Empty (Eat down) the freezer/cabinets 1/16

[meadow lark]

Anyone want to play along?  My goal is to try buy only minimal groceries in 1/16, and empty the freezer and cabinets.  I also do bulk freezer cooking, so some of it will be turning ingredients into ready to eat frozen meals.

The main protein items
2 whole chicken
4 lbs ground beef (someone else in the family will use these, even if I don't)
4 lbs chicken breasts
1 beef brisket
1 lb beef stew meat
3 lbs breakfast sausage (maple flavoring) *why the Hell did I buy this?*
1 lb tilapia fillets
1 lb Swai fillets

Also, a large amt of frozen veggies and fruits.

Currently defrosting the 2 whole chickens.  Tomorrow I will make Roast Sticky Chicken.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/45954/roast-sticky-chicken-rotisserie-style/
Then I will package the leftovers in individual servings with gravy and freeze.  Also, I will make bone broth with the carcasses in my pressure cooker.

What should I do with the breakfast sausage?  Turned out I didn't enjoy cooking sausage in the morning, and it is maple flavored so I can't add it to my Italian sausage recipes.

[alleykat]

I am planning on doing this as well.  I have large amounts of frozen veggies and fruit.  And a lot of grains, ingredients, etc.  my goal is to buy only necessities for the week. I would like to eat through everything so I can start again.   ...and no more purchases of specialty items that I eat once or twice and never touch again.

I'm in.

[plainjane]

What should I do with the breakfast sausage?  Turned out I didn't enjoy cooking sausage in the morning, and it is maple flavored so I can't add it to my Italian sausage recipes.

I've had good success using the sweeter sausages in Asian-inspired meals.  I'll take it out of the casing, and then use it like a seasoned ground meat with rice or noodles or a slaw and some sauce or dressing. 

The cooked sausage crumbles also worked well as mini-tarts/quiche cooked in a muffin tin with some roasted sweet potato and a sharp cheese.

[jesse_runs_far]

I'm in too! We have a freezer full of beef, and I really need to get our grocery bill under control.

Today: Beef stew with some veggies that have seen better days.

[gReed Smith]

I'm in.  I busted my grocery budget for the holidays, so I was planning on doing this anyway.  I have some beef roasts, two frozen turkeys (loss leaders at Thanksgiving) and a big ham (loss leaders at Christmas).  Also lots of fruit for smoothies and bones that I have been saving for soups.

[meadow lark]

I've had good success using the sweeter sausages in Asian-inspired meals.  I'll take it out of the casing, and then use it like a seasoned ground meat with rice or noodles or a slaw and some sauce or dressing

Thanks - excellent idea.

I had hoped my 2 whole chickens and beef brisket would be defrosted by this morning, but not yet.

This morning I am going to cook enough sausage for the next 4 days of breakfasts. 

[meadow lark]

Beef brisket in the pressure cooker.  Using this recipe but in the pressure cooker instead of the oven.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/brisket_baby/
And cooked enough breakfast sausage to cause a heart attack.

[Another Reader]

I have scratched my head over that chicken recipe for months and never made it because I could not answer my question.  Do you remove the chicken from the bag or wrap before you cook it?  Surely you must even at the low cooking temperature.  But someone mentioned using a roasting bag in the reviews, so I am not 100 percent sure.

[Vanguards and Lentils]

I'm also in. I have accumulated so many dry/canned foods in the past few months. So I will try to buy only meats, fresh/frozen vegetables, and anything I run out of regularly this month.

[Cookie78]

I'm in.

I have an insane amount of tomato sauce, tomatoes, and beets. Yesterday I made 10+ servings of beet tomato soup and it barely made a dent. Any good ideas for using up about 5 gallons of tomato sauce?

[meadow lark]

AR - throw away the bag before cooking.  It's just a way to marinade the chicken.  I usually use ziplocks to marinade breasts.  The advantage of a bag is that it conforms to the chicken, so the marinade touches it on every side, as opposed to marinating it in a rigid bowl or pan

[meadow lark]

Wow - that's a lot of tomato sauce.  I think I would make a goal to make spaghetti for dinner at least once a week, with enough left over for at least 2 lunches a week.  Then ratatouille.  Love ratatouille.  Chicken Cacciatorre.  Beef stew can use tomato sauce in it.  Cabbage rolls.  Go to Pinterest and search.  Rice and lentils with tomato sauce.  I would try to make 2 dinners a week with it, but make the dinners different by using different types of protein or grains, so they don't taste identical.  Good luck!  And good for you for making 10 servings of soup!

[muckety_muck]

We were taking inventory this morning, planning to do a pantry/freezer challenge on our own... nice to have buddies and accountability here!

Seems like we have a ton of pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. as well as frozen meats. Too many frozen veggies as well. So I need to work on coordinating some meals and cooking it tomorrow.

We're looking at spaghetti, chicken garlic farfalle, chicken fried rice, cheesy/bacony potato soup, stir fry veggies and rice, breakfast for dinner, etc.

Already cooked 2 bags of black-eyed peas with some pork chops we had on hand.

[Nancy]

I'm in. My cabinets are stuffed with beans and grains. I have a lot of veg in the freezer as well. Tonight I'm making hummus to eat with carrots (garden).

[meadow lark]

Muck - that all sounds delicious.  Nancy - I love hummus.
I have a small bag of things I won't be eating that I will drop off at a food pantry tonight.
I am currently drinking a V8.  It was an "aspirational purchase."  I convince myself that I drink V8, buy a 6 pack, then don't drink it.  Only 5 more to go.

I have 3 jars of Green Curry Sauce.
 1 jar of yellow curry sauce.
 1 Peanut Satay Sauce. 
 3 boxes of Silken Tofu
 4 bags of noodles.

I think I will make a green curry with tofu, veggies and noodles in a couple of days. 
The brisket was delicious - I had it for lunch with Brussel sprouts out of the freezer.  I have 2 servings in the fridge and am freezing 1.

[Another Reader]

Check the pasta in your pantry for bugs.  I just did inventory and dumped out all of it except the most recently purchased boxes that were on a different shelf.  Sneaky bugs had bored into the bottom of the boxes and turned some of the pasta into dust.  The salvaged pasta is now in the freezer in case the odd intruder managed to squeeze in.

[$40Kby40]

I'll join in, but I have no vegetables, fruit (except some frozen strawberries), or eggs so I will be buying those probably today.
I work night shift and am working tonight so I've been cooking and getting meals ready from what I have -chicken, black beans and rice - will get some vegetables to go with it and have that for the next 4/5 days.

I have some leftover hamburger soup (4 servings) in the freezer.
I have flour so I can make pancakes (have maple syrup) once I get the eggs.
I have 1 lb of hamburger meat and buns in the freezer.
Some rice, black beans, and pasta in the pantry and that's about all the food I have.

Shouldn't be too hard to eat everything this month and only buy vegetables, fruit, eggs and maybe 1 more pack of chicken.

[shadowmoss]

I have a totally full pantry to the point that my last Costco buys are sitting on my kitchen table as I have no room to put them away.  I live alone...  So, I went to a couple of the Indian recipe sites mentioned on another thread and I'm ready to use up what I have by only buying what I need to fill in.  I did take my lunch from home 3 out of the 4 days I worked this past week.  Progress.

First up will be some chickpea patties with yogurt sauce.  I will pull out my fancy pressure cooker I have had for 15 years and only used maybe once to cook the chickpeas that I bought a few months ago.  I stock a lot of beans and lentils anyway, and went nuts when I found the local 99 cent store has dried beans and such.  Another thing that I buy in individual containers and eat at least 4 of a week at work is rice pudding.  First attempt at making it didn't go so well, but I will try that again.  I have about 10 lbs of rice to use up, so I have plenty to work with.

I may have a bit of a horder issue...  But, I will also inventory my food and work to get it reasonable while remembering how to cook and taking lunch from home.  I work 4 10 hour days a week, so I end up taking in quite a lot of food.

[meadow lark]

Shadow - I completely understand!  I was an extreme couponer for a while and had a ridiculous stockpile.  Also, I worked 12 HR shifts for years, so yeah you have to bring in a lot of food.  I freeze a lot of individual portions.  My goal is to freeze about 10 servings at a time.  I have about 6 different frozen meal types in my freezer,  (burrito bowls - just add lettuce; chicken and rice, beef and gravy that I add a potato when I reheat.). Foods like that.  Obviously, if you are veg than you would do different foods.  Then every morning before work just grab 2 baggies plus your fruit, etc.

[Nancy]

SO made a pizza with dough that was in the freezer for quite a while. Used up leftover mushrooms, an orphaned half onion, and some frozen veg. It was beyond delicious.

Portioned out and froze a big batch of lentil soup for work lunches.

On deck: bean chili and vegetable/lentil curry. Probably next weekend.

[sistastache]

I'm in! There were some spectacular finds on Chuck roast in October, so the freezer is bursting. Made soup today with kielbasa and a delicious bean mix my sister gave me. This challenge has already been a win as I found that I totally have another week worth of coffee in the cupboard! I thought I was completely out and went reaching for tea. Huzzah for more coffee!