Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[fuzzy math]

@fuzzy math - which food service did you try? I'll keep an eye out for an offer, if you thought it was worth it (at the heavily discounted price).

We've continued to do well at eating leftovers, although I noticed my husband didn't finish off a few small pieces of chicken, & I had to toss that. It hurts to throw out meat, and we would have frozen it, had I noticed.

-Continued to eat failed holiday bread (it didn't come out of the pan successfully, but the taste is great) for snacks
-Ate another dim sum style green onion pancake for lunch yesterday
-Made my teen taquitos for dinner on Friday, and he was so thrilled. Got a package out of the freezer
-Used up the rest of a small chunk of goat cheese rolled in cranberries, for our "appetizer" style dinner on Friday
-Defrosted a container of soup, which I will have for lunch today

We're heading out of town on Thursday, so we've kept the weekend cooking pretty light, in anticipation of not wanting too many leftovers.

Sounds like a yummy week!

We did Green Chef. They're organic and have keto / paleo which is all GF (which I need)... lots of super flavorful choices. We had a truffled pork chop in mushroom gravy that I swear must have had MSG or crack in it (although they're hopefully too natural to use MSG). They quote $110 for 2 servings with 4 days meals in a week full price. Some code we had from my MIL got us down to $51 and then I got $36 cash back from Rakuten so $16-17 for 4 meals is a good deal! I have a code somewhere if you end up wanting it. Without the cash back being insanely high (have seen 20-40% back since) we wouldn't have ever ordered.

[fuzzy math]

Oh! Forgot to update with recent wins:

- Finished off a marinade bottle on some chicken (my sauce purchasing ban remains in effect)
- Finished off some homemade pickled pepper jelly from DS's friend's family
- FINALLY finished off the last of the american cheese slices on DS's friends that I swear kept multiplying that were leftovers from an Oct camping trip
- Combined 2 jars of cinnamon - another container gone from the cabinet!
- Sauteed some really sad scraggly broccoli
- Made buttery garlic bread from frozen leftover Panera sourdough bread
- Working on some cranberry chicken sausages that were on markdown at Aldi. 25% of the way done
- Made baked beans completely from scratch - used a bunch of molasses, worstershire sauce, finished off a jar of crystallized off honey and some other seasoning goodies making it. Helped to heat the house for the ~6 hours it cooked (its getting very cold here!)

Recent fails:
- let 2 pints of bella mushrooms get gross
- used a salad dressing packet on some salad, wondered why it was weird, then discovered it was best by 2021  :(

[okisok]

Made another batch of freezer soup. Used up cooked chicken I had marinated that came out weird-tasting. Almost everything was from the freezer, including some veggie broth homemade from scraps. I used some potatoes from a 10 lb bag that was a great deal at Aldi and one can of cheap veggies from the pantry. Onions, peppers, broth, all from the freezer. Got two bags and two jars out of the freezer and two containers out of the fridge. I tossed in some half and half, reserving only enough for DP to use in his coffee the rest of the week. It tends to go bad before we can finish it, so I'm focusing on freezing or using it in place of milk in recipes.

I shuffled some things around in the freezer and made some plans for the items in there. I think I can go the rest of the week without grocery shopping. At least I can get very minimal items in a quick run if necessary.

[MountainGal]

@fuzzy math, thank you so much for the crystalized honey idea!  I'll be sure and add ours to the next batch of beans.

Last Friday's monthly grocery order filled the remaining space in the garage freezer, and part of the deep freezer.  And based on that and the lack of storage containers, it is time to start focusing again on frozen leftovers.  I am hoping for light Q1 grocery orders as financially that is my slower time of year so leftovers will be ideal.

Happy holidays, everyone.  :)

[Dutch Comfort]

Was looking in the cupboard for something to ease my sweet tooth..... Found cookies with a best before date of early December. Just tested and they are still OK, so I'm sacrificing myself in eating them.......

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Thanks for info, @fuzzy math

We are heading out of town tomorrow, and our fridge is looking great. I'm pleased with our progress. We've been eating a lot of previously prepped meals from the freezer, and made big inroads into the fridge/freezer inventory, finishing up the following
-Two more hamburger buns
-A bag of brussels sprouts
-The chicken enchiladas

As for today, we will eat:
-I'll have a piece of chicken for lunch
-My husband will have the last of the burger patties. I need to find something to go with this for him.
-I'll serve the last of the cucumbers to my teen
-We need to finish off all of the salad ingredients
-Two diners will eat enchilada rice (freezer)
-My teen will eat pasta, likely with meatballs (freezer)

That will leave us in awesome shape for tomorrow. In fact, no clue what I'll be eating for lunch tomorrow. Cup o Noodle, from the teen's stash? ;-)

[Dutch Comfort]

While looking through the pantry for items to donate to the Food-bank at the food-donation-charity at DS school tomorrow, I found a can of soup that was just at the date. My lunch for today just revealed itself!
Wins so far this week:
- the guinea pig is happy with the leftover cabbage leaves
- the indonesian spiced cake is gone
- 2 kiwis just got eaten, only 4-5 to go
- deli-meat is almost gone

Items to work on in the next couple of days:
- 2 cucumbers
- 2-3 servings of cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 serving of humus
- 4-5 kiwis
- 2-3 apples
- 1/2 bag of salted almonds
- 1/2 bag of prawn crackers
- 1 jar of marmelade
- 1/2 jar of salsa
- some olives

[Dollar Slice]

I had this big chuck roast in the freezer that my mom had given me a while back - she had ordered one three-pound chuck roast in a grocery delivery and instead they delivered three chuck roasts. She gave me one to take home since they had about ten pounds of it, and I just stuck it in the freezer, where it has been languishing. So this week there were some good sales on frozen foods that I actually wanted and I decided it was time I get that 3+ lbs of chuck roast out of the freezer... it's been thawing all week and I cooked it tonight.

Super bad timing that I threw my back out Wednesday night, LOL, after it was pretty well thawed but before I had a chance to cook it. I couldn't make it yesterday as I'd planned. Luckily it eased up a lot today and I was able to do it, and the Instant Pot makes it a lot easier (I could not have lifted a Dutch oven). So I've got a big batch of lovely beef stew with four kinds of vegetables that I can eat all weekend while it's freezing outside. And I freed up a lot of space for some things I am excited to eat instead of stuff I'm annoyed to find every time I open the freezer...

[Catbert]

I'm tasked with bringing dessert for Christmas.  I don't like any of the traditional pies (e.g., pumpkin) so I don't make 'em.  I'm making 9 pear tarts using a lone puff pastry sheet from the freezer and pears I got as a present.  The bread pudding will use up some stale bread.  I may make a bourbon sauce since I have bourbon but don't drink it.  I'm also making a chocolate pecan pie that doesn't up anything I want to get rid of.

[fuzzy math]

Things are out of control at this house. So much food has been bought and is being cooked.

Also the fridge in the garage (where is been - 6 to 20) froze all my fridge food. UGH

[okisok]

When I went through the freezer to find items for the chicken soup, I found some frozen pureed pumpkin. I thawed it out and used 3/4 of a cup in a pumpkin muffin recipe and put the remainder in some cake mix cookies. The muffins used up the last of a bag of flour that wasn't used to make bread bowls for the chicken soup.

DP and I devoured the chicken soup in the bread bowls because it was SO GOOD. Then he took the cookies to a holiday gathering. We are still working on the pumpkin muffins for snacks and breakfasts. I did not do a big grocery shop this week, just grabbed a few items to fill in where we needed them (like more flour).

I got home from holiday travels with zero leftovers to worry about using up.

[fuzzy math]

Continuing to fight the good fight! MIL (who is super weird about food and imposing) left us a bunch of weird items at our house so somehow we have MORE food despite not having been to the store in a few days. A lot of it is stuff I can't eat so I'll be slowly pawning it off on everyone else

- Cooked 2 bags of coleslaw mix with some onion, an open carton of chicken broth and some tom yum soup paste. Mixed a single serving of leftover chinese takeout rice into a bowl with this soup
- Convinced DH to finish off some beef stew he'd made almost a week ago
- Ate only a responsible amount of holiday chocolate
- Located some chicken gizzards that DH had bought, boiled and given up on. Fed a few to the dogs, the rest are now going to be part of their meal portions for the next few days
- Finished off the last of the sale raspberries
- Had a ripe avocado, DH had a ripe avocado
- Tried to feed DS some left over mac n cheese. He said no, so its off to the chickens
- Convinsed other DS to cook some pork he'd asked us to buy a couple days ago

[okisok]

@fuzzy math "responsible amount of holiday chocolate" ha ha ha! I love it! I've eaten a highly irresponsible amount

[K_in_the_kitchen]

As this thread was started a long time ago, I'm not certain how the goal has evolved over the years, but it seems like the right place to post about a January 2023 pantry and freezer challenge, especially since my goal is to get completely through the outside chest freezer as well as the miscellaneous items in the house freezer.  "January" is just an easy guideline but I will keep going until we get to a place where we truly need to start restocking.  I expect our grocery purchases to be eggs, butter, and fresh produce.  I also never let myself get below about 25# of all-purpose and 25# of wheat berries, just because they aren't always in stock when I want them, but I don't expect to buy any in January.

To get a head start, this week I defrosted a piece of beef top round for London Broil (ate that last night), a leg of lamb (for Thursday), a spiral ham (for Friday), and the remaining 4# of ground beef we had (this will be used in fried ground beef tacos for our traditional NYE meal).  With our London Broil last night we had side dishes of mashed potatoes (from the freezer), rice (leftover in fridge), half a sweet potato (leftover in fridge), sautéed zucchini (leftover in fridge), and a green salad (we have lots of salad makings because of a cancelled Christmas Eve lunch).  I also had my youngest use some leftover rice and a leftover Polish sausage to make fried rice yesterday for lunch.

Lunch today used up the last sourdough roll and the last of a sourdough loaf, as well as several pieces of a whole wheat loaf.  My oldest prefers the sourdough, but I made it clear that I won't defrost another loaf of sourdough until the whole wheat is gone.  If I can come up with a lunch for tomorrow that doesn't require bread, I'll mix sourdough tonight and bake tomorrow.  Those loaves of sourdough in the freezer are like gold when something happens to disrupt regular baking.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@K_in_the_kitchen - I love sourdough, and am so envious that you successfully make it. Yum!

We are back from our trip to see my parents, and heading skiing on Friday, so we don't want to buy too much.
-I had cup o noodle for lunch yesterday, because we were really out of options
-I scrounged together enough for a simple dinner (gyozos & some sort of breaded chicken), that got us all fed last night. We also picked up produce, so there's salad fixings now as well.
-I've eaten an irresponsible amount of holiday cookies. Luckily, the teens have discovered them, so they will be gone quickly.
-I had leftover chicken from last night over a brunch salad today.
-I made two large containers of pureed pumpkin (free, from the grocery store, after Halloween) from the freezer into soup. My husband will have some tonight, and the rest is in the freezer, in lunch sized containers.
I prepped spaghetti & meatballs, for our ski trip. I combined 1/2 an open container of marinara sauce with a container of homemade tomato sauce (freezer) from our garden tomatoes. That's now in the freezer, ready to go for our trip.
-

[K_in_the_kitchen]

@K_in_the_kitchen - I love sourdough, and am so envious that you successfully make it. Yum!

@MaybeBabyMustache  I make a soft sourdough sandwich loaf, which is a lot more foolproof than freeform artisan boules, and is also far more usable for sandwiches and toast, with a longer shelf (or breadbox) life.

I love when I can scrounge together a dinner and get everyone fed, especially when they don't even realize that I did.  We've been strong on our anti-food waste campaign for years now.  And I also prep meals to take with us whenever we travel.  We drove to Colorado in October to see our oldest race, and I prepared and packed all of the food we would need, both for us and to feed him (he traveled with his team).  We didn't eat out at all, not even when we were on the road.

[Trifle]

Awesome job @K_in_the_kitchen!  We try to do that too when we're traveling.  It's a huge money saver.

My eat-it-up project for tonight is going to be a big greek pasta salad which will use up some veggies that need to go, some feta cheese that's been lurking in the fridge, and some canned olives that DD brought home from work.

We have a couple more cans of those olives to use up in the weeks to come.  I could make one of them disappear into a big veggie lasagna I bet.   

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Our eat-it-up project for today is going to be a quiche.  I have 8 dozen eggs in the refrigerator, and while eggs last a long time they do need to be eaten.  I also have a package of frozen pie crusts that we didn't use for holiday pies.  I was thinking I didn't have much to put in the quiche, but remembered an opened package of diced prosciutto, and there is some thinly sliced onion from yesterday's stromboli.  We're low on fresh vegetables, but there is a head of cabbage, and I could sauté some of that for the quiche, or make a cabbage salad to eat alongside it.

@Trifele Your post reminded me that we have feta cheese lurking in the fridge as well -- I'll put some in the quiche, along with some chopped kalamata olives.

I didn't mix sourdough last night, so I'm choosing between pulling a loaf from the freezer or baking yeasted bread loaves. I always have the pantry items for bread, and I could use the dough to make New England Style hot dog buns as well, which makes it easier to get through the many packages of grass-fed Polish sausages out in the freezer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

My freezer progress is going well enough that I can see a lot more of the items, vs having them in a precarious tower that inevitably topples over, as soon as I want something from it. I'm also making good progress on my goal of turning freezer ingredients, into things we can actually use (e.g. pureed pumpkin into pumpkin soup, bananas into muffins, etc).

-Finished off the last of some frozen fruit in a smoothie for DS15
-Defrosted chicken fajita leftovers for dinner tonight. There isn't quite enough to feed everyone, so I'll make taquitos (freezer) for DS16, and I'll use the last of homemade coleslaw dressing to finish off a bagged salad. My husband loves coleslaw, so while it's not particularly well themed with fajitas, I think everyone will be happy.
-Ate the last of the gyozos for breakfast, when I got home from my workout
-Will finish off the pasta for lunch, with some sort of fruit or veggie

Our fridge is also looking pretty clear, ahead of our ski trip.

@K_in_the_kitchen - that's super impressive that you bring the food for yourself, but also your son! Well done. What kind of team is he on? We're heading out on a ski trip tomorrow, and the first few days will be in a condo, and we'll bring our food (breakfast/dinners), but we will eat lunch on the slopes. For the last few nights, we'll be in a hotel, as I have to work during the day while the boys/my husband work & I needed a more reliable wifi. It comes with free breakfast, but we will be splurging and eating out for dinners.

[Serendip]

Came home to a somewhat empty fridge so we defrosted chili for dinner yesterday--Love having soup in the freezer!

Today I put a lentil/potato/carrot stew in the crock-pot (new recipe so hopefully it is tasty, added a bit of buckwheat to use it up) and roasted the last 2 squash from my farmer friend for a squash coconut soup.

I also had a few carrots that needed eating so I made baked carrot oatmeal which can be breakfast for the next few days.

Have a few apple languishing in a crisper so will stew those with spices to eat up with yogurt..

Would love to have an eating down the pantry/freezer month in January but my SO isn't on board. Perhaps I'll try to do it and he can buy groceries for the nights that he is cooking if he wants :)

[MountainGal]

I set aside some fridge space dedicated for leftovers, condiments and other items we need to utilize so they don't get forgotten or lost.  Referencing my last post about the ample stock, January's grocery, paper (TP) and miscellaneous (mouthwash and makeup) budget is $150.  (Pats self on back.)

[K_in_the_kitchen]

@K_in_the_kitchen - that's super impressive that you bring the food for yourself, but also your son! Well done. What kind of team is he on? We're heading out on a ski trip tomorrow, and the first few days will be in a condo, and we'll bring our food (breakfast/dinners), but we will eat lunch on the slopes. For the last few nights, we'll be in a hotel, as I have to work during the day while the boys/my husband work & I needed a more reliable wifi. It comes with free breakfast, but we will be splurging and eating out for dinners.

@MaybeBabyMustache My son is on a collegiate varsity cycling team and we were at mountain bike national championships.  He hates the food they make for the team on trips, so I planned to feed him every meal even though he needed to sleep in the room his team provided.  Even though we traveled in the camper van, we rented a VRBO condo (ski resort) because of the weather and also so our son would have a place to hang out and to wash his bike.  It was a good thing I took all the food, because the team had a refrigerator failure in one of their rented condos and lost tons of food, so they were scrambling to get bad food from the only resort restaurant that was open.

It sounds like you have a great balance of bringing food, eating the free breakfast, and splurging a little bit!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Yesterday I turned 6 overripe bananas into 24 muffins.  I convinced one kid to eat some leftover beef and mashed potatoes, and had the other kid eat the leftovers from our burrito bowls theater night, which I had mixed together in one container (shredded chicken, Mayacoba beans, and peppers & onions).

Today I cooked a leg of lamb that came the freezer, and now I have to figure out using the rest of it.  It was cooked medium rare and I'm tempted to make a lamb stew with some of it and a shepherd's pie with the rest.  I turned the pan drippings into gravy so that meal is most of the way made.  But we can't eat all of that right now, so I'll probably freeze the meat after I cut it, and do something else with it in a week or so.  I served the lamb with mashed potatoes from the freezer and I made a pot of pasta for my oldest since he doesn't like lamb.  My husband made another green salad as we continue to work through the lettuce we bought for our cancelled Christmas Eve lunch.

I did bake bread and New England style hot dog buns yesterday.  We ate 5 buns and I froze the rest, and also froze one loaf of bread.  I also froze most of the banana muffins.  I do want to eat all of the food in the house and especially to get through what we have in the freezers, but it always feels like a step forward and a step back.  I think maybe I won't buy bananas in January, as it seems like they aren't getting eaten since people prefer a hot breakfast.

[Linea_Norway]

Since the end of the summer, there was a large bag of blueberries in the freezer, taking up space in the meat drawer. Originally they were picked for making wine and therefore not cleaned very well. When you make wine, you filter out leaves and stems, as well as skins. But yesterday I cleaned the berries batch by batch until I had a pan full. I made jam from it, 5 and a half jars. The jars are cooked properly afterwards, so they don't need to store in a fridge, but we have more space in the fridges than in the closets. Therefore they stand there anyway.

I still had 3 jars of blueberry jam left from the previous time I made some. Blueberry jam is an article I seldom buy because it is more expensive than strawberry jam. And I tend to buy the cheapest that I like to eat.

[Trifle]

Yesterday morning I used three overripe bananas to make banana bread.  For dinner I used up all our flour and yeast on a double batch of pizza crust, topped with the last of our olives, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese. 

[K_in_the_kitchen]

We made fried tacos for NYE (tradition) using the last 4# of ground beef from the freezer.  I also made a potato filling for a vegetarian guest using a can of chiles from the pantry, a 1# bag of diced potatoes from the freezer, half an onion from the crisper drawer, and some seasonings.  We worked through the leftover tacos yesterday and today.

I had some sourdough discard I'd saved in the refrigerator, so in the wee hours of New Year's Day I mixed up a sourdough sponge and used that to make waffles for breakfast when we woke up on New Year's Day.  There is still some discard in there, and I need to feed my starter because I didn't bake with it this week, so I'll add to the discard.  I never discard my discard, lol.  Most of the time I don't have discard sitting around because I either bake weekly or let my starter go dormant.

The ham bone from yesterday is simmering with some scrap vegetables to make stock.  We ate leftover ham today, then I cut up the rest, leaving one full serving for my oldest to have for lunch tomorrow, and bagging enough for two pots of soup and two quiches (I froze the ham for one soup and the quiches).  I also cut up the leftover lamb from Friday, and froze enough for two stews and a shepherd's pie, and also froze the leftover gravy.  While hunting around in the refrigerator I spotted the leftover beef taco filling, so I tossed that in the freezer too.

I ate leftover sourdough waffles for breakfast.  My dad gifted us an Omaha Steaks box, so now we have more frozen food to get through.  We ate the filets on Christmas and will eat the chicken breasts tonight.  There is leftover pasta that needs to be eaten tonight, so my son will eat that, and there is some ravioli I defrosted that needs to be cooked, so DH and I will eat that.  My youngest will eat leftover rice.  I'll steam some broccoli from the refrigerator (and I'll prep all of the broccoli so it lasts longer).

[Dutch Comfort]

Covid hit our house on NY-eve, so we've been living off the fridge/freezer/cupboard stock for the past few days (today I managed to get groceries delivered, so now we're good for the rest of the week).

Wins:
- cucumber and tomatoes made it out of the fridge as snacks together with 1/2 jar of humus
- most NY snacks are gone now
- large box of tomato soup made it out of the freezer as new years day dinner
- finished the sweet potatoes with some meat from freezer yesterday

Still to be finished:
- 2 apples
- 2 kiwis
- a few cherry tomatoes
- Leftover Christmas-raisin-almond-bread
- 1/2 jar of guacamole
- 1/2 jar of marmelade
- 3 waffles
- leftover Christmas chocolates.........
- loads of gingerbread cookies.........

With the full family at home doing the COVID-quarantine-exercise, I'm hoping to go through more snacks and leftovers this week.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I went through the pantry today, organizing so we can be sure to be eating the food we already have.  I decided to return several things to Costco -- we'd bought multiples of holiday treats and didn't really like some of them, so we are taking back the unopened items.

I finished my meal plan for January and made the February meal plan as well.  These aren't fully fleshed out, but I do know what type of meal I'll be making each day and have assigned cuts of meat and other freezer items like broth and vegetables.  Looking at the plan for the next 10 days I decided we won't need any groceries at all.  I'm only allowing fresh produce, eggs, and dairy this month, plus any staples we run out of like olive oil.  So far I know I'll need to buy maple syrup, and we might run out of marinara (I don't make it because I'm allergic to tomatoes), but those aren't needed this week.

We ate the last of a loaf of bread at breakfast, and took out a loaf I'd frozen.  We used that loaf for lunches today and will also eat it for breakfast and lunch tomorrow (I'll bake tomorrow but those loaves won't be ready until evening).  That leaves two sourdough loaves in the freezer, which is plenty for an emergency stash.

Used the rest of the sourdough discard, feeding it like regular starter last night.  I mixed focaccia dough this morning to bake for dinner tonight, will use more of it in dough for soft sourdough loaves, and will turn whatever is leftover into an overnight sponge for pancakes.  Then I will be back to just having my regular starter.  I don't make nearly as much bread or other sourdough items when my oldest is away at university.

I froze 6 cups of ham stock to use in a soup later this month.

My youngest made fried rice for lunch using leftover rice, a leftover Polish sausage, and an egg (must eat gluten free so no bread).  We're now down to the only leftover meat in the fridge being the diced ham I'll be using in soup tonight.

Last night I fed the 6 day old leftover London Broil to the senior dog and the chihuahua (just a tiny bit for him).  We just didn't get to it and today would have been a full week since I made it, and no one wanted to risk getting sick.  The dogs were fine.  This is my last resort option for leftovers.

Also last night, I ate an apple after dinner.  My picky kids start to think the fruit has been in the refrigerator "too long" and stop eating it.  The apple was neither shriveled nor bruised.  Since we have most of a 25# bag of cara cara oranges, I may come up with something to do with the apples in the refrigerator.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@K_in_the_kitchen - that's super impressive that you bring the food for yourself, but also your son! Well done. What kind of team is he on? We're heading out on a ski trip tomorrow, and the first few days will be in a condo, and we'll bring our food (breakfast/dinners), but we will eat lunch on the slopes. For the last few nights, we'll be in a hotel, as I have to work during the day while the boys/my husband work & I needed a more reliable wifi. It comes with free breakfast, but we will be splurging and eating out for dinners.

@MaybeBabyMustache My son is on a collegiate varsity cycling team and we were at mountain bike national championships.  He hates the food they make for the team on trips, so I planned to feed him every meal even though he needed to sleep in the room his team provided.  Even though we traveled in the camper van, we rented a VRBO condo (ski resort) because of the weather and also so our son would have a place to hang out and to wash his bike.  It was a good thing I took all the food, because the team had a refrigerator failure in one of their rented condos and lost tons of food, so they were scrambling to get bad food from the only resort restaurant that was open.

It sounds like you have a great balance of bringing food, eating the free breakfast, and splurging a little bit!

@K_in_the_kitchen - so interesting! My son absolutely loves mountain biking, and one of his college requests is that it be near mountain biking & skiing. My dad still mountain bikes at 70, and I had no idea that there were collegiate level teams. Thanks for sharing!

And, definitely sounds like bringing your own food makes a ton of sense!

[Linea_Norway]

Yesterday I made a dish that used up 4 bags with greens and 1 bag with skinless lemon from the freezer.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

So the sourdough focaccia I made was a flop.  I should have trusted my intuition that the dough didn't have enough salt, but the blogger has a huge following and I rationalized it by reminding myself that focaccia also has salt liberally sprinkled over the top.  But salt on top can't disguise a bland bread.  We ate it with dinner, but I knew no one was going to want to eat it again.  So today I pulverized it into crumbs using the Vitamix, then toasted the bread crumbs before freezing them.  I ended up with 2 quarts of bread crumbs for meatballs, meatloaf, topping casseroles, breading chicken, etc.

I'm finally through the excess sourdough starter/discard and as a bonus have a nice stash of waffles in the freezer.

It'll be leftover soup for lunch, served with yeasted rolls I pulled from the freezer (I found a random bag with three rolls).  Dinner is cabbage and bacon because the cabbage needs to be eaten soon, served with baked potatoes because the potatoes are just starting to get tiny sprouts.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Ate sourdough pancakes from the freezer.  Made stromboli for lunch because my oldest heads back to university on Saturday and I want to get through the dairy free pesto and cheese we bought for when he is here.  All of the grated vegan mozzarella is now gone, and he has one slice of vegan cheddar to have on a sandwich tomorrow.  He isn't going to get through the pesto, but DH doesn't mind finishing it off.  I made chocolate syrup from ingredients I had on hand so he can work through the carton of oat milk in the fridge (as hot chocolate). He also won't finish the dairy free margarine, but I looked it up and the manufacturer says we can freeze it without affecting texture.

[okisok]

Used one more bottle of the beer we didn't like in bread. I used up some of the wheat flour that's going to expire this month. We baked it in a cast iron Dutch oven in the fireplace since we already had a fire going. One more bottle of blah beer turned into something delicious and edible.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've been looking even more closely at what's in the fridge & freezer, to ensure we're using up things, not just pulling out the easiest/preferred option:
-Relocated protein bars to a more accessible location, as they are expiring soon. I eat 1/2 of one for breakfast, if I'm doing a hard workout. Seeing them in the fridge is making it easier to remember they are there. 1.5/5 gone.
-Defrosted a couple of grilled chicken sausages, so I'd remember to use them in the protein for my salads. Bonus points, bought a much less expensive mixed green container, vs "bagged salad" (they come with dressing, croutons, etc). I've been using the mixed greens with all of the remnants of previous bagged salads, and cleaning out those items. Also, used a bit of Christmas cheese, diced up, on my salads.
-Made chicken curry, using some of the carrots I'd purchased as snacks, as well as the last of the potatoes we purchased for mashed potatoes (Thanksgiving). I caught the potatoes just in time.

[MountainGal]

Getting very detailed with freezer leftovers.

-Friday's takeout taco salad yielded two meals.  I brought the extra dressing to the office to eat with leftover pizza (below)
-Caulipower brand crust pizza was topped with leftover BBQ beef from the freezer
-For snacks and TV sports watching, we've been cooking up frozen appetizers leftover from the holiday season including bacon wrapped jalapenos, crab Rangoon, perogies and breaded shrimp
-DH made homemade biscuits which finished a bag of flour and gravy to use a bag of green chilis
-Cornbread used the remaining cornmeal, bag of almond flour and 1.5 cups pork rinds which were crushed into "cracklin's"
-Leftover locally grown carrots from the freezer were glazed in butter and brown sugar
-Tonight will be November's leftover lasagna
-Wednesday's chicken breading will include two sad bagels zapped in the food processor along with pork rinds and parmesan cheese
-Thursday will be leftover ham from the freezer warmed up with some of the many preserves that need to be consumed
-I'm out of my favored alcohol so I've been consuming odds and ends from various social gatherings

[K_in_the_kitchen]

We're still working through food we already have and haven't bought perishables at all since 12/30.  Here's what we've eaten since the 5th:

Breakfasts: sourdough pancakes from freezer, sourdough waffles from freezer, banana muffins from freezer, eggs and sourdough toast.  With the shortages and high price of eggs, I'm glad we have these freezer items.  I need to ask DH to slow down on the fresh eggs until I can get more at a good price.

Lunches/dinners: finished a ham chowder that we added some leftover cabbage and bacon to so we would have enough for two people and use the cabbage leftovers, ate this with some of the Omaha steaks side dishes from a Christmas gift, had patty melts (gifted Omaha Steaks hamburger patties from freezer + sourdough bread + cheddar cheese + caramelized onions from freezer) served with corn from the freezer, had Polish sausages from freezer served on homemade buns from freezer, along with broccoli, leftover saffron rice, and the rest of some leftover beans, ate leftovers from Thai takeout twice (meal the college kid wanted before heading back to university).  Tonight I'll reheat a stromboli  I froze in November.

Net grocery spend so far in January is $31, on pantry items from Costco (I had returned $28 worth of unused Christmas goodies which is why I'm calculating a net spend).  We actually haven't opened any of those items.  All of our meals so far in January have been made from food we already had in the house pre 2023.

Reorganized the chest freezer and freezer portion of the refrigerator to get a better grasp on what we have and need to use.

Failures: had the last of a tub of sour cream go moldy and tossed two small bags of frozen diced chicken and a small bag of frozen diced ham found deep in the freezer when I reorganized it -- they were quite old and freezer burned.

[okisok]

Yesterday's dinner was a leftover/pantry triumph. I had a half can of roasted tomatoes with green chilis and deeply discounted sweet potatoes. I peeled and diced the potatoes and dumped them in a pan with the tomatoes, the last of some frozen poblanos, and a can of black beans. Cumin and paprika and chili powder rounded it out into a delicious semi-stew. It made three meals.

One of them was lunch for today. Breakfast was a free Ibotta yogurt and the very last pumpkin chocolate chip muffin that had been hanging out forgotten in the fridge.

Tonight was wild game from deep in the freezer wrapped and roasted in freezer sale bacon. I made a sauce with fridge door ingredients (soy sauce, spicy mustard, garlic) and pantry staples (honey, brown sugar). It was loosely based on an internet recipe but I substituted with wild abandon. There were some wrinkly pre-Thanksgiving potatoes that I peeled and par-boiled, then finished in the oven with the game and sauce. Delicious! I rounded it off with the last hunk of beer bread liberally slathered with butter. It made two more packed lunches, this time with some clearance French bread I pulled out of the freezer.

I now have lunches for the rest of the week including tomorrow's provided lunch at work. The yogurt was the only grocery item I've bought in two weeks and I only picked it up because it was a freebie.

[Dutch Comfort]

Did the first grocery run of the year. The cupboard is still overflowing, but fridge and freezer are OK.
Wins this week:
- Teens were still at home, so they used up a lot of holiday related candy, treats and other items. Holiday chocolates are almost gone, they started on the almond/gingerbread cookies now.
- 1 box of homemade frozen chicken broth made it out of the freezer
- pre-baked breads were baked and eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner (with the chicken broth)
- Last of the potatoes were cooked and eaten (leftovers were baked the next day and eaten as well)
- made pizza on Sunday, using up a load of stuff we already had. Only had to buy some mushrooms, olives and mozzarella cheese. Used up all kind of deli-meat on the pizza. Have not heard any complaints!

Had to throw away some milk and some guacamole. Note to self that guacamole is not a favorite in this house. Milk is always a problem, since DD can suddenly decide that she either wants or does not want milk......(*insert big sigh and eyeroll for teenagers*).

Next items to be used up:
- a few mushrooms (will be tonight with a batch of green beans)
- olive slices (leftover from the Sunday pizza)
- my mother gave me a lot of teabags in a flavour (mainly ginger-y) she does not like, so I'm slowly using these.
- 2-3 servings of humus
- all cookies and candies from the cupboard. But not by me..... I need to lose a few pounds!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Breakfast was banana muffins from the freezer.  Lunch today was Indian spiced potatoes and peas.  The potatoes were starting to sprout (I'll use the rest tomorrow for mashed potatoes).  I used half an onion from the fridge, two cut lemon wedges from the fridge, and half a can of chiles I'd frozen after using the first half.  Peas and ginger were from the freezer too, but I'll replace those once we finish them.  Spices and oil from the pantry.  We ate it with the last of the saffron rice from last Friday.

I cooked the last of the basmati rice in the bucket (about .8 of a rice cooker cup) in case we didn't have enough saffron rice, but we did, so now the plain rice is in the refrigerator and I can refill the bucket with the 20# bag of rice I have up on the pantry shelf.

DH and I bought stroopwafels from Costco in November, but didn't love them (I even took back the box we didn't open). We are slowly working our way through them now before they get too stale -- they aren't really packaged air tight.

I noticed 3 avocados in the crisper drawer, so I'm going to suggest avocado toast for supper, as the loaf of sourdough was baked last week and there is a lone tomato sitting on the counter.

[Dutch Comfort]

DH and I bought stroopwafels from Costco in November, but didn't love them (I even took back the box we didn't open). We are slowly working our way through them now before they get too stale -- they aren't really packaged air tight.

AARRRGHH..... as a proud inhabitant of stroopwafel-country, this cannot be true. Best thing is to heat them slightly (the typical Dutch way is to place the stroopwafel on top of a steaming hot mug of coffee or tea for 5 minutes). I invite you to come to the Netherlands and I will let you taste the best stroopwafel! Freshly baked from a street vendor, they are to die for!

OK, enough said...... If you leave them in the cupboard since November, they can be stale......

[K_in_the_kitchen]

DH and I bought stroopwafels from Costco in November, but didn't love them (I even took back the box we didn't open). We are slowly working our way through them now before they get too stale -- they aren't really packaged air tight.

AARRRGHH..... as a proud inhabitant of stroopwafel-country, this cannot be true. Best thing is to heat them slightly (the typical Dutch way is to place the stroopwafel on top of a steaming hot mug of coffee or tea for 5 minutes). I invite you to come to the Netherlands and I will let you taste the best stroopwafel! Freshly baked from a street vendor, they are to die for!

OK, enough said...... If you leave them in the cupboard since November, they can be stale......

I wanted to love them, and I bet they are fantastic freshly made.  I mean, cookie + caramel is one of my favorite combinations.  But these stroopwafels get soggy when placed over the mug.  But now that you mention fresh baked, I'm sundering if these might be better if heated slightly in a skillet.  The reviews on Costco are high overall but the reviews from people who have had real stroopwafels say these are awful.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Breakfast was waffles I made and froze.  I have lamb stock simmering and will make a leftover lamb stew for our main meal with cubed leg of lamb I froze after we had it as a roast, plus the stock and some carrots and celery.  I'm making mashed potatoes with the rest of the sprouting potatoes and a package of cream cheese we have in the refrigerator, and we'll have steamed broccoli since that is the veggie we most need to get through (bought 12/30, cleaned and prepped 1/6, and we've been working our way through it since then).

My youngest doesn't like potatoes in stew, so I don't make it that way.  We almost always have stewed meat served with mashed or baked potatoes.  I actually take out some meat before I thicken the gravy, because neither kid likes gravy.

I'll end up needing to freeze lamb stock and several bags of mashed potatoes.  I have one more bag of cubed leftover lamb in the freezer, as well as one of minced lamb for shepherd's pie.  I also have an uncooked leg of lamb.  This stock is from bones leftover from a few lamb chop meals, and I'm hoping to get enough stock to use with the frozen cooked lamb and the uncooked lamb as well.  I'm going to pull off some stock to use in the stew, then top it up again with water and simmer all day and overnight, as there were a lot of bones, which is necessary for a good gel.  Research shows that ACV doesn't pull out much in the way of additional minerals, so I skip that, preferring the taste of the broth without it.

Food waste: I bought colored cookie icing for St. Nicholas cookies in December, and used it again on our Three King's Cake, but I'm tossing the rest of it.  I'm not sure I'd consider it food waste exactly, because I'm not sure I consider it food, but it is calories we are throwing away instead of eating.  The icing is full of artificial colors and flavors, titanium dioxide, various preservatives, and "genetically engineered" ingredients.  Colored sugar for the cake has far fewer questionable ingredients, and I learned my lesson with the St. Nicholas cookies and won't try to ice them again, since they turn out far better if simply dusted with powdered sugar -- the details of the cookie mold get lost with the icing.

[seemsright]

Before we went on vacation for Christmas. I had so little in my fridge that I was so dang proud of myself. I had mustard, hot sauce and 1/2 of a red cabbage and that is about it. So little that once we got home I had to go to the store instantly. My pantry was pretty darn empty. What I learned is we pretty much do not have 'that' much extra in this house. I still have work to do to use up some the seasonings that have been in the spice area for a while, and I really still need to focus on using up the canning I did this year. I did all of that and my grocery bill is still stupid high. So to counter that this winter I am focusing on lots of soups and homemade bread.

Tonight we are having Red Lentil soup with homemade Italian focaccia bread which allowed me to use some of the jar of home dried basil from my garden this last year.

I am really getting to the point where I just want what we need for the week in the house and not much more than that. I am tired of shopping for the food, and over all managing it. I am thriving for simple and I must do the work to get to that goal. I want to eat darn well and not have to deal with much extra. 

[Dutch Comfort]

Today will be burrito-day..... and finishing off chicken from the freezer, some canned veggies from the cupboard and some heavy cream, fresh veggies and cheese from the fridge! Good meal to clear off various items!

Tomorrow morning the groceries will be delivered. Great timing, because the meat supply from the freezer is gone (good thing) and all diary products are almost gone as well.

Next point of focus is my drawer with various herbs and spices and flours. Need to check and clean that out. I already saw a box of pancake mix and a package of pizza-flour that are close to best before date. Need to incorporate that in the meals!

[Ysera]

@seemsright I envy your plan and empty fridge! Simple. Awesome. No fuss, no muss, no waste. :)

The Ysera household has been making progress, especially over the holidays. Weather kept me from shopping, and then I delayed shopping a few times so we would dig in more to what we have.

- Four trout from the freezer fried or baked. The last leftover one was make into dip for crackers for New Years.
- Two more salmon filets eaten, one by humans, one by canine.
- All pie crusts from the freezer made delicious holiday pies.
- All cruciferous vegetables (including a massive amount of kale) were cooked, eaten, or made into salad.
- A bag of potatoes was turned into home fries over many evenings.
- Underwhelming spinach dip from the deli was rehabbed with better ingredients and eaten.
- Underwhelming hummus was also rehabbed and eaten.
- Excess eggs were used in baked goods.
- A large bowl of leftover rice was stir fried with eggs and veggies for several meals.

Tonight I am hoping to make banana oat waffles for breakfast-for-dinner, since I found a few frozen bananas in the freezer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We typically cook on weekends, and eat leftovers during the week. We start to run out by Thursday, where we often eat freezer meals & then start the cycle again on Friday.
-Froze the remaining chicken curry, in lunch sized containers.
-Froze the leftover taco meat
-I'm planning to make orange chicken & fried rice tonight, and I'll use some of the corn (freezer) that is on my "get it out of the freezer" January list in the fried rice. I don't love frozen corn kernels, so I won't use a ton, and it will take awhile to get through it all.

My husband & the kids are planning to ski this weekend, so I'll be on my own. I'm planning to deep clean the house & meal prep!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I am really getting to the point where I just want what we need for the week in the house and not much more than that. I am tired of shopping for the food, and over all managing it. I am thriving for simple and I must do the work to get to that goal. I want to eat darn well and not have to deal with much extra.

@seemsright I'm also searching for this level of simplicity.  I won't stop buying in bulk because some of what I buy I can't get locally, but I'm planning to have fewer bulk buckets over time.  These buckets aren't what take so much management; for me it's the cans, jars, boxes, and bags in the pantry.  I don't want to have to shop weekly, but every other week seems doable.  It's going to take us a long time to get through the food in the house and refine it to what we eat on a regular basis without significant extra -- possibly the first half of 2023.

I've opened my eyes to the reality of chasing every recipe that catches my fancy -- sure I'll make the recipe a time or two, and we'll enjoy it, but then I'll go back to cooking our favorites and have some obscure ingredient cluttering up the fridge or pantry.  While I enjoy the challenge I've given myself right now, to use what we have and not buy anything except truly needed perishables and fresh produce, I can already feel the fatigue creeping in on the days I feel tired.

Today's main meal is ham and broccoli quiche, using some leftover ham bits I froze and three pieces of steamed broccoli leftover from yesterday's main meal, chopped small, with feta as the cheese as we need to get through that.  Supper will be leftover lamb stew served with some frozen Omaha Steaks au gratin potatoes we received in a gift.

[seemsright]

I am really getting to the point where I just want what we need for the week in the house and not much more than that. I am tired of shopping for the food, and over all managing it. I am thriving for simple and I must do the work to get to that goal. I want to eat darn well and not have to deal with much extra.

@seemsright I'm also searching for this level of simplicity.  I won't stop buying in bulk because some of what I buy I can't get locally, but I'm planning to have fewer bulk buckets over time.  These buckets aren't what take so much management; for me it's the cans, jars, boxes, and bags in the pantry.  I don't want to have to shop weekly, but every other week seems doable.  It's going to take us a long time to get through the food in the house and refine it to what we eat on a regular basis without significant extra -- possibly the first half of 2023.

I've opened my eyes to the reality of chasing every recipe that catches my fancy -- sure I'll make the recipe a time or two, and we'll enjoy it, but then I'll go back to cooking our favorites and have some obscure ingredient cluttering up the fridge or pantry.  While I enjoy the challenge I've given myself right now, to use what we have and not buy anything except truly needed perishables and fresh produce, I can already feel the fatigue creeping in on the days I feel tired.

Today's main meal is ham and broccoli quiche, using some leftover ham bits I froze and three pieces of steamed broccoli leftover from yesterday's main meal, chopped small.  Supper will be leftover lamb stew served with some frozen Omaha Steaks au gratin potatoes we received in a gift.

To get to the level of simplicity it does require accepting quite simple food. A pot of rice, some roasted salmon and a bag of frozen veggies, is a meal in this house. I think I am past the whole create fancy meals. Sure every once in a blue moon, but I really just want to enjoy the simple things. It really is a mindset.

I will still be buying oats, rice and basic flour in bulk. the amount we eat of those things just makes since to buy 25# at a time. As my preteen is known to eat a bowl of raw oats, with milk and sugar. I make a lot of bread and rice is my preferred grain to eat for dinners. 

I am not sure what we will have tonight yet, either I will warm up the leftover split pea soup I made the other night, or I will make some rice and put stir fry veggies on top and call it a night. My preteen has dance tonight and I just want to drink tea and go to bed early.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I am really getting to the point where I just want what we need for the week in the house and not much more than that. I am tired of shopping for the food, and over all managing it. I am thriving for simple and I must do the work to get to that goal. I want to eat darn well and not have to deal with much extra.

@seemsright I'm also searching for this level of simplicity.  I won't stop buying in bulk because some of what I buy I can't get locally, but I'm planning to have fewer bulk buckets over time.  These buckets aren't what take so much management; for me it's the cans, jars, boxes, and bags in the pantry.  I don't want to have to shop weekly, but every other week seems doable.  It's going to take us a long time to get through the food in the house and refine it to what we eat on a regular basis without significant extra -- possibly the first half of 2023.

I've opened my eyes to the reality of chasing every recipe that catches my fancy -- sure I'll make the recipe a time or two, and we'll enjoy it, but then I'll go back to cooking our favorites and have some obscure ingredient cluttering up the fridge or pantry.  While I enjoy the challenge I've given myself right now, to use what we have and not buy anything except truly needed perishables and fresh produce, I can already feel the fatigue creeping in on the days I feel tired.

Today's main meal is ham and broccoli quiche, using some leftover ham bits I froze and three pieces of steamed broccoli leftover from yesterday's main meal, chopped small.  Supper will be leftover lamb stew served with some frozen Omaha Steaks au gratin potatoes we received in a gift.

To get to the level of simplicity it does require accepting quite simple food. A pot of rice, some roasted salmon and a bag of frozen veggies, is a meal in this house. I think I am past the whole create fancy meals. Sure every once in a blue moon, but I really just want to enjoy the simple things. It really is a mindset.

I will still be buying oats, rice and basic flour in bulk. the amount we eat of those things just makes since to buy 25# at a time. As my preteen is known to eat a bowl of raw oats, with milk and sugar. I make a lot of bread and rice is my preferred grain to eat for dinners. 

I am not sure what we will have tonight yet, either I will warm up the leftover split pea soup I made the other night, or I will make some rice and put stir fry veggies on top and call it a night. My preteen has dance tonight and I just want to drink tea and go to bed early.

I'll continue to buy flour, wheat berries, and rice in the big bags (20 - 50# depending on the grain), and oats in 5-10# bags.  But once I get through the heirloom grains I have I'm going to simplify it down to just all purpose flour (organic without any additives like malted barley) and hard white wheat berries.  I do need to try soaking and flaking the einkorn and soft wheat berries.  I might continue to buy popping corn in 25# bags since we also grind it to use as porridge.  But I want to buy legumes like beans and lentils as we need them rather than in bulk, as we don't eat them like we used to.

I prefer fresh vegetables to frozen, but do have some frozen bags of a good roasted peppers and onions mix.  I keep frozen person hand for Indian spiced potatoes, and frozen corn because it's a great quick carb to fill everyone up (we'll do a weekend meal of grilled steak, frozen corn, and a simple salad). I usually buy 2-4  vegetables in larger quantities, clean and prep them, store with paper towels, and then eat them over and over again for 2 weeks.  This time around it's been broccoli and zucchini, but I also buy cabbage pretty often.  I always keep carrots, celery, and onions on hand, and the carrots can be a side vegetable as well.

I prefer potatoes (white or sweet) to rice, but we do eat rice several times a week.  Come hot weather we eat more rice because potatoes sprout so quickly when the house is warm.

I do love to cook, but more and more I'm exhausted by the shopping and food inventory management.  That the main reason I joined this challenge, so I can get through the inventory of food we have and then mindfully curate a simpler pantry and freezer.

[Josiecat22222]

@MaybeBabyMustache, my favorite use for frozen corn is mixed with black beans and rice and taco seasoning and then used for filler in burritos!  As the only vegetarian in my house, I often make this blend, then add meat for the fellas.  Frozen corn is also good added into corn bread...or browned and added to grits for shrimp and grits for those of us in the south!!!

Tonight's dinner is oven roasted potatoes to use up the mini yukon golds now starting to sprout.  Serving with with a veg cobb salad for me and steak for the fellas.  The leftover taters will be panfried with onions and a fried egg tomorrow for brunch.  YUM!