Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2

[Dutch Comfort]

Made my daughter a hot french toast breakfast. She was pleasantly surprised that her mum would do this at 6.30 in the morning..... Anyway, this took care of some leftover baguette and a few eggs and milk.
The cupboard is still overflowing, but it seems to go better with baby steps. This week took out a can of pizza sauce, a can of corn and some cookies and have not replaced it!
DS started on a pack of crackers, so hopefully these will go out soon as well (as I have another box in the cupboard.... why 2????).

Autumn started here, so I feel the urge to eat pumpkin soup, apple pie and nice warm pear pie...... I got some fresh pears from my dad (around 3 kg), so need to finish those before they go bad (and pie is the way to go!!!).

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Used up a couple of cans of diced tomatoes to make a quick tomato sauce, when I noticed we were out of prepared sauce. 1) it was super easy and 2) tasted better than many prepared sauces, even with just a few ingredients. This was not a "fancy" recipe. I'll be avoiding prepared sauces in the future.

My husband made salmon last night (saving the filet we bought from waste) & everyone else had tacos/taco salads. I bought an absolutely enormous container of salad greens at the produce stand on Saturday. It had at least 2x as much salad greens as I was expecting. I've been sharing it with my neighbors, and we've been going through a ton, but there's still so much left. All salads, all the time! :-)

Used up some garden tomatoes in our salad. I need to pick another batch of shishito & jalapeno peppers.

Dinner tonight will be grilled chicken & pasta with homemade sauce.

[Dutch Comfort]

Just finished the weekend backing: 1 chocolate cake and 1 pear pie…… and my kitcherig smells delicious.
All ingredients were in my fridge and cupboard, so a win-win.

[Beardog]

I've discovered that frozen broccoli and frozen snap peas can make an excellent stir fry.  I used some garlic ginger tahini sauce left over from a recent take out to top off a stir fry with frozen broccoli, rehydrated shitake mushrooms, marinated tempeh, the last quarter of an onion and some garlic - all over steamed brown rice.  It was delish and used several items I am trying to finish off as part of the 'Eat All The Food in Your House' challenge. 

[tungu2]

I finished all the frozen leftovers I had, yay.
I have a bit more spare time than usual for the next couple of weeks, so I’m cooking smaller amounts of food right now. I do not want to freeze more meals before I am done with frozen fruit and veggies as well. Also made a dent in my excessive pasta reserves. But pasta and grains bother me less than frozen stuff.
Next step is to deal with my secret stash of chocolate. I am hoping to stretch it for as long as possible and not to restock. Not sure if I am capable but I want to give up chocolate for ethical reasons (and to reduce sugar intake, obviously)

[MountainGal]

Aw, thank you, @MaybeBabyMustache!  What a nice gesture regarding the jalapenos.  And, like minds:  Yesterday, I used approximately 4 cups of cherry tomatoes from our garden to make tomato sauce.  I put it in the freezer for this winter.  I, too, love homemade so much more than store bought.  The remaining tomatoes (yay!) went into a side salad which also used up two types of garden grown cucumbers and a store bought avocado.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through a strawberry balsamic I bought in July while on holiday.

@Dutch Comfort, those baked goods sound delicious.

@Beardog, thank you for the reminder, I think I'll use a frozen bag of broccoli in tonight's stir fry.  The meal will also use up a package of chicken breasts, and the remaining home grown yellow squash.

@tungu2, I hear you regarding using up the frozen fruit and veggies.

DH and I were out of town for a few days resulting in several meals out.  Our hotel room had a mini fridge, so I brought home two leftover half sandwiches, and several pizza slices and breadsticks.  Saturday night, I ate one leftover half sandwich and DH had a few slices leftover pizza, and I just ate the last slice of pizza for today's lunch.

And, speaking of chocolate stash, when organizing the pantry I posted about a few weeks ago, I discovered some "emergency candy" I'd put in the back corner of one of the shelves last holiday season.  Guess I better start nibbling on it before then next round of Halloween candy arrives.  :)

[Linea_Norway]

I made a curry with chicken from the freezer and many of the fresh veggies in the fridge. I also used some of my homemade honey fermented garlic, finished my homemade pickled carrots, used some homemade confited puffball mushrooms.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We had a crazy weekend, full of soccer tournaments & meals out & grab & go snacks. For lunch today, I had leftover kid lunches (grilled cheese, chicken). For dinner tonight, the kids will have the rest of the taco stuff, my husband will have salmon (+ a lurking zucchini I found in the garden) & I will likely have a salad.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We made a lot of progress clearing out leftovers. The shredded cheese, last of the tortillas, & taco meat are gone. My husband had another piece of salmon (one to go).

Tonight we will have chicken curry (freezer) with rice (leftover from kebabs), and my husband will likely finish off the salmon.

[MountainGal]

I'd forgotten I bought yellow squash at the store, so I used that in last night's stir fry.  I figured the garden squash is fresher so it will keep for later on this week.  I served the stir fry on top of the remaining bag of cauliflower which I "riced" in the food processor.  Drizzled with low sodium soy sauce and a bit of sweet chili sauce, it was SO good!

We are now down to half bag of baby spinach, an avocado, and some romaine leaves in the produce drawer.  Off to the store I soon go!

[seemsright]

I learned that I can cook down 8 gallons of chopped zucchini into 8 cups. I stewed it down in the crockpot for a very long time.

I am part of a garden group and my freezer was way two full of chopped zucchini. I froze it in about a cup and half servings which should add body to soups this winter.

Trying to add space to my freezer. My next project will be to make hot sauce with all of the hot peppers taking up room in my freezer.

[Beardog]

8 gallons of chopped zucchini transformed into 8 cups!  That is truly amazing, @seemsright !

I made crock pot 'sloppy joes' this week using the following items that have been in my cupboard for a very long time:

• 3 cups of TVP
• home made chili powder using whole dried Ancho chilis I bough ages ago

The TVP has great texture and works well in this recipe.

[Dutch Comfort]

Made soup yesterday. The broth came from frozen asparagus-cooking-water that was still lingering in the freezer. Added some canned asparagus and some leftover ham and a delicious soup was born and a big empty space in the freezer! Ate it with some nice mozzarella breadsticks. And had enough for leftovers for lunch today and tomorrow.
The baked goodies that I made on Friday are gone. There are now some brown bananas in the fruit basket. I have to get some eggs so I can make banana-oatmeal muffins and put these in the freezer for the teens to take to school.

[slackmax]

Finally made the box of matzo ball soup into soup. It made almost a gallon! Finally finished it off. It was pretty good, actually! So the box is out of the house.

Uncharacteristic of me, I came back from a visit, to find I had left a half pound of hamburger in the fridge, which became stale, and had to throw it out. Blah!

Still working on the opened box of tapioca pudding mix.

[Zoot]

Thanks, everybody, for the continuing inspiration in this thread!

Tonight's dinner will be a chicken shepherd's pie, which will use up some frozen chicken thighs, a couple of potatoes, and some random frozen veggies.  We'll eat that for at least 2 meals, maybe 3, depending.

Later this week:  cod and potato cakes, to use up some frozen cod and the rest of the potatoes.

My goal for this week is to continue the use-it-up fervor to inventory the freezer and make a plan for actively using it up--I'm much better at FINDING great deals on stuff and freezing it "for later" than actually going to the freezer and using the food!  :)

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We used up all of the salmon, so that's nice to have off of the list (particularly because it's very $$). Tonight we will be having kebabs (with leftover pasta for the kids, rice for the adults). For lunch, I'll finish off the rest of the curry.

The kids are really eating a lot of fruit these days (always good to see), so we need to adjust our buying patterns. I made a switch to buying smaller quantities of produce at the local stand, and that's cutting down our waste (vs Costco). The price is very similar, but I'd rather have the local produce, and no waste, cost aside.

[MountainGal]

I love the exchange of ideas here!  @Zoot, next Tuesday I am going to try something similar to the cakes you made using mashed cauliflower in lieu of potatoes.

Everyone's soup and comfort food posts sound delicious.  Here's to Autumn!

Last night, much to DH's disappointment, his garden grown patio eggplants were way too bitter for consumption.  Different vegetables are truly a learning experience.  :)

Tonight, I'll sauté the remaining three home grown yellow squash to serve under salmon.  As far as garden veggies go, that will leave just the jalapenos DH needs to address.

ETA:  Oh, yes!  A food container update:  The one I couldn't remember a few posts ago contained slow cooker banana bread which I sent with DH to share with his coworkers.  Other than a container of ham and beans in the garage freezer, I do believe that is it.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - one of my favorite "mystery freezer container" stories was when I defrosted what I thought was fresh tomato sauce. I had frozen a bunch of garden goodies, and used that tomato sauce in a Bolognese sauce. I had it simmering on the stove for quite a while, and thought it looked a bit more orange-ish vs red, but figured that the garden tomatoes varied in color quite a bit. When I tasted the sauce, I realized that I'd used a container of pureed persimmons (we had a huge tree)... it led to a *very* interesting Bolognese, which we actually managed to eat. But, I don't recommend!

Sorry to hear about the eggplants. I've grown so many bitter cucumbers that were totally inedible.

[MountainGal]

LOL, @MaybeBabyMustache!  Thank you for sharing that story.  Yes, in the past I've frozen a few things thinking, oh, I'll remember what this is!  It's too specific looking not to.  Well, then the freezer does what it does, and later it becomes Mystery Time.  Since then, I use a piece of freezer tape which I label with a marker.  Good for you for toughing it out and eating that bolognaise!

And, oh, yes.  Earlier this month, one of DH's cucumbers was a bit too bitter for my taste.  :-/

Last night, I picked up a small grocery order so we'll have produce for the next several days.  Asparagus will go well wrapped in bacon for football snacks, and I'll rice up some broccoli slaw to serve underneath the aforementioned cod and cauliflower cakes.  I bought four different types of berries, and we'll consume some now, and freeze some for winter.

Tomorrow night I am making Cincinnati chili to serve on top of the spaghetti squash I bought a few weeks ago, Saturday will be a chicken and shrimp stir fry, and Sunday DH will smoke Cornish game hen.  These suppers will free up a bit more freezer space.

ETA:  Last night I "dipped" into my candy stash.  Let's just say some things keep better than others.  A few orange Jelly Belly candies from last Halloween were among the winners.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

A friend gave me apples from her tree (I gave her zucchini, so it was a definite win for us), & I made a double batch of applesauce. It is delicious. I would cut the sugar a bit next time, but came out tasting like apple pie filling. Yum! The recipe also called for some lemon juice, so I was able to use up a wrinkly lemon that had been lingering forever.

I also used a couple of the mini watermelon (garden) in a smoothie for the kids. I think I have one more left in the fruit drawer.

I really need to clean the fridge today. It's near impossible to find anything.

One teen was "helping" me in the kitchen yesterday, & I asked him to shred cabbage for egg roll in a bowl. I'm still unclear on how he did it, but the cabbage is now the texture of cauliflower rice. I'm trying to figure out how to use it. I suppose I can cook it up like a cauliflower rice, and season it. We shall see.

I really need to brown the ground beef in the fridge. It was originally supposed to get used on Saturday for dinner, but the kids weren't home Friday, Saturday or Sunday, due to being teens & too cool to hang out with us. As a result, our menu plan got pretty out of sorts.

[Dutch Comfort]

Used the weekend to clear various items:
- used 2 brown bananas for banana pancakes for breakfast
- used the last 2 brown bananas for a batch of banana-oatmeal muffins for the kids to bring to school
- made a tortilla casserole with ground beef from the freezer and half a bag of red sweet bell peppers that I was gifted by a friend
- used the other half bag of bell peppers in the lasagna last night (and cleared the lasagna sheets in my cupboard)
- brought ripe pears to the office today to eat as a snack

Now up to the rest of the cupboard. I managed to do groceries yesterday and not buy any new inventory, fresh produce only for the week. First its time to clear a lot from that famous kitchen cabinet! Hopefully I can see some progress next week.

[tungu2]

Ok, I made some progress. I only bought fresh vegetables and eggs. Not buying fresh fruits as I want to finish whatever frozen I have around. Surprisingly, relative brought me their leftovers twice, so I have some frozen stuff again. But they are extremely good, so it works for me.
Today I am cooking rice that apparently expired 5 months ago. I didn’t know it had shelf life of only 11 months, but I am sure it’s fine. I also checked my pasta reserves, and apparently some is good for a year, some for two and even three. Tbh, I ignore those dates for grains.

[MountainGal]

After poking around the kitchen freezer basket and discovering a few random items buried under other items over the weekend, I finally caved and started an informal inventory in my phone.  The first meal consisting of freezer and fridge items will be a Fathead crust pizza this weekend.  This will use up the cooked ground beef quickly stuffed into a freezer bag before we headed out of town over the summer, and the rest of the homemade pizza sauce I made last month.  Fridge items will be two types of mozzarella and pepperoni slices.

I divided the inventory into categories:
~Immediate items to use
~Fruit
~Veggies
~Treats
~Proteins

This is just for the kitchen freezer.  The garage freezer and deep freeze are easier to look through "at a glance."

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-I made applesauce muffins out of some of the applesauce I made over the weekend. Mostly because I needed the fridge space. ;-)
-Somehow, the teens talked my husband into buying them ice cream cones at Costco. They took up a bunch of freezer space, but unsurprisingly, are dwindling quickly.
-We finished all of the homemade bread (grilled cheese sandwiches)
-I'm almost done with the container of tomato soup. The weather has finally gotten cooler here.
-We used up a lot of cabbage/cabbage rice in our egg roll in a bowl. We will eat the leftovers tonight for dinner.
-I need to freeze or use up the leftover kebabs.
-And, I desperately need to clean the fruit drawer, and ensure there are no soggy lemons at the bottom. Oh, and use up the handful of strawberries & mini watermelon from the garden.

We have tomatoes & peppers coming out of our ears from the garden, so I'll need to do some pickling this weekend, and maybe make a fresh tomato sauce for the freezer.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-We've used up all of the garden strawberries & mini watermelons in smoothies
-My husband used up 1/2 a bag of tortellini from the freezer, so I'll use the rest this weekend. Yay for extra freezer space. He also had a kebab with his eggs this morning, which was not appetizing in any way (to me), but to each their own I suppose
-I had an egg for brunch, with an applesauce muffin
-We bought the wrong kind of chicken at Costco, and we've struggled to get through it. Four pieces gone for dinner tonight
-And, we baked the last three pieces of frozen salmon pieces tonight. Hurrah

[Beardog]

@MaybeBabyMustache  - Congrats on making it through the salmon.  And the chicken!
@MountainGal - Sometimes doing an inventory can be really helpful.
@tungu2 - It's amazing how much you can limit your shopping when you focus on using up the food you already have.

I'm thrilled to report that I am finishing up the last of a large bag of red lentils that I've had for at least a year!  Whew!  Now it's on to the urad daal.

I've also made progress using up more dried shitakes (I have lots!), red rice, brown rice, dried coconut, buckwheat cereal, and 2 cans enchilada sauce.

[Runrooster]

So I was thinking about making a spreadsheet of all the extra food in the house and then updating it (in a new column) every month so I can monitor my progress.

I have an excuse for my hoarding - I recently had a job that provided me with 1-3 heavy lunches a week, including chips and dessert and often with 2-3 meals leftovers.  Never completely reliable though- one week I'd have enough food for most of my meals and some of my Dad's, other weeks it would be one small lunch.  The pandemic is my other excuse- I bought canned beans because they were on sale and in stock, when before they hadn't been in stock if I went.  A third problem is that my Mom has slowly stopped eating some things - brown rice, lentils with skin - and instead of making her meals separate, all 3 of us stopped making those things.  At least we haven't bought more.

Anyway, I left the job with the free meals - a double-edged sword - so I should have a lot more opportunity to clean out the pantry and freezer.  On the other hand, I'm having a harder time saying no at the grocery store - I bought 20 cans of tuna fish cause it was on sale and apparently my brain thinks I'm about to starve to death.  So the list:

cereal - 7 - bought on sale for .50/box, I'm still a little carb phobic
cookies - 4 boxes, free
ice cream pints-11 - mix of sale and free, I tend to eat slowly, like a pint a week.
pizza - 7 - i thought I'd eat one/week, but I always have an excuse to eat something more healthy
canned tuna, salmon, sardine - 22,2,4 - parents won't touch fish, have to take the cans to the garage immediately.
beans, canned - again, I like the idea of a near-instant meal, but my Mom won't eat it so it doesn't get made too often
whole mung beans - I bought these to sprout in case of food shortages because: pandemic.  I can make these about once/month.
brown rice - see carb phobia plus Mom won't eat
urad dal with skin - I made the one without skin today
dry fruit - cranberries, cherries, kiwi, mango - I prefer the fresh or even frozen
frozen blueberries- 3lb - prob my favorite fruit, but fresh other fruit is better
frozen veg - spinach, peas, brussel sprouts, riced cauliflower, squash - bought as emergency foods, no emergencies have happened
frozen egg rolls - bought for a potluck that got cancelled
cheese - cream, swiss, cracker barrell3 - flip side of not eating much carb is not eating cheese on bread
pasta - shells 2, lasagne, spaghetti, rotini 3, plus rice ramen and regular ramen
peanut butter - 4? - mostly free, i love satay sauce but still excessive.
yogurt -20
pakoras, croissants, misc freezer containers
salad dressing - 40 individual?
canned soup - 10? idea was to eat these if a planned free lunch was cancelled, but didn't happen that often
granola bars - 20? boss at work would give these out, marginally healthier than cookies

I lost a bunch of weight 5 years ago by doing eggs breakfast, beans lunch, chicken dinner, and limiting carbs otherwise.  I'm trying to adapt this to one protein-heavy meal and one carb-based meal, but its hard.  I skipped dinner last night and lunch today rather than eat cereal or even yogurt/granola.  I do eat carbs if they're cake or donuts or even bagels. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Wow, @Runrooster - that's a lot of food! What is your goal in keeping so much on hand? Do you find it reduces your worry? For me, having that much on hand would generate a lot of stress about tracking & management, to avoid waste. We couldn't eat 10 bottles of dressing before they expire, so 40 would give me a lot of pause.

-As for us, we had butternut squash soup for dinner, finally using up the impulse purchase butternut squash my husband purchased at Costco. My teen made French bread to go with it.
-I'm almost done with the sliced Cheddar cheese. I'm not a fan, and prefer the bricks. But my husband purchased this for cheeseburgers (he had a real "vision" in mind), so I'm working my way through. French bread at dinner made its way into grilled cheese sandwiches.
-Same teen made an apple crisp, with our leftover apples. A couple of servings were eaten, and we shared a bunch with a friend. One serving remains in the fridge. I'm not sure if it was really a win, as we bought ice cream to go with. But, apple crisp on a fall day sure felt right.
-I had leftover chicken & ravioli for lunch today
-I'm almost through with the enormous bag of long pointed sweet peppers (produce stand had a 5 lb bag for $.99, and I couldn't resist). That's a ton of peppers, btw. I turned most of them into chicken fajitas last night. A few remain, and I'll use them in salads this week.

[Runrooster]

@Beardog  Just a suggestion for the TVP - I used soya granules (I don't know the difference) in my vat of chili as a meat replacement.  It took a while to finish it off, at 1/2c at a time, it swells a lot, but it added a nice texture to the chili.

For urad dal, the way we usually cook it is to add salt, turmeric and a 1/2c frozen chopped spinach.  It really perks up the dal.

@MaybeBabyMustache It's actually 40 individual servings of dressing - maybe 3 bottles worth? I'll be eating salad daily so it should actually go pretty fast.

I spent a few hours making a spreadsheet of everything that's hanging out in my pantry - mentally coming up with it, not an actual inventory.  Plus 2 hours making idli/sambar (idli uses urad dal too, but I'm guessing Beardog doesn't want to make that).  And I'm not hungry all day.  I ate the idli/sambar, and a cupcake my Mom announced she didn't want, but I think I'm going to just have a salad for dinner.  Thinking about food all day is weird.

As for why I bought so much  - I think each item has its own place.  I like variety.  The problem is when it's on super sale so I stock up.  The cereal was like "hey, I'll eat it cheaper than popcorn", but then I haven't.  I'm definitely adjusting to having to buy all my meals again, and half the food is something I can throw together mid-week with little effort. 

The thing you don't see is that my fruits, veg, and protein are all pretty dialed-in.  Chicken is on sale somewhere all the time, so I buy the value -pack, freeze half, use it up, buy more.  Fruits and veg we buy every week to 2 weeks, and finish it off with low-wastage. I did pick up extra eggplant this weekend, but I've already found a recipe I want to try out for it if my Mom doesn't want it.

And then there's this mix of "Mom is trying to increase her calcium so I'll stock up on individual yogurts" except she's not eating them every day like she said. Or the 6/$1 ramen she liked but then stopped eating.  The brown rice Mom bought and then stopped eating.  My sister gives us food, my Dad buys extra soup and cereal, the grocery store gave me free organic peanut butter, my coworker gave me her dried kiwi - I like dried fruit as an alternative to candy, but when I had a cold I needed hard candy.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Runrooster - ha! 3 bottles is so different than 40. That makes more sense :-)

[Beardog]

@Runrooster - thank you for the tips on using TVP and urad dal.  I've made dosas from scratch before, and am fond of other fermented 'breads' like injera.  I've never had idli, but it looks very doable and I'm interested in trying it.  I don't have a special idli plate, but I found alternative ways of cooking the idli batter online.  I appreciate the idea!

[Dutch Comfort]

Slowly the cupboard is showing some free shelve space!
Last weekend we had a big DIY project. No time to cook, so Saturday we were eating all kind of snacks that came from the freezer as dinner. On Sunday I made a quick stir-fry noodle dish, using up some noodles from the cupboard and some fresh produce I had on hand.
Today I had a lunch omelet made with 1/2 zucchini, 1 tomato, 2 eggs, some bellpepper and some corn. So this used up some lingering veggies from the fridge.

Dinners:
Today: baked potatoes, veggies and bacon covered meatloaf
Wednesday: pumpkin soup (fresh) with mozzarella bread (fridge) and pizza (from freezer) - DD has to go to sport and needs a quick meal.
Thursday: pasta dish (sports day for DS / piano lesson day for DD, so pasta it is!)
Friday: Not sure, since DD has a school trip, DH has to leave early in the evening and DS will be exhausted from his school week and maybe my mother in law will join for dinner as well, so it will be something fast and easy from either fridge or freezer.
Saturday: all kind of activities, so I might just make some soup on Thursday/Friday that we can heat up as we please......

Breakfast and lunches will be the regular cupboard items (crackers / cereal / sandwiches). I have to get the kids back on cereal, because I found 2 packs lingering in the back of the cupboard that need to be eaten before it goes bad.

Couldn't resist and ordered a TooGoodToGo package from our local bakery store. They usually have a good amount of bread/bakery things in there, so depending on what is in there, the menu can change. Usually this will be breakfast/lunch type of things, but you never know!

[Zoot]

Used up a bunch of things this past week, either totally or in part!

* Pork chops with mustard/apple-butter sauce:  used up pork loin from freezer (bought at $0.99/pound), most of the remaining apple butter, most of the remaining dijon mustard, all of remaining maple syrup
* Broccoli-cheddar soup:  used up 1/2 of remaining broccoli, all of remaining block cheddar, all of remaining chicken stock base
* Flatbreads:  used up 1/3 of remaining self-rising flour (which I got free from Buy Nothing) and 1/2 of remaining tub yogurt (this recipe was a new discovery--gonna do this again in the future!)

Upcoming week looks good:  I'll be using up some frozen chicken to do kebabs on the grill, and some frozen brats and Italian sausage this weekend.

Edited to add that we also used up some flatbread-pizza-type things that I got from Lidl as a "too good to waste" special for $0.50 each to see if we liked them.  Bought two of them--each of them fed 2 people when paired with a salad.  Will keep an eye out for more of them!

[MountainGal]

Congratulations on finishing up the lentils, @Beardog!

@Runrooster, I have been primarily a low carber since 2012.  I lost 35 pounds that year.  Great job on your list!  Regarding cheese, I hear you about being breadless.  I use cream cheese in low carb pancakes, on salmon and stuffed in celery.  Swiss cheese goes well with sliced deli meat and layered on romaine leaves as a bread substitute.  I sometimes do buy carby things such as beans, rice, ramen packets, and canned soups as a just-in-case zombie/another grocery shortage stockpile.  If it becomes too much, I donate a small bagful to a friend in need.  :)

@MaybeBabyMustache, great job on those sweet peppers!

@Dutch Comfort, that omelet sounds delicious.

Nice meal planning, @Zoot!

As for me, autumn nesting has begun!
Over the weekend in the slow cooker I made:
Mulled wine which used a bottle of red we've had since last year, and a mulling spice packet.
Savory bread which utilized two types of cheese, some of the large bag of bacon bits, and half cup each heavy whipping cream and almond milk.

In the oven I made:
Peach cobbler which used up fresh peaches I froze over the summer, and a stick of butter.
The aforementioned Fathead crust pizza, which took the rest of the pepperoni slices.
Oatmeal pie cookies which I filled with the remaining marshmallow crème from smores season, and another stick of butter.

Last Thursday's leftovers included the remaining little smokies and bacon wrapped asparagus from Monday Night Football, homemade fries I made Tuesday using locally grown potatoes (SO creamy!), and the remaining tiny bit of spicy ranch dressing.

Sunday DH used the rest of the Dijon mustard contents in his beef roast rub.  Smoked, sliced beef was served on top of steamed broccoli slaw, with a side of packaged ratatouille from the freezer.

Last night I served pork chops that were simmered all day in the slow cooker with the remaining bottle of teriyaki sauce, spices, and about a half cup of a box of opened low sodium beef stock.  I took the remaining neighbor grown potatoes and peeled, cooked, and mashed them with butter and heavy whipping cream.

Among today's lunch contents was more of the broccoli slaw, half an avocado, and more of the bacon bits.

Tonight's supper will consist of two cod fillets, even more of the broccoli slaw (a package of it goes a long way!), and the remaining avocado.

Tomorrow we'll graze on any remaining perishables, as we are headed out of town soon.

For the freezer project I mentioned on a prior page, I switched large protein items in the top basket with lower basket smaller items such as baggies of frozen fruit and veggies.  It wasn't as bad as I originally thought, as far as older, hidden items.

Oh, and much to our chagrin, we confirmed we have a mouse.  I won't disclose how much mouse-sampled pantry food we tossed.  :(  It could've been worse, but still.  How frustrating.  DH bought a trap, and I bought new shelf liner.  Once the critter is gone, I'll wipe everything down and lay down the new liner.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@MountainGal - need more info on those oatmeal cookies! They sound amazing. I'm really hungry reading your list.

I, too, have been in autumn nesting mode, with the apple sauce, apple crisp, apple sauce muffins, and loaves of homemade bread. I made another loaf tonight to go with our leftover butternut squash soup.

[Dutch Comfort]

The TooGoodToGo package was great: 4 donuts (got grabbed by the teens yesterday evening as a snack), 6 bread rolls (half of which my DS indulged on for breakfast, the other 3 will stay fresh till tomorrow), 6 sweet bread rolls (will stay fresh till the weekend), 1 loaf of low-carb bread (now put in the freezer), 3 luxury bread rolls (Both DH and DD took this for breakfast today, 1 left, which will be my lunch) and I only paid 3 EUR for the whole package. Not much is left after 1 evening/1 breakfast and that is how I like it!

@MountainGal: I can just smell all the good food from here while reading. That is what I enjoy most about autumn cooking.... those cinnamon/pumpkin/spice flavours.

[tungu2]

Today I used a can of beans, a can of tomatoes, and some pasta. I have never had pasta with beans before, but it is actually really good. The problem is that somehow the volume of the final dish is much bigger than I anticipated, ha ha. In addition, I added a lot of herbs and spices, which I am also trying to use up.
For dessert I had the last of my frozen plums.

Does anybody have any good recipes using leftover liquid from canned beans? I heard that you can add it to cakes but could find any good resources.

[MountainGal]

Thank you, @MaybeBabyMustache and @Dutch Comfort!  The recipe:  https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a10592/oatmeal-whoopie-pies/  My batch yielded about 48 cookies.  I made "sandwiches" until I ran out of marshmallow crème, and bagged the "singles" for DH's lunches.  Our neighbor kiddos and DH's co-workers liked them.  :)

@tungu2, that combo does sound good!  I have never thought to use the leftover liquid, so unfortunately, I don't have any recipes.

Speaking of spices, the recipe I was following last night called for lemon pepper.  When I pulled the can from the lazy Susan, I noticed the contents were hard!  I flipped it over and discovered the expiration date was June, 2019.  It's funny, because I thought I had looked through the spices not too long ago....?  That is one thing that has always caught up to me.  Oh, well.

Today's lunch consisted of a can of tuna, a squirt of mayo, and some leftover cheese crisps for crunch.  A snack later will be 3 olives, strawberries, a string cheese, and some nuts.  It's my Friday, so it's clean out the office fridge day.  :)

[Dutch Comfort]

DS has to go for his final swimming diploma (3rd survival training diploma, where they have to swim in full gear and show all kinds of diving and water orientation skills) tonight. He asked for cake afterwards. I checked my cupboard and found enough to make some chocolate muffins this afternoon. So this will be his cake (and he was happy when I told him that this was my plan as long as he could add chocolate sprinkles as well).

@MountainGal: I hear you on the spices. Same here.......

[Runrooster]

@Beardog-impressive that you made dosas.  We're North Indian so I'm the only one of our extended group to make the batter from scratch, which I think is important for idli (more than dosas).  It's basically the same batter, just less water in the fermenting stage.  I typically make a large batch at once, use first for idli, then the following week for dosas/ thinned out.  Everyone else buys pre-made batter at the store, but besides seeming expensive I just don't know how long it's been sitting there.

@tungu2 The chickpea liquid is called aquafaba, so try googling it. It's supposed to be a vegan egg replacement.  A quick search led to pictures of vegan meringue and whiskey sours.  Some people say to use any beans, other chickpea only.

@Dutch Comfort I read about TooGoodtoGo about a month ago, and I added it to my list of things to buy as a reward for clearing out my pantry.  The empanadas sound yummy.

This week wasn't very good.  I convinced myself not to use my coupons for cheap frozen veg and waffle fries, but then my parents decided to go to Costco as an outing.  I was in dread of what they'd bring back but mostly we didn't need more croissants. Then I got some free offers from the grocery store- popcorn, couscous.  I did make a pizza, eat cereal, yogurt and dressing, finish the nutella and dried mango, took the dried kiwi to work.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Finished up the last of the taco meat
-Used up a couple of kebabs (freezer) for my husband's dinner one night
-Made a bunch of fruit smoothies, as I've had a cold & it sounded good. Used strawberries from the garden
-Chopped the two fresh mangoes, so they are ready to go in smoothies
-Made applesauce from more gifted apples. Used the rest of the apples & a wrinkly lemon from the produce drawer
-Made chocolate chip zucchini bread, with the last garden zucchini

My teen made a Korean beef dish yesterday that was delicious, but not quite enough for leftovers. I'll make the rest of the beef into that today (we'll eat it later in the week) & then I'm making a caprese chicken skillet for dinner tonight.

Oh, & I caved & bought another huge bag of peppers, because it was cheaper than the one pepper I needed to buy. Now I need to add those back to the list of things to use up. :-)

[Beardog]

@Runrooster - I am vegetarian so I have dabbled a bit in Indian cooking as it provides so many tasty options.  We have a large Indian grocery store nearby which has beautiful produce, wonderful spices and breads, and pulses galore.

Used up all of the buckwheat hot cereal by mixing in with oatmeal!  Made good progress with brown rice/pea protein pasta - less than one serving left!  And used some barley from the cupboard in a soup instead of buying potatoes to use as the recipe called for.  Also used some oregano from the garden in said soup.

[MountainGal]

It's grocery day!  The refrigerator is quite empty so yesterday I took the opportunity to wipe down it's interior, as well as the interior freezer bottom.  While looking through condiment expiration dates, I noticed the expiration date on the hot sauce was the day before.  So I made a marinade with it along with the rest of a bottle of canola oil, a bit of leftover beef broth, diced garlic and parsley and poured it over the remaining two bags of chicken from the freezer.  It's in the slow cooker now, and I cannot wait to get home to the heavenly smell.

Last night I sautéed the rest of the shrimp and served it over the last bag of shirataki noodles for me, and angel hair pasta for DH.

Tomorrow I'll make the salmon I buy tonight to ensure there's not a repeat of what happened last month.  ;)

[Linea_Norway]

Last night I made borek, where I added some selfpicked mushrooms, including a bag of dried ones. And I used up most of the filodough that I had in the freezer. I added 3 types of selfpicked edible plants from the freezer. It tasted good, according to DH.

I also started eating homemade red cabbage kraut as a salad for lunch. I made a dressing with the last bit of fresh ginger. Still lots of red cabbage left, as it was a large pot. But I made a first dent. There is dressing left, so I will eat some more of it and hopefully the whole pot. I cannot make it for dinner, as DH doesn't want to eat red cabbage. I should also make a plan for all that kimchi in the fridge, 3 (smaller) pots.

I have a plan to use up more selfpicked mushrooms and I use a book with suggestions. One dish is with fried spring rolls. I have the ingredients for it, except for cabbage. But maybe I can use some kimchi here. Another dish is with tartar. I bought some beef and frooze it to kill off patogens. Then I will serve with with a pickled mushroom. And the last dish is fresh spring rolls, with mango in it. But I found out that we don't have the rice sheets for that anymore. I will get some new.

We did finish up the homemade pita breads from the freezer. Now we can start eating the prebaked ones that DH had bought. We also finished up the tropical icecream I made a while ago, from leftover tinned peaches and a tin of pineapple.

Our normal fridge with fresh veggies, meat, cheese, yoghurt etc is pretty empty now. But the fridge with conserved veggies and asian flavour bottles is as full as ever. One item in it, my sourdough starter, I use regularly, although I have started to but commercial bread again. It is a bit of too much work to bake all our own bread, 2 loaves at the time, like I did for more than a year.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We are heading out of town tomorrow (my parents are arriving to stay with the kids). Tonight, I'll be making a fiesta chicken skillet, with tortilla chips & all of the fun sides. Everything is ready to go for that.

I froze a bunch of leftovers, that we wouldn't eat before we left. My parents will likely go out/make their own stuff. I also defrosted the zucchini bread for my dad's breakfast & made a batch of cookies (from the freezer) for dessert for them. They should be all set.

I'm so looking forward to not worrying about anything while we're gone, including staying on top of meal prep. We have access to the club level at the hotel we're staying at, so I'm expecting to come home a pound heavier! ;-)

[Dutch Comfort]

Got a TooGoodToGo box from our local bakery yesterday. It was a LARGE one (paid 6 euro, got around 30 euro of fresh bakery goods)........ So now my freezer is stuffed with bread (enough to last at least 2 weeks of lunchboxes for the teens) and the countertop also has bread all over (croissants, breadrolls, cookies, various buns....). Luckily the teens are at home due to autumn break this week, so a lot of the goodies (especially the cookies and croissants) will go quickly.
A nice bread with herbs will be a side for tonights pasta dish.

@Linea_Norway : the borek sounds delicious. Do you also add cheese to those?

For tomorrow, the teens decided they want some chinese comfort food. I offered them to cook it ourselves instead of take out. They came up with recipes for Jaozi (dimsum pot-stickers) and spring rolls. I have to get a few items from the local chinese shop, so that is on the list for tomorrow. It also clears out some veggies in the fridge and some chicken in the freezer. They also want a side dish of fried noodles (no chinese food meal is complete without noodles according to the teens).

@MaybeBabyMustache: enjoy!!!!!

[Beardog]

Using up some oat bran cereal by mixing a small amount in with my daily morning oatmeal.  This technique vanquished some cracked wheat and bulgur wheat cereal that had been hanging around in the cupboard.

Yesterday I used up some cabbage by making sweet and sour cabbage in the slow cooker.  I have a mountain of sweet and sour cabbage to eat now!! Ha! ha!!!  It was fun to make because I got to use my thrift shop Cuisinart food processor to shred the cabbage.

Also have been working on some frozen fresh buckwheat noodles by adding them to a minestrone soup that I made without any pasta.

[Runrooster]

Week 2:  I did a large shopping trip, after spending only $20 last week, $100 this week.  Mostly staples we needed, but I have another mental debate: belgian waffles on half-price, they sound really good.  I just stocked up on eggs for breakfast, but I could eat waffles for dinner.  Better still, my parents could help me.  They finished the croissants they bought at Costco.  I still haven't eaten the couscous I picked up last week - I was going to, and then my Mom decided to make something else with the eggplant.

@Mountain Gal- thanks for the cheese on lettuce idea.  Instead of making salad this week, I did the cream cheese (smoked salmon flavor) with onion, tomato, capers on lettuce.  Surprisingly filling.  Next up is swiss cheese and salami.

This was opposite week to last week in what I ate, too: only 1 yogurt, no dressing, no pizza.  finished some beet kvass and 1 packet of wasa my sister gave me, 4 large cookies from prior job lunches, most of the cream cheese, 3 packets of rice ramen.  1 serving of: mung bean (as sprouts), ramen, nachos, fries, popcorn, cereal, 2 croissants.

I also turned 6 lb of a 10lb bag of onions into caramelized onions, which I use in cooking everything but esp. biryani.  I also defrosted/ cooked 22c of squash skin added onions, spices and turned it into 14c of chutney.  We heard about this from relatives who were visiting.  I can't get my parents to eat that much fiber, but it doesn't taste that heavy, and it's packed with vitamins.

On the one hand, that's a high-carb week for me. On the other hand, since my parents aren't eating much of it, using up the pantry is a slow process.  My brother brought over food this week, and we didn't make beans, dry or canned.  The great news is that I realized I'm getting home a full hour earlier than my previous job, so it's a lot easier to cook mid-week. I usually make a large vat of something on Sunday and then this Thu I made pad thai to get through Saturday.

[tungu2]

I finally used the remains of dried garbanzo beans I bought last year, wow. I now have several servings of frozen falafel. Does not help with my cleaning the freezer challenge but it least some progress with the pantry. Served it with fresh salad, dill sauce, and bulgur wheat. It was a hit.

As for shopping, so far I failed and restocked on some extras. On the bright side, it is now easier to cook more interesting dishes with old ingredients.

[Linea_Norway]

Today I made spring rolls. I used carrots and some other veggie, a bit of selfmade kimchi, a bag of selfpicked dried mushrooms, ground lamb, and leftover glass noodles. I stir fried all ingredients first, but obviously left in too much water, maybe the noodles. So many of the rolls broke open during frying and it turned out a bit messy. But it tasted okay and we both eat 5 rolls each. I have 2 x 10 sheets left, so I have the chance to make some better looking rolls next times.
Tomorrow I plan to make a Thai style soup where I can throw in a bit of leftover stirfried vegetable from the springrolls, plus some more leftover fresh veggies. As well as some more selfpicked pickled mushrooms. I will add chicken.