Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183596 times)

GardenFun

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #150 on: November 15, 2014, 06:25:33 PM »
Bread crumbs, lemon pepper and spicy breader mixes.  We don't eat a lot of meat, but it bought these to bread fish a whole ago and need to use them up or else toss them.  We don't eat meat often enough to use them that way.

Here's a good recipe for the bread crumbs.  He uses a piece of bread but I've used bread crumbs successfully.

http://blogs.kqed.org/essentialpepin/2011/09/11/zucchini-and-tomato-gratin/

Otherwise, put them on top of casseroles, or toast them with some butter in a pan and put them on top of noodles. 

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #151 on: November 15, 2014, 08:04:55 PM »
I had wandered off from this challenge for awhile but need to get back to it as I am now on a countdown to moving by February 1. It will be in-town, so I won't have to throw away food unless I want to, but would still like to minimize how much makes the trip. For dinner tonight, I made green beans with orange sriracha sauce that used up some fresh green beans in the fridge and some orange marmalade and a box of Asian noodles. Discovered that they were in the clearance bin because the peanut noodle mix had some kind of hoisin sauce packet instead of the peanut sauce. Oh well, tasty anyway and probably healthier than the peanut sauce. Tomorrow I am making a vegetarian chili in the crockpot that will nibble away at some bulgur I have on hand. Also, if I have the energy, a yogurt cake to use up fresh lemon juice and whole-milk yogurt. For dinner a few nights ago, made corn waffles from a mix--one more batch and the mix will be gone. Also did a smoothie to use frozen fruit and some wilting greens. Unfortunately I did not get the greens to fruit ratio quite right, but at least it was healthy...

Shropskr

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #152 on: November 16, 2014, 01:09:46 AM »
I'm bored of our use it up menu. I'm bored of spaghetti, nachos(hides beans/rice), Brinner, soup, fish.  Ack.  Time to start thinking.  I believe I just used my last package of hamburger yea(boo) it's so easy.

Crab anyone???
Bacon??
Spaghetti sauce?
Beans? Got black, red, great northern white


I still have tons of ingredients just not my normal go to ingredients. I have to actually cook. Yeep.
Ok. Deep breath.  I can try crap cakes again.  The crab cake/rice failure tasted good.

Beans maybe try a corn black bean side dish with my fish fillets.(I dont wanna eat anymore fish)

Need a yummy dish to look forward to orange chicken stir fry? I have the sauce.

Or maybe say screw it and just defrost for the whole week and try again later... ;)  We'll have mystery meals.  Sometimes I'm not sure what's in that Tupperware until after its defrosted. Laughs.

Maya

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #153 on: November 16, 2014, 09:23:21 AM »
Can a newbie join? I've recently filled up our freezer doing some batch cooking, and now with an expensive month or two, it's time to eat through the reserves. Will have to conserve some for the next week or two as a friend has been buying some of the meals since she started back to work, but my eventual goal is so defrost the freezer so it would be helpful to empty it out!

Main challenge will be using up the stashed breastmilk, but I'm sure my dd will drink some of it when I go back to work in February. I'd love he space from it, but need to keep it a little longe :)

GardenFun

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #154 on: November 16, 2014, 12:10:58 PM »
I'm bored of our use it up menu. I'm bored of spaghetti, nachos(hides beans/rice), Brinner, soup, fish.  Ack.  Time to start thinking.  I believe I just used my last package of hamburger yea(boo) it's so easy.

Crab anyone???
Bacon??
Spaghetti sauce?
Beans? Got black, red, great northern white


Do you like Boston Baked Beans?  It uses both bacon and whatever combo of beans you want.  I'm currently making it using a ham hock and a combo of pinto and cranberry beans.  But most recipes call for bacon or salt pork.  Alton Brown and Martha Stewart both have good recipes. 

As for crab, make a hot crab dip.  Here's a good recipe that gets rave reviews from friends.  I downgrade the amount of jalapenos but if you like spicy, this one is good.  You can also substitute other cheeses for Monterey jack and parm-reggio. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/hot-jalapeno-crab-dip-recipe.html

lizfish

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #155 on: November 16, 2014, 12:30:32 PM »
Inspired by this thread we are having coconut milk pana cotta tonight. It's going to use up two random things the coconut milk and gelatine as well as the tinned fruit I'm going to serve with it. Had to add fresh milk but we would have had that anyway.

We don't have an extensive freezer collection or a chest freezer so I guess eating everything in our house shouldn't be that difficult but we'd run out of actual food pretty quick and be eating branston pickle and savoury seeds for breakfast!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #156 on: November 16, 2014, 01:02:16 PM »
Shropskr - I second a crab dip  idea :)

Also for fish, I make fish cakes they are stupid easy and offer a nice variety and can use any type of fish. I use those nothing else instant mashed potato packages from costco - it would be a little more work to use regular potatoes, just boil and mash em. I just poach the fish in the milk/water mixture you have to boil for the potatoes with whatever spices I want (usually I do a curry fish cake) take out the fish and flake it, add the potato flakes and make the mashed potatoes and add back in the fish and some frozen peas. Form into cakes and roll in panko/bread crumbs whatever you have and pan fry. Takes all of about 1o minutes and we usually serve with chutney.

For the bacon you could make a carbonara if you have pasta t use up, or fry it and crumble into some fried rice, or add it to some baked beans as suggested!

Sometimes I'll use beans and spaghetti sauce as a base for Chili - with enough spices, you can't tell.

I make a white bean dip with great Northern beans, usually I end up cooking too much and the leftovers gets made into veggie burgers :) (sorry I don't really have recipes, I kinda cook on the fly)

Ascotillion

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #157 on: November 17, 2014, 02:50:34 AM »
I had my uni exams a few weeks ago and unfortunately gave into some tempting fast foods (my main weakness!) during study nights, but now that they're over I decided to tackle my fridge and freezer. There were a lot of meals in there that I was just passing up for newer things, so I decided that I would eat EVERYTHING.

Here's what my fridge looks like now!


I'm going shopping tomorrow, with a bunch of cheap recipes that I can freeze - the cycle starts again!

Fodder

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #158 on: November 17, 2014, 08:21:37 AM »
We're doing quite well!  Our family of four is at $157 for groceries so far this month, and we are eating like kings.  I'm trying the trick another poster mentioned of just going 'one more day' without groceries to try to eat up food we already have.

I was super proud of last night's dinner.  It started when my husband mentioned he wanted some rice and dal for dinner (lentil curry), but since I had time, and I had a big bag of dried chickpeas sitting in the cupboard, I decided I could also cook up the chickpeas, use some for dinner, and freeze the rest (I freeze cooked beans in 2 cup portions and then use them like canned beans).

So without getting any groceries in over a week, this is what came together:
- basmati rice pulao (done with turmeric, a cinnamon stick, carrot brunoise, cumin seeds and a touch of salt)
- fresh naan (never made it before, but it was easy and turned out surprisingly well)
- red lentil dal
- channa sag (chickpeas done with coconut milk, a block of frozen spinach, half a tomato chopped up and some spices)
- cilantro-mint chutney (was SO stoked to remember I had both these herbs)

It was a great use of some dried goods I've had sitting around for a while, and the meal was so delicious.

Maya

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #159 on: November 17, 2014, 09:04:41 AM »
MMM sounds yummy fodder!

Fodder

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #160 on: November 17, 2014, 09:24:56 AM »
MMM sounds yummy fodder!

Thanks!

Just remembered that I also made a banana cake from some frozen bananas that had been chilling out in my fridge.  I took Smitten Kitchen's crackly banana bread recipe, multiplied it by 1.5 and baked it in a bundt pan (I can't find my loaf pan for some reason).  Another good use of pantry staples - frozen bananas, whole wheat flour, coconut oil, millet, etc. :D  And we have breakfast and snacks for a few days too.

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #161 on: November 17, 2014, 12:14:49 PM »
I can try crap cakes again.

I love this typo.  Or was it a typo?

Crab dip is good, especially if you've got holiday parties/family get-togethers coming up.  You can pawn it off on others and they'll think you're super generous for bringing something so "rich".  :)
Got two weeks of family in town.  Good in some ways (more people to help eat things!) and bad in others (my mom prefers not to eat mammals, so no moose meat).  So I bought some chicken for this week, but we'll do salmon still and the other meals I've planned all use up mostly what we already had so we'll still be eating down the freezer.
Also, my daughter's first (!!) birthday party is this weekend, so I'll be using up some stuff for that, like our giant bag of dried chickpeas (for hummus) and flour in the cake, baking chocolate, etc.  We'll do something with our smoked salmon as well.
With Thanksgiving next week, I'm planning to use up the last of our wild cranberries in sauces.  Yum!  And we're almost out of wild blueberries (boo!  we love those), and down to only 2 jars of canned applesauce. 
I also have the problem of using up some frozen breastmilk, since I don't want to stop breastfeeding yet.  Realized yesterday, though, that the musical I'm in the orchestra for started rehearsals and it's right over my daughter's bedtime, so the husband is going to be defrosting milk to give her at bedtime on nights when I'm gone over the next few months.  Perfect!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #162 on: November 17, 2014, 02:36:56 PM »
I totally love reading about everyone's creative solutions :)

Lunch is a bag of frozen mixed Asian veggies ( I make myself) with a splash of coconut milk and a bit of thai curry paste and some leftover chicken.

Dinner will be more chicken and Spinach from the freezer probably made into a Indian style curry and served over Quinoa.

I made some freezer fudge out of cooked quinoa, the leftover cashew pulp from making cashew milk, some chia seeds, cocoa, dates, raisins, coconut oil and other bits from the pantry.

I am also experimenting to make a cashew based pie to take to our friends for dinner tomorrow as we have all recently cut way back on the sugar. We'll see how it goes over :)

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #163 on: November 17, 2014, 09:39:48 PM »
Over the weekend, did a yogurt cake that used up the ends of two yogurt containers and some leftover orange juice. Since I have a cold at the moment, I suspect I will be taking the opportunity to make some smoothies and hopefully make a dent in the frozen fruit situation.

Shropskr

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #164 on: November 17, 2014, 10:55:43 PM »
Typo crab cakes.  But hey the other sounds good too.

Did the crab dip.  Less spicy version.  It is good.  We ate it with Ritz.  Kids had tortilla chips for dinner.  Thanks for the idea.  Will have for leftovers Wednesday. 

Had leftover enchiladas today.  I'm getting pretty good at making and rolling them.  Kids get cheese burritos first night, cheese quesadillas second night.

I was really adventurous yesterday I cooked our uncarved halloween pumpkin.  And made pumpkin spice cupcakes using some almond flour, oat flour, and normal flour.  Yum.  Extra  pumpkin is frozen in chunks for smoothies.   

Also using some expired but not bad almond milk in those smoothies.  Those poor smoothies are so far gone from what they started as.  they  truly have become use it up smoothies.  I even saved 1/2 c of cooked beets to throw into the next batch. 

My kids have smoothies for breakfast at least twice a week.  It's the best/easiest way I've found to get fruits/vegetables into them.  My youngest likes it mostly frozen calls it ice cream.

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #165 on: November 17, 2014, 11:57:34 PM »
A house guest made a meal for us today which included canned peas. I have always served frozen peas (well, cooked from frozen ... you know what I mean!) and the family did not like the canned peas at all!! Now I have a whole glad ware container of them in my fridge. Any suggestions of how I can use them up, well disguised? The house guest is gone, so I could just pitch them, but hate to waste food when its perfectly good.

homehandymum

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #166 on: November 18, 2014, 12:09:17 AM »
If it's the texture they hate (and it is for me!), you could try soup?  Like pea and ham soup.

Primm

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #167 on: November 18, 2014, 04:57:38 AM »
I don't think a shepherd's pie is complete without peas, so you could do something like that. The peas go mushy in the pie anyway, so the icky texture of canned peas (which I HATE, by the way) would be somewhat disguised.

Or, if you're me, you'd just throw them out...

Fodder

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #168 on: November 18, 2014, 07:29:23 AM »
I don't think there is any saving canned peas.  They are cooked beyond the point of being edible.

I had 2/3 of a large cabbage in the fridge yesterday - I took half of it to make coleslaw, and with the other half, I'm trying to make sauerkraut for the first time.

Otherwise, dinner tonight is pulled pork, made from a pork shoulder that's been languishing in my freezer for a year (with the last of a cajun rub I had put together a while ago) and I think I might try my hand at cornbread tonight. 

Also, I made chapati to go with my leftover indian food last night - it wasn't quite as good as the naan, but it was really quick and everyone loved it.

1967mama

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #169 on: November 18, 2014, 01:27:12 PM »
Glad I'm not the only one who finds canned peas disgusting! haha! I think I will just pitch them! Funny thing is, our house guest was raving about canned peas, as in "Oh you guys should try them! You'll love them!" ACK!

savedough

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #170 on: November 19, 2014, 10:07:01 AM »
Our fridge is almost empty as we leave for vacation tomorrow.   The only things left are a couple smoked chicken legs, half an onion, a half gallon of milk, some yogurt the kids will eat for breakfast, one half a purple cabbage, one half a green cabbage and purple carrots (the remainders of our last CSA).   Dinner tonight?  A small batch of chicken and dumplings with carrots, onion and the leftover chicken meat.  The cabbage will likely not get eaten because we are cabbaged out (four heads in two weeks and I'm having asian cabbage salad for lunch today), so I'll either leave it until we get back or chop it up and freeze it for stir fry. 

I took a complete inventory of our freezers and fridge and will do the pantry when we get back.  Since we were leaving for vacation, I focused on the fridge and the fresh/fruit and veggies we had.   We did really well this month.   I spent only $125 for a family of four which included 10 lbs of butter that was on sale for under $2.00/lb, a price point we rarely see in MT and many boxes of cereal for $1.00, another price point we don't see often for the cereal I am ok buying for the kids.

I made some gummies using jello and gelatin we've had forever, muffins and seedy crackers for the trip.   This helped use up a lot of odds and ends in the pantry and freezer (dried dates, brown bananas, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, garbanzo bean flour) and will hopefully keep our airport food costs down.

Thanks for the tips, ideas and inspiration.  I've always been a meal planner, but this has really encouraged me to be more creative in using the odds and ends - like making gummies instead of regular jello!

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #171 on: November 19, 2014, 10:56:10 AM »
Way to go, Savedough!

I unplugged the deep freeze today! Still have quite a bit of stuff to use up thoguh, moving day is next Monday :)

Chranstronaut

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #172 on: November 19, 2014, 11:31:20 AM »
I had to throw out some food from the freezer this weekend :(  I had meat left from my SO before he moved out to his new job.  I tried to give it away to another meat eater, but they backed out.  It's also past the printed expiration date so the food bank won't take it.  I'm bummed.

This leaves me a little bit of frozen veggies and fake meat to get through by the end of the month - should be no problem.  I'm still trying to find homes for any opened spices or baking supplies that I won't use up.  I've got some cans and unopened goods that I should be able to donate or take with me when I move out.

I cooked a bunch of food for a friends-giving last weekend and got rid of all my frozen green beans and frozen berries.  I made Fodder's berry crumble and it was a HUGE hit!  Thanks for the recipe!  The leftovers were excellent too.

I also followed 4alpaca's tip to freeze some of my spinach.  I expected it to get mushy, but it's very still very light and leafy when I checked on it.  I'll probably use it in stir fry or casserole.

Maya

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #173 on: November 20, 2014, 01:06:56 PM »
Doing well this week!

Made some Indian food for lunch as I needed rice for another recipe, so we had dal, curried carrots and rice. So yummy. Will do that again. Must have cost $2 for 4 portions and that's rounding up!

Tonight is stuffed peppers using pork, with tomato sauce over top and roasted acorn squash.

Tomorrow have a potluck lunch so I'm bringing egg salad sandwiches.

My goal this week was to avoid the grocery store till I needed milk. Should make it till Friday so a week with just the veggies from my Costco run last week. Usually I need to do another shop to come up with meal ideas.

Shropskr

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #174 on: November 23, 2014, 12:09:04 AM »
My week turned out to be incredibly busy, but I did great anyway.

On Tues night in less than ten minutes I Fed 4 people. 2 cans chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Then I was back out the door again, sans kids and hubby they had 15 more minutes before they had to leave.

Wednesday leftover crab dip.

Thurs clif bars. Really What's a mom to do. Kids get off the bus at 4:22. And we leave at 5:00 to be back at the school for a function.  Breakfast sausage for a snack when we get home again then bed.

Friday Alfredo sauce with broccoli over noodles nice and cheesy. 

Saturday was the frozen  lasanga from the freezer.

Wow I'm tired just thinking of the past week.   

ashley

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #175 on: November 23, 2014, 12:28:52 PM »
I've only been buying produce for the past few weeks, and my pantry is looking so much more manageable! I love it. There are still a number of things I need to get through, though. Any (vegan) ideas for using up the following?

- Full jar of roasted soy nut butter. The flavor is sort of toasty. Not bad, but not delicious enough that I want to eat it on toast. I'm really at a loss.

- 4 pounds of millet. I don't even like millet, really. I cooked a bunch of it last week with coconut milk and raisins (other pantry items, yay!), and it was edible for breakfast, but not something I'm excited to make again.

- De-germinated white cornmeal. I bought a 5lb bag of this (Martha White brand) at the dollar store several months ago, and it makes the weirdest cornbread. It doesn't behave like the yellow cornmeal I'm used to. The flavor just tastes really off to me. Is this the refined, hull-stripped version of cornmeal? That's what it seems to be, and I don't like it. I've been using little bits of it at a time to sprinkle into bread pans and under pizza dough, but I want it gone faster than that. What is this stuff supposed to be used for?

- Two packages of rice paper. Spring rolls are obvious, but I'd like to do something else with at least some of them. Has anyone ever successfully cut these into strips and cooked them as rice noodles?

homehandymum

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #176 on: November 23, 2014, 01:40:10 PM »
Would the soy nut butter sub for peanut butter in a satay?

And if the cornmeal is what I think it is (white, really finely powdered? Also known as cornstarch?), we use it a lot for sauce thickening - gravies, cheese sauces, that sort of thing.  Maybe have a look at coconut custards? 

Miamoo

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #177 on: November 23, 2014, 04:30:38 PM »
Oops.  Derailed again.  Beautiful broccoli crowns for .39/# (many pounds in the freezer now).  Sweet potatoes .29/#.  20#'s to can.

Just started a list of everything I have between freezer and pantry and all the meals I can make from said stash.

Pre New Years Resolution.  No more groceries.  (Except fresh produce & dairy)  Pretty much all the good sales are over with after the holidays anyway. 

Wish me luck.

Signed,

The-compulsive (?) can't-pass-up-a-bargain-food-hoarder.  (But it will be eaten - guaranteed)

ashley

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #178 on: November 23, 2014, 10:07:56 PM »
Would the soy nut butter sub for peanut butter in a satay?

And if the cornmeal is what I think it is (white, really finely powdered? Also known as cornstarch?), we use it a lot for sauce thickening - gravies, cheese sauces, that sort of thing.  Maybe have a look at coconut custards?
It's not cornstarch. It's somewhere between the texture of coarse cornmeal and flour. There's a picture of cornbread on the bag, so maybe I just need to try again with a different recipe. It didn't work at all in my regular go-to cornbread.

Satay might be good. Thanks for the idea!

GardenFun

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #179 on: November 24, 2014, 07:40:33 AM »
Pre New Years Resolution.  No more groceries.  (Except fresh produce & dairy)  Pretty much all the good sales are over with after the holidays anyway. 

The-compulsive (?) can't-pass-up-a-bargain-food-hoarder.  (But it will be eaten - guaranteed)

Same here.  Turkeys are $0.49/lb but the stores require a $25 extra purchase to get the price.  Have two turkeys so far.  Also couldn't pass on the $1.29 pineapple at Aldi. 

Some of you appear to have a flair for Indian cooking.  Is there a good recipe website/book to recommend? 

Miamoo

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #180 on: November 24, 2014, 08:01:33 AM »
Pre New Years Resolution.  No more groceries.  (Except fresh produce & dairy)  Pretty much all the good sales are over with after the holidays anyway. 

The-compulsive (?) can't-pass-up-a-bargain-food-hoarder.  (But it will be eaten - guaranteed)

Same here.  Turkeys are $0.49/lb but the stores require a $25 extra purchase to get the price.  Have two turkeys so far.  Also couldn't pass on the $1.29 pineapple at Aldi. 

Some of you appear to have a flair for Indian cooking.  Is there a good recipe website/book to recommend?

Butterballs were .89/# at Aldi here a few weeks ago, otherwise same deals here.

I've never tried Indian but you might find something here:  http://thegutsygourmet.net/#world%20recipes

(Really good Armenian & Middle Eastern recipes)

Can't wait for others suggestions!

savedough

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #181 on: December 02, 2014, 08:34:56 AM »
Back from vacation and we came home to a very empty fridge, but full freezers and pantries so I can start to really make a dent in them.
Hoping to use blueberries, greens, sausage, shrimp, tomatoes, chicken thighs, green beans and cilantro out of the freezer this week and pasta, barley, apples, garlic, onions, spaghetti squash, artichoke hearts, chickpeas and tahini from the pantry.  I may also try to get my act together and make dog treats from oatmeal and meat/veggie scraps we save.
Menu:  Cheesy Noodles and Peas (requested by my preschooler for his first day home meal)
Spaghetti Squash with Greens and Sausage
Cheater Paella - it is not authentic, but we like it and I can adapt it to use up so many things
Authentic Falafel with Tahini Sauce and a green salad (The recipe is from my friends mom, written in Arabic, which I don't speak or read, and translated for me). 
Sweet Tea Brined Chicken and Green Beans

I will be buying groceries, because I'm trying to use what we have as the base of meals, not exclusively, and we like to have a mix of fresh produce as well.  I'm setting my budget at $30/week for Dec.

Chranstronaut

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #182 on: December 02, 2014, 11:13:55 AM »
Good job everybody!  Keep it up!

I finished the first part of my challenge -- I moved out!  I was able to eat everything in the freezer except a loaf of sourdough I made a long time ago. Much of the pantry was packed up and brought with me in boxes.  Anything that was unopened was donated to the food bank.  A lot of food in the fridge went to waste, which breaks my heart.  I did an okay job eating through the dairy and produce, but condiments and random items all got tossed.

My second half of the challenge will be to do it all again, by eating everything in my two-box "pantry" that's left over from the old house.  This should be pretty straightforward, as I have access to my roommate's pantry basics as well.  I'll plan to supplement fresh foods at ~$20 a week, but I'll be seeking to avoid waste instead of avoiding cost, so this might be a tough limit to meet.

halftimer

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #183 on: December 03, 2014, 04:10:44 PM »
I have been loving reading the great ideas here for using up food. We have identified the awkward items in our pantry and freezer and now are working through them and NOT replacing. Made some chocolate 'haystack' refrigerator cookies with some cereal crumbs and the last of the homemade crunchy peanut butter that were haunting me, and they turned out great. Used up the spice mixes, condiments, and pantry items that were given to us by family that moved out of country. Those took some research since they do not have the same food buying habits as us at all. I still have half a jar of mincemeat (spiced fruit mix) that I can't seem to finish off - any ideas?   We already made a curried chicken sauce with some of it, but it was not a family favorite.  Maybe a spoonful would add some flavor to hot oatmeal?

homehandymum

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #184 on: December 04, 2014, 12:37:49 AM »
Spiced fruit mix would be a nice addition to a fruit bread or a loaf cake - it would taste like hot cross buns :)

SisterX

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #185 on: December 04, 2014, 12:10:56 PM »
Spiced fruit mix would be a nice addition to a fruit bread or a loaf cake - it would taste like hot cross buns :)

Ah, you've reminded me that it's time again to make Stollen!  (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen)  That will use up my currants and the last of the candied fruit I bought years ago.  :)
My brother has requested that when we go visit for Christmas we bring a moose roast or two, and we'll bring some salmon in the cooler as well.  A treat for the family, and it helps us use up some more of those.
I used up half of the turkey carcass to make a giant pot of turkey noodle soup (and used a few pantry/freezer items in the process), then made a giant pot of chili and cornbread last night.  My husband said, "I think I'm just going to let you take care of dinner for the rest of the week, because you're nailing it.  Soooo good."  :)
Our top freezer is looking pretty barren and the chest freezer is only about half full.  Woo!  I can't wait until we get to the point where we can move everything from the chest freezer into the top freezer and UNPLUG.  That's going to be a glorious day.

Shropskr

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #186 on: December 04, 2014, 10:31:24 PM »
Ok back to it.

Made more pb clif bars and brownie clif bars.  I'm about halfway through that faint 7lb bag of steel cut oats.  Yea.  And oh the money I'm saving on clif bars oh my......   I think I'm going to add this to my permanent cooking/mixing repertoire.

Made chicken white bean chili with some of our great northern beans.  Eh not great leftovers will be eatable but nothing great.

Bought some sausage. It was cheaper than hamburger to make red chili with next week.

I figured that at least for December my plan is.
1 day Brinner,
1 day soup,
1 day beans,
1 day fish,
1 day fun as per husbands decree
Last day will be leftovers or noodles

Well that's the plan anyway.  Not my ideal food but it's what I've got and it definitely needs eaten.

Oh and one more thing we finally finished all of the peanut butter mixed with the almond butter. Yea so no more apb and j here.  Sooo what did I do.  I go and take a brand new jar of peanut butter and the sunflower butter that nobody eats and mix them together. That's right now we have spb and j.  I feel like a chemist.  But now there eating it.   What's next the tahini? Tpb and j? :)

GardenFun

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #187 on: December 05, 2014, 07:39:39 AM »
Bought some sausage. It was cheaper than hamburger to make red chili with next week.

Did similar substitution this week.  Used a pork roast in place of beef for pot roast.  DH actually liked it better, plus it was noticeably less expensive.  It's pretty common in my extended family to economically substitute pork for beef, without sacrificing flavor.

Cold weather is allowing us to use up the various loose packets of cocoa and hot apple cider.  DH is also making a good dent in the homemade salsa.   

savedough

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #188 on: December 05, 2014, 12:58:40 PM »
Well, the Paella was a no-go.   I have a recipe using barley that is really good, so I figured I'd use up our wheat berries.  They take significantly more water so when I got home the crockpot  and wheat berries were dry toasted.  They taste awesome, but wont work in paella, so we are using them as salad toppers.  My baby calls them "crunchies" and eats them as a snack.   Not wasted, but not on the meal plan either.

We had to eat eggs, sausage, toast and apples for dinner.   So I didn't get to use up my frozen tomatoes, artichokes or red peppers.   However, I can make it this weekend, so not all is lost.  I'll just push everything back a day and have to add eggs to the grocery list sooner than anticipated.

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #189 on: December 05, 2014, 02:29:19 PM »
So when I first posted in this thread around the end of October I had no intention of moving, I just wanted to reduce waste and clear some space in the kitchen.

WELL. It seems I have tempted fate because my boyfriend and I have bought a house together and will be moving in in late February. That means all freezer items need to be gone by then, and we'll be combining two households worth of dry goods and spices so the bigger dent we can make in those beforehand the better. The apricot tree, peach tree, fig tree and veggie patch should also be delivering a generous haul over the next few months that I don't want to waste. Hopefully our families can help us out with those.

Some frozen pasta sauce and and ends of spaghetti met their match last night, along with some left over bits in the fridge. I have pulled out some duck breasts for tonight, which I'll serve with some asparagus and beetroot from the fridge, and a bag of overripe banana chunks which will become banana bread.

Next on the radar are: duck stock, frozen egg whites, rice paper roll wrappers, polenta, burghal, soba noodles, a whole frozen duck, frozen celery, the last packet of frozen vegetables, a few frozen sausages and a frozen chorizo.

Most of these things are super delicious so it will be a fun challenge :)

halftimer

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #190 on: December 05, 2014, 05:54:37 PM »
Spiced fruit mix would be a nice addition to a fruit bread or a loaf cake - it would taste like hot cross buns :)

Thanks Homehandymum  I'll have to try that with this languishing mincemeat in the fridge

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #191 on: December 08, 2014, 04:15:49 AM »
The chorizo bit the dust today, along with the end of the pappardelle. Making a dent in the red pepper paste and bulgar, and have a few ideas for the polenta.

I actually wrote up a bit of a meal plan this morning, which is very unlike me, to make sure I get those few ingredients I need to make what I already have 'make sense'.

RunningWithScissors

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #192 on: December 08, 2014, 10:18:58 AM »
Loving this thread.  Hubby and I are doing the challenge, only because we bought duplicates of numerous items one day when we shopped without a list and it made us realize how much stuff we have squirreled away in cupboards and freezers.  I typically have a full freezer in the fall as I keep my garden harvest there.  Turned my tomatoes into 73 jars of salsa a couple of weeks ago, which emptied out nearly a quarter of our upright freezer. 

We've been buying mostly eggs, milk, bread and a few fresh veggies and using up all the starchy staples (beans, lentils, rice, oatmeal, pasta) and meat.  I have to review the receipts for the last month, but it's had an impact on our food costs - probably cut them by half.  With FI on the horizon, we're more and more motivated to see how low we can drop our costs.

My crockpot is certainly getting a workout.  We freeze the carcasses of roast chicken, and bones from the bulk packages of thighs (learned how to de-bone in my first job in a butcher shop!) and throw them all in with veggie trimmings/peels and spices.  Typically, I'd think nothing of throwing this stuff out, but it makes a wonderfully flavorful stock.  The results are turned into hearty soups with orzo/rice/barley and the leftover bits of meat or just broth.  The last batch of broth allowed me to repurpose the leftover meat bits, with frozen mixed veggies and leftover gravy into several chicken pot pies.  As we were eating them, we agreed that this nearly 'free' meal was one of our favorites.  Egg frittatas are also one of our 'go-to' meals with equal measures egg and veggie/meat bits, and spicy curry over rice.

I don't think we'll ever completely clear out the pantry since there's always a stash of seasonal baking ingredients.  As long as I don't have to discard usable staples, I'm happy.

GardenFun

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #193 on: December 08, 2014, 01:23:50 PM »
I don't think we'll ever completely clear out the pantry since there's always a stash of seasonal baking ingredients.  As long as I don't have to discard usable staples, I'm happy.

Same here.  It's more about using all the one-time purchase items that are taking up valuable pantry and freezer space.  I found a bag of beer bread mix in a box that was shoved on the top shelf.  Beer Bread with Garlic Dip for the holidays plus more useful pantry space?  Score!

Another benefit of this thread is the really unique food ideas.  Growing up in the rural part of the Midwest, most dinners revolve around meat and potatoes.  So hearing people make all these awesome different types of food has given me the courage to attempt a vegetable curry tonight - use up some lentils.  Of course, I have ham sandwiches on stand-by for DH because there is no knowing how he is going to react.  ;-) 

tomita

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #194 on: December 09, 2014, 07:55:58 PM »

Bones from the hens are in the crock-pot for some bone stock. Pulled a chicken from the freezer for some sort of dish later in the week. Probably a cornbread topped pot pie using some of the cornmeal we have stashed away.

can you share the recipe for cornbread topped pot pie ? My family loves pot pies

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #195 on: December 10, 2014, 03:00:18 AM »
I used up some of the soba noodles today in a spicy miso broth with prawns and vegetables. It was awesome. As others have said above, I have not been suffering by the challenge to eat up all these tasty but somewhat unusual ingredients that get ignored day to day.

I also made a small thai red curry using the rest of the prawns and veggies, and adding the last packet of those blah frozen vegetables. Hurrah! They are out of my life. Curry is going straight back in the freezer and will get used up over the next few weeks for work lunches.

The move has got me thinking strategically about not acquiring more than I need. I was out of self raising flour and about to buy more when I noticed the boyfriend already had 2 bags. One of those is now living at my place, which will save us trying to find space to store 3 bags when we combine pantries. I also stopped myself replacing a few cleaning products today, which I can make do with Jif and disinfectant for the next little while.

After the next few days of Christmas parties and events is over I'm hoping to make inroads with the duck stock (+ more soba?) and the polenta.

GardenFun

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #196 on: December 10, 2014, 08:18:54 AM »
I successfully made curry!  Originally was going to be veggie curry but I cheated and put some chicken in it and used chicken stock.  The visual chicken enabled DH to eat it without complaining.  Bag 1 of lentils is gone.  Bonus was that the curry tasted even better the next day - similar to how stew seems to taste better after sitting for a while.

On to researching what to do with rice noodles....

Shropskr

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #197 on: December 10, 2014, 01:00:32 PM »
Beans in the crockpot for black bean chili.  My hope is with black beans instead of kidney my husband won't hate it so bad.  We will see.

Saw the neurologist Monday for my migraines.   He said I need to lose weight, stop caffeine, no gluten, and no dairy.  So extra kinks are being added in.  Guess the kids really want noodles in their lunches.
I put all the gluten stuff left in one overflowing Costco Huggies box, except the flour and stuff in fridge/freezer.

Dec 31 is husbands last day at work, two week break then he starts looking for work in the new city. So things could start moving fast or not.

swick

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #198 on: December 10, 2014, 01:30:56 PM »
I successfully made curry!  Originally was going to be veggie curry but I cheated and put some chicken in it and used chicken stock.  The visual chicken enabled DH to eat it without complaining.  Bag 1 of lentils is gone.  Bonus was that the curry tasted even better the next day - similar to how stew seems to taste better after sitting for a while.

On to researching what to do with rice noodles....

Way to go, GardenFun! 

Beans in the crockpot for black bean chili.  My hope is with black beans instead of kidney my husband won't hate it so bad.  We will see.

Saw the neurologist Monday for my migraines.   He said I need to lose weight, stop caffeine, no gluten, and no dairy.  So extra kinks are being added in.


I don't know if it would help you at all, but I use to get really severe migraines and the single biggest thing that helped was cutting out sugar. You naturally eat less gluten, lose weight (by making no other changes at all, I have lost 14 lbs so far since mid october) and eat far less of the chemicals/preservatives/colorants that can trigger migraines.


SisterX

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #199 on: December 11, 2014, 10:31:42 AM »
Over the summer I made quite a large batch of gingered rhubarb marmelade.  I halved the sugar and didn't up the pectin enough so it came out sorta runny and then I never found/made the time to re-do it with more pectin.  I was wondering what to do with it all and have finally figured out that it's the perfect way to spice/sweeten up my oatmeal in the mornings.  Score!  The slightly runny consistency just means that it's easier to stir into the oatmeal.
Also, we ran out of maple syrup and I've challenged myself not to buy any more until after we move.  It's hard, I love maple syrup.  However, the marmelade also goes really well on the pancakes I like to make (zucchini pancakes-- http://www.diaryofalocavore.com/2008/08/zucchini-pancakes.html-- and barley pancakes) and the pumpkin waffles I make are plenty delicious with just butter.  Yay!
« Last Edit: December 14, 2014, 12:48:27 AM by SisterX »

 

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