I've been doing this challenge without even realizing it! My fiance has been on a really long work trip, and I've for some reason been pretty lazy to go to the grocery story. I think I went 2 weeks without going, and then another 2 weeks where I only stopped by once just to pick up some fruit/veggies just for me. I'd been living on things in the pantry and frozen produce. This, plus moving and having less pantry space in the new house, really opened my eyes up to just how much food we'd been hoarding without realizing it, just because our last place had such a big pantry by comparison.
Some things I'm aiming to use up soon:
- Some ground Quorn (frozen vegetarian crumble), which my fiance bought by accident but for some reason never ended up returning. I started using it the other day, so I think I'll throw the rest of the bag into making tomorrow's work lunch and dinner with pasta (which I also have a lot of in the pantry... those buy 2 for whatever price deals really get us throwing boxes of the stuff into the cart, I guess).
- Boca vegetarian crumble. We already started using this a couple months ago but should finish it. So probably this weekend, maybe do something with beans or lentils, or make some sort of vegetarian chorizo burrito?
- Lentils and legumes of all kinds. I have a lot of dried ones and some canned. My priority will be to soak and cook the dry ones first.
- Baking stuff. Flour. Powdered sugar. Baking soda. Baking powder. I have so much of those last two items because I keep forgetting I already have those, and just buy new ones. :/ They have dates on them, and they're still good. I've been meaning to make bread or other baked goods AND use that kitchen aid mixer I received as a gift for christmas, so this is a good excuse to do all of those things.
- Agave syrup. One of us bought this stuff for a recipe, and i gotta say, I'm not really a fan. It's somehow too sweet/candy-like for my taste. Yeah, I know, it's a sugar. But I prefer maple syrup.
- Any condiments in the side fridge - some varieties of vegetarian hoisin or 'oyster' sauce. I kind of don't even want to use them, so I don't know why we have them, but I also don't like to waste, so... I will try to do something.
- Old spices. I'd like to just use them up finally and then replenish with new ones as we need them. We just don't have space for a lot of spice jars.
- Some liver cleanse protein powder mixture that I got from my doctor that I never finished. It comes in one of those big plastic cylindrical containers, like most protein powders, so it takes up a lot of space.
- Frozen cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and other veggies. I decided I really hate frozen produce because no matter what, the texture is never as good, so I need to eat this asap! Maybe in some version of vegetable soup with old spices and legumes and some fresh leafy greens? lol
- Dried porcini mushrooms. I have a couple of bags of this when I thought I was going to do something really cool and fancy. But then I didn't, so here we are. I'll have to look up a recipe.
- Random tetrapak of carrot ginger soup. Work lunch?
- Tubs of miso paste. I have 3 different kinds, only 1 is my favorite. So I need to start using and getting rid of the other 2 ASAP.
- Pine nuts. Again had the intent to do something fancy. Maybe I'll just throw them on top of salad or pasta.
- Buckwheat porridge, quinoa flakes, and rolled/quick-cooking oats. Meant to be healthy breakfast items, but I vastly prefer steel cut oats, I've learned, so these things need to just go away.