Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@fuzzy math - impressive work on the shopping/budgeting, and also on the dinner party for 9 with just things around the house. Well done!

-I made a caprese salad for a potluck. I now have a lot of leftover fresh mozzarella, so I need to remember to use that up. It used all of the tomatoes, so I need to pick a few up for the rest of the week.
-The taco meat was a huge hit (I guesstimate on spice level, and don't always get it precisely right), so that used up a large quantity of meat from the portion in the fridge.
-The chicken shawarma was also delicious, although a bit overcooked, so most of that was used up.

I think tonight will be ravioli (with fresh mozzarella) & some chicken sausages I found lingering in the freezer. It would be nice to use all of those up.

[seemsright]

seemsright - For preserved limes, try in a gin and tonic instead of a fresh lime wedge.  If I've had a jar for awhile (or the new lime season is starting) I puree what's left along with the salty liquid.  Add a spoonful to lime curd or salad dressing.  Can you tell I like salt?

Traditional use would be in a middle eastern chicken dish.

Dutch Comfort - If you ever have dried out mustard again, use the crusty jar to make an oil and vinegar type dressing.  I always try for one last use of mustard and jam by making salad dressing with the almost completely empty jar.

Thanks. so much for the ideas. I am a huge fan of both Gin and Middle east food.

[MountainGal]

Hello everyone!  If my research is correct, I haven't posted here since January.  I've been thinking about you and this thread, however, as I've utilized food for a zero-food waste goal.  :)  Lately:

-I cooked the last of the frozen stuffed potato skins, mini wontons and breaded shrimp as football appetizers
-A remaining wedge of mozzarella was sliced for lunch purposes
-The last of the artichokes were drained for DH's lunch
-The last two neighbor raised eggs and the remaining bag of granulated sugar went into an air fryer baked banana bread
-DH ate the last frozen salmon fillet for supper last night
-I've been utilizing homegrown cherry and "regular size" tomatoes in various ways including as supper sides and topped with parmesan and baked in the air fryer.
-Made salads of two of three heads of romaine.  Much to my chagrin, I didn't get to the third one in time.
-A chicken stir fry used half of a bag of frozen stir fry vegetable mix
-A package of almond flour tortillas has been utilized as breakfast and chicken salad wraps for lunch
-Random snacking finished a small bag of Goldfish crackers, dark chocolate nut clusters, and pork rinds
-We bought locally raised pork and beef and the freezers are full, so I've been focusing on slow cooker roasts and ribs, and air fryer chops.  DH will thaw some of the tougher cuts and grind them into ground beef.

I'm glad I skimmed some of my old posts, as the one about one sheet pan meals refreshed my memory.  Onto next week's supper menus they went.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - so glad to see you back! I've thought of you & wondered how your battle against food waste was going. :-)

-Used up a hot dog bun, & most of a bag of grilled chicken sausages & hot dogs last night. It was an eclectic meal, but the teens got fed. Served with fresh berries, which used up the last of the amazing blueberries & raspberries.
-Tonight we will have leftover tacos/taco salads, which will use up more of the taco meat. I'll freeze whatever is leftover.
-Teens are (unsurprisingly) working their way through the ice cream sandwiches ;-)

[MountainGal]

Thanks, @MaybeBabyMustache!  And, yum, I love blueberries!

I picked up groceries since my last post which included fresh produce:
-Yellow squash and zucchini were added with beef sausage for a one sheet pan meal.
-Supper last night included half the asparagus wrapped with bacon, a BBQ chicken Caulipower pizza and mozzarella sticks.  Just one batch of the latter remains.  I ate leftovers today for lunch.
-The remaining half of the large stir fry froze veggies will be cooked with a package of locally raised beef.
-A package of ground beef will go into a cheesy taco skillet tomorrow.  On the side will be canned crab stuffed portobello mushrooms.
-We're having our annual Halloween party and many of the spooktacular cocktails will include liquor we have on hand.

Soon I need to forage to the depths of the freezer drawers to look for hidden items.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-We used up a giant bunch of bananas to make two loaves of banana bread. One is almost gone (shared 1/2 with a neighbor) & the other is in the freezer.
-Pulled two containers of TJs risotto (one regular, one cauliflower rice) out of the freezer to make dinner on Friday. Served with garlic butter shrimp (also from the freezer)
-Used a couple of hamburger buns (you guessed it, also from the freezer) to go with the burgers DH grilled this weekend. He & I eat the burgers over a salad, but the teens prefer them with buns.
-The chicken sausages are finally gone! I can't remember when they went into the freezer, but it was awhile ago. Glad to see them out of the freezer.
-DH ate a container of butternut squash soup (presumably from last fall/winter) from the freezer

As you can imagine, we've made great progress on our freezer inventory & can see more of what we have in there, which is always a win!

[Dutch Comfort]

Teens have their half-term week, so they are in/around the house all day. Positive side: they help eat away all excess in the fridge and pantry.
- made French toast for lunch for DD (using up some stale bread and milk)
- made a nice cake when in-laws were coming over last weekend from items that I had on hand in fridge and pantry. Just a small part remaining (but not for long.....)
- no more leftover pasta when DS is around for lunch......
- dinner is planned till Wednesday, but I try to stretch till Thursday/Friday with what I have on hand to save time/money on grocery shopping.

Dinner for the next days:
- Today: Sprouts with baked potatoes and meat from freezer
- Wednesday: Pasta
- Thursday: Some more baked potatoes from freezer with leftover veggies and/or canned veggies and some chicken from freezer
- On Friday, DD and I will go for a high tea experience, so I doubt we need dinner. Dinner for DS and DH will probable be some burgers from freezer.
- For Saturday, DH requested a tomato soup (made from scratch). I have most items on hand, except for....... tomatoes! But I saw a nice bargain on tomatoes in a near supermarket (less than 1 euro for 1 kilo of tomatoes!) for Friday, so I need to remember to get those and start the soup process (making broth etc.) on Friday. We will probably have leftovers......

Not much got tossed this week, which makes me happy!

[fuzzy math]

Well DD finally commented that it looks like we're lacking in food! Experiment lasted 2 months. Her only ask is to get small potatoes however so that's an easy fix. The freezer and pantry are still full btw. It's just the fridge that looks a bit empty.

Used up:

- Some trader Joe's frozen buffalo chicken turnovers living in the freezer far too long
- the last of the sale chobani yogurts
- repurposed some leftover meat from uneaten kid food into dog food
- a spaghetti squash that's been languishing
- the last of a short dated salad tub
- working through some leftover corn from a family dinner
- all forms of garlic in the house (seasoning, fresh and jarred)
- some frozen fruit in smoothies
- finally finished the last of the old trader Joe's falafel mix with the last of some tzatziki sauce
- not a "used up" per say but I googled chicken shwarma recipes and made it for the first time. Easy using just dried spices and it was delicious!

RIP to:

- a moldy purple cauliflower

[Linea_Norway]

We are currently eating fish about every 3 days, which is the cod that DH caught right outside the house. We also eat at least an apple a day and we put a whole basket full of apples and pears beside the public path to take for other people. That works.
I ordered a bunch of plastic bottles to fill with apple juice. As they are see through, I suppose we can reuse them next year. I plan to pasteurize them, so that we can keep them for some months.
Every day I eat homemade jam for breakfast and lunch. I still have about 20 pots left. My own is as good as the one from the shop, in my opinion.
We also eat lots of apple cakes from our own apples.

[MountainGal]

@fuzzy math sorry to hear about your cauliflower!

@Linea_Norway how kind of you to put out the basket for other folks.

We have a lot of food and snacks leftover from our annual Halloween party:

-We ate the remaining two deviled eggs while I prepared Sunday's breakfast casserole
-I nibbled on leftover beer cheese dip, pretzels, and pepperoni wrapped mozzarella during Sunday football
-Gave a neighbor a box full of leftover casserole, shrimp, popcorn and other goodies
-Sent DH to work with leftover cookies and cupcakes
-Last night I made a Frito pie with the remaining pound of ground beef I'd thawed for "cauldron chili"
-For lunch, I ate leftover shrimp with lunch today and will have the salmon tomorrow
-Leftover chili will either be sent to work with DH tomorrow, or we'll eat it with tonight's salads
-Unopened snacks were stored in the back pantry and will be consumed over the next few holiday months
-And, oh darn, there are a few Jello shots left, LOL

[fuzzy math]

@MountainGal sounds like a fun day at your house!

@Linea_Norway ... are you moving back to your old city? I'd be thrilled to come upon a basket of fruit. Hopefully it makes someone's day!

[Linea_Norway]

@Linea_Norway ... are you moving back to your old city? I'd be thrilled to come upon a basket of fruit. Hopefully it makes someone's day!

No, we moved to a whole new part of the country.

The people who pick the apples tell me they are delicious, which they are now. The basket get filled up every day and is empty the next day.

Today we ate left over chicken Maribelle. I drank a glass of homemade wine with it.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We are back from vacation. My parents stayed with the teens, so there's an odd assortment of things in the fridge. I also went to Trader Joes & stocked up on easy meal options, as we are deep into college applications, I leave for London on Sunday for a work trip, etc.

-DH & I made an easy dinner, mostly out of Trader Joes (but, we avoided takeout, so there's that). Edamame, gyozos, & coconut shrimp (Costco). We had that with salad. It was a quick & easy Friday night dinner.
-I made a very quick dinner on Thursday, to feed everyone before soccer practice. I baked up a bunch of chicken (freezer) + made mac & cheese for the teens. It wasn't exactly a dinner of champions, but everyone ate, and again, our bar right now is avoiding takeout where possible. We are in quite a season.
-For lunch today, I had the tiny amount of leftover mac & cheese, combined with leftover chicken (Thursday dinner) + a salad. Oh, and fresh berries that were actually great.

It's on my to do list to make muffins, protein bars & pickle the remaining peppers that are on the vine. Let's see how motivated I am by the end of the day. For tonight, we're having any easy meal of gyros (prepped meat from Trader Joes) & salad. I think both teens will be out of the house with friend.

[Josiecat22222]

Made spanakopita today with a couple of leftover sheets of phyllo in the freezer from another meal and a bag of fresh spinach and parsley which were on their last legs (and some feta).  Of course, then I had more filling than phyllo, so I beat some eggs and milk together and used the spanakopita filling to make mini quiches in muffin tins.  It all worked out in the end, and now I have breakfast sorted for the next week!

[MinouMinou]

This weekend I made a big pan of fruit crisp/crumble with fruit I had picked, processed, and frozen in the late summer: apples from our yard and blackberries gleaned in the neighborhood. Mixed the fruit with a little sugar, flour, and cornstarch so the juice will thicken and then layered it like a lasagna with the "crumble" mixture of rolled oats, brown sugar, and butter. Didn't have enough butter left so added some olive oil for extra fat, plus a little salt and crushed walnuts on the top.

Also made a "What's on hand" big pot of minestrone soup. Tomato sauce, a couple of cans of beans, orzo pasta, green beans from the freezer, some distressed zucchini from the crisper drawer, and green tomatoes that were still lingering on the bushes outside. I hesitated with the green tomatoes--they are not tasty on their own but seem fine in a strongly flavored soup or dish. And hopefully still have some nutrients.

[MountainGal]

I love reading about the various way everyone uses homegrown or gleaned food!

@Josiecat23503, that spanakopita sounds delicious!

Because we live rurally and because Halloween was on a school night, children trick-or-treated in our neighborhood last Saturday.  They, plus older siblings and parents made for quite the large group.  Per my request, I was their last stop again this year.  I served the adults leftover Jello shots and cocktails from our party the Saturday prior.  I also assembled trays of crackers, cheese, pepperoni and sliced beef summer sausage for everyone to enjoy.  Also, lately:

-The Halloween party cauldron chili used 4 pounds locally grown beef.
-Football food included the remaining 5 mozzarella sticks from the freezer, breaded shrimp bought on sale and the remaining two homegrown tomato slices with mozzarella slices and an olive oil drizzle.
-A package of chicken thighs was breaded with a pork rind and parmesan breading and air fried.  I served them on top of baby spinach with a half package of breaded okra.
-Last night more party leftovers were served to my 9-year-old neighbor twins after they were finished trick-or-treating in town.  They are growing and can put away food! Last night included an entire half pint of raspberries.  :)
-I ate the remaining chicken thigh with more of the baby spinach for lunch today.
-Tonight's supper will include two flounder fillets purchased at Sam's Club in a 2-pound package several months ago.  I did the same with salmon and have been pleased with both.

The freezer is starting to clear out a bit and the bottom of each basket is almost visible between items.

[MountainGal]

One of DH's coworkers gave him an 18 pack of duck eggs, so that has been this week's focus:

-Monday: Poached eggs served with asparagus, salmon and avocado.
-Tonight:  Breakfast for supper including eggs and sausage links.
-Thursday:  Quiche with locally grown breakfast sausage, cheese and zucchini.
-Saturday:  Leftover quiche.
-Sunday:  Brunch featuring soft boiled eggs and pancakes.  The latter will use an egg or two in the mix, which is a homemade blend of flour, baking soda, baking powder, a bit of sugar and salt.  And I think I'm going to make mimosas.  :)

[jeninco]

I'm joining here to keep myself honest: We're cleaning out BIL's house, and I'm trying not to waste actual food from his kitchen (other than the PB that looked like it had been getting consumed with a spoon: if you live alone, feel free to eat nut butter straight outta the jar, but I'm tossing it in the compost if I'm not fairly sure it's uncontaminated).  Currently looking at all his spices (which are similar to mine, so I think I can just feed them into my current spice supply, but I'm not sure about things like the large jar of beriberi powder), and various staples.  I'm good with the quinoa, bulgar, and rice, but I don't actually like steel-cut oats (I've given most of those half-gallon jars away) and I have no idea what to do with whole teff? Grind it and make injera?

Meanwhile, we should be starting a renovation in our house that will include moving the kitchen in the next 2-4 months, so we need to eat down our own pantry...

[MountainGal]

@jeninco, injera sounds like a great idea!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - I always like to hear about your Halloween events, as you really embrace it! This year, Halloween was spent Hail Mary'ing the college applications due on 11/1, so we had...less fun. ;-)

I'm back from another trip, and have no idea what DH & the kids realistically ate while I was gone. DH served leftovers on Friday, while I sat at the table & tried valiantly not to fall asleep. I did put together a menu for the week, which lasted not even a single day before we went off track, as the teen who would enjoy the recipe the most went out for dinner.

Focus for the week:
-Dice & freeze pineapple guava (gifted from neighbor)
-Make chicken enchilada skillet, to use up chicken + other ingredients
-Make Korean beef bowls, to use up defrosted ground beef + excess of cucumbers (you quick pickle for toppings to the bowls)
-Go through fridge & freezer to determine what needs to be used up.

[Dollar Slice]

I was pretty proud of this one... I went to the farmers market for the first time in ages (many days of rain or illness in a row) but didn't have a plan other than apples. They had some really pretty acorn squash, so I got one and then was at home like "what am I going to do with an entire squash for one person?" I ended up cutting it in half, putting some oil and complementary spices on it, roasting for 30m, then throwing this week's leftovers into each half with cheese on top. Voila: two entrees of dressed up leftovers with extra veg. (It was a one pot lightly spicy pasta dish with beans, tomatoes, a bunch of veg, and ground turkey).

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dollar Slice - roasted acorn squash is one of my fall favorites. It's also really good on salad, or just on its own.

As part of my fridge clean out, I ate some of DS17's leftovers (with his permission) from his date on Thursday. ;-)

[halftimer]

We have been quietly doing this challenge, but not posting all the details. This weel and last week we used up so many of our pantry staples and frozen foods and basics that it was feeling a bit sparse. I'm doing a big shop today but keeping in mind the few ingredients that I still need to work with:
-frozen chopped rhubarb (will make into a crumble)
-lots of bread ends (used some in meatballs this week - will do more soon)
-smoothie ingredients & banana bread ingredients (ongoing)
-candied cut peels (what was I planning to do with this? in muffins maybe? open to suggestions)

[Josiecat22222]

making some headway here-- freezer is looking spare, but there is still always food in it!

today I'm eating muesli from the pantry with nuts and dried fruit (also from the pantry) and butternut squash soup (from the freezer) and loaded baked potato for dinner (using some of the frozen veg and cheese).

We were travelling this past week looking at colleges, so minimal grocery shopping, but will need to do some this week to prepare for Thanksgiving.  That said, I plan our meals strategically around big holidays to get lots of meals out of the holiday meal!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Josiecat23503 - fun! Which colleges have you been touring? We don't have any school time off until the holidays, so we're looking at spreading them out, starting in January.

[draco44]

Finished off the dregs of a hot sauce bottle, a technically expired but still good tiny can of tomato paste, and a bag of shredded kale as part of a beef chili this week. It turned out great!

[Josiecat22222]

@MaybeBabyMustache - we looked at a couple of small liberal arts schools with a specific program he is interested in-- will send details via DM so as not to totally derail the thread!!

Just finished reorganization of the pantry (because I REALLY know how to party) and have found that I still have too many dry goods.  Will be doing this pantry challenge into 2025, I think!!!

[MountainGal]

Aw, thanks for the Halloween compliment, @MaybeBabyMustache!  Luck to @Josiecat23503 and you with college touring!

@MaybeBabyMustache, I've never worked with pineapple guava.  I looked them up and they look tasty.  @Dollar Slice, not sure if you've ever tried this, but I cook (spaghetti) squash in the microwave.  I halve and seed it and place it cut side down in about an inch of water in a Pyrex pan.  After 10 minutes I rotate them a bit.  I let it cook and then use a fork to shred it into long spaghetti type strands.

Last week's duck egg-based quiche turned out great and I had the last slice for lunch today.  I didn't make Sunday brunch with the eggs because we had just enough to boil for this week's breakfasts/snacks.

-DH and I went for a Sunday drive, and I packed the rest of the Sun Chips, beef summer sausage, crackers, OJ and bottle of sparkling wine leftover from our party.  I sliced up some mozzarella cheese to go with.
-For football snacks I baked another third of a box of bacon wrapped jalapenos, the rest of the breaded shrimp, and a bag of frozen veggies.
-Last night's supper included a package of locally raised ribs, a zucchini, and bag of riced cauliflower.  The zucchini was the last of the fresh produce.
-Last night's after dinner snack included some of the monster bag of popcorn purchased and never opened at Halloween.
-I'll zap the remaining bits of spicy pork rinds with parmesan cheese in the food processor to use as tonight's fish breading.  Canned green beans and breaded okra from the freezer will be on the side.
-Tomorrow I'll make a pan of enchiladas using a pound of locally raised ground beef.  On the side will be rice bought in bulk earlier this year.
-Next week will include a pan of lasagna using another pound of the beef.
-Next Wednesday I'll put a locally raised pork roast in the slow cooker and instead of buying apricots, I'll use up the orange marmalade on hand.  I'll also add some of the horseradish cream sauce I bought for....?
-Next Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the US.  I am in charge of pies and I'll make an apple, cherry and pumpkin.  :)
-Need to focus on smoothies using the extra fruit I froze during the summer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Made a large pot of Budget Bytes chicken stew, to use up a strange package of baby potatoes that, frankly, I'm not sure how they made their way into our fridge. It also used up some old carrots, and celery I bought for $.29 today.

I love soup, but DH isn't a fan, but he's gone tonight. DS17 will be bringing his girlfriend over for dinner, so at least we'll have a full house of folks.

[Josiecat22222]

made a batch of spanish rice and pinto beans from the dry goods stash---- old dry beans take FOREVER to cook.  30 min in Instapot and they were still a bit....firm....so they simmmered on the stove for another hour and became palatable.

DS made brownies last night....from a boxed mix that was best by 9/2021.  Everyone still alive. 

[Runrooster]

I’ve been working on the freezer, and then starting on the pantry. I’m finally down to 20 servings of food, I.e. 10 dinners for me and my Dad. The first problem has been that I end up buying new things, fresh and frozen. The next problem has been that as we whittle down, the healthier protein is used up and I’m left with things like Chinese frozen dinner and pizza. It’s tasty but not something I want to eat daily.

The success this week was using up a 3 year old package of puff pastry in spanakopita. I had the frozen spinach and feta cheese, just added cream cheese. And my Mom ate 3 pieces! She has weird allergies and basically all her food is homemade but even so I wasn’t sure she’d handle the phyllo and feta. I might make the recipe again and throw it in a pie crust.

Also this week: a pound of shrimp, canned salmon, Chinese meal, pizza, frozen broccoli.

Two weeks ago was Diwali and I used it as an excuse to give away 4 pounds shrimp, 2 packaged bacon, 5 boxes pasta, 3 boxes gnocchi. Then we were eating party leftovers and nothing came out of the freezer. Tomorrow for Thanksgiving I’m taking some pickled beets and feta, and expect to come home with the turkey, so nothing else will come out of the freezer this week.

My notes say a bunch of the food was bought on December 10 last year, so I’ve been hoping to finish anything more than six months old by then. The default for vegetables is fresh, I purposely bought less this week but then my Mom was complaining we don’t have anything. I pointed out 2 frozen veg, one acorn squash, a couple fresh zucchini and of course all the spinach in the spanakopita.

[Josiecat22222]

I had a quasi fail last night---


I had 3/4 of a small jar of pesto left over from something I made a few weeks ago.  I was planning to make creamy pesto gnocchi for dinner to use it up and serve with green beans almondine.  As I was gathering the ingredients from the fridge, I managed to drop the pesto, shattering the jar and covering the kitchen floor in oily, glassy, pesto.  So, I cursed a bit, then picked up the mess, mopped the floor and pivotted to a brown butter and parmesan gnocchi with green beans. Still got the jar of pesto and the gnocchi out of the fridge/pantry, but not the way I'd intended!!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Josiecat23503 - that sucks! I actually made dinner with pesto last night, and spilled a bit, and lamented about the mess, so you have my sympathy!

-Used 1/2 a bag of cranberries (frozen from last year) to make muffins for DH. Bonus points, as they used up yogurt from the fridge.
-Used the second 1/2 of the bag to make cranberry sauce for Thanksgving
-Served leftovers of the chicken pesto pasta last night, and froze the rest
-Finally got my food processor working, and shredded a giant (Costco) piece of Romano cheese. I have arthritis in my wrist, and shredding by hand in particular is not fun. Once I have everything shredded, I set out what we need, and freeze the rest in smaller bags. Makes life easier when we need it for a recipe.
-Made a naan grilled cheese for a teen, ahead of a late night soccer game. The cheese was the individually wrapped "Tillamoo" small pieces, as I wanted to use that up. Made same teen a smoothie after the late game, and used grapes in his smoothie. I froze the grapes last week, as they were no longer crispy, but otherwise fine.

[Dutch Comfort]

Working on the freezer inventory here. We're getting towards the point that the contents can be moved to the smaller freezer and the large one can be defrosted.
From freezer the past 2 weeks:
- single serving of mystery soup. Turned out to be homemade tomato soup, so I was not complaining for lunch.
- took out all fish items yesterday (4 small packages with leftover pieces of salmon/cod/undefined white fish) and put it all in the oven. It became a good alternative to fish and chips when I added some baked potatoes.
- pack of chicken tights and all kinds of frozen veggies became a large pan of homemade chicken soup (had to freeze leftovers, so not a complete win).
- pack of beef became a nice stew which lasted for 2 family dinners
- pack of shredded beef turned into a big pan of meatballs, serving 2 family dinners and enough for 2 lunches
- used a lot of bread during lunches, now only around 1.5 loaf remaining

Planned items:
- more meat from freezer tonight and probably the last bag of french fries.
- leftover soup for dinner tomorrow
- grilled burgers for dinner on Sunday, and if the bag of french fries is still there, it will be used.

If it unfolds according to plan, I can defrost the large freezer early next week.

Fridge is in good shape, pantry quite OK.

[Linea_Norway]

I fermented a bag of beetroots that were on sale (food saving sale). They were still good quality. Instead of storing it in the cupboard/fridge where they could turn old, we just ate them yesterday.

We are also drinking our own apple juice. And still eating our own berry jam from the large amount of pots.

We still have one big crate of apples left downstairs. I made apple gel of some apples that had frozen outside. But I not sure how/when to eat yel. A cookbook suggested as a bread topping, so maybe I'll do that. I have three pots.

We are making a good impact on the freezer drawer with meat and fish. It is good to have some roulation in that drawer. When it is empty, I hope there is some meat on sale. And DH can catch new fish.

Many days, we have a stump of bread left. Normally I would have to make a plan of what to do with it, or throw it in the composting bin with some bad conscience. But now (winter) I give it to the birds who appreciate it, especially the magpies. Small birds are getting sunflower seeds.

I should also make a plan to eat the remaining self-picked mushrooms that are dried in a closet. Most are more than a year old. And some are conserved in oil with vinegar.

[Dollar Slice]

I made apple gel of some apples that had frozen outside. But I not sure how/when to eat yel. A cookbook suggested as a bread topping, so maybe I'll do that. I have three pots.

Do you mean apple jelly, like a clear jam without fruit pieces? Or apple butter, which is usually dark and has spices in it? Just trying to clarify so you might get some suggestions for using it :-)

[Simpli-Fi]

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.

I've tried searching and I'm coming up short on finding a simple food inventory system...I don't want to be exhausted trying to maintain a simpler panty/freezer.  Anyone got some links to pointers or mind sharing?  I've skimmed this thread and the sub $200/mo threads...and I'll stay at it.  Maybe the easiest system is to keep less food in the house period.  Its not like we live in the country or actually shop in the store...

With my extra time, I have taken over food duties for our family of 4.  Our food bill has almost doubled since Jan2020 and my kids have horrible "selective" eating habits...which in itself has exhausted me and DW to the point the kitchen is no longer an enjoyable experience.

My plan of attack is to
  STEP 1.  start with this thread and eat everything in the house.  DW is already saying we need to go to the store...and I feel like we could easily eat for another 7 days and still have essentials in case the world goes into lockdown for some reason.

  STEP 2.  while eating randomass meals from whatever is in the house...I'll create a week meal plan and grocery list.

  STEP 3.  research stores in town review some store apps and rebate apps; plot grocery pick ups for best buys

  STEP 4.  Once all the food is eaten, donate the remaining random singe recipe items, and buy enough food for the weekly meal plan

  STEP 5.  Create another week(s) meal plan and list, optimize meals per Best Buy list if needed

  STEP 6.  repeat ad nauseam

[Josiecat22222]

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.

I've tried searching and I'm coming up short on finding a simple food inventory system...I don't want to be exhausted trying to maintain a simpler panty/freezer.  Anyone got some links to pointers or mind sharing?  I've skimmed this thread and the sub $200/mo threads...and I'll stay at it.  Maybe the easiest system is to keep less food in the house period.  Its not like we live in the country or actually shop in the store...

With my extra time, I have taken over food duties for our family of 4.  Our food bill has almost doubled since Jan2020 and my kids have horrible "selective" eating habits...which in itself has exhausted me and DW to the point the kitchen is no longer an enjoyable experience.

My plan of attack is to
  STEP 1.  start with this thread and eat everything in the house.  DW is already saying we need to go to the store...and I feel like we could easily eat for another 7 days and still have essentials in case the world goes into lockdown for some reason.

  STEP 2.  while eating randomass meals from whatever is in the house...I'll create a week meal plan and grocery list.

  STEP 3.  research stores in town review some store apps and rebate apps; plot grocery pick ups for best buys

  STEP 4.  Once all the food is eaten, donate the remaining random singe recipe items, and buy enough food for the weekly meal plan

  STEP 5.  Create another week(s) meal plan and list, optimize meals per Best Buy list if needed

  STEP 6.  repeat ad nauseam

We have tried to "gamify" using up all of the groceries by having a "grocery store challenge" occasionally.  The rules of the game are simple: we pick a date (historically this was in the week before travelling) and the goal was to go without returning to a store.  This led to some interesting combinations of food....and a tradition of eating Ramen on Christmas eve....but is great for using up all of the bits and bobs that accumulate.

Other ideas:
Get used to subbing ingredients.  A recipe calls for farro but you have barley left over from a prior recipe...just use the barley.  You have kale left over but the recipe calls for spinach....use the spinach, etc.

Soups, stirfrys, and pastas are GREAT for using up odds and ends.  Almost any vegetable is better with some olive oil and salt and roasted in the oven.  Loaded baked potato bar is a great meal....you can top a potato with butter, cheese, chili, roasted veg, shredded chicken.....anything you can imagine.

Most grocery stores have specials that run weds-tues (at least in my area).  I make a grid of what's on sale at each of the four local stores.  It is seldom worth it to visit more than two, but it helps me to keep a mental price book.  My grocery list/menu is based on what's on sale and what's local. 

Eat your leftovers

If something is on the "need to use it up list" I put it on the counter or front of fridge.  I like my space to be orderly, so when something is out of place, I notice it and it keeps it at the front of my mind until it is consumed.


I hope some of this is helpful.  Best wishes in keeping down the grocery bill and avoiding food waste.

[Simpli-Fi]

@Josiecat23503 thanks for the reply, I dig the game idea and I’m the same way in the kitchen food should be organized and when something is out of place, drive me (and only me) crazy…so good tip using that as an advantage
 

[Josiecat22222]

@Simpli-Fi - I'm glad it was helpful!  Feel free to DM me if I can be of any assistance!

[MountainGal]

@Runrooster, congratulations on the homemade spanakopita!

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone.

@Simpli-Fi, your post got me wondering where I'm at with this year's food spending.  According to my spreadsheet, I'm at an average of $448 through October.  That does include my portion of the pig and beef, which we still have an abundance of in both freezers.  It also includes Sam's Club purchases, of which there are still several dozens of canned goods on hand.  (We live rurally with the closest grocery store 15 minutes away.)  I echo what @Josiecat23503 said about substitutions and leftovers.  For instance, I recently discovered drained Rotel is a great substitute for fresh tomatoes which was perfect timing, considering we're going into winter.

Lately:
-A pan of lasagna with homemade sauce made for easy meals during a recent illness.
-During said illness I made a large pot of crack chicken soup which used a package of spaghetti, two cans of chicken, and the last box of chicken broth
-The remaining almond flour tortilla was filled with shredded cheddar and a beef sausage.
-I used the rest of a homemade blend of pumpkin spice in the Thanksgiving pie.
-I slow cooked a beef rib roast yesterday yielding four servings.  DH ate a portion last night with the leftover rice from Friday's takeout.  I made zoodles out of a zucchini.  The remaining servings will be eaten for lunch.
-DH's coworker gave us more duck eggs.  So far, I've used some in a bacon and egg casserole.  Tonight, I'll make a one sheet breakfast bake with the rest of the bacon.  This weekend I'll make Scotch eggs and a Spanish potato omelet.
-Football munchies have included a package of bacon wrapped jalapenos and breaded shrimp.
-The last remnants of a container of Crisco have been stretched to greasing sheet pans several times.
-Using food blogger Molly Yeh's shortcut, I fried refrigerator biscuit dough for Navajo tacos.  Those, plus 1.5 pounds ground beef, a can of refried beans, lettuce, Rotel tomatoes, and black olives made for 6 servings.

[Josiecat22222]

Apparently I was doing too well at this challenge, so I needed to self sabotage.  I went to Trader Joes (it's about 30min from me, so it's a commitment to go there) and I bought *all the things*.  So now I am fully stocked up again on crackers, cheese, nuts, quickie freezer meals and dips/sauces.

It's not exactly a crisis.  We will eat (and enjoy) all of it.  But it feels like a bit of a sabotage.  That said, if buying brie, cashews and wild rice is my worst sin......

[fuzzy math]

Things have gotten so out of control here!! I went on part week trips 2 weeks in a row by myself. In that time I wasn't really keeping track of any food and a bunch of weird stuff was wasted, went bad or extra stuff was purchased. It was also my birthday so there were lots of meals out, my best friend got me a cheese subscription and my realtor mailed me a cake (that I can't eat).  I don't know that I have too many wins to post but I'm getting my head back in the game. My fridge and pantry are both super full and disorganized.

Wins:
- working on a chub of chicken lunchmeat
- extra partial loaves of bread used up
- I made ribs before they went bad (finished off a bottle of bbq on them too)
- I returned 2 things to Costco that were gross (mushy moldy apples and some lame deli mac n cheese)

Loses:
- DS severely burnt a pizza and a tray of cheesy bread
- a small bag of imitation crab went rancid while I was on a trip
- lots of grapes went moldy

[Josiecat22222]

made sheetpan eggplant parmesan and used up some seasoned breadcrumbs I made for another dish last week

Made caesar salads and used up some bread from the freezer (which I'd made from scratch but didn't rise properly).  Luckily, it was very popular as croutons, so no food waste

continuing to eat my way through the grains- had some homemade muesli for breakfast with blueberries.

so, some small victories!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Josiecat23503 - Trader Joes is just a few minutes from my house, and I also have that problem! I'm thinking of going there this afternoon, in fact :-)

Wins:
-For the first time in I can't possibly remember - there are no bananas in my freezer! Used up the last four today to make banana muffins.
-Making the last of some Bare chicken patties (everyone prefers the strips or nuggets) for lunches. I'll dice them & use them on salads this week.
-I discovered pancake mix in the pantry. No clue where it's from, but made pancakes for the teens. It's the huge Krusteaz bag, so plenty left to use up.
-Finished the entire container of tortilla soup DH bought at Costco. It comes in a two pack, and the second one lasts for at least another month, so I should be able to use that up.
-Finished a bagged salad that was looking a little dingy
-Used up all of a loaf of bread. We don't keep bread at home, and rarely make sandwiches, so I need to really remember when we have it on hand. I made several rounds of grilled cheese sandwiches, which everyone enjoyed.

Still to go:
-Another bagged salad
-An acorn squash
-A giant bag of cranberries that I also need to turn into muffins. I keep the freezer stocked with muffins, and we somehow ran out. I blame my crazy Q4 travel schedule.

[Josiecat22222]

-DS finished up a bag of chicken tenders
-finished a bag of frozen broccoli
-finished the breadcrumbs
-finished the fresh broccoli
-finished the baby red potato
-finished the eggplant
-mixed 4oz of cream cheese (left over from holiday baking) with a few tablespoons of sourcream (leftover from ???) with some green goddess seasoning to make a dip/spread for veg.


to go:
three more servings of cream cheese dip/spread
two more servings of breaded tofu
one more serving of falafel
one idaho potato from the 10lb bag
one onion
some brie
2/3 of an English cucumber, a couple of carrots and some iceberg lettuce

we head to the in laws in a couple of days and my goal is to leave no perishable food behind.  Looks like carmelized onions and brie sandwiches for lunch tomorrow!!!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We made a ton of progress, and the fridge is looking largely ready to go. I need to sort a few more things out this am, but otherwise, feeling good about the state of our house, ahead of our trip.

When I get back, I need to make 4-6 dozen muffins for the freezer, and use up the applesauce & cranberries in said muffins. It won't exactly be reducing freezer space, but will definitely be useful items vs just an ingredient, so to speak.

So, target list post trip:
-Cranberries
-Applesauce
-Bag of frozen burritos no one would eat. Figure out how to spice them up
-Choose two other sides/entrees when the kids are with my parents to get out of the freezer

[Runrooster]

In the month since I last wrote, I’ve slowly whittled down the freezer food. There’s 3 frozen dinner and a lasagna. There’s been a bunch of holiday meals and leftovers.

 There’s also 5 frozen veg, and 15 cans of veg. Lots of beans.

I also added:
3# chicken
2# beef stew
2-9# spiral sliced ham

So the freezer never really emptied out. But it’s new food.
 I’d like to get to where I’m rotating every 6 months but a year is probably more realistic.

[EchoStache]

I'm encouraging the family to buy into a "eat all the food in your house month" for January.

I can't think of an easier way than keeping track of how much we spend on food this month.  Family of five adults.

So far, $37 as of January 1 as we needed some perishables such as milk, fruit, etc.

Today, the family was craving pizza.  Our local pizza joint is a pretty good deal..we get two extra large pizzas for under $25.  However, we have two jars of pizza sauce, shredded parmesan and cheddar cheese in the fridge, and pepperoni left over from the holiday party.  Picked up two packs of English muffins for $4.30 to make English muffin pizzas with.

Also, son brought home a pan of pulled pork from his work holiday meal.  Grabbed a pack of hamburger buns so we will have $0.17 pulled pork sandwiches.  :)

[Josiecat22222]

This week we cleared out:

1 can of soup from pantry

1 box of pasta and 1 jar pasta sauce from pantry

bag of frozen tater tots and chicken nuggets (our "fun" NYE meal)

finished the last of the falafel I made from the freezer

finished the sub rolls and lunch meat

the last few potatoes from the 10lb bag (already replaced with a new 10lb bag---we love potatoes)

finished breaded tofu nuggets from freezer (the last of a batch I made a few weeks ago)

I think that's about it;  meals have been simple and more processed than usual this week as the chief cook (me) came down with Covid, so I have been delegating to the family and eating simple bland stuff and using the opportunity to eat stuff that has been lingering.  Hopefully will be back in action soon, but we have managed to continue to eat at home and avoid delivery.