No food waste challenge

[Good_Juju]

This is my personal goal for the week but I thought I'd post it and see if anyone wants to join in.
I'm sure a lot of people here normally do much better than I do with this, but I find myself throwing out a good bit of food. This week, I'm trying to plan a couple more trips to the store and buy less fruit and vegetables at the beginning of the week so I can plan for what I will actually need. Anyone interested in joining?

[PFHC]

I get home the 14th... when I do, I'm in!

[mustachepungoeshere]

Posting to follow.

I need the constant reminders from these threads.

[PFHC]

We're pretty solid in this arena, so here's a couple pointers:

• Save your leftovers. Eat them tomorrow for lunch or breakfast.
• Portion control. Make enough to eat, and no more.
• Meal plan.
• Make things that use leftovers, oldish food, and something you may not like. Leftover uses are soups, stews, and salads (fresh greens, toss in a ton of leftover veggies, chop up some fresh veggies, and something crunchy, sweet, some cheese, and a good fat [nuts, Avos, seeds] and dress it).  Great use for oldish fruit, veggies, and greens are smoothies. If you fruit is going, peel it, chop it and freeze it. Huck it in the blender and it tastes perfect.
• For food you may not like, try hiding it in something you do. Or just chuck it in the stew pot with some yummy stock and chow down.

[swick]

I'm in!

Usually, we are pretty good but I've been finding it harder lately. I think the quality of the food our store has been getting in has been suffering and no matter how closely you inspect a bag of something, there is usually an unpleasant surprise.

Got home to find the 10kg bag of potatoes had a couple going bad, so spent yesterday afternoon making a huge bulk batch of potato pancakes for the freezer. They oxidized a bit by the time I was done, but they are still tasty.

I turned a bunch of our CSA supply and a few veggies from the store into two jars of kimchi. The kimchi actually helps us use up leftovers because it perks up any food that is "Boring"

I have been having good luck with popsicle molds. We have the kind you can fill up one popsicle at a time, so if there is a little bit of leftover smoothie or other suitable sweet liquid it goes into the popsicle molds. Was gifted a bunch of sour cherries from a friend. Stewed them in honey, froze some, stuck some on the dehydrator for winter and drained off the juice. The juice I combined with a bit of coconut milk and made some amazing sour cherry creamsicles.

Our goal this month (and going forward as long as we can) is to work through all our pantry, freezer and CSA and buy as little at the store as possible. We are approaching huckleberry season and I need to have some room for those berries!

[Good_Juju]

I'm super excited to have some responses to this! Here is an update with what I have in my fridge now. I just recently cleaned it out, so it is mostly things that I bought at the store yesterday.

Sunday I made a big batch of ratatouille that should be enough to eat off of for lunch for the week. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan. I'm going to be looking for ways to mix this up. I think I will try pureeing some of it and  making it into a soup. I don't think I mind the taste, but the texture is like baby food.

Other than that I have....

Fruits
- 3 apples that need to be eaten or tossed
- 5 bananas
- 1 container of strawberries
- 2 mangos
- 1 papaya
- 5 limes

Veggies
- mixed salad
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 avocado (not ripe)


Meat
- a handful of shrimp made last week that I should either use really soon or toss out.
- 2 small breakfast sausage patties
- ground turkey
- beef stew meat
- frozen chicken, shrimp, italian sausage, and pork


Any suggestions for the apples? I could try to make some applesauce.

The shrimp I had originally tried to put into a salad but I think the lettuce was going bad and it wasn't palatable for me.  I'm thinking about adding it to my ratatouille soup for lunch tomorrow.

I probably should've had a plan for the papaya before I got it. I've never prepped a papaya before and I have no idea what I 'm doing there. Can I just cut it up and eat it? Any ideas for anything to do with it? I don't know how big the seed/core is but it looks like a lot of fruit.

If you fruit is going, peel it, chop it and freeze it. Huck it in the blender and it tastes perfect.

This is a really good idea. I got strawberries at Aldi's and some of them are already iffy. I think I can separate the bad ones, cut out any bad spots, and put them in the freezer for smoothies for later. It would also help keep the others fresh to separate any bad ones, so that is a win-win.

I have been having good luck with popsicle molds. We have the kind you can fill up one popsicle at a time, so if there is a little bit of leftover smoothie or other suitable sweet liquid it goes into the popsicle molds.

This is complementary to my plan for the strawberries.

From the menu today:
Breakfast: 2 eggs
Lunch: Ratat(ew)ie
Snack 1: Banana with PB
Snack 2: Smoothie - cut up all the badish looking strawberries, and some older peaches that needed to be eaten
Dinner: TBD

[mustachepungoeshere]

- 3 apples that need to be eaten or tossed
...

Any suggestions for the apples? I could try to make some applesauce.

Do you have a slow cooker?

I stuff soft apples with butter, nuts and brown sugar and slow cook them.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/33725/slow+cooker+baked+apples

[swick]

Good_Juju I have a few thoughts for you :)

Apples - you can slice them, saute them in a pan with butter (I usually use coconut oil) top with some cinnamon (and sugar, if that's your poison) and you have a very quick side dish for meat, or crepe filling, or oatmeal topper....

Ratatouille - I make a batch of "Ragatooie" every couple of weeks which was a happy accident when we discovered hubs isn't a big fan. I browned up some meat (Ground beef and sausage combo rocks, but whatever you have) with some onion, added some canned tomatoes (or paste) or both...it's flexible and then add the ratatouille veggies and simmer it all together to make a nice sauce. A sort of combination between Ratatoullie and Ragu. You can use this to top pasta, veggies, grains, this it out for a soup...

Papaya - split it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds in the middle with a spoon. A squeeze of lime and your good to go for eating, or you can chop up and add to fruit salad, smoothies, even savory dishes. If your papaya is green you can make Thai green papaya salad which is pretty awesome too.

Dinner is a tip roast I have been marinating for a couple fo days from the freezer. To go with it I made a cauliflower broccoli salad, both were starting to go. I made a dressing for it out of some cashews I had forgot I was soaking and almost had to toss, some sundried tomatoes from the pantry, bacon drippings, black garlic (I know not everyone has black garlic, it was one of those things I have read about for years and never actually seen, so when we were in the USA and I saw it I bought some!) spices and herbs. It is super tasty - a little oddly brown colored due to the garlic, but sooo tasty.

[SoccerLounge]

Let's do this! I have a dry-erase board on my refrigerator as I type. This board contains my Use Up List. I find what I end up doing is taking a bunch of stuff to work to use as snacks. (Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Today it was half a cucumber and some cream cheese.) Other times, I just throw stuff into whatever meal I'm making. It usually ends up okay!

To use up right now, the most urgent for me is: remaining half of cucumber, lettuce (WHY did I buy lettuce?! I never want to eat it and it's trickier to cook with!), some strawberries, grapes, and an onion. All of these are going to be used up in the next couple days as snacks with the exception of the onion, which is getting chopped and browned with some turkey sausage tomorrow, and the lettuce, which is getting turned into lettuce wraps.

[PFHC]

remaining half of cucumber, lettuce... some strawberries, grapes, and an onion.

You could make an amazing salad with this! Dice it all up, add some nuts or seeds, dress it with olive oil and vinegar and some salt and pepper, and you'll be good to go!

[SoccerLounge]

You could make an amazing salad with this! Dice it all up, add some nuts or seeds, dress it with olive oil and vinegar and some salt and pepper, and you'll be good to go!

That is an excellent idea! Except I don't like salad at all. (Weird, right? I like all the individual ingredients just fine.) I kinda eat salads piecemeal instead of all at once :)

[mustachepungoeshere]

You could make an amazing salad with this! Dice it all up, add some nuts or seeds, dress it with olive oil and vinegar and some salt and pepper, and you'll be good to go!

That is an excellent idea! Except I don't like salad at all. (Weird, right? I like all the individual ingredients just fine.) I kinda eat salads piecemeal instead of all at once :)

Lettuce makes a great taco filling. Or a low-carb wrap.

[Good_Juju]

Some great suggestions for older apples by Swick and Mustachepungoeshere. I decided to go with this one since it looks delicious:

Do you have a slow cooker?

I stuff soft apples with butter, nuts and brown sugar and slow cook them.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/33725/slow+cooker+baked+apples

I also went through with making my ratatouille soup. I blended up 2 portions of the ratatouille and have 2 portions left besides this. Now I have a good bit of soup.  It needed a lot of seasoning to taste decent. 2 bouillon cubes and plenty of chilli powder but it doesn't taste too bad now. I think I will try to make the "ragatooie" with about half of the soup that I have.

I went to the store this evening to get everything needed to make pizzadillas, so if I can't eat everything I already have in the fridge I'll be ashamed.

Let's do this! I have a dry-erase board on my refrigerator as I type. This board contains my Use Up List. I find what I end up doing is taking a bunch of stuff to work to use as snacks. (Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Today it was half a cucumber and some cream cheese.) Other times, I just throw stuff into whatever meal I'm making. It usually ends up okay!

To use up right now, the most urgent for me is: remaining half of cucumber, lettuce (WHY did I buy lettuce?! I never want to eat it and it's trickier to cook with!), some strawberries, grapes, and an onion. All of these are going to be used up in the next couple days as snacks with the exception of the onion, which is getting chopped and browned with some turkey sausage tomorrow, and the lettuce, which is getting turned into lettuce wraps.

I love the idea of a Use Up board on the fridge. My fridge is pretty empty right now and I totally forgot I had breakfast sausage and also some cut up carrots and celery in there. I have the same problem with lettuce. So many good intentions to eat it. Every time.

Swick, why do you say to squeeze the lime onto the papaya? Does it brown quickly? What are potato pancakes?

[SoccerLounge]

Tomorrow's food for work has the following features:

Cheese sandwich with a nice helping of lettuce.

Cucumber sandwich, afternoon-tea style with butter and nice slices of cucumber. With the crusts cut off.

Grapes, for snacking.

Pistachios wrapped in a lettuce leaf, also for snacking. (They salt the leaf as they sit on it, then you eat the nice salty leaf!)

Yes, I eat a lot at work! Most of my daily food intake happens before dinner.

[PFHC]

I have the same problem with lettuce. So many good intentions to eat it. Every time.

Other than bulk, lettuce is pretty nutritionally pointless anyways. Get spinach or collard greens or turnip greens or some other dark leafy green. Way better taste, nutrition profile, and consumption options.

[mustachepungoeshere]

ragatooie
...
pizzadillas

Loving the portmanteaus. More, more!

[Sailor Sam]

For lettuce, you can stir fry greens. I'm not a big salad fan, either, but I had a big pile of lettuce and I needed to do something with it. I was pretty skeptical, but it ended up being delicious. I used this website: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-stir-fry-vegetables-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-171758, and followed the process exactly. Then I crumbled bacon on it. Really, really good.

Elderly spring/baby greens can be tossed in the freezer, and used for green smoothies, same as fruit.

I also throw most of my peels into a freezer bag, and use them when making chicken or beef stock. If some whole vegetable is starting to go bad, and I just can't bring myself to consume it for some reason, I toss it into the stock bag.

Limes, you can juice into a ice cube tray. Once the cubes are frozen, store in a ziplock, or they will sublimate to weird, syrupy pucks. Uses for margaritas!

Any meat I'm not going to eat in a timely manner, I turn into a ready-made freezer lunch. I'd suggest freezing a single portion in whatever vessel you use to transport lunch. Once frozen, pop out the meal, and store in bulk in gallon sized ziplocks. When you want the meal, put it back into the container, and volia!, lunch. Circumvents the need for own 10^5 pyrex containers, which pisses me off.

[swick]

Swick, why do you say to squeeze the lime onto the papaya? Does it brown quickly? What are potato pancakes?

Mostly because that's how my mom use to serve it and it is delish! Ripe papaya can be very sweet, the lime juice just adds a nice tangy counterbalance. It is totally optional, but tasty!

Potato pancakes are basically grated potato and onion that have been squeezed dry, mixed with some eggs and flour (I dont do gluten so have adapted it to a bit of extra potato starch) and some seasonings I usually do salt, pepper, smoked paprika and a bit of garlic powder. Mix it all up until it loosely holds together and drop into hot fat to cook. Flip 'em over to get crispy on both sides and make sure they are cooked through. Then I freeze them they are quick to reheat in a pan or toaster oven. Awesome as a grain-free base for eggs benny or to have on the side of breakfast. I grew up having them with applesauce and sour cream along side a pork roast - although my mom's favorite way of having them which I tend to copy is with salsa on top beside eggs. Now they WILL oxidize quickly so it is better to do several batches instead of one big batch otherwise they'll turn a little gray/brown by the time you get to the end of the bowl.

[Anje]

My favourite way to eat lettuce is in fresh spring rolls. Or: once I've made the lemongrass beef I will dip anything in the leftover juice in the pan and eat it. Episodes has occured with me eating half a lettuce dipped in sweet-salty lemongrass-beefy goodness. And then been to full to eat spring rolls. Do not judge..

I've acumulated too many dairy products. Cheese, sour cream and joghurt all needs to be eaten fairly soon. I'm planing a banana lassi with the joghurt, but what to do about sour cream? I might bake something, but it's summer.. will think it over.

[Good_Juju]

I made that apple dish last night. I think I might've put too much water in with them. They didn't look as good as the picture but they were still pretty good. This morning I ate the breakfast sausages that I had in the fridge and packed a whole bunch of stuff to eat at work for the next couple of days. Should be easier to ride my bike in to work for the next couple of days. I love all of the ideas going around about lettuce. I've never heard that it is "nutritionally pointless" before though.

My favourite way to eat lettuce is in fresh spring rolls. Or: once I've made the lemongrass beef I will dip anything in the leftover juice in the pan and eat it. Episodes has occured with me eating half a lettuce dipped in sweet-salty lemongrass-beefy goodness. And then been to full to eat spring rolls. Do not judge..

I've acumulated too many dairy products. Cheese, sour cream and joghurt all needs to be eaten fairly soon. I'm planing a banana lassi with the joghurt, but what to do about sour cream? I might bake something, but it's summer.. will think it over.

Mm...Banana lassi. That sounds so good. Sour cream is one of my favorite things so I got this! If you want to bake something, do potatoes and load them down with sour cream. nom. I like fajitas, burritos, or quesadillas with sour cream too. I guess those are all of the things you would normally think of so idk that I was helpful. I had to look up what a fresh spring roll is but I've had that once before and it was very delicious. My sister-in-law is Vietnamese and I had them with her family. Can you get the wraps for it at a normal grocery store? I don't think there are any Asian grocery stores near me.

Swick, I'll try the papaya with and without lime and let you know what I think. Sounds good. The potato cakes sound interesting. More effort than I'd want to put into white potatoes personally, but I would definitely eat them. I have had to throw out bags of potatoes that have gone bad in the past so it sounds better than letting that happen.

[Anje]

Banana lassi: 1 banana, 1/3 cup of joghurt (the unsweetened, unflavoured kind - preferably also the thick, creamy kind), a squeese of honney and some cardamom. Add 1/3 cup ice or a little less cold water. Blend. Drink before family members find out you've made it. Or make more.

I get the wraps at my asian store, so I'm no help there. I'd guess, though, that a well stocked supermarket will have them.

Fajitas. That's the thing. I do love fajitas..:)

[SoccerLounge]

Anje, I'm guessing you're from (non-Finland) Scandinavia? Edit: Yep, looked at some other posts. I guessed because you wrote "joghurt" :) (in English it's "yoghurt" because we are strange and like to use 'y' to write that sound, "hey" vs. "hej" etc :) )

I'm going to stir-fry some lettuce (thanks for the tip Sailor Sam!) and eat it with some sausage later tonight.

[Good_Juju]

FROM THE MENU TODAY
Breakfast
-Leftover Breakfast sausage patties
-Banana

Lunch
-Ratatouille soup w/ leftover shrimp - was actually pretty good.
-Salad
-Strawberries
-Water w/ lime juice

Dinner
-Did the dress like a cow get free chik-fil-a  thing. 4 chicken tenders, ate 2 put 2 up.
-Banana with peanut butter
-Will probably eat 1 of the cooked apples this evening


LEFT IN THE FRIDGE
Fruits
- 2 slow cooked apples
- 2 bananas
- 1 container of strawberries
- 2 mangos
- 1 papaya
- 4 limes

Veggies
- mixed salad
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper
- some carrots and celery
- 1 avocado (not ripe)

Meat
- 2 chicken tenders
- ground turkey
- beef stew meat
- frozen chicken, shrimp, italian sausage, and pork


NOTES
-The salad that I had was from a bag of mixed stuff at the store. It had radicchio in it. I found out I don't like radicchio at all. I sucked it up and ate what I had in my salad at lunch, but I went to 3 different grocery stores looking for the fresh spring roll wraps and finally found them. I think I should be able to throw them in this with a lot of other things and be okay with it. My thoughts are to cut up the carrots and celery that I have and add it to the radicchio on a fresh spring roll and add lettuce as needed.

-I think I will try to make a stuffed bell pepper. I don't know if the effort on this will be worth making just one with though.

-I'm not sure what to do with the tomatoes that I have.

[mustachepungoeshere]

- 4 limes
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 avocado (not ripe)

- ground turkey
- beef stew meat

Nachos!

Make a quick salsa with the tomato, capsicum and lime.

Cook the ground turkey or slow-cook the beef. (You could grate the carrots to bulk out the meat.)

Add beans and seasoning, layer over corn chips, top with cheese and bake.

[Good_Juju]

Nachos!

Make a quick salsa with the tomato, capsicum and lime.

Cook the ground turkey or slow-cook the beef. (You could grate the carrots to bulk out the meat.)

Add beans and seasoning, layer over corn chips, top with cheese and bake.

Oooh this sounds good! I think I will try this. I was planning to slow cook the beef anyway and didn't have a plan for it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[mustachepungoeshere]

Nachos!

Make a quick salsa with the tomato, capsicum and lime.

Cook the ground turkey or slow-cook the beef. (You could grate the carrots to bulk out the meat.)

Add beans and seasoning, layer over corn chips, top with cheese and bake.

Oooh this sounds good! I think I will try this. I was planning to slow cook the beef anyway and didn't have a plan for it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Trust me, it's my pleasure. I am enjoying this far more than I should. :D

[swick]

Used up some yogurt that was forgotten in the back of the fridge and some cucumbers from our CSA that also go lost in our fridge...hmm I'm sensing a pattern...and made some tzatziki. Thin sliced and quickly pan fried some leftover tip roast with some spices and had a healthy, tasty homemade version of donair.

Last night I was wanting something desserty, so I threw a bunch of frozen mango chunks from our freezer stash in the food processor with some water and made a decent sorbet. Was actually surprised at how much it made so I have leftovers for tonight too :)

[Good_Juju]

... some cucumbers from our CSA that also go lost in our fridge...hmm I'm sensing a pattern...

Okay, after so much CSA talk from you I finally looked it up and it looks pretty cool. I found out there are some in my area. Can you share your experience with it?

[PFHC]

... some cucumbers from our CSA that also go lost in our fridge...hmm I'm sensing a pattern...

Okay, after so much CSA talk from you I finally looked it up and it looks pretty cool. I found out there are some in my area. Can you share your experience with it?

If I may be so bold, I can share ours. It's a great way to get local produce, support local economy, and get fresh beautiful produce at a good price. You get to meet the farmer and you see where the produce is produced. Both great things.

There are challenges. You can get 20 lbs of carrots, or 15 lbs of broccoli, of a giant bag of greens, or 25 lbs of potatoes at one pop. You can't be a slacker. You have to get after putting this stuff to use or preserving it. It can be a bit of a bear, but, to me, the benefits are well worth the effort.

[Good_Juju]

If I may be so bold, I can share ours. It's a great way to get local produce, support local economy, and get fresh beautiful produce at a good price. You get to meet the farmer and you see where the produce is produced. Both great things.

There are challenges. You can get 20 lbs of carrots, or 15 lbs of broccoli, of a giant bag of greens, or 25 lbs of potatoes at one pop. You can't be a slacker. You have to get after putting this stuff to use or preserving it. It can be a bit of a bear, but, to me, the benefits are well worth the effort.

Yes, of course! Thanks for sharing. I'll probably look into it more. It sounds like it might be really good for a family but I'm scared that I would get too much food. I'm cooking for me and my boyfriend, but he is extremely picky and won't eat most vegetables. I like the idea of buying locally and supporting local economy though.

[swick]

If I may be so bold, I can share ours. It's a great way to get local produce, support local economy, and get fresh beautiful produce at a good price. You get to meet the farmer and you see where the produce is produced. Both great things.

There are challenges. You can get 20 lbs of carrots, or 15 lbs of broccoli, of a giant bag of greens, or 25 lbs of potatoes at one pop. You can't be a slacker. You have to get after putting this stuff to use or preserving it. It can be a bit of a bear, but, to me, the benefits are well worth the effort.

Yes, of course! Thanks for sharing. I'll probably look into it more. It sounds like it might be really good for a family but I'm scared that I would get too much food. I'm cooking for me and my boyfriend, but he is extremely picky and won't eat most vegetables. I like the idea of buying locally and supporting local economy though.

All CSA's are a little different so it is just a matter of talking to the farms and figuring out what works best for you. It is just my hubby and I Although we eat a ton of veggies, and if we get something we are not familiar with, we learn how to do something new!

Everything about keeping it local, organic and such is totally true, in our case, this year we are dealing with a young couple, first time farmers, it is so awesome being able to see them grow! They offer 1/2 shares or full shares works out to about 20.00 (Cdn) for the full share and we get a tote of whatever is ready that week delivered right to our door. It works out to be cheaper and fresher than getting the equivalent organic veggies in the grocery store - the downside is you don't alway get to choose what is in your box, although sometimes farmers allow you to customize your box. We have never gotten 15 lbs of anything at one time, except for sometimes a CSA around here will offer a special "Root Crop" for winter box.

[Good_Juju]

All CSA's are a little different so it is just a matter of talking to the farms and figuring out what works best for you. It is just my hubby and I Although we eat a ton of veggies, and if we get something we are not familiar with, we learn how to do something new!

Everything about keeping it local, organic and such is totally true, in our case, this year we are dealing with a young couple, first time farmers, it is so awesome being able to see them grow! They offer 1/2 shares or full shares works out to about 20.00 (Cdn) for the full share and we get a tote of whatever is ready that week delivered right to our door. It works out to be cheaper and fresher than getting the equivalent organic veggies in the grocery store - the downside is you don't alway get to choose what is in your box, although sometimes farmers allow you to customize your box. We have never gotten 15 lbs of anything at one time, except for sometimes a CSA around here will offer a special "Root Crop" for winter box.

Thank you for replying. It looks like there's a few pretty close to me. I sent one a message on facebook. $200 for 8 weeks. I think I found a couple people at work that might be interested in splitting it. There was another farm that I looked up that has a store less than a mile from my work and on my route home so I think I'm going to stop there as well and see what they have. I'm pretty excited about it. Someone at work said their experience has been getting a box full of chard.

[swick]

Someone at work said their experience has been getting a box full of chard.

You do tend to get more of whatever happens to be growing a lot that week, I have never had that happen to me. I think it is important to ask your farmer how much you can expect and what kinds of things they grow and what the "Staples" are. Usually, we can count on some type of lettuce, some type of chard/kale, a few zucchini, at least one type of fresh herb.

The box we got yesterday had gem lettuce, red leaf lettuce, romaine,  chard, zucchini (three different types), carrots, fennel, a bag of snow peas, dill, cucumber, cabbage and broccoli. It is a good variety, but not too much of each that it gets overwhelming.

[Good_Juju]

FROM THE MENU TODAY
Breakfast
-leftover chicken tenders

Lunch
-Ratatouille
-Strawberries
-Water w/ lime juice

Snack
-Mango lassi - inspired by Ansi's banana lassi. Ingredients used were mango and lassi. It was delicious.

Dinner
-Chips! Made shredded beef with my slowcooker. Topped it with cheese, diced tomatoes and bell pepper, and sour cream.


LEFT IN THE FRIDGE
Fruits
- 2 slow cooked apples
- 2 bananas
- 1/2 container of strawberries
- 1 mango
- 1 papaya
- 4 limes

Veggies
- mixed salad
- 1 tomato
- Diced tomato/bell pepper medley
- some carrots and celery
- 1 avocado (not ripe)

Meat
- ground turkey
- a wee bit of leftover loaded chips
- frozen chicken, shrimp, italian sausage, and pork


NOTES
-I'm going to be giving away one serving of the ratatouille to a coworker. I tried to eat it all myself but I'm so tired of it. She tried it today and liked it so its better than throwing it out.
-I'm planning to make the fresh spring rolls for lunch tomorrow. I've got lettuce, radicchio, carrots, celery, and the tomato/bell pepper medley. Any tips for this? Do I need something to dip it in? I don't like soy sauce.
-I've got tasty meat water from the slow cooked beef today. I like to make rice with tasty meat water, so I'll probably do that. It will go well with my fresh spring rolls tomorrow. Does anyone have any other suggestions for this?

[SoccerLounge]

Quoting from the Use It Up thread, because at least two of the ingredients are relevant here (perishables):

Excellent use-up time today! I combined some ground turkey (browned in a skillet with some leftover oil from last week) with the following use-up-needers:

The last of some quinoa pasta
Some cherry tomatoes and an onion (both chopped and sautéed using the leftover oil)

... and what I have is an absolutely insanely delicious pasta dish with a really good (macro)nutrient balance and a little color from the tomatoes. Enough for 2-3 more meals, and I doubt I'll have to force myself to eat it!

Seriously, this stuff is amazing. I love these happy little accidents.

[Good_Juju]

Quoting from the Use It Up thread, because at least two of the ingredients are relevant here (perishables):

Excellent use-up time today! I combined some ground turkey (browned in a skillet with some leftover oil from last week) with the following use-up-needers:

The last of some quinoa pasta
Some cherry tomatoes and an onion (both chopped and sautéed using the leftover oil)

... and what I have is an absolutely insanely delicious pasta dish with a really good (macro)nutrient balance and a little color from the tomatoes. Enough for 2-3 more meals, and I doubt I'll have to force myself to eat it!

Seriously, this stuff is amazing. I love these happy little accidents.

This sounds good. I'll save it and use to cook the ground turkey in. I was going to ask where the Use It Up thread is but I found it...awesome!

[Sailor Sam]

-I'm planning to make the fresh spring rolls for lunch tomorrow. I've got lettuce, radicchio, carrots, celery, and the tomato/bell pepper medley. Any tips for this? Do I need something to dip it in? I don't like soy sauce.

Peanut Sauce. I like this one, from the SheSimmers cooking blog. If you don't like the ingredient list, just try a different recipe. There are many, many, many varieties.

[mustachepungoeshere]

- frozen chicken, shrimp, italian sausage, and pork

Cassoulet. There are a million variations on it, and it's very forgiving when it comes to using what you have. (I've made it dozens of times and never bothered with duck.)

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17927/cassoulet

[Good_Juju]

Peanut Sauce. I like this one, from the SheSimmers cooking blog. If you don't like the ingredient list, just try a different recipe. There are many, many, many varieties.

Ooh good idea! I checked out some different recipes but then did my own thing. We'll see how it turned out.

Cassoulet. There are a million variations on it, and it's very forgiving when it comes to using what you have. (I've made it dozens of times and never bothered with duck.)

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17927/cassoulet

This looks good! I've never heard of it. My boyfriend won't eat beans so I might look at making this for my lunch dish next week. Ratatouille and Cassoulet. I'm basically French now.
Actually though I've been a little surprised by the cultural variety in what I've been eating. Chips, mango lassi, ratatouille. It's very diverse, not to mention yummy.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Cassoulet. There are a million variations on it, and it's very forgiving when it comes to using what you have. (I've made it dozens of times and never bothered with duck.)

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17927/cassoulet

This looks good! I've never heard of it. My boyfriend won't eat beans so I might look at making this for my lunch dish next week. Ratatouille and Cassoulet. I'm basically French now.
Actually though I've been a little surprised by the cultural variety in what I've been eating. Chips, mango lassi, ratatouille. It's very diverse, not to mention yummy.

It reheats beautifully for lunches as the flavours just keep developing.

[Good_Juju]

FROM THE MENU TODAY
Breakfast
-Scrambled eggs with diced tomatoes and bell pepper - yum!

Lunch
-Fresh spring rolls with lettuce, tomatoes, bell pepper
       -Peanut butter pad thai stuff I made. It turned out really well.
-Celery

Snack
-Banana Peanut Butter smoothie. Nom nom nom.

Dinner
-Ragatouille pasta. Very tasty. It's pretty much spaghetti with a twist on the sauce used.


LEFT IN THE FRIDGE
Fruits
- 1 slow cooked apple - probably desert tonight
- 1 banana (at work)
- 1/2 container of strawberries - starting to not look great
- 1 mango
- 1 papaya
- 4 limes (1 at work)

Veggies
- 1/3 serving of ratatouille (at work)
- 1/3 serving of ratatouille soup
- 4 Fresh spring wraps & sauce (at work)
- 1 tomato
- Diced tomato/bell pepper medley (at work) - just a little bit left
- some carrots
- 1 avocado (not ripe)

Meat
- a wee bit of leftover loaded chips (at work)
- frozen chicken, shrimp, italian sausage, and pork


NOTES
-The fresh spring rolls were awesome today! Highly recommended. Unfortunately, I think the wraps I got were rather small and I had trouble making them.
- I'm getting nervous with all of the leftovers that I have. I have a good bit of food at work now. My plan is to skip breakfast at home and eat some of the leftovers when I get in to work. I'll try to get through most of them tomorrow since I'm heading out of town tomorrow evening and won't be back until saturday evening. I might bring the papaya with me to share with friends.
- I really thought I would be back to the store for fruits and vegetables by this point. This process has been really helpful for me to see how much I should be buying at the store vs. how much I am buying. I've had to put a good deal of effort into it so far but I think it is just a skill that need to be practiced or that it feels like less effort the more you do it. I really appreciate the feedback and support from everyone here. I don't know that I would have made it this far and done this well if it wasn't for your help. Thanks!

[Anje]

Anje, I'm guessing you're from (non-Finland) Scandinavia? Edit: Yep, looked at some other posts. I guessed because you wrote "joghurt" :) (in English it's "yoghurt" because we are strange and like to use 'y' to write that sound, "hey" vs. "hej" etc :) )

Indeed. It's always the words sounding just about the same that gets me. :)

Feel like I've been eating leftovers for a week. It all started last week with some local strawberries. So I made creme anglais to go with them, and was stuck with 8 egg whites. Didn't want to waste them, so I made egg drop soup with just egg whites. Also added some leftover noodles. But I still had more egg whites, so I made some pancakes. Recipe said ricotta, but I had some sour cream that's been sitting around too long, so sour cream pancakes it was. Now I have leftover pancakes and leftover blueberries as well as some chanterelles I picked earlier today.