Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Thanks, @Josiecat23503 - I think my problem is that I bought the frozen corn for some recipe I don't remember, but actually don't like it in basically any dish. I'm trying to "disguise" it, for the most part.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Thanks, @Josiecat23503 - I think my problem is that I bought the frozen corn for some recipe I don't remember, but actually don't like it in basically any dish. I'm trying to "disguise" it, for the most part.

How much do you have to get through?  I'm trying to think of what dish you might have bought it for.  Corn chowder?  Maybe corn/avocado/mango salsa?

[fuzzy math]

Elote (Mexican style street corn) is my go to "gotta eat up corn" recipe and I really try to avoid corn (especially whole corn) as it is. Just use mayo, some Tajin seasoning and crumbly white cheese. Its so decadently junky.

Fuzzy house:

- Used up some more condiments and packets
- Cooked a boxed legume risotto, struggling to get through it and giving myself permission to donate the other box of it
- Cooked an Aldi Chicken marsala base jar (that's been sitting in the cupboard for way too long) for the first time. OMG THIS STUFF IS CRACK. To my not fancy self it tastes like the Cheesecake Factory version of this dish. I added a bunch of fresh mushrooms, onion and garlic to it.
- DD used up some cake flour
- DS finished up some apple juice that's been hogging fridge space
- Stretched some rice leftovers through multiple meals
- Used up the last of 2 open corn tortillas that had been hidden at the bottom of the fridge deli drawer
- Fed some really gnarly cheap pepperoni to the dogs
- DH is working through some weird almond milk creamers we were given
- In general I've been mid week meal planning more - we have lunch meat to eat up and tonight is going to be grilled sandwiches


While I'm not working, I've also been focusing on looking through grocery ads and buying sale items. Ended up with a lot of sale chicken and steak at the beginning of the week. I'm being judicious in cooking it and serving the leftovers the next day. We just did multiple grocery runs (including a sams club run that always means larger volumes of singular items coming into the kitchen) and I'm a bit overwhelmed at the volume of things we need to eat up again.

There are 5 people in my home. I struggle with "how much is enough food to keep?" for the crew. I'm GF and have to eat low carb, DD is mostly vegetarian, DH is my leftovers champion and my 2 DS eat like monsters. We have 2 big fridges and no actual pantry in the kitchen - so everything is overflowing from 3 separate 2-door cupboards. I'd say we have roughly 3-4 weeks of food stored up at any time - not that we'd have all the items to accompany them into making meals (probably would run out of milk, fresh veggies, butter etc to fulfill those recipes). Overall we spend about $800 a month on food for 5 because I buy a lot of sale, markdown and short dated items... and that includes buying toilet paper and dog food. I still feel like what we spend is normal / low / good but I'm often overwhelmed by all the foods we have. If I try to keep less than that the family gets the impression that mom is being cheap and dad will take them out to buy full priced garbage (cereal and chips!!!) just to refill those spaces.

How many weeks of food do you have stored at your home?

[Josiecat22222]

@fuzzy math; we probably have months of food, like in a survival situation we could make it...but like you would quickly run out of eggs/milk/produce.  I have a pretty vast store of dried beans, rice, pasta and canned goods built up over the pandemic and then maintained.  I am currently working my way through the oldest stuff and being more selective about what to replace, but having a stocked pantry makes DH feel safe.  And my marriage is my most valuable asset.

[okisok]

- Cooked an Aldi Chicken marsala base jar (that's been sitting in the cupboard for way too long) for the first time. OMG THIS STUFF IS CRACK. To my not fancy self it tastes like the Cheesecake Factory version of this dish.

I love their jarred 'supposedly Indian' sauces! Yeah, it's not authentic but it's still yummy. It is perfect for using up veggie bits and bobs, especially freezer cleanout veggies that might not be great otherwise.

[seemsright]

Elote (Mexican style street corn) is my go to "gotta eat up corn" recipe and I really try to avoid corn (especially whole corn) as it is. Just use mayo, some Tajin seasoning and crumbly white cheese. Its so decadently junky.

Fuzzy house:

- Used up some more condiments and packets
- Cooked a boxed legume risotto, struggling to get through it and giving myself permission to donate the other box of it
- Cooked an Aldi Chicken marsala base jar (that's been sitting in the cupboard for way too long) for the first time. OMG THIS STUFF IS CRACK. To my not fancy self it tastes like the Cheesecake Factory version of this dish. I added a bunch of fresh mushrooms, onion and garlic to it.
- DD used up some cake flour
- DS finished up some apple juice that's been hogging fridge space
- Stretched some rice leftovers through multiple meals
- Used up the last of 2 open corn tortillas that had been hidden at the bottom of the fridge deli drawer
- Fed some really gnarly cheap pepperoni to the dogs
- DH is working through some weird almond milk creamers we were given
- In general I've been mid week meal planning more - we have lunch meat to eat up and tonight is going to be grilled sandwiches


While I'm not working, I've also been focusing on looking through grocery ads and buying sale items. Ended up with a lot of sale chicken and steak at the beginning of the week. I'm being judicious in cooking it and serving the leftovers the next day. We just did multiple grocery runs (including a sams club run that always means larger volumes of singular items coming into the kitchen) and I'm a bit overwhelmed at the volume of things we need to eat up again.

There are 5 people in my home. I struggle with "how much is enough food to keep?" for the crew. I'm GF and have to eat low carb, DD is mostly vegetarian, DH is my leftovers champion and my 2 DS eat like monsters. We have 2 big fridges and no actual pantry in the kitchen - so everything is overflowing from 3 separate 2-door cupboards. I'd say we have roughly 3-4 weeks of food stored up at any time - not that we'd have all the items to accompany them into making meals (probably would run out of milk, fresh veggies, butter etc to fulfill those recipes). Overall we spend about $800 a month on food for 5 because I buy a lot of sale, markdown and short dated items... and that includes buying toilet paper and dog food. I still feel like what we spend is normal / low / good but I'm often overwhelmed by all the foods we have. If I try to keep less than that the family gets the impression that mom is being cheap and dad will take them out to buy full priced garbage (cereal and chips!!!) just to refill those spaces.

How many weeks of food do you have stored at your home?

We spend $800 a month on food for 2 adults and a preteen.

I am trying to get to the point where I only buy what we need and not much else. I keep rice, oats and flour in bulk. And know how to cook things from scratch. My favorite things is to make a meal out of what seems like nothing.

I am not sure how long I could feed us as we eat a ton of produce, I could go maybe 10 days because I keep some frozen veggies in the freezer.

[Trifle]

We are similar to @seemsright^.  We spend $800 a month for two adults and two teenagers, and eat a lot of fresh food.  We don't have a lot of food on hand at any given time, and no bulk items.  Probably only about 7-10 days of food. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Thanks, @Josiecat23503 - I think my problem is that I bought the frozen corn for some recipe I don't remember, but actually don't like it in basically any dish. I'm trying to "disguise" it, for the most part.

How much do you have to get through?  I'm trying to think of what dish you might have bought it for.  Corn chowder?  Maybe corn/avocado/mango salsa?

I'm pretty sure it was taco soup, which I love, but no one else in my house will eat. I'm using it for fried rice, but just a little at a time. I do like the idea of including it in a salsa - I may try that as well!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We spend about $750 for two adults & two active teens. However, everyone in the family gets free lunch during the week (adults at work, kids at school). The kids don't actually take advantage of it, and skip lunch a lot, but it's there when they need or want it.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

We've been averaging $650 per month since August, when I started a new budget file after mine had something weird happen that I couldn't fix.  Most of the time that is for 3 adults, plus having the other young adult child home for a month at the holidays, and some extra spending for holiday meals and treats.  Goal for January is $200 as I am deep into a pantry and freezer challenge.

Breakfast: DH ate the last leftover piece of quiche with sourdough toast, and I ate 2 eggs with sourdough toast.

Lunch: I made grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade sourdough; I put a sliced tomato into DH's sandwich as I bought 3# of tomatoes and didn't really think about how many that is.

Supper: I made a soup with ham stock from the freezer, leftover ham, a zucchini that needed to get used ASAP, carrots, a package of tortelloni I'd defrosted that we didn't get to because yesterday was busy, a small amount of half and half, and sprinkled with parmesan.  I served the soup with the last two mini baguettes from the Omaha Steaks gift we received. Kid #2 made a different meal and used up the rest of an opened package of diced prosciutto.  For dessert DH is finishing off the Omaha Steaks apple blossoms and I'm eating the last piece of a celebratory cake.

Snacks: DH is working his way through a large bag of oranges, and I ate another stroopwafel.

Food loss: today I tossed a jar of homemade macadamia cream that my son didn't get through before he went back to university, and a small amount of peppers and onions leftover from 1/6 that we added to several meals but didn't quite finish.

[Ysera]

- A personal size watermelon was eaten up. I bought it before the holidays and forgot about it in the fridge. The inside was still great, although the outside had gotten soft, making me think it wouldn't be.
- More kale roasted and eaten.
- All freezer bananas were used up making banana waffles.

Next up is some ground turkey that I just defrosted. I also have some frozen hash brown shreds to use up. I may combine them into some sort of casserole tonight (since I'm really awful at making good hash browns.😐)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I went through our freezer yesterday, and discovered we had 20+ bananas. My husband has a terrible habit of buying a bunch at Costco, giving the kids 3-4 during the week for breakfast, and then the rest sit on the counter until I eventually freeze them. I did refuse to buy bananas today out of principle. ;-) This morning I peeled & pureed all of the bananas, and now need to decide what to do with them. I'm thinking I'll make a few batches of muffins, but freeze the rest in bags, which will take a lot less room than full bananas. The muffins will go into the freezer, but in an easy to consume form.

Other things:
-Ate the rest of the orange chicken & (extra corn-y) fried rice for lunch.
-Made split pea & ham soup, white bean rosemary soup & French bread yesterday. I kept out one portion of each soup & froze all of the rest.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I went through our freezer yesterday, and discovered we had 20+ bananas. My husband has a terrible habit of buying a bunch at Costco, giving the kids 3-4 during the week for breakfast, and then the rest sit on the counter until I eventually freeze them. I did refuse to buy bananas today out of principle. ;-) This morning I peeled & pureed all of the bananas, and now need to decide what to do with them. I'm thinking I'll make a few batches of muffins, but freeze the rest in bags, which will take a lot less room than full bananas. The muffins will go into the freezer, but in an easy to consume form.

Other things:
-Ate the rest of the orange chicken & (extra corn-y) fried rice for lunch.
-Made split pea & ham soup, white bean rosemary soup & French bread yesterday. I kept out one portion of each soup & froze all of the rest.

20 bananas is a lot!  Like you, if we had that many uneaten bananas I would also refuse to buy them anymore.

I've stopped freezing bananas because they weren't getting used quickly and after a few months in the freezer they looked pretty bad.  Back in our smoothie eating days I couldn't freeze enough bananas, but we gave up the expensive smoothie habit.  Now I make muffins with overripe bananas and freeze those, and that works better because a frozen muffin is grab and go -- nothing else needs to be done with it.  I bought a bunch of bananas from Sam's Club this week and there is a risk that DH and I won't get through them all before they are too far gone, but at least with the cold weather they ripen less quickly and we both are willing to eat them with some spots, unlike my oldest (who honestly prefers most fruit underripe).  But by the end of the week I might be making muffins.

Other things:
:: ate homemade frozen waffles for breakfast
:: ate leftover soup for lunch
:: slow cooking a pork butt from the freezer, will serve with leftover Indian potatoes, with a side of zucchini, which we really need to start getting though (plus rice for the young adult)
:: DH ate oranges for a snack

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@K_in_the_kitchen - I have one smoothie drinker at my house (both teens will drink them in the summer), but my double sport athlete will often come home between games & a smoothie is a good option for healthy & filling, but not so filling you can't play in your next game, match, what have you. I often add diced banana to whatever other frozen fruit we have on hand - currently mangoes & blueberries.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

@K_in_the_kitchen - I have one smoothie drinker at my house (both teens will drink them in the summer), but my double sport athlete will often come home between games & a smoothie is a good option for healthy & filling, but not so filling you can't play in your next game, match, what have you. I often add diced banana to whatever other frozen fruit we have on hand - currently mangoes & blueberries.

Yep, for us the smoothies were a major thing during high schools with both kids in competitive cycling.  They would have them for breakfast (DH would make them and have one as well, and they were all drinking 32 ounce smoothies) and then also on race days and sometimes after training.  With my oldest being dairy allergic, we were using hemp and flax seed to make them creamy and add healthy fats plus some protein.  They were sweetened with dates.  And then of course there was all of the fruit needed, and DH always added berries.  I did the math back in 2016 and we were spending $300 a month on smoothie ingredients.  That was with buying all of the frozen fruit, hemp seed, and dates at good prices from Costco.  We were eating plant based at the time so the smoothies were an excellent way to have high nutrition breakfasts.  I didn't begrudge it then, but in 2018 we focused more on FIRE, and my youngest stopped competing.  It seemed like a good time to rethink everything, especially since we weren't eating plant based any longer.

If they could eat smoothies made with a banana, some homemade yogurt, and some frozen fruit, it would be far more economical.

My oldest still competes both in collegiate and national races, and trains 18-20 hours per week, but he lives at university, and is out of the habit of having smoothies on a regular basis.  When he's home he sometimes makes protein recovery smoothies, but they aren't part of his regular meals.  He's just as happy with peanut butter on homemade whole wheat bread, which along with a banana is a great meal for 1.5 - 2 hours before a race.

[Dutch Comfort]

Now I really got to a point where the pantry is overflowing...... there is stuff on my countertop that should be in the pantry-closet.
The fridge and freezer are OK-ish, but that pantry...... I need to try to get people in my household to eat loads of snacks and other food items before they get bad and I need to get my shopping habits in control. I'm way too much focussed on good deals, but we first need to finish what's already there.

Wins this weekend:
2 wrinkled apples made it into an apple-cake. Together with butter, eggs and some all-purpose flour from the pantry it was a treat without cost!
Burrito-night was good. A few canned vegetables from the pantry made it in there.
Made a big pan of chicken soup. Froze enough for 2 more meals.
1 Box of breakfast sprinkles was finished.

Tonight I will try and organise the pantry to really get an overview of the items in there and need to plan how to finish them........ wish me luck.......

[GardenBaker]

Making some definite progress last week and today in this department:

Ate a lingering acai bowl in the freezer for breakfast one day last week.
Last night we pulled out some frozen mozzarella sticks for an appetizer.
Today I pulled out 2 frozen hamburger buns and some Wagyu frozen ground beef from a year ago for burgers tonight. Received free sliced cheese from some leftover work catering, so that'll be used on burgers tonight as well.
 
I did add a bit to the freezer this week, but it kept some refrigerated food from becoming wasted. Froze some salsa in individual portions and sliced a bell pepper and froze for future fajitas.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I did a bunch of meal prep this weekend, as my husband & kids were out of town skiing. I made four dozen muffins (banana to use up the infinite amount of frozen bananas) & blueberry, to use up some super cheap yogurt I bought. I also added the rest of the pureed bananas back to the freezer, but they are in a clearly labeled ziplock, and took up very little space. They are ready for future muffins.

Today I prepped six pounds of chicken:
-Three pounds to make chicken fajitas. I made my own spice mix, and added the peppers & onions. 1/2 stayed out for two dinners this week, and the other 1/2 went into the freezer
-Three pounds to make chicken shawarma. Similarly, I made my own spice mix, and added the onions required for roasting. 1/2 stayed out for two dinners this week, and the other 1/2 went into the freezer.

I'm feeling pretty accomplished, but our freezer is packed! It's a good thing, as we are stocked with lots of soup, muffins & prepped meals. But, we need to be good about working through what's in there.

[MountainGal]

Hope everyone is well.

The past week or so:
-Overnight oats used the remaining bit of a jar of jam and leftover strawberries
-A pan of baked oatmeal squares used a gifted small jar of homemade raspberry jam
-Smoothies used the remaining bag of mixed berries, a tad more crystalized honey, and a few cubes lemon juice frozen last fall
-Thawed out two slices of anniversary cake from last August
-Suppers the next few weeks will feature leftover taco casserole, enchiladas, and the remaining Caulipower pizza crust
-We consumed more frozen appetizers and a tube of cinnamon rolls leftover from the holiday season
-For an upcoming social event I'll use what is on hand including making a homemade popcorn/yogurt pretzel/caramel bit recipe I didn't get to during the holidays, cupcakes from scratch, and artichoke dip with crackers.

[fuzzy math]

I am working on the following: an old non dairy ice cream that DH has abandoned, some lentil noodles (I have way too many GF noodles), some markdown salad dressings. Ate half of a single serving microwave rice and put the rest in with the last portion of Chicken marsala that will be tomorrow's lunch.

DH's food accomplishments: eating weird corn flakes, finished the legume risotto. Has been eating all the bagged salad fixins I don't like (dried corn, quinoa and pepitas etc)

Kids food accomplishments: alfredo and homemade alfredo gone. Kid's friends ate some homemade mac n cheese.

Items abandoned: some markdown Christmas tea that smells like wet socks. Going to the free store.

[Dutch Comfort]

Wins yesterday and today:
- last slices of apple-cake got eaten
- found 6 more packages of ramen noodles (I already bought 5 new ones...., so the total amount came to 11 in the pantry). Teen #1 is working on finishing the old ones first!
- made a nice lunch-omelet with some leftover mushrooms, a few slices of bacon, a small onion and a few eggs.
- Teen #2 took 2 snack items with him to school, finishing off 2 packages!
- convinced the two teens to have some lingering cereal for breakfast
- started to eat the icecream popsicles which are left from summer as a desert. Still a few to go!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Successes from the last couple of days:

::Finished all of the ham tortelloni soup, for the final meal of it we each had half a bowl along with fresh whole wheat rolls and a piece of Tillamook cheese.  It was a low on broth so I added a little water to heat it up, and then to make up for the loss of flavor tossed in some parmesan cheese -- it was delicious!

::Shallow fried the remainder of a (huge) package of corn tortillas leftover from NYE so they could be used without falling apart, used some for tacos with leftover pulled pork and the rest are ready to heat and eat (hopefully with more leftover pork)

:: Froze 2 quarts of lamb broth after I changed the meal plan and pushed shepherd's pie to another week

:: Realized college student #1 left a not quite finished jar of cookie butter in the pantry, spread it on a stroopwafel which was a big improvement, still have a little left in the jar

:: DH and I finished the stroopwafels

:: Eating down the freezer stash of homemade muffins, waffles, and pancakes

:: DH ate more oranges from the 25# bag

:: DH and I each ate a locally handmade candy cane leftover from the holidays, still have a few left

:: Made 3 more of the Omaha Steaks beef patties, now only 2 to go

::  Had 5 avocados go unexpectedly soft two days after we bought them, used 2 of them to make guacamole to top tacos --  should probably serve tacos for supper again tonight as this batch of avocados also had several brown spots

:: Got through all of the zucchini I bought in late December, with the final one being turned into zucchini bread this afternoon.  We'll eat one over the next several days and freeze the other one

:: Working on eating some cereal college kid #2 wanted and then didn't eat -- I don't like it for breakfast but it's an okay snack

:: Served hot chocolate to college kid #2 made with homemade chocolate syrup and part of an opened carton of half and half, both of which I want to get through but don't actually want to consume myself -- will continue to do this until it is all gone, because said kid won't bother to make it, but will drink it if I make it

LOSS: had to toss half a carton of oat milk that college kid #1 didn't finish before heading back to school -- I managed to get some of it consumed by DH but I can't have it which made it hard to work into any meals

*****

While we've always had a strong desire not to waste food, choosing to do a major pantry/freezer challenge has really brought to my attention how much food we have stored away, mostly in the freezers.  Honestly, I haven't really gotten into the pantry much so far in January, other than for the basics like seasonings, baking ingredients, sweeteners, grains, oil, cocoa powder, etc.  So far this month I've also only defrosted one piece of meat that I bought -- the rest has been stuff already cooked or meat from the Omaha Steaks gift box we received in December.  Looking at the freezer inventory, I'm going to challenge myself not to buy any meat for the months of January thru June.  I'm going to keep the perishable food budget below $200 per month until college kid #1 comes home, with an additional $150 per month specifically for restocking pantry basics.

[fuzzy math]

- Made DH the absolute garbagey-est of the leftover meals for lunch and he ate it. Got 2 tupperwares out of the fridge
- DH, DS and DD each ate a spicy chicken patty from the freezer. This is huge they've all been sneering at them
- Last of the freezer buns gone too
- Used up at least 10 ketchup packets while making potato wedges. DS nearly finished off a steak sauce with the wedges
- Soaking some great northern beans to make chili tomorrow
- Found a spice container to donate
- Ate part of an ancient half cucumber
- Still working on the dreaded giant Tapatio hot sauce. There are 180 servings in it!!! :o

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Finished off the container of ham & split pea soup in the fridge, plus a piece of homemade bread
-DH made the rest of the bread into garlic bread for DS15's dinner
-We ate the rest of the chicken shawarma for dinner last night
-I used part of a bag of mixed greens for salad last night. It was intended for my lunches, but I forgot about it. I'm hoping I can still save it by using the rest tonight.
-We have chicken fajitas in the fridge, prepped, marinated & ready to go for dinner tonight. I need to defrost some taco meat for DS15, as he's not a fajita fan.
-The teens have been eating the Uncrustables, which we bought for skiing.

[Dutch Comfort]

As a Dutchy, I had to look up what Uncrustables were....... good thing to have them gone!

Wins today:
- Teen #1 took cereal AGAIN (since she had to do a quick breakfast, this is her go-to option).
- Lunch was some leftover slices of bread (from freezer) and leftover salad and some instant-soup (Yep, another pantry item!)
- Working on 2 kg of tangerines and 1 kg of snack-tomatoes as snacks
- Teen #1 finished a few leftover nachos as a snack
- Tonight will be pasta-night because of soccer training. Pasta and tomato-sauce from pantry!
- Teen #2 decided that a tortilla with peanut butter is the best breakfast.......OK, it takes care of the leftover tortillas!

My countertop is starting to look organised without the leftovers. Next up is the pantry...... Tomorrow and Friday the teens are having lunch at home. Great way of getting any leftovers out.
 

[seemsright]

I am delaying going to the grocery store. I do not want to go till Friday or Sat.

Tonight I am making some tacos that should use up the 1/8 of a cabbage that has been in my fridge forever I like to make a slaw to eat on top of my tacos, I will slice up the jicama I have and mix with lime juice using a lime that needs to be used. And finish off the tortillas.

I will use the leftover salad mix to make my smoothie this afternoon, this will also help me use up some of the oranges that look to be on their last legs.

And I will figure out what the food plan is for tmrw once I know what needs to be used.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dutch Comfort - they are only an option (for us) for skiing, because the kids will eat them, even if they've been squished in a pocket. I've tried to make just regular PB&J sandwiches, but they prefer the Uncrustables. Gag.

[fuzzy math]

Tonight I am making some tacos that should use up the 1/8 of a cabbage that has been in my fridge forever I like to make a slaw to eat on top of my tacos, I will slice up the jicama I have and mix with lime juice using a lime that needs to be used. And finish off the tortillas.

Do you just use lime juice on the slaw or is the lime juice for the jicama? I'm always looking for a good slaw dressing!

[seemsright]

Tonight I am making some tacos that should use up the 1/8 of a cabbage that has been in my fridge forever I like to make a slaw to eat on top of my tacos, I will slice up the jicama I have and mix with lime juice using a lime that needs to be used. And finish off the tortillas.

Do you just use lime juice on the slaw or is the lime juice for the jicama? I'm always looking for a good slaw dressing!

I am going to use the lime juice on the jicama. My slaw dressing varies depending on what I have in the fridge and and how much my preteen is complaining how long dinner is taking. But I will take some mayo, add some hot sauce and then some sorta acid, and some sorta sugar and some sorta salt. Sometimes that is smoked salt and maple syrup Or sometimes some chipotle and honey or sometimes that is adobo and molasses. sometimes the acid is lemon juice, sometimes lime juice, or many different types of vinegar, Orange juice works really well too.

My slaws are never the same. But my preteen will eat them and I make them at least once a week. As tacos are one of the quick dinners I make and I make them when DD has activity's and I need dinner fast. I also make slaws to use up all of the random bits of leftover veggies I have. Sometimes it is broccoli that needs to be used and I just chop it small and call it slaw. Sometimes it is cabbage and carrots, with parsley. Sometimes it is just carrots.

I really like slaws to add texture to meals. When I have textures I find the meal way more satisfying. 

[fuzzy math]

Thanks for sharing! I've put mayo and Thai sweet chili sauce on mine... Orange sounds really nice.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

My slaw dressing varies depending on what I have in the fridge and and how much my preteen is complaining how long dinner is taking. But I will take some mayo, add some hot sauce and then some sorta acid, and some sorta sugar and some sorta salt. Sometimes that is smoked salt and maple syrup Or sometimes some chipotle and honey or sometimes that is adobo and molasses. sometimes the acid is lemon juice, sometimes lime juice, or many different types of vinegar, Orange juice works really well too.
I really like slaws to add texture to meals. When I have textures I find the meal way more satisfying.

I do the same thing to make dressing for slaw, mayo (store-bought or homemade), acid, sweetener, salt.  My favorite is lemon juice and maple syrup, but I'll switch it up to make things interesting.

And now I'm inspired to make cabbage slaw to have with our sandwiches tonight at supper, which will use some of the shredded coleslaw mix I bought.

As for the rest of today, For breakfast I finished off half a serving of frozen sourdough pancakes and half a serving of frozen sourdough waffles, and DH finished the frozen muffins.  We are now down to 8 frozen waffles and then that bin will be empty.  Lunch for everyone was "fix a plate of leftovers because I'm not cooking until we eat some of the food I've already cooked", which resulted in some of the rice and pork being eaten, along with a potato taco filling I made last night for a vegetarian guest, and some shredded zucchini I cooked a few days ago.

We're having guests after supper this evening, so I'm going to make popcorn and bake cookies.  I have way too many chocolate chips and don't like to bake cookies for two of us (college kid #2 can't have gluten), and I have lots and lots of popping corn.

[Weisass]

I’ve been enjoying using items in my freezer this week… so far, we are having corned beef in the crockpot, and leftover pozole from a big supper back in late November. Both were super easy, delicious, and already there to be enjoyed…. A win!

Next week I’m gonna pull out some of the lamb that is lingering at the bottom of the freezer… I can’t wait.

[Dutch Comfort]

Because of snow, our groceries will not be delivered today. So excellent timing to get through the pantry and freezer and put together a meal. No fresh veggies in my fridge (that was on the shopping list from the delivery company), so we will go with canned veggies instead.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Thursday I made stromboli to finish off a package of antipasti meats; we ate one and have one in the fridge for tomorrow.  Lunch that day was leftovers.  Friday I reheated a soup I'd frozen and served that with thick slices of toasted homemade bread.  I had rolls in the freezer but the current loaf of bread really needs to be eaten.

After getting most of the frozen muffins, pancakes, and waffles eaten, I made sourdough pancakes again today and refilled the freezer bin.  It's all because I hate wasting sourdough "discard" and had to feed the sourdough starters yesterday (mine plus one I've been getting ready for a friend).  So I fed the discard from both starters to make overnight pancake batter, but it made far more than we would eat at one meal.  Usually I would divide my one starter, feed half to put back in the fridge and feed the other half for baking sourdough bread, but I baked whole wheat yeasted bread on Monday.  I also have three loaves of bread in the freezer, so I don't need to bake for awhile.  Really I need to get this starter to my friend so I can neglect my starter like I used to -- I don't mine letting mine develop hooch, but want to give her a super healthy starter.

[seemsright]

Thursday I made stromboli to finish off a package of antipasti meats; we ate one and have one in the fridge for tomorrow.  Lunch that day was leftovers.  Friday I reheated a soup I'd frozen and served that with thick slices of toasted homemade bread.  I had rolls in the freezer but the current loaf of bread really needs to be eaten.

After getting most of the frozen muffins, pancakes, and waffles eaten, I made sourdough pancakes again today and refilled the freezer bin.  It's all because I hate wasting sourdough "discard" and had to feed the sourdough starters yesterday (mine plus one I've been getting ready for a friend).  So I fed the discard from both starters to make overnight pancake batter, but it made far more than we would eat at one meal.  Usually I would divide my one starter, feed half to put back in the fridge and feed the other half for baking sourdough bread, but I baked whole wheat yeasted bread on Monday.  I also have three loaves of bread in the freezer, so I don't need to bake for awhile.  Really I need to get this starter to my friend so I can neglect my starter like I used to -- I don't mine letting mine develop hooch, but want to give her a super healthy starter.

I have tried to take care of sourdough starter many times. I am terrible at it. I never can get it in my head that it is another task to take care of. My solution to that is to make bread dough the night before I want to make bread and let it ferment in the fridge over night.

[Trifle]

Last night I made a veggie pot pie that came out delicious and used up:

     -- a can of baby potatoes I got for free from the thrift store where I volunteer;
     -- mushrooms from the fridge that needed to go
     -- frozen mixed veg from the freezer
     -- a package of vegan/tofu "chicken" nuggets that I got super cheap at Grocery Outlet
     -- the rest of some shortening that had been in the fridge for a long time (to make the pie crust)

[Dutch Comfort]

Week is starting and the pantry will be my main point of focus. This weekend we did a grocery run and fortunately, the amount added to the overflowing pantry was limited. Now I have to plan to eat it down to acceptable levels. I already gave some snacks to the teens for school, so first things are out.
DS was eating cereal this morning, so the cereal stash is really getting a dent into it.
This weekend wins:

- some snack sausages and some crisps were used as appetizers on Saturday
- I took a large piece of beef from the freezer and prepped a nice stew (using herbs and condiments which were in my fridge/pantry) which will take care of 2 dinners (today and tomorrow) and maybe some leftovers
- finished a bottle of worchestershire sauce which was in my pantry forever. Will only buy a new one when I need it (I mostly use it in salads during summer, so not needed now).
- DD is really helping eating the fruits and salads which are available.
- DS finished the last pasta-leftover.
- used the last slices of bacon in a meatloaf on Sunday (with no leftovers, so it was a good one!)
- sacrified myself to start eating down the chocolate-cream truffles (Belgium delicacy)........so good!

Have read a blog on minimalism and focus, and their first tip was to focus on 1 thing (not 10, like I'm used to....). So I decided to focus on the pantry.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I have tried to take care of sourdough starter many times. I am terrible at it. I never can get it in my head that it is another task to take care of. My solution to that is to make bread dough the night before I want to make bread and let it ferment in the fridge over night.

I don't mind neglecting my starter for months at a time (I think I let it go a full year once).  But I have this starter for a friend and really don't want to give her a starter covered in hooch.

I'm also a fan of overnight bulk fermentation on the counter if the house is cold, or the refrigerator -- I think it makes for much better bread!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Ate leftover stromboli for lunch yesterday.  For dinner I did a large piece of top round (from the freezer) sous vide, then seared it and sliced it London Broil style.  I've found that I don't love top round, so I'm glad there is only one piece left in the freezer.  The beef fed 4 people, with enough leftovers for a taco filling on Tuesday and for college kid #2 to eat for a couple of days.  College kid #2 doesn't like marinades so I had only dry brined the beef with salt, but that last piece of top round is going to get marinated even if DH and I are the only ones to eat it.  Served the beef with the last of some baby potatoes that had just started to sprout (only a few of them and I flicked the sprouts off), broccoli from the fridge, and a salad DH made with romaine we've been working on for a full month.  He included carrots, tomatoes, and what he cold salvage of an avocado that had a huge bruised side that I didn't see when I grabbed a bag at Costco.

Breakfast today was sourdough pancakes from the freezer.  Lunch was an amazing chicken and wild rice soup to use up some leftover chicken, chicken broth from the freezer, basic veggies (carrots, celery, onion), a bag of diced sweet potatoes from the freezer (last minute and incredibly delicious addition), some of the wild rice I bought for Christmas Eve lunch but didn't use because of the Covid cancellation, and part of a leftover carton of half and half.  Seriously it was just a wow kind of soup, and I can hardly wait to see how it is tomorrow.

Food waste: 1/3 of a container of vegan pesto we bought for college kid #1.  He ate it on pasta, on pizza, and in stromboli, but a little went a long way.  I can't eat it, and DH used it a few times but couldn't get through it all before it spoiled.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Brought home leftovers from date night, and had that for lunch on Sunday
-Ate kid dinner leftovers on another day
-Defrosted ham & split pea soup, and having that for lunch today
-Organized the pantry, tossed a few (VERY) expired items, and cleaned it up so it's easier to see everything
-Tonight will be leftover spaghetti & meatballs. I'd originally planned to make a new dinner, but forgot that ground beef at the store. So, spaghetti & meatballs it is. Oh well, it will ensure nothing gets wasted. If there's not quite enough, I have naan bread in the fridge, and can make the boys grilled cheese on naan to go with it.

[GardenBaker]

- Threw out some hamburger buns found lingering in the pantry that expired 12/9/22. Also threw out a bag of stale almonds.
- Ate Wednesday's work lunch on Sunday since I called in sick Wednesday and didn't feel like eating it.
- Baked a casserole on Thursday and ate leftovers on Friday and Saturday. Will take the rest for work lunches this week.
- DH brought home a lot of catering from a work function; this week we'll be eating that so it doesn't get thrown out. I cringe at food waste even if I didn't pay for it myself. Plus side of this, I don't have to cook and can just microwave most of it. Maybe add a side here or there, but that's all. Easy week.
- Freezing food from the fridge that will go bad before we consume it.

[fuzzy math]

- cooked some soup base (broth, carrots, cabbage, onion) with some liquid bullion
- cooked a ton of barley and am having DH work his way through it (I put some in the soup base for his lunch today)
- found some forgotten chicken thighs in the fridge, diced the meat and added tons of hot sauce and some cream cheese for a buffalo baked dip
- opened a box of GF baking flour that I've been hoarding for a couple years. Made cookies
- its going to snow tomorrow and instead of going to the store DD and I made the decision to bake

Failure:
- found some chili in the garage fridge that I made last week. Its do or die time, I bet I'll end up freezing most of it

[Dutch Comfort]

Wins yesterday and today so far:
- chocolate-cream truffles are gone (I got some help from DH and DD.....otherwise it would not be good for my health....)
- more snacks went with DS and DD to school
- finished the last two buns with some garlic cream cheese that was leftover from a recipe and a few slices of ham as an easy lunch
- DD is working her way through the stash of instant soup as an addition to her lunch

DD got a 100% score on one of her tests today, so she gets to decide what's for dinner on one of the next days (that is our incentive for both teens: 100% score = decide what's for dinner for 1 day). Hope she will pick an easy one for me.....

[fuzzy math]

- bought more chicken and cooked it in (another long term hoarded pouch of) lemongrass basil sauce. Delicious!
- ate said chicken with the rest of a rice noodle package
- made DH some different asian noodles (that had been bought for DD who rejected them) for his portion
- made DH some chili with the leftover barley in it
- DS ate some mashed potatoes I made a couple days ago
- made keto peanut butter cookies and used up a natural peanut butter and a bunch of coconut sugar. Liked them enough that it'll be a definite repeat!!
- found a slightly cracked egg in the chicken coop and instead of tossing it I hard boiled it for the dogs
- DH is starting to eat through frozen portions of a giant batch of soup he made. YAY!
- DD is making some bread from a neat recipe I randomly ran into.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Made Indian spiced potatoes for Monday's dinner, using potatoes, onion, cabbage mix, various spices, a can of green chiles, frozen peas, and frozen ginger. Served with basmati rice.

Made gluten free cookies for college kid #2 using a box cake mix nearing expiration date and M&Ms left over from Halloween.

College kid #2 made fried rice with leftover rice, leftover top round, and eggs, and ate it for breakfast Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ate leftover chicken and wild rice soup for lunch yesterday, froze the rest in 2 cup portions so now we have 3 ready to go single servings.

Made taco dinner using leftover top round that I diced and seasoned, leftover basmati rice I cooked with some oil and seasonings, peppers and onions from the freezer, avocados from the pantry, cabbage mix from the fridge, and the usual perishables of salsa, tortillas, and cheese.  DH also cut a tomato for his tacos since we have a lot to get through.

Made cookie dough with pantry staples and various open bag additions: milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, caramel bits.  Now have 36 cookie dough pucks frozen for later baking.

Ate leftover Indian spiced potatoes for lunch Wednesday.

Wednesday dinner is salmon from the freezer (leftover from Epiphany party), mashed potatoes (making 5# and freezing extra), broccoli (I bought the big Costco bag so we've been eating a lot of broccoli), and a cabbage salad.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Got through a lot of food today!

For breakfast DH ate the last two pieces (ends) of homemade bread and I ate another bowl of the cereal college kid #2 decided not to eat.

Lunch saw many leftovers eaten.  Between the three of us we ate: 2 leftover fried corn tortillas, leftover Mexican rice, leftover beef, a small jar of beans from the freezer, leftover peppers and onions, leftover roasted potatoes, a serving of leftover basmati rice, some salsa, and two eggs.  We are now down to only having leftover rice (from Wednesday) and leftover Indian potatoes (from Monday).

I froze leftover mashed potatoes in 2 cup cubes and vacuum sealed them this morning.  I reorganized the inside freezer and found three chicken carcasses.  I now have one carcass simmering with some frozen chicken necks and a bag of vegetables scraps from the crisper drawer (onion, celery).  I pulled out some cooked lamb, lamb broth, and some older mashed potatoes, and will make Shepherd's pie this weekend, enough for a meal to eat and a couple of servings to freeze.  My goal is to have a freezer full of broth and ready to eat meals rather than bits and pieces that still have to be made into something else.

[fuzzy math]

Shepards pie sounds so yummy K !

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Friday I finished the dreaded cereal, while DH ate pancakes from the freezer.  We had corn tortilla quesadillas for lunch, with avocado, and for dinner I cooked a pot of beans to eat with leftover rice, and I also made popcorn because college kid #2 called home and was making popcorn, and it sounded good.  After dinner we broke open a package of shortbread cookies leftover from the holidays.

I ate waffles from the freezer this morning, which has shown me that I really don't like having so many sweet breakfast options, so I'm going to cut back on double and triple batching and simplify our breakfasts.  Most mornings I'd rather have an egg or two with toast.  There is a place for these kind of easy breakfasts, but muffins are easier and quicker than pancakes and waffles.  I forgot to thaw a loaf of bread, so we ate corn tortilla quesadillas with avocado again, and DH had a serving of leftover beans.

Fail: I found a bag of limes in the refrigerator that were too far gone to use.  The weird thing is they were in a bin with a bag of lemons purchased at the same time that are still fine.  I checked and these were purchased 11/21, in preparation for the Covid cancelled Thanksgiving.  Note to self: we don't use limes all that often, don't buy them in bulk again.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Ate leftovers from dinner last night for lunch today
-Made the kids corn dogs, that I found buried in the freezer. Added fruit smoothies & cut up veggies to go with, because it wasn't an exactly balanced meal
-Cleaned out the fridge. Minimal waste (tiny portion of rice, and a bit of tomato sauce), & everything is cleaned up & ready to go for the week ahead.
-Froze a package of bagels that my husband bought (he purchased a two pack, and we can only go through one per week)

For dinner tonight, we will finish off the leftover kebabs, rice & yogurt/cucumber sauce.

[fuzzy math]

- Cooked a chicken tikka masala boxed kit that's been lingering. Ate most of it.
- Finished off the lemongrass chicken thighs
- Ate a Kind bar at the movie theatre, didn't buy food there.
- Portioned out ketchup packets onto plates (since the kids always just reach for the bottle of ketchup and we have too many packets)
- Have had fresh cranberries in the fridge since Thanksgiving or Christmas, can't remember... made cranberry orange GF muffins with an almond flour bag, loved them so much that the next day I made cranberry lemon muffins with the remainder of the cranberries and the almond flour. 2 items gone!

FAIL
- DH ate some (meant for exercising) glucose gummies that were found in a storage bin in the garage. They were almost frozen and his crown came off :o  ... I even told him not to eat them!