Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1183552 times)

swick

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1550 on: March 17, 2017, 01:08:29 PM »
The other half is away for a week so I'm working on completely clearing out the kitchen while he's gone before I buy any groceries. Day 1 (yesterday) was $0 and I've finished: salami, provolone, and some wilted green onions. I'm working on the bread, eggs, and produce first. Then I have some canned soup and a few things in the freezer that I can go through.

Inventory:
fridge: eggs, bread, salami, provolone cheese, green onions, tomatoes, onions, avocadoes, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, broccoli, purple cabbage, green cabbage, mushrooms, bell peppers, kiwis, apples, cucumber, pickled beets, pickles, dates
freezer: kale, spinach, mango, cherries, bananas, chili, chicken nuggets and fries (yay!), ground beef, tomato sauce

Day 2 - $0

Used up a few more things yesterday and am on track to spend $0 today. The weekend should be fairly easy. I'm planning on making a tomato sauce with most of the leftover vegetables tomorrow.

Good job! So my brain totally missed the comma and a space, and I was excited to ask you what pickled dates were :) I'm intrigued.

recklesslysober

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 489
  • Age: 36
  • Location: BC, Canada
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1551 on: March 17, 2017, 01:17:10 PM »
The other half is away for a week so I'm working on completely clearing out the kitchen while he's gone before I buy any groceries. Day 1 (yesterday) was $0 and I've finished: salami, provolone, and some wilted green onions. I'm working on the bread, eggs, and produce first. Then I have some canned soup and a few things in the freezer that I can go through.

Inventory:
fridge: eggs, bread, salami, provolone cheese, green onions, tomatoes, onions, avocadoes, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, broccoli, purple cabbage, green cabbage, mushrooms, bell peppers, kiwis, apples, cucumber, pickled beets, pickles, dates
freezer: kale, spinach, mango, cherries, bananas, chili, chicken nuggets and fries (yay!), ground beef, tomato sauce

Day 2 - $0

Used up a few more things yesterday and am on track to spend $0 today. The weekend should be fairly easy. I'm planning on making a tomato sauce with most of the leftover vegetables tomorrow.

Good job! So my brain totally missed the comma and a space, and I was excited to ask you what pickled dates were :) I'm intrigued.

Yum! I'm sure someone out there somewhere has tried it. :)

lentil

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 133
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1552 on: March 17, 2017, 04:52:43 PM »
This thread is so great.

I've been pondering the Great Grocery Bill Mystery lately -- why, after carefully trimming so many of our expenses and changing many of our worst shopping habits, do our grocery bills seem to still be coming in so high? So, along with itemizing receipts from last month to better understand our spending, I'm spending a couple of weeks eating ALL the food in the house (or at least all the weird stuff that's accumulated in odd corners of the pantry/freezer).

Dinner tonight is starting off easy: fritatta (potatoes, onion, pepper, frozen corn, eggs). It'll become breakfasts for the weekend too.

seemsright

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 490
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1553 on: March 17, 2017, 05:08:25 PM »
Making corn chowder tonight using summer corn from the freezer. I just enough corn for next week for making black beans and corn salsa.

I still have a crazy amount of tomatoes to use up in the next month or so. I may cook some down for pasta sauce for this week.

plainjane

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1645
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1554 on: March 17, 2017, 06:42:18 PM »
Tonight we had shashuka - roasted tomato, roasted peppers & roasted cauliflower puree from the freezer, and the second last bacon end.  Plus some eggs, manchego cheese, and spices.

That used up three small ziplocks of vegetables which I roasted and froze in the fall when veggies were cheap and the whole meal really simple to prepare.  Win-win.

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1555 on: March 17, 2017, 07:22:00 PM »
Made sort of an Italian rice casserole tonight:  1/2 package spicy Italian sausage, salvaged onion that was starting to spoil, a cube of garlic from the freezer, a jar of tomatoes and half jar of beef stock from the canning stores, plus some of the rice I bought on clearance last fall, and a good bit of Romano cheese brought home from DC.  I want my rice gone because I'm now obsessed with the basmati rice from Trader Joe's and want all the Calrose rice gone so I can get basmati instead.

PJ

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1427
  • Age: 53
  • Location: Toronto, Canada
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1556 on: March 17, 2017, 10:48:22 PM »
Wow ... busy thread today!

swick, congrats on getting so far with the buckwheat flour.  I'm not the biggest fan, so when I've bought it I've had to mix very small amounts with other flour for baking.  I can't imagine how long it would take me to use up 25 lbs!

Linda_Norway, like plainjane, I will usually go well past an expiry date.  But I also would be likely to have second thoughts about 10 year old beans!  And plainjane, at least you guys both obviously like things made with curry paste!

PMG, hilarious about the defrosted chili/chocolate milk!  I do hope you weren't totally counting on that chili for an emergency meal when you defrosted it, and that you had enough time left to make something else.

lentil, I just posted for Linda_Norway in another thread, a possible explanation for the Great Grocery Bill Mystery.  If you've been working hard to eliminate other spending, such as eating out, you may well see your grocery bill hold steady, or even rise, as you are providing for even more meals in that area of your budget.  Just one possible explanation...

I'm kind of scared to admit this to the "Food Safety Comes First" folks around here, but on Wednesday, I took a container of homemade mac and cheese from the freezer to work with me.  It spent a good chunk of the day in my car, in the freezing cold parking lot of the hospital.  Then, I was running late for my evening meeting, and I knew I wasn't going to have time to heat it up and eat it, so I grabbed a bagel to eat in the car.  I took the container into the church though, and ended up forgetting it, sitting in the bag in my office.  I wasn't back to the church until Thursday evening, so I brought it home with me late last night.  And heated it up really well, and went ahead and ate it.  It was really good mac and cheese!  I didn't want to waste it.  And my office isn't that warm, so I figured that it would have taken quite a while to finish thawing.  But I'm sure it did break all kinds of food safety rules - it was out at room temperature for 24 hours or so.  :-/ 

Anyway, no ill effects today, so I seem to have dodged a bullet.  I promise I won't make a habit of it though!

Today, I had Weetabix with a little oatmeal for breakfast (almost finished one box - one more box to go!)  Then I didn't eat, other than a snack and coffee, for hours and hours.  I was starving when I got home, and only barely resisted Pizza Pizza on the way.  So I made a pita break pizza in the toaster oven, with the last of my jar of salsa, sliced tomato, green onions, red pepper, and mozzarella cheese from the freezer, and a little of the pre-grated cheese mixture from the freezer for a little more flavour.  Topped with some crumbled up frozen basil.  It was ... oh, I can't describe it.  It was so good.  Had a little glass of port after dinner. 

But I was still hungry.  I waited a couple of hours after eating it, then had some water.  Still hungry.  Made myself some popcorn, using plain kernels and a paper bag in the microwave, with a tiny little bit of melted margarine and salt.  And another little glass of port.  Am working on the popcorn and the port as I type.  I'm feeling very happy and relaxed...

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1557 on: March 18, 2017, 09:14:31 AM »
I'm kind of scared to admit this to the "Food Safety Comes First" folks around here, but on Wednesday, I took a container of homemade mac and cheese from the freezer to work with me.  It spent a good chunk of the day in my car, in the freezing cold parking lot of the hospital.  Then, I was running late for my evening meeting, and I knew I wasn't going to have time to heat it up and eat it, so I grabbed a bagel to eat in the car.  I took the container into the church though, and ended up forgetting it, sitting in the bag in my office.  I wasn't back to the church until Thursday evening, so I brought it home with me late last night.  And heated it up really well, and went ahead and ate it.  It was really good mac and cheese!  I didn't want to waste it.  And my office isn't that warm, so I figured that it would have taken quite a while to finish thawing.  But I'm sure it did break all kinds of food safety rules - it was out at room temperature for 24 hours or so.  :-/ 

Hmm, I probably would have eaten it too, but just made sure to heat it up really well first to kill anything that might have been brewing.  Glad you're feeling well today. :)

This weekend I'm doing the sous vide egg thing again to use up some ham I froze around the holidays, and some bell peppers I bought too many of last week because they were crazy cheap. A couple of my hens have started laying again, so eggs are definitely on the menu. That should handle lunch for the whole week. Breakfast will be smoothies with frozen fruit and protein powder. I've got a container of frozen red chile I brought home from New Mexico last year, so that is going to turn into chile colorado with a couple packages of beef from the freezer.  Beans are soaking to make another nice pot of beans (emptied the canister of cranberry beans!).  Adding in some salads, meals should be handled for the week almost entirely from storage.

Went into Mint and reduced the grocery budget for the month by $100, and don't think it will even be a problem.

@lentil - I agree with PJ - if you're in the process of cutting down on going out to eat, it might help to look at the net reduction on food for now, and not worry to much as long as the overall trend is downward.  OTOH, it can be easy to "reward" yourself at the grocery store by buying high-end/prepared foods because you're eschewing restaurants.  Also, it can be a process to drive costs down.  For instance, if you get into making your own condiments, which tend to have a long shelf life, that can drive your grocery costs down over time as you develop an inventory of condiments and stop buying them.  Making condiments sounds complicated at first, but IMO, it's simplified my life because I don't have half-empty containers of stuff I don't like (because I make it to our exact tastes), and grocery shopping is limited to having basic ingredients bought in bulk.  No futzing around in the middle of the store looking at the 15' shelf of BBQ sauce trying to find a kind you like for the best price.

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1558 on: March 18, 2017, 02:34:44 PM »
About eating leftover portions in room temperature, I have some bad experience with rice. We always used to freeze in leftover portions of rice with veggies and later warm it up in the microwave to eat it directly. One day, I took a such a leftover portion out of the freezer and into the fridge. There it was for 3 days. The I heated it well and ate it. I became very sick in my bowels. I looked it up on the internet and read that cooked rice and also cooked pasta at room temperature can grow bacteria that are resistant to heat. These bacteria, also known as China restaurant syndrome, either make you spew or cause diarea. If they get the chance to develop, there is nothing you can do to kill them bybheating the food.
Therefore: keeping cooked rice or pasta at room temperature for a long time: don't do it.

geekette

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2550
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1559 on: March 18, 2017, 02:49:35 PM »
I got sucked in to Costco's samples and ended up with some potato and spinach Pierogi and don't know how they're served!  Side dish? Main dish?  Served with what?  Any ideas?

4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1560 on: March 18, 2017, 03:20:05 PM »
I got sucked in to Costco's samples and ended up with some potato and spinach Pierogi and don't know how they're served!  Side dish? Main dish?  Served with what?  Any ideas?
I like to eat them with caramelized onions.  YUM!

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1561 on: March 18, 2017, 04:28:09 PM »
Currently making cheese cookies from leftover chunk of old cheese. And making foccacia from ingredients we have in the house.

PJ

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1427
  • Age: 53
  • Location: Toronto, Canada
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1562 on: March 18, 2017, 11:37:43 PM »
About eating leftover portions in room temperature, I have some bad experience with rice. We always used to freeze in leftover portions of rice with veggies and later warm it up in the microwave to eat it directly. One day, I took a such a leftover portion out of the freezer and into the fridge. There it was for 3 days. The I heated it well and ate it. I became very sick in my bowels. I looked it up on the internet and read that cooked rice and also cooked pasta at room temperature can grow bacteria that are resistant to heat. These bacteria, also known as China restaurant syndrome, either make you spew or cause diarea. If they get the chance to develop, there is nothing you can do to kill them bybheating the food.
Therefore: keeping cooked rice or pasta at room temperature for a long time: don't do it. 

Who was it that previously posted about food poisoning from rice?  And said it was really dire.

Yes, I agree, I probably shouldn't have eaten it.  But I do seem to have escaped unscathed, thank goodness!

I got sucked in to Costco's samples and ended up with some potato and spinach Pierogi and don't know how they're served!  Side dish? Main dish?  Served with what?  Any ideas? 

I'm a bit of a lazy cook, so I'm not much for making main dishes plus side dishes.  If I can turn something into a main dish, I will.  I also like pierogi with caramelized onions, like 4alpacas said.  I also like to lightly boil the pierogi, and then pan fry them with the onion.  I have a preference for food that is well browned, so though I will eat them only boiled, I much prefer them pan fried.  You can also toss other veggies in with them, I suppose - greens, or something like asparagus might be nice.  Peppers?  Zucchini?  Anyway, I also really like them with sour cream (or plain yoghurt, in a pinch) on the side for dipping, or just globbed on top of a plateful of the pierogi.  Those pierogi are a weakness for me when I go to Costco with my old neighbour...

Updates from PJ's Pantry: Did I mention I cooked one of the packages of microwave in a bag rice and grains earlier this week?  It was pretty good.  That was the last of the really long expired packages of convenience rice in the pantry.  (I'd started the challenge with two packages, both expired last spring.  Now I just have 14 packages of convenience/flavoured/quick cook rice and rice/grains left to go.  Some of which have not expired, but I think about half a dozen of them just expired in January.  Ugh.  Anyway, I had the last of that rice for a late dinner tonight, heated up in the microwave with some green onion, and a couple of eggs mixed in for some protein.

Also, I do seem to have had a little stash of dessert stuff in the freezer.  I already ate my apple pie a couple weeks ago, yesterday I pulled out a cherry cake.  Small loaf, but I had a couple of pieces last night, and a couple of pieces for dessert tonight, and it's half gone already.  Oops.  Better slow down a little on that.

In other news, I went out for the day and took snacks with me for the road.  Couple pieces of cheese, a granola bar, an applesauce cup, and a bottle of water.  Along with the free samples at the Home Show (free tickets given to me by a Real Estate agent friend) that was enough to stop me from buying any food "out" today, and tide me over until I got home.  Yay, for Uber Frugal wins!

SquashingDebt

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 441
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1563 on: March 19, 2017, 06:25:52 AM »
I'm having a mini challenge this week since a week from today I'm heading out of town for 14 days.  On Thursday I did a fridge inventory for things that needed to get eaten before I left.  There wasn't much, but I still only bought milk and egg noodles at the grocery store yesterday.

The plan for the week is to start by making turkey noodle soup today with turkey, broth, onions, and celery from the freezer, carrots from the fridge, and the egg noodles I just bought. That'll provide me with dinners for the week, and then for lunches I'm going to focus on eating all my random single-serving leftovers in the freezer.  Breakfast smoothies will use up my bananas, milk, and yogurt, and then I should be set to head out on my trip without wasting any food or even spending much money this week!

lentil

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 133
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1564 on: March 19, 2017, 06:59:19 AM »
Thanks PJ and Horsepoor! Cutting down on restaurant spending is definitely playing a role in driving up some of our grocery costs. And this is definitely a factor!:
Quote
OTOH, it can be easy to "reward" yourself at the grocery store by buying high-end/prepared foods because you're eschewing restaurants.
Still trying to find the right balance, and I appreciate the input!

Made a tasty lentil soup last night, and am going to dig through the pantry shelves to try to get more creative for tonight's meal. I'll have the house to myself for a couple of days this week too -- perfect opportunity to eat up some random odds & ends!

4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1565 on: March 19, 2017, 05:39:58 PM »
I finished off:
1 can of black beans,
1 small bag of rice (still so much rice left!),
2 chicken breasts from the freezer*, and
1 block of cheddar cheese.

I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things last night.  $15 spent.  I think we should be able to hold out until next weekend. 


*I think I finally finished all of the chicken from the freezer.  I keep finding more!

plainjane

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1645
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1566 on: March 19, 2017, 07:53:29 PM »
I finished the caramel sauce that I'd been using in my tea.  But do not fear.  I have a dulce de leche sauce that I bought at the same time which I trust will also do well (0.99 expired Feb 2016).

Tonight's dinner was a peanut butter/sweet chili sauce/hummus dressing with chicken & roasted broccoli.  Finished the container of rice vinegar but I still have a couple more meals before the sweet chili sauce will be done.

Did I mention that we also did tuna cakes and put the sweet chili sauce on top this weekend?  Really yummy and moved us closer to finishing the matzoh meal.

DTaggart

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 264
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1567 on: March 19, 2017, 08:00:54 PM »
OK I've been slacking a bit over the past couple of weeks and not making as much progress as I'd like. Just busy, and tired, and screw you Daylight Savings Time, I can't figure out what time it is :)

But I did finally finish off the last box of black/green tea a couple of weeks ago, which makes me happy. I still have a LOT of plain black tea to get through, but I really don't like it hot, so will probably wait until the weather gets a tad warmer and start making some iced tea. With free lemons from the neighbors tree!

I'm trying to get back with the program, so today I made crockpot chicken and dumplings, which used 1 ancient can of cream of celery soup and 1 can of cream of chicken soup, and some baking mix for the dumplings. It was really pretty good, although I felt the dumplings tasted a bit off (the baking mix is very old...). I know it won't kill us but I decided to toss the mix anyway, there's no sense in making otherwise good food taste funky, and there was only probably about 1/4 of the box left.

And more smoothies are coming my way this week!

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1568 on: March 19, 2017, 09:16:03 PM »
Instead of buying salad and French bread today, made cornbread and coleslaw with ingredients on hand.  Finished off the cranberry beans, a jar of tomato sauce and more of the pork belly.  Progress!
« Last Edit: March 20, 2017, 07:19:58 AM by horsepoor »

Linea_Norway

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8569
  • Location: Norway
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1569 on: March 20, 2017, 02:15:31 AM »
The meat drawer in the freezer has become a lot emptier. We still have some portions of minced meat and pork cuts, but those are good to have for a quick meal if nothing else was taken out of the freezer.
In a few weeks the fishing season starts for sea trout fishing. In worst case we'll catch cod. At least now we have room to store fish in the freezer.

swick

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1570 on: March 20, 2017, 09:18:12 AM »
Lots of weekend progress made by everyone!

I took a pack of bacon and my last chicken out of the freezer to thaw for dinner at some point this week.

Seeing the bottom of my freezer was short lived :) There was a really good sale on frozen veggies and we have been pretty depressed by the selection and price! of fresh veg at the store lately.

I made some granola and emptied a few stray bags of nuts and seeds. Also used up an ancient package of date pieces in it.

I found some Semolina and other wheaty flours in the very bottom of my freezer. I'm going to be passing them on to family as I can't have it anymore.

I discovered (after going to the store, boo!) that I am out of frozen spinach. I like to keep the blocks of frozen chopped spinach on hand to add a little extra good stuff to curries and such.

Used up some curry paste, frozen ground beef and coconut milk and made a Thai curry over roasted sweet potatoes and squash for hubby to have for lunches.

Chicken bones are in the crockpot for bone broth.

I'm not making as much progress on Tea as I would like. I have a herbal sleep tea blend that we have been remembering to make in the evenings, but I still have a ton of bulk black and green tea that I always seem to forget about when I am making myself more coffee.

4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1571 on: March 20, 2017, 09:43:48 AM »
*I think I finally finished all of the chicken from the freezer. 
I found more chicken in the freezer.  I'll probably defrost it tonight for dinner tomorrow. 

Does anyone have a good recipe for pumpkin muffins?  I have a can of pumpkin, and I don't really know what to do with it. 

PMG

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1599
  • Location: USA
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1572 on: March 20, 2017, 09:54:31 AM »
4alpacas, pumpkin muffins are a staple in my house.  Here is my recipe as I sent it to my mother with wayyy too many words for someone who already knows how to bake.

----
I've not sent this because I didn't know which version to send, or how to write it up without overwhelming you.  I think I've broken it down pretty simply, read my notes and then you can decide.  Just trust me, delicious.

Pumpkin Muffins
 
Original Recipe:
 
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
1 ½ c oil
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
 
Optional: add raisin, chocolate chips, nuts, top with cinnamon and sugar
 
In a large bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until smooth.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.
 
Fill muffin tins ¾ full.  Makes 24, regular cupcake sized muffins, not huge bakery muffins.
 
Bake at 350* for 16 to 20 minutes.
 
Now…. The  healthier version:
 
4 eggs – I use ground flax seed.  1 tbsp of flax seed and 3 tbsp of water = 1 egg.  So, a total of 4 tbsp of flax seeds and 12 tbsp of water (12 tbsp = ¾ cup).  Put it in the blender for about 45 seconds.  I use heaping tablespoons, just cuz the flax seed is really good for you and adds good flavor to the muffins.  Don’t be fooled by whole flax seed in things, your body can’t digest it as well and usually just passes it.  The ground is where you actually get the nutrients.  I buy whole (bulk section at Stauffers) and grind it in my coffee grinder.
 
2 cups sugar – I often use a combination of sweeteners, part honey, measured cup for cup, part sugar, and I under measure, closer to 1 ½ to 1 ¾ cup sweetener.  Wish I could use all honey, too expensive.
 
1 16 oz can of pumpkin is 1 16 oz can of pumpkin.  Or about 2 cups of home cooked pumpkin, juices drained.
 
1 ½ cup oil – I use an equal amount of yogurt.  Most people use plain yogurt to bake, but I always have vanilla yogurt in the fridge, so that’s what I use, the flavor only adds to this.
 
3 cups flour – I use whole wheat flour.
 
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
 
 
The original recipe has a lighter, cake like texture, my version is a bit denser and more muffin-y.
 
The best thing about all of this is that you can take any 1 or 2 of my adjustments and insert them into the original.
 
I always make half a recipe and freeze half the can of pumpkin for a week or two until I make them again.



lentil

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 133
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1573 on: March 20, 2017, 10:06:45 AM »
I ate the last serving of gross risotto* from the freezer this morning. That's the last of the unpalatable leftovers (for now!), so all the remaining frozen leftovers are things I really don't need to worry about clearing out. Progress!


*Gross risotto is a dish I made a month or two ago, which turned out terrible, yet not completely inedible. Drenched in hot sauce & cheese, it's really almost tolerable, but I'm so glad it's gooooooone!

Epor

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 242
  • One day at the time
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1574 on: March 20, 2017, 10:26:08 AM »

Lentil: Yep - leftovers are a struggle at my house too. I'm the only one that eats them. So now I make much smaller portions, if husband/kids are still hungry, they can eat some bread and butter. Actually, I'm not even hungry and I can eat bread and butter right now - I love it.

Progress this weekend: Made some of my sushi rice (using rice cooker) - still over a pound to go. I'm planning to eat that at least once a week until is gone. Also used some frozen ground beef for a sloppy joe. (Still have 3 other cans in the pantry).

Freezer: I have a whole ham that I want to get out... not sure how long I need to keep it in the fridge to defrost. Maybe a couple days, so I have to remember to get it out by Friday evening.




4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1575 on: March 20, 2017, 11:37:25 AM »
Here is my recipe as I sent it to my mother with wayyy too many words for someone who already knows how to bake.
Thank you!  I need all of the extra details because I am not a great baker/cook. 

gross risotto*
I've given myself permission to toss leftovers if I didn't like the recipe the first time.  It is wasteful, but I was filling my freezer with stuff I didn't want to eat.  :|

Tonight, I'm going to make chicken fried rice with a bunch of stuff that I have in the fridge.  It's definitely not healthy, but my DH loves it.  My DH has fallen into getting delivery (2x last week!), so I need to be more vigilant about making stuff he wants to eat.*

*My DH is not a mustachian.  Instead of converting him, I just make the less expensive choice the tastier, more fun, etc. option.  So far, we've cut our food expenses (grocery and dining out) by ~$1000/month.  We have a lot of fat in our budget, but my DH has no desire to retire.  Luckily, my DH is overworked and tired, so easy options are the most straightforward way to get him to stop spending money.

lentil

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 133
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1576 on: March 20, 2017, 05:52:13 PM »
Quote
I've given myself permission to toss leftovers if I didn't like the recipe the first time.  It is wasteful, but I was filling my freezer with stuff I didn't want to eat.  :|

I agonize too much over wasting food, I know. But hot sauce is a real saver ;-)

Found a big bag of mung beans in the pantry (a friend gave them to me, and I've never cooked with them before), so I am making mung bean coconut curry (http://themuffinmyth.com/2015/01/22/mung-bean-and-coconut-curry/), adapted just slightly so I wouldn't need to do any shopping. It smells so good it's making it impossible to get anything done tonight...I just keep staring longingly at the kitchen. Hope it tastes half this good!

recklesslysober

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 489
  • Age: 36
  • Location: BC, Canada
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1577 on: March 20, 2017, 05:59:07 PM »
The other half is away for a week so I'm working on completely clearing out the kitchen while he's gone before I buy any groceries. Day 1 (yesterday) was $0 and I've finished: salami, provolone, and some wilted green onions. I'm working on the bread, eggs, and produce first. Then I have some canned soup and a few things in the freezer that I can go through.

Inventory:
fridge: eggs, bread, salami, provolone cheese, green onions, tomatoes, onions, avocadoes, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, broccoli, purple cabbage, green cabbage, mushrooms, bell peppers, kiwis, apples, cucumber, pickled beets, pickles, dates
freezer: kale, spinach, mango, cherries, bananas, chili, chicken nuggets and fries (yay!), ground beef, tomato sauce

I used up almost everything, but I went shopping yesterday for fresh produce for this week instead of waiting until Tuesday. 5/6 $0 days. Partial success. :)

4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1578 on: March 20, 2017, 06:01:39 PM »
Quote
I've given myself permission to toss leftovers if I didn't like the recipe the first time.  It is wasteful, but I was filling my freezer with stuff I didn't want to eat.  :|

I agonize too much over wasting food, I know. But hot sauce is a real saver ;-)
Haha!  Some of my dishes cannot be saved by Sriracha alone ;)

Anje

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 200
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1579 on: March 21, 2017, 02:47:56 AM »
This week: eating from my freezer stash.
I made minestrone soup on a hen from the freezer this weekend. Still got enough stock and meat for another soup - I'm thinking maybe tom kha gai.
Last night I made breaded fish from the free fish (yay for free food), and later this week I'm going to make those very good thai fish cakes again.

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1580 on: March 21, 2017, 07:29:50 AM »
Chile Colorado using three packages of stew beef, last container of red chile from New Mexico, some concentrated beef stock cubes and garlic cubes from the freezer, and two aging onions went in the Instant Pot this morning.  Tonight I'll make Mexican rice to go with it, using up a jar of salsa that came out more like spicy tomato sauce. 

Just went in to Mint and ratcheted the grocery budget down to $250 (it's usually $400++), leaving $63 through the 29th (leaving on a trip the morning of the 30th).

swick

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1581 on: March 21, 2017, 02:19:34 PM »
Well drat, I discovered another cache of tea I didn't know I had.  Okay, my new rule is one cup of coffee a day and then I have to switch to tea.

Dinner tonight is Turkish red lentil soup using up some bone broth, red lentils, preserved lemons and spices and some roasted Brussels using up some bacon and fancy balsamic vinegar. I'll also throw in some onion and apple cuz I like em that way.

I've got 20 bucks left in the budget for this month, and won't be doing any grocery shopping before April. I want to save up as much as possible in April as we are planning on a trip stateside in May and want to be able to restock a few things. I'm feeling good about knowing what our staples are and what we will need to restock on and what we need to pass on even though it might be tempting.

I do have to tackle some of the weirder stuff I have accumulated. Shall be an adventure :)

4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1582 on: March 21, 2017, 08:07:39 PM »
PMG, I have a half batch of your pumpkin muffins in my oven! 

For dinner, I made vegetable fried rice (recipe from Run Fast, Eat Slow) with all of the frozen vegetable remnants from our freezer.  We also finished off the shredded chicken I made a few days ago.  I defrosted a few drumsticks that we can eat for the next few meals. 

Dollar Slice

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 9598
  • Age: 46
  • Location: New York City
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1583 on: March 21, 2017, 09:48:23 PM »
For dinner tonight I ate the last serving of pea soup that's been languishing in my freezer for over a year. It was terribly freezer burned - all dry and leathery on top. But it reconstituted perfectly when I reheated it with some extra water. All the carrots totally broke down, so it ended up being orange-colored pea soup. I threw in some extra veg (cauliflower from the freezer) because I have not been getting enough vegetables the last few days.

Lesson learned that those screw-top containers are not really as air-tight as I was hoping.

swick

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1584 on: March 22, 2017, 08:10:56 AM »
Ended up making some GF cornbread last night to go with the lentil soup. Used up the last of a smallish bag of buckwheat flour some old rice flour and cornmeal I have had for ages stashed in the freezer.

Also starting to put a dent in some elderberries and echinacea I have had forever, guess one doesn't think to use them unless sick and we haven't been sick in ages. Ahh well. Guess it is time :S

Our last chicken is in the crock pot, not sure what I am going to do with it all yet. Planning a "scrounge from the fridge" dinner as we have lots of little bits of leftovers and cooked veggies that need using up. 

lentil

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 133
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1585 on: March 22, 2017, 08:13:47 AM »
Swick, at least I know I'm not alone in having a lifetime's supply of unwanted tea squirreled away. I think I'm going to go through my stash and donate a bunch to a nearby community center...there's just no way I'm going to ever drink it all.

Pantry here is much more organized, and the freezer is down to a single shelf of random crap (plus lots of shelves of tasty leftovers, which do not require special attention!). Found a bunch of frozen blueberries, so I'll combine those with the overripe contents of the fruit bowl and make blueberry banana bread tonight. And I think there are a half dozen burritos just begging to be made with the mostly-empty bags of frozen veggies. I feel so much tidier!

swick

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1586 on: March 22, 2017, 08:35:22 AM »
Swick, at least I know I'm not alone in having a lifetime's supply of unwanted tea squirreled away. I think I'm going to go through my stash and donate a bunch to a nearby community center...there's just no way I'm going to ever drink it all.

Pantry here is much more organized, and the freezer is down to a single shelf of random crap (plus lots of shelves of tasty leftovers, which do not require special attention!). Found a bunch of frozen blueberries, so I'll combine those with the overripe contents of the fruit bowl and make blueberry banana bread tonight. And I think there are a half dozen burritos just begging to be made with the mostly-empty bags of frozen veggies. I feel so much tidier!

Awesome progress!

Re Tea: Yes, it is an ongoing struggle. Most of our tea is loose leaf or home blended herbal. I have tried to give some to people I think will enjoy it, but most of the time they can't be bothered to actually brew it, so it sits around at someone else's house. I am determined to use it up! Also, we don't eat sugar and are apparently hard to buy gifts for, so many of our family members gift us more tea, so it seems like every bit of progress we make gets regularly undone. Looking forward to warmer weather when I can start making big jugs of iced tea daily :D

PMG

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1599
  • Location: USA
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1587 on: March 22, 2017, 08:46:34 AM »
I'm a little jealous of these tea stashes. I've been on the "how low can it go" budget for several years and only stocked the cheapest black tea (and foraged mint).  I did start getting creative with spices and fruit in tea, but it got really boring.

Recently I've added some splurge room to my food budget and now have three (!) kinds to choose from... and no longer any cause to be jealous!  I think that denying myself for that time really increased my appreciation and my enjoyment of what I have now. (And there definitely are some kinds of tea that I would find a burden as well.)



4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1588 on: March 22, 2017, 09:25:20 AM »
Lesson learned that those screw-top containers are not really as air-tight as I was hoping.
For liquids, I put them in freezer bags on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Then I position them upright* when they're solid. 

*YMMV.  Our freezer is a drawer, so it might be easier to just stack them in a regular freezer situation.

Dollar Slice

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 9598
  • Age: 46
  • Location: New York City
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1589 on: March 22, 2017, 09:58:44 AM »
Lesson learned that those screw-top containers are not really as air-tight as I was hoping.
For liquids, I put them in freezer bags on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Then I position them upright* when they're solid. 

*YMMV.  Our freezer is a drawer, so it might be easier to just stack them in a regular freezer situation.

I don't think any of my cookie sheets would fit in my freezer. I'd originally been thinking "future work lunch" so I put it in the sort of container I could take to lunch and nuke in the microwave.

4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1590 on: March 22, 2017, 10:08:53 AM »
Lesson learned that those screw-top containers are not really as air-tight as I was hoping.
For liquids, I put them in freezer bags on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Then I position them upright* when they're solid. 

*YMMV.  Our freezer is a drawer, so it might be easier to just stack them in a regular freezer situation.

I don't think any of my cookie sheets would fit in my freezer. I'd originally been thinking "future work lunch" so I put it in the sort of container I could take to lunch and nuke in the microwave.
Maybe a cutting board?  Any flat surface would work. 

I've tried a lot of containers for the freezer, but I didn't find anything that kept away the freezer burn except for putting the container in a gallon size freezer bag. 

Anje

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 200
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1591 on: March 22, 2017, 12:04:09 PM »
I wish all of you with the tea-stashes were my friends: I can always be bothered to brew good tea and have adopted many a bag of loose leaf tea.

I mean: I have (far, some might say) too much tea myself most of the time, but I started a test brew of combucha this weekend and ... it's fermented, fizzy tea: what's not to like? It also uses up a lot of tea.

Though: I've never tried it before, so I might end up with 2-3 litres of mouldy, stinky tea. There is that..

SquashingDebt

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 441
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1592 on: March 22, 2017, 06:51:08 PM »
Lesson learned that those screw-top containers are not really as air-tight as I was hoping.
For liquids, I put them in freezer bags on a cookie sheet to freeze.  Then I position them upright* when they're solid. 

*YMMV.  Our freezer is a drawer, so it might be easier to just stack them in a regular freezer situation.

I don't think any of my cookie sheets would fit in my freezer. I'd originally been thinking "future work lunch" so I put it in the sort of container I could take to lunch and nuke in the microwave.
Maybe a cutting board?  Any flat surface would work. 

I've tried a lot of containers for the freezer, but I didn't find anything that kept away the freezer burn except for putting the container in a gallon size freezer bag.

You can always just use the bottom of your freezer or another frozen object as a flat surface.  I do a ton of freezing in quart bags and usually stack 4 or 5, move them to the freezer, kind of mush them to level them out on top of either the bottom of the freezer or another frozen quart bag, and let them freeze.  They don't look totally perfect, but they're even enough to stack easily afterwards.

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1593 on: March 23, 2017, 07:22:22 AM »
I wish all of you with the tea-stashes were my friends: I can always be bothered to brew good tea and have adopted many a bag of loose leaf tea.

I mean: I have (far, some might say) too much tea myself most of the time, but I started a test brew of combucha this weekend and ... it's fermented, fizzy tea: what's not to like? It also uses up a lot of tea.

Though: I've never tried it before, so I might end up with 2-3 litres of mouldy, stinky tea. There is that..

It can take a bit to hit on the kombucha formula you like, so don't give up if you're not happy with your first try.  I've settled on doing half black and half green tea in my continuous brew system, but have done a lovely herbal kombucha as well (can't remember what kind of tisane I used).  Coincidentally, elderberry is a good 2F flavoring for kombucha.  You might not get the fizziness if you just do the first fermentation, or the fizz might be very mild.  I don't mind that, but some insist on lots of carbonation.  The secondary fermentation is the fun part though; experimenting with different flavorings and getting that surprise geyser when an extra fizzy bottle is opened. :)

Awka

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 20
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1594 on: March 23, 2017, 01:08:59 PM »
Square cake pan instead of cookie sheet? You'd have the edges as well, just in case anything toppled over and leaked.

Anje

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 200
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1595 on: March 24, 2017, 09:02:35 AM »
Square cake pan instead of cookie sheet? You'd have the edges as well, just in case anything toppled over and leaked.
I just use a plate if I'm worried about liquids.. Same to freeze individual spring rolls, cookies etc - pop on a plate, balance plate in freezer, wait, bag when frozen.

Horsepoor: thank you for the advice about kombucha. Any advice as to the smell? None of the online articles I read mentioned the stuff filling my entire apartment with the scent of yeasting matters. It's not by any means unpleasant, it's just rather (a lot) stronger than expected..

swick

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1596 on: March 24, 2017, 09:12:37 AM »
Ugh, we are sick. I had the energy to make some chicken soup, since I had to deal with the broth and meat from my crockpotted chicken anyways, but that's about as creative as I have been. Luckily we had some cornbread left over and I had made granola for hubs earlier in the week. Present me is grateful past me made it.  I've got a couple extra containers of stock, and the chickens went in for a round two, which produces a much much lighter stock, but a little flavour is better than plain water :)



4alpacas

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1825
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1597 on: March 24, 2017, 01:09:21 PM »
I made my second batch of pumpkin muffins.  I used up a can of pumpkin, a jar of cinnamon, and Greek yogurt. 

I'm also making chicken stock in my instant pot.  I used the last chicken bones from my freezer, the last onion (purchased a few months ago), and celery that is a little soft.

MountainGal

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 756
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1598 on: March 24, 2017, 01:49:34 PM »
Hope you all fell better quickly, Swick!


We had leftover night last night:  DH ate the rest of Monday's (we were out of town camping St. Patrick's Day weekend) corned beef, and Tuesday's fried eggplant Parmesan and I had a leftover wrap from the camping trip.  Today for lunch I had a remaining half wrap and Tuesday's leftover green beans.  Let's hear it for no food waste!

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #1599 on: March 24, 2017, 01:59:45 PM »
Square cake pan instead of cookie sheet? You'd have the edges as well, just in case anything toppled over and leaked.
I just use a plate if I'm worried about liquids.. Same to freeze individual spring rolls, cookies etc - pop on a plate, balance plate in freezer, wait, bag when frozen.

Horsepoor: thank you for the advice about kombucha. Any advice as to the smell? None of the online articles I read mentioned the stuff filling my entire apartment with the scent of yeasting matters. It's not by any means unpleasant, it's just rather (a lot) stronger than expected..

I haven't really noticed a smell, but then we have a big, drafty house.  Or maybe our house stinks anyway, so I don't notice ;-).  My continuous brew system lives on top of the fridge in a 2 gallon jar with a coffee filter over the top.