good deal on a roast, going to cook it and portion it into freezer bags)
I have a package of bacon and a lamb roast I took out of the freezer, not expecting to find a good deal on meat, so will have to cook those up too. Luckily Monday is a holiday here in Canada so I have some extra help in the kitchen :)

Oh WIN!! I made coconut milk out of some flaked coconut we had in the pantry. It was way, way better than the canned stuff. We sat down and did the math on it and it is significantly cheaper than buying cans of it (we are dairy-free)  plus the pulp leftover makes a really good oatmeal substitute, especially with some chia and flax. It is a little bit more work but will save us a ton of $$ in the long run.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1310 on: February 11, 2017, 10:01:54 PM »
However, I did buy a big bag of frozen green beans, a Costco quantity of shredded cheese, 8 chicken thighs, and 2 lbs of chorizo, all of which went into the freezer.  I have a hard time balancing wanting to use up/clear out with not wanting to pass up a good deal.

Welcome SimpleCycle!  And join the "rotate stock versus good deal" balancing act club - see below!

I did _not_ buy maple syrup even though it was on sale today because we have at least two containers in the pantry. Plus honey, and jam, and dulce de leche.

Well done, plainjane!  I have been surprised lately by how often I need to remind myself that things will be on sale again in the future, and therefore I do not need to buy it all now!

Sometimes you decide to walk away, sometimes you decide to buy.  It's all a calculation in which you weigh how much stuff you have at home, with how good a sale it is!  The thing I find valuable about these gauntlet challenges is that it helps me find a better balancing point between the two points.  Like, for example, I won't be buying any more "instant rice side dishes" for a while!

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1311 on: February 11, 2017, 10:04:29 PM »
Luckily Monday is a holiday here in Canada so I have some extra help in the kitchen :)

swick, you totally confused me with this comment, and sent me running to google.  I thought I had gone crazy - how could I forget that we have a holiday on Monday? 

But no - turns out we celebrate Family Day at different times across the country!  Ours is the next Monday (3rd Monday in Feb).

LMBB

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1312 on: February 12, 2017, 02:29:20 AM »
File this one under a cross between "homemade christmas" and "eat down your pantry", but I used the remaining roasted peanuts in our pantry and some ~1,000 year old karo to make my husband's birthday present of peanut brittle. He seriously loves the stuff. I had no idea it was so easy to make. I feel like I'm winning X100 right now.


DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1313 on: February 13, 2017, 12:41:00 PM »
Weekly check-in time, had a respectable week:

  • Used the last ancient can of chicken gravy from the depths of the cupboard in making a chicken pot pie. Sooo delicious. Sooo many calories though. But delicious!
  • On the lemon front, I harvested about 1/2 a dozen lemons from the neighbor's tree. I made this Chinese Style Lemon Chicken and OMG it was fantastic. But it only used 2 lemons, so I've got some plans to use more this week.
  • Made a batch of oatmeal craisin white chocolate chip cookies, which used up 1/2 the craisins and 1/2 a bag of white chocolate chips. Guess I'll make another batch this weekend.
  • Made yet another batch of granola bars to use the stale puffed rice cereal and crunchy peanut butter. I didn't have quite enough honey as called for, so I made up the difference with pancake syrup - they came out fine. I think I am going to replenish the honey and then finish off that gdamn puffed rice cereal this weekend if I have to make a triple batch of granola bars to do it. It's not bad and I love the granola bars, I just don't freaking understand how it isn't gone yet!! :)
  • I've been having chocolate banana peanut butter smoothies for breakfast before work, and have cleared out about 2 small bags of frozen bananas that way, the protein powder is dwindling and may be gone by the end of the week. Then I can start tackling all the unflavored whey protein.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2017, 12:44:29 PM by DTaggart »

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1314 on: February 13, 2017, 06:54:51 PM »
File this one under a cross between "homemade christmas" and "eat down your pantry", but I used the remaining roasted peanuts in our pantry and some ~1,000 year old karo to make my husband's birthday present of peanut brittle. He seriously loves the stuff. I had no idea it was so easy to make. I feel like I'm winning X100 right now.

Way to go! MAJOR winning :D

DTaggart - Love your updates!

Dinner tonight: Lamb leg roast from the freezer with Rosemary (freezer), garlic, homemade preserved lemon, roasted sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes (salvaged the last few potatoes that were sprouting) and some frozen roasted Asparagus (freezer) I don't know how the asparagus is going to be, I had a lot to deal with and roasted a bunch last spring and threw some in the freezer as an experiment. I just found it :D

Using up the flax/chia/coconut at a pretty good clip. But...I found a 5 lb sack of whole flax seeds in my freezer I didn't know I had. How does one not notice a 5 lb bag of seeds? Ahh well....

We did go on a grocery shop, and a bunch of chicken has been added to the freezer. I also have an abundance of fresh veggies and fruit and after having shopped from my pantry for a while, I'm feeling overwhelmed. I have a plan for most of it, but it almost seems *Harder* to figure out what to make with so many options and possibilities.


PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1315 on: February 14, 2017, 12:37:19 PM »
Update from yesterday:

Finished up the last of my potato/white kidney bean/onion mixture, on the last of my "manager's discount because they were expiring" taco shells.  With some more of the freezer cheese salvaged from a reception months ago. 

I have a couple of servings of boil in bag rice, plus split pea/veg stew in the fridge to eat.  And I bought tofu, but I think I might put that in marinade and freeze it so it's ready to cook in a week or two.  Because I've realized that when I batch cook, I really do need to freeze some each time so that I can rotate dishes for variety.  Which means that I should eat down my freezer a bit before I cook anything else, since so far I've been putting more in than I've been taking out.  Well, at least in terms of main dishes.  I can and should still cook up some more veggies as side dishes.

AND, I need to make sure that what I eat from my freezer for a little while is the oldest stuff, rather than the stuff that's at the front.  So sometime this week, a "pull everything out and reorganize" moment is going to need to happen...

Also.  My cream (expiry date mid-March) has gone off, and there's still half a carton.  I will do some very sparing fruit and veggie shopping today or tomorrow, and will take it back to exchange it.  In the meantime, I have been making "lattes" - heating up some milk in the microwave to add to my home-brewed coffee.  Which has the advantage that I might actually use up my whole bag of milk before it goes off, for a change!

SmartyCat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1316 on: February 14, 2017, 06:07:08 PM »
Hi all! I haven’t been as focused on this challenge lately, but the refrigerator, freezer and pantry are all looking more spacious so progress is ongoing if a bit slow.

Last week’s wins: used up partial bags of chocolate chips and some rock-hard brown sugar to make a batch of cookies for a Superbowl party.

This week: finally! ate the last chewy granola bar from a huge Costco box DH bought and then discovered he didn’t like them very much.  Also discovered that the Thai red curry paste in the fridge is really good in peanut sauce, which in turn was delicious on some otherwise ho-hum veggies. The frozen fruit all fits in its designated freezer drawer now, and it’s all getting used up before I buy any more.

SimpleCycle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1317 on: February 14, 2017, 08:26:22 PM »
I paired an orphan carton of heavy cream with some Aldi chocolate chips for chocolate fondue tonight.  But I don't have a problem using up chocolate chips!

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1318 on: February 14, 2017, 08:33:05 PM »
... used up partial bags of chocolate chips and some rock-hard brown sugar to make a batch of cookies for a Superbowl party.

I paired an orphan carton of heavy cream with some Aldi chocolate chips for chocolate fondue tonight.  But I don't have a problem using up chocolate chips!

I've had a hankering for chocolate chip biscuits for days, and you lot aren't helping!

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1319 on: February 14, 2017, 11:59:58 PM »
Amazingly (and maybe because I'm reporting so much of what I eat, here on the forum?) I still have chocolate left over from Christmas.  I ate some of them today though - sort of fake Lindt balls, with a hazelnut filling.  I prefer plain milk or dark chocolate, but they certainly weren't bad...

(Sorry, mustachepungoeshere, that's probably not helping much either.)

I have been craving HARD for pizza the last few days.  There's a Pizza Pizza right where I turn off the main road to come home, and it's not uncommon for me to pick up a med or large walk-in special ($5 and $8 respectively) cheese pizza with one topping, then eat off it for several days.  Not awful, financially, but no help when it comes to eating food I already have.  I have been resisting.

And, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home tonight, replenishing milk and cream (exchanged with a bit of a hassle for the cream that still had a month left before expiry but curdled already), and fruit and veg.  The only "re-stocking" type item was a few cans of Campbell's soup, which was on for a particularly good price.  And I thought I was totally out of emergency cans of soup (I was wrong, I still had one left) so I didn't think it was awful to spend a couple bucks on an assortment of soup to have on hand for a quick meal.

But anyway, back to the pizza.  Again, as I drove past, it was like the neon sign was flashing my name.  I steeled my nerve and kept going.

And when I got home, I made mini pizzas on toasted rosemary focaccia bun, with freezer mozzarella (finished one package, yay!) and salsa, and also, as my freezer has slightly diminished I found a bag of basil leaves that I froze at the end of the season.  So yummy basil crumbled over the top, and everything under the broiler for a bit.  Plus celery and hummous. for the extra green, and the extra protein.  Great dinner, really hit the spot.  And I might have another bottle of salsa in the cupboard - in any case, I eat it slowly enough that it wouldn't hurt for me to try to cycle through this jar before it goes off.  In other words, mini bread pizzas whenever I feel the craving, rather than having to resist.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1320 on: February 15, 2017, 12:45:28 AM »
Amazingly (and maybe because I'm reporting so much of what I eat, here on the forum?) I still have chocolate left over from Christmas.  I ate some of them today though - sort of fake Lindt balls, with a hazelnut filling.  I prefer plain milk or dark chocolate, but they certainly weren't bad...

(Sorry, mustachepungoeshere, that's probably not helping much either.)

You kill me!

:D

All good. I actually shopped this afternoon and forgot all about them until I got home. Probably for the best.

Ps. Your pizzas sound amazing. I try to keep English muffins in the freezer for this purpose. Great for using up odds and ends of deli meat, cheese and veggies.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1321 on: February 15, 2017, 12:48:52 AM »
Ps. Your pizzas sound amazing. I try to keep English muffins in the freezer for this purpose. Great for using up odds and ends of deli meat, cheese and veggies.

Yup!  Delish!  I would have them more often, but I often get stuck in thinking that I need to open up a jar of spaghetti sauce, or buy pizza sauce for them.  And even the pizza sauce (in smaller jars) wouldn't get finished up by one evening of one person eating mini pizzas.  But I almost always have salsa in the house, and it makes a great substitute pizza sauce.  Don't know why I don't think of it more often, but hopefully now I will...

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1322 on: February 15, 2017, 12:52:40 AM »
Ps. Your pizzas sound amazing. I try to keep English muffins in the freezer for this purpose. Great for using up odds and ends of deli meat, cheese and veggies.

Yup!  Delish!  I would have them more often, but I often get stuck in thinking that I need to open up a jar of spaghetti sauce, or buy pizza sauce for them.  And even the pizza sauce (in smaller jars) wouldn't get finished up by one evening of one person eating mini pizzas.  But I almost always have salsa in the house, and it makes a great substitute pizza sauce.  Don't know why I don't think of it more often, but hopefully now I will...

I freeze pizza sauce if I have leftovers.

Or we will use barbecue sauce, satay sauce (highly recommend satay chicken and snowpea pizza!), or my most recent favourite is caramelised onion relish as a pizza sauce.

But now you've got me wanting salsa and corn chips... I'm just too suggestible today!

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1323 on: February 15, 2017, 01:08:56 AM »
Ps. Your pizzas sound amazing. I try to keep English muffins in the freezer for this purpose. Great for using up odds and ends of deli meat, cheese and veggies.

Yup!  Delish!  I would have them more often, but I often get stuck in thinking that I need to open up a jar of spaghetti sauce, or buy pizza sauce for them.  And even the pizza sauce (in smaller jars) wouldn't get finished up by one evening of one person eating mini pizzas.  But I almost always have salsa in the house, and it makes a great substitute pizza sauce.  Don't know why I don't think of it more often, but hopefully now I will...

I freeze pizza sauce if I have leftovers.

Or we will use barbecue sauce, satay sauce (highly recommend satay chicken and snowpea pizza!), or my most recent favourite is caramelised onion relish as a pizza sauce.

But now you've got me wanting salsa and corn chips... I'm just too suggestible today! 

Yeah, but I don't tend to remember to use it when I do that - I look in the freezer for single serve portions of meals that I can just heat 'n eat, not for ingredients to make a meal with.  Spaghetti sauce is the latter.  So I'm better off using the rest of the jar to make something with - a pasta dish, or thinning it for soup, or adding some to a stew, or something.  But the kind of night that lends itself to mini bread pizzas is not the kind of night to do batch cooking!  :-)

Ok, so I will stop posting (and go to bed!) so I stop putting ideas in your head.  Have a good day/night!

Rural

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1324 on: February 15, 2017, 09:47:50 AM »
 I just use tiny cans of tomato paste for pizza sauce, then sprinkle on spices and garlic. It really comes out well, strong tomato flavor, and the spices blend fine in baking the pizza.

LindseyC

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1325 on: February 15, 2017, 09:59:51 AM »
This thread is so motivating. I have stopped eating out, buying takeout and anything convenience. So now I am eating all meals at home and my goal is to definitely eat down the food stores.

Tomorrow I am making slow cooker soup which is two packages of ground chicken and a ton of frozen veggie odds and ends. I will add some chicken broth and spices. Easy and will use up a lot of small items.

I also have a ton of tea to use, so I am making cold tea brews daily (no sugar) to help kick my habit of drinking store bought ice tea with sugar. I figure in four months if I use 4 bags a day I will use up all my tea. :)

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1326 on: February 15, 2017, 12:09:08 PM »
Wins today:

Had Nope-meal for breakfast using up more chia/flax/coconut pulp (leftover from making coconut milk)

Eggdrop soup using up some frozen homemade stock and homemade veggie soup mix powder

Took out some frozen berries to thaw for a snack later.

Challenges: Using up fresh stuff. I have a pork roast sitting in the fridge that needs to go into the crockpot but I felt like S**t last night, and forgot the night before so need to get it in TONIGHT, no matter what!

Weird Ingredients to use up:
Dry Lupini beans - I didn't realize how intense the soaking/cooking process needs to be to make them not poisonous. No wonder they are traditionally soaked for a week in a stream first.

Tigernut flour - Gifted to me, have tried it in a couple of things but it is a kind of gritty texture that even when further blended kind of remains. I am sure there is a use for it that would highlight the flavor and minimize the texture?

Dry peppers of all kinds - We make our own chili powders and will occasionally feel ambitious enough to make a mole, but we just have too many. The are pretty bulky so I'd love to start using them but again, at a bit of a loss (or just uninspired in general due to not feeling well)

Ohh and one more super odd one: Glucomannan Powder AKA Konjac root. Also given to me, I am at a total loss.

Dollar Slice

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1327 on: February 15, 2017, 01:26:08 PM »
Tigernut flour - Gifted to me, have tried it in a couple of things but it is a kind of gritty texture that even when further blended kind of remains. I am sure there is a use for it that would highlight the flavor and minimize the texture?

Never tried it myself, but... Maybe you could use it in something that should have a kind of crisp/sandy texture, like a cookie-crumb style crust? Might mask the grittiness.

DTaggart

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1328 on: February 15, 2017, 01:39:29 PM »
Tigernut flour - Gifted to me, have tried it in a couple of things but it is a kind of gritty texture that even when further blended kind of remains. I am sure there is a use for it that would highlight the flavor and minimize the texture?

Never tried it myself, but... Maybe you could use it in something that should have a kind of crisp/sandy texture, like a cookie-crumb style crust? Might mask the grittiness.

Yeah, I've never had it (or even heard of it before today) either, but the first thing that popped into my head is granola bars. Of course, I think granola bars are the solution to pretty much everything :)

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1329 on: February 15, 2017, 01:40:23 PM »
I had to look up to see what a tigernut was ... surprise!  It's not a nut!

https://www.glutenfreeliving.com/blog/what-is-tigernut-flour/

The link suggests that the nutty flavour goes well with veggie or black bean burgers.  Maybe that's also not an awful place for a bit more "texture" as well?

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1330 on: February 15, 2017, 02:02:56 PM »
Thanks, everyone! I did try it in granola bars and to make GF pancakes. Wasn't a fan of it in either.

So...I am totally noticing a pattern which I never consciously noticed before. My mom buys weird stuff she wants to try. Buys an extra one for me, gives it to me because she knows I'll figure out *something* to do with it and tell her about it, so she doesn't have to do all the experimenting herself.

So I end up with a LOT of odd food odds and ends. I don't really mind, at least it means this overflowing pantry isn't JUST my fault :D

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1331 on: February 15, 2017, 03:00:00 PM »
Thanks, everyone! I did try it in granola bars and to make GF pancakes. Wasn't a fan of it in either.

So...I am totally noticing a pattern which I never consciously noticed before. My mom buys weird stuff she wants to try. Buys an extra one for me, gives it to me because she knows I'll figure out *something* to do with it and tell her about it, so she doesn't have to do all the experimenting herself.

So I end up with a LOT of odd food odds and ends. I don't really mind, at least it means this overflowing pantry isn't JUST my fault :D

LOL!  Whereas my mom just gives me old stuff that she's not going to eat, but figures I will, or will at least give to the dog...

4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1332 on: February 15, 2017, 03:18:17 PM »
PJ, thank you for your pesto wishes.  I had pesto last night! It was homemade--basil from our plant, pine nuts, and a bit of parmesan. 

Last night, we used up a package of panko (still have half a bag of bread crumbs) and a bag of frozen broccoli.  Over the weekend, I used 3 bananas to make banana bread.  I also used a bag of raisins in one of the loaves. 

I've been eating PB&J for lunch this week because I've been lazy, but I've also been using all of the jam that I have.  SO MUCH JAM!


SimpleCycle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1333 on: February 15, 2017, 08:51:46 PM »
I only used up half a bag of asparagus tonight, so I have to work it into another meal before I declare victory.

I am thinking about going after a "zone" at a time.  We have the kitchen cabinets, a few pantry shelves (our pantry mostly holds cookware/household goods/random storage), the fridge, the regular freezer, and our upright deep freeze.  I'm wondering if this exercise might be easier if I set a goal to EMPTY the regular freezer and then actually did it.  I suppose to some extent I already do this mentally - I have mostly been focused on the kitchen cabinets.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1334 on: February 15, 2017, 10:36:00 PM »
PJ, thank you for your pesto wishes.  I had pesto last night! It was homemade--basil from our plant, pine nuts, and a bit of parmesan. 

Last night, we used up a package of panko (still have half a bag of bread crumbs) and a bag of frozen broccoli.  Over the weekend, I used 3 bananas to make banana bread.  I also used a bag of raisins in one of the loaves. 

I've been eating PB&J for lunch this week because I've been lazy, but I've also been using all of the jam that I have.  SO MUCH JAM!

Yay for 4alpacas' pesto!  And panko.  And PB&J.  Pesto sounds delicious, and the other stuff is about working through the stockpile, right?  It's all good!

I finished off my boil in bag rice with my split pea/veg stew for dinner tonight, except for the couple of servings I shoved in the freezer earlier this week.  Sometime in the next few days I'll have to dig through and re-organize the freezer to use up some of the older stuff that's in there.  I have a couple of things in mind to eat soon, to free up some space.  Once I eat down some of the freezer, I can start targeting the cupboards again (as SimpleCycle described) because then when I do a batch cook from the cupboards, I'll have room in the freezer left to stash away more individual portions. 

Man, with just me working at this, and with the contribution of the food people send me home with from work, I will be working this thread in perpetuity, it feels like!  Here I am celebrating one package of rice gone, and there are ... I don't want to count how many more in the cupboard!

Oh well, onwards and upwards!

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1335 on: February 16, 2017, 06:13:18 AM »
I defrosted the bag of bacon ends from our local butcher, and froze them separately except for one piece for Friday's ravioli dinner.  Having meal sized portions will make it more likely that I will pull them out over the next few weeks.

Two frozen cubes of cauliflower in my lunch to go with pasta and peanut sauce.  This bag of pasta is taking a long time with me just using it for work lunches, but that is fine.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1336 on: February 16, 2017, 08:24:52 AM »
DH is coming for the long weekend, then I have just two short weeks remaining.  One week will be a butternut squash chili, and the other week will be Shepherd's pie.  Tonight I'm going to make fried rice with egg.  I also need to use up beets, so red flannel hash is going to be on the menu. 

I'm suddenly realizing that I need to double down to use my remaining food up as much as possible!  I still have a can of tuna, some sardines and kippers I brought from home, a can of coconut milk, a couple sweet potatoes and a small wedge of Romano cheese.  No groceries except green veggies from here on out.  Hmm, the shepherd's pie would require buying white potatoes, but I might need to sub rice and make it more of a casserole.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1337 on: February 16, 2017, 05:07:22 PM »
DH is coming for the long weekend, then I have just two short weeks remaining.  One week will be a butternut squash chili, and the other week will be Shepherd's pie.  Tonight I'm going to make fried rice with egg.  I also need to use up beets, so red flannel hash is going to be on the menu. 

I'm suddenly realizing that I need to double down to use my remaining food up as much as possible!  I still have a can of tuna, some sardines and kippers I brought from home, a can of coconut milk, a couple sweet potatoes and a small wedge of Romano cheese.  No groceries except green veggies from here on out.  Hmm, the shepherd's pie would require buying white potatoes, but I might need to sub rice and make it more of a casserole.

Or use sweet potato on the shepherd's pie. Topped with some of the romano. Mmm....

SimpleCycle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1338 on: February 16, 2017, 08:27:32 PM »
Tonight we finished the asparagus, a jar of capers, some stewed tomatoes, and a bag of rice.  We're also down to a single mahi mahi fillet in the freezer (we had a whole bag of them).

Tomorrow we were supposed to have curried tuna, but we've accumulated a ton of leftovers so we're going to have them instead.  I need to perk up some lentil salad so it's a bit more exciting as a leftover.

Saturday we're going to our church's chili cookoff, and I chose a chili recipe that uses up a bunch of things we have on hand.  Win win!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1339 on: February 16, 2017, 08:56:50 PM »
Nice job, everyone!

mmm sweet potato topped shepherd's pie! SOmeohow I missed the fact that you had sweet potatoes, horsepoor. I scrolled trough your response going, if only she had sweet potatoes! Derp.

Dinner tonight was Kahlua pork tacos. Hubby used some corn tortillas from the freezer (I had a taco salad) some home canned salsa, some pinto bean flakes and spices used up. 

I'm collecting lots of odds and ends in the fridge so I have to go through tomorrow and see what needs to be frozen or used up ASAP.

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1340 on: February 16, 2017, 11:02:59 PM »
I failed to plan (and planned to fail).  I didn't take lunch to work, ended up making a run to Tim Horton's mid-day for a sandwich, donut and coffee.  Plus hot chocolate for our administrative assistant.

But, I had breakfast at home, and dinner too.  Pulled out some pholourie and potato balls from the freezer (bought at a local roti shop a while back, but my plans changed so I stashed 'em in the freezer, along with the little containers of tamarind sauce).  While they defrosted/heated, had some celery sticks with garlic hummous to tide me over.  Between the garlic and the spice in the potato balls - my stomach got its limit of heat!

Also pulled out a couple extra containers from the freezer for meals over the next week or so.  A single serving of peas and rice, which will go nicely with the rest of the pholourie and one remaining potato ball.  Though, yes, I realize there are really no veggies in that meal.  I'll have fruit for dessert, I promise.

Also, a mystery dish.  I've passed that container over several times when searching for dinner in the freezer.  It is vaguely yellow-ish.  Could be split pea?  Or chickpea/curry?  Or something with corn?  Not sure.  Will let you know when it defrosts.  I'm ... not really looking forward to it.  Hope it's not awful. 

Also, have earmarked the next two things to come out of the freezer, next time I want to turn on the stove.  Pre-packaged cheese cannelloni, and a small apple pie bought last spring at The Big Apple:



When I make the apple pie and cannelloni, I will also make some roasted potatoes and/or other veggies.

plainjane

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1341 on: February 17, 2017, 06:21:39 AM »
I failed to plan (and planned to fail).

This was on the wall of my high school calculus teacher's classroom.  Today I plan to eat lunch provided by work because I have a training. 

This week I'm struggling with eating down the freezer vs. taking advantage of sales.  Pork tenderloin is down to $3/lb this week, which is on the lower end of the cycle (we sometimes get 2.88).  And I only have two or three servings left.  But I do have chicken, and bacon, and other cooked meets. 

I will be taking advantage of the the peanut butter ($3/kg), and yogurt ($2/750ml) sales.  They do not sit on my shelves for long.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1342 on: February 17, 2017, 09:08:30 AM »
So, I realize this is totally putting food INTO your freezer, but hubby came across this series on Making Restaurant style Indian food at home. http://glebekitchen.com/2016/12/24/indian-restaurant-curry-base/ and he really wants to try it.

Since I've had to go dairy/wheat-free he has really missed the very occasional dinners at our favorite Indian place. I've come up with some really good dairy-free approximations, but having flavour bases on hand would make it MUCH easier. Would also be a tasty way of using up some of our lamb over the next couple of months.

Also, there is a lot of issues being raised right now about food security in the Interior of BC because the roads to the mainland and Alberta have been closed due to the weather. Stores are running out of food. They have basically said that most small communities have about 3 days worth of food at any given time available for purchase.

I'm not too concerned because we do tend to keep a fairly large stock since we use to live up north where there was one highway and it could be washed out for months at a time, and realistically if the trucks didn't make it through, even though we have been eating everything up, we still have a few months of food on hand (provided we had electricity) but it really does make you think. Especially this time of year where not much is growing. I would like to come up with an actual stock rotation system. Have to ponder this a bit.


4alpacas

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1343 on: February 17, 2017, 10:26:53 AM »
I failed to plan (and planned to fail). I didn't take lunch to work, ended up making a run to Tim Horton's mid-day for a sandwich, donut and coffee.  Plus hot chocolate for our administrative assistant.

But, I had breakfast at home, and dinner too.  Pulled out some pholourie and potato balls from the freezer (bought at a local roti shop a while back, but my plans changed so I stashed 'em in the freezer, along with the little containers of tamarind sauce).  While they defrosted/heated, had some celery sticks with garlic hummous to tide me over.  Between the garlic and the spice in the potato balls - my stomach got its limit of heat!

Also pulled out a couple extra containers from the freezer for meals over the next week or so.  A single serving of peas and rice, which will go nicely with the rest of the pholourie and one remaining potato ball.  Though, yes, I realize there are really no veggies in that meal.  I'll have fruit for dessert, I promise.

Also, a mystery dish.  I've passed that container over several times when searching for dinner in the freezer.  It is vaguely yellow-ish.  Could be split pea?  Or chickpea/curry?  Or something with corn?  Not sure.  Will let you know when it defrosts.  I'm ... not really looking forward to it.  Hope it's not awful. 

Also, have earmarked the next two things to come out of the freezer, next time I want to turn on the stove.  Pre-packaged cheese cannelloni, and a small apple pie bought last spring at The Big Apple:



When I make the apple pie and cannelloni, I will also make some roasted potatoes and/or other veggies.
That happened to me yesterday too!  I packed my breakfast, but I left my lunch at home.  Oops!  I did have a nice lunch out with a coworker, and it was nice to get away from work for an hour.

I'm going to try to get a bunch of stuff cooked this weekend.  Right now, we have a lot of ingredients, but not much to eat.  On the list: cornbread muffins (so much cornmeal), banana bread (will use up the last of the yogurt and bananas), chickpea shawarma, black bean quesadillas (canned black beans, half an onion in the fridge, tortillas), and biscotti (use up some of the dried fruit).

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1344 on: February 17, 2017, 11:50:18 AM »
I'm going to try to get a bunch of stuff cooked this weekend.  Right now, we have a lot of ingredients, but not much to eat.  On the list: cornbread muffins (so much cornmeal), banana bread (will use up the last of the yogurt and bananas), chickpea shawarma, black bean quesadillas (canned black beans, half an onion in the fridge, tortillas), and biscotti (use up some of the dried fruit). 

Mmm.  Let me know when the baking is happening ... I'll come right over!

recklesslysober

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1345 on: February 17, 2017, 12:55:11 PM »
Last weekend I made chickpea mash (think tuna salad but with chickpeas) to eat on sandwiches with cucumber and sprouts. Also made a big cabbage salad with peanut dressing, and some breaded and baked brussel sprout 'tots.'

This week has been slow. Sickness at our house so lots of canned soup and crackers.. hopefully that's almost done!

Yesterday I got around to peeling and freezing two bunches of bananas and made banana bread with a few of them.

I need to deal with some leftover cabbage in the fridge from last weekend. It's already chopped up but I'm sure it will be fine. I'm going to make another peanut dressing and throw in some carrots, red peppers, and chopped almonds.


MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1346 on: February 17, 2017, 02:13:56 PM »
recklessly, there's a virus going around these parts, too.  I had it for 2.5 weeks.  :(

~~~~~~~~~~
I was out of town for a week, and DH did a really good job at eating leftovers from the freezer:

A stuffed chicken breast
Beef and cabbage chili style
Burrito filling

Monday I used 1/2 of a leftover container of Ragu in these:  http://www.djfoodie.com/Pizza-Cups

This weekend I'll make more Budget Bytes Not Refried Beans, some oatmeal for DH, and use the remaining half bag of frozen strawberries as a low carb pancake topping, and dessert.

Added:  Thanks to Dtaggart's idea a few weeks ago (I'm playing catch up here), instead of plain oatmeal, I'm going to make this for DH.  It will use the remaining bits of white chocolate chips from Christmas baking:  https://cutefetti.com/2013/11/oatmeal-bars-with-white-chocolate-chips-recipe.html

Happy weekend, everyone.  :)
« Last Edit: February 17, 2017, 02:39:14 PM by MountainGal »

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1347 on: February 17, 2017, 10:49:54 PM »
I'm going to try to get a bunch of stuff cooked this weekend.  Right now, we have a lot of ingredients, but not much to eat.  On the list: cornbread muffins (so much cornmeal), banana bread (will use up the last of the yogurt and bananas), chickpea shawarma, black bean quesadillas (canned black beans, half an onion in the fridge, tortillas), and biscotti (use up some of the dried fruit). 

Mmm.  Let me know when the baking is happening ... I'll come right over!
Sunday! Fly out to the Bay Area!  We have a guest bedroom.

LOL!  I will try to remember that the next time that I can afford to go visit my friend in Santa Cruz!  Right now I am working on paying off some CC debts, and then am going to look into CC travel hacking.  But Canadian so not as good, I think! 

Plus, alas, Sunday is a work day...

But I'm going to put cornbread on my list of things that I should make sometime soon!

PJ

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1348 on: February 18, 2017, 12:05:51 PM »
So, last night I ate the rest of my pholourie and potato balls with about half of the rice and peas I pulled out the freezer the other day.  Finished it with an orange for dessert. 

There was a little bit of tamarind dipping sauce left, so I pulled the container of tofu out of the freezer (I think I forgot to post the other day that I mixed up some oil and melted peanut butter and soy sauce and a splash of balsamic vinegar and chopped up the tofu into chunks and threw it in the freezer for easy cooking already spiced another day).  Anyway, I just dumped the tamarind sauce in there, and stuck it back in the freezer right away.  When I defrost the tofu down the road, it'll all add up to more flavour.

Since I was still pretty low on fruit and veg (and dairy) for the day, when I went scrounging for a late night snack later, I decided on cereal with a banana and milk.  Finished up a box of Honey Nut Cheerios.  Only 6 million boxes of cereal left to go...

For breakfast this morning I toasted up a couple of slices of sweet bread (coconut type bread with little bits of dried fruit) that were intended as dessert for the lunch they sent me home from church with last Sunday.  I'd forgotten about them in the fridge, and they were a bit stale, but toasted with peanut butter and a nice cup of coffee to wash them down, they were pretty good!

I took a peek at my mystery container of food pulled from the freezer earlier in the week, the unknown yellow-ish stuff.  Still too frozen to tell what it is, but it looks like it might have rice, and some bits of veg.  Still unclear on what it is or where/when it came from.  Still hoping it's not too awful.  I should probably steel myself to eat at least some of it for dinner tonight, before I work myself into too much antipathy about it.

A reflection:  I understand now, really, why I've never managed to keep up with eating down my stores for very long.  It's because with just one person, and with food coming home from work on a semi-regular basis, it just takes SO long to see any noticeable difference.  One box of cereal from among many.  One package of rice from among many.  A little dent in a bag of split peas.  One container of mystery food comes out of the freezer, but I put two more split pea stew meals back in so I don't have to eat it every day for a week.  I am really hoping that the next couple of weeks will tip the scale between "Eh, still looks the same in here," and "Oh, there's light at the end of the tunnel.  Or at least, at the back of the fridge."  In any case, my budget is definitely showing the difference.  The money I take out of the bank is lasting longer, since I'm not popping in and out of Tim's or other fast food places more than once a week or so, and also, since I'm only spending about half of what I normally would on groceries.  Hopefully that will help me keep going even in the face of the seemingly self-replenishing shelves.  :-)

pbkmaine

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1349 on: February 18, 2017, 01:21:14 PM »
Thanks, everyone! I did try it in granola bars and to make GF pancakes. Wasn't a fan of it in either.

So...I am totally noticing a pattern which I never consciously noticed before. My mom buys weird stuff she wants to try. Buys an extra one for me, gives it to me because she knows I'll figure out *something* to do with it and tell her about it, so she doesn't have to do all the experimenting herself.

So I end up with a LOT of odd food odds and ends. I don't really mind, at least it means this overflowing pantry isn't JUST my fault :D

I was curious, so I nosed around Google for tigernut flour. "Gritty" is a common complaint. One person put it through a sieve and got the gritty bits out.