Pavlov's 1 meal store cupboard challenge!

pavlovs_dog

hey guys and gals! thought i might set a little challenge for you all

this month, money has been tight for various reasons, and food has been a bit of an issue. money is tight because of OHs overspending on video games :rolleyes: and we're now cutting back so we car pay off the car insurance in full at the end of the month. food has been awkward because our second freezer has died...twice, losing us a lot of food :eek:

so at the mo, we are having lucky dip as far as meals are concerned...also known as freezer/cupboard surprise :rotfl: we are trying to avoid buying as much as possible, and using up all the odds n sods we have lying around. we've had some interesting meals the last few day (veggie burgers, fish in breadcrumbs, potato croquettes and baked beans, anyone? (on our laps in front of dr who no less ) please note...that is NOT an average or common meal in the pavlov household :rotfl: )

so as you can imagine, creative juices were low when i was nosing through the freezer today, wondering what to do with 3 potato waffles, half a bag of sprouts and a pack of pork sausages. so i took to the cupboards, and lo and behold...a feast for the eyes!!!

inspiration came from nowhere, and suddenly i have a meal!

ingredients:

1 tin condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 tin sweetcorn
1 tin peas
1 tin premuim hotdogs (dont ask..OH looooves them)
ends of numerous different bags of pasta
spoonful of mustard
pinch of herbs

topping

last measly corner of big block of cheese
one slice of (slightly dry) white bread., made into breadcrumbs


instructions:

mix together and bung in the oven. and voila..pasta bake which will be served with the end of a bag of onion rings from the freezer :beer: thats tea taken care of


so your challenge, should you choose to accept it: share a meal idea made from random contents of your storecupboard. bonus points for ingenuity, and i shall present a 'virtual' prize to the best one..closing date, a week from today?

i look forawrd to you concoctions

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi Hun

Im in and that recipe sounds delicious. Not sure what day it will be but I have alot of half used bits and bobs etc so this will be a great challange for us and a free meal too:rolleyes:

Great post!

PP
xx

crompton

ugh, my dad was on a food drive using up all the odds n bods and for dinner we ended up with sausages, rice and beans not too nice

lynzpower

Yesterday i knocked up with
end of some cheese,
dregs of bag frozen sweetcorn
2 limp looking spring oinons
couple of mushrooms, halfa red onion
pizza base mix found at back of cupbard
leftover half a pack of passata

:beer:

sarah0404

I used up most of my cupboards and freezer a few months ago. We had:

1)Soya mince, jar of Dolmio sauce and assorted pasta shape.

2)Rice with tin of tuna, tin of sweetcorn and tin of peas all mixed together.

3)Found some mini pizza bases (almost out of date too!) so made some pizzas with a tin of tomatoes for the sauce, bit of cheddar and topped with some red onion and some of the left over sweetcorn from the tuna and rice meal.

4) Peanut Butter fingers: grated carrots, red pepper, peanut butter, some other bits and bobs, rolled into potato croquet type shapes and dipped in breadcrumbs. I think I fryed them or maybe baked them in the oven.

5) OH had tin of corned beef (it had been in the cupboard for about 3 years!) with fried onions and potato.

6) Use-it-up soup! All odds and ends of bags of lentils/barley/tinned beans and mouldy veg from the bottom of the fridge (well not really mouldy veg, but was passed it's best)

7) Found a packet of bolognese Bean Feast in the cupboard. Had that with odds and ends of pasta.

8) Found a packet of trifle mix, so made that up for dessert one day. Also had lots of other desserts of tinned pineapple etc.

9) Had lots of egg noodles in the cupboard, so we had a vegetable stir fry with noodles, and also a noodle soup. I used a sachet of Miso and some spring onions and added some cooked noodles.

10) Cowboy Hot Pot - can't remember the recipe exactly, but it was just a tin of baked beans with some chopped carrot and red pepper and cubes of cheese topped with potato.

11) For some reason I had LOADS of packets of crackers, so we had crakers and cheese for lunch a lot to use them up.

12) Rice pudding - pudding rice, sugar, milk and odds and ends of dried fruit and raisins that I'd found.

13) Pie sort of thing - frozen Quorn mince, frozen vegetables mixed together in casserole dish, covered with sliced pototo, bunged in the oven till the potato was cooked.

We did quite well using everything up. I was quite traumatised when I had to go out shopping again! At the moment I seem to be stock piling risotto rice, brown rice, lentils, lasagna sheets and tinned pineapple. Can't imagine making a meal out of them. Pineapple lasagna? Yuck! Sorry, I seem to have cheated by entering in 13 meals! Hopefully they might help give someone else a few ideas. Can't say any of them are particularly interesting though.

pavlovs_dog

some great ideas there, but i am particularly intrigued by number 4

sarah0404 wrote:

4) Peanut Butter fingers: grated carrots, red pepper, peanut butter, some other bits and bobs, rolled into potato croquet type shapes and dipped in breadcrumbs. I think I fryed them or maybe baked them in the oven.

looking forward to your idea PP :beer: and crompton..at least your dad isnt making you do the cooking

Penny-Pincher!!

Hiya Hun

Have decided that tomorrow is going to be my meal store cupboard challenge:D

OH has got out the freezer a pack of diced turkey that is yellow stickered at 25p. I dont really like turkey so am going to cook in SC slowly for a few hours. I have found lurking in the fridge....half an onion, 2 sprouting carrots and half a tin of chick peas (from saturday). From the store cupboard a tin of mixed beans in a chilli sauce (have had this for months:o ) a tin of plum tomatoes (sent plum instead of chopped about 6 months ago) some curry powder, some odd currants and a teaspoon or so of mixed peel .

Going to make into a turkey type curry and serve with couscous that we bought a few months back and desperately needs using up.

If too runny will use flour, cornflour or spuds. Will let you know more tomorrow.

With the turkey should I fry a little before putting in the SC as I will be frying up the onion first???

Fingers X'd!!

PP
xx

Rachie_B

crompton wrote:

ugh, my dad was on a food drive using up all the odds n bods and for dinner we ended up with sausages, rice and beans not too nice

:rotfl: thats my 4 yr olds fave tea at the moment

pavlovs_dog

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Hiya Hun

Have decided that tomorrow is going to be my meal store cupboard challenge:D

OH has got out the freezer a pack of diced turkey that is yellow stickered at 25p. I dont really like turkey so am going to cook in SC slowly for a few hours. I have found lurking in the fridge....half an onion, 2 sprouting carrots and half a tin of chick peas (from saturday). From the store cupboard a tin of mixed beans in a chilli sauce (have had this for months:o ) a tin of plum tomatoes (sent plum instead of chopped about 6 months ago) some curry powder, some odd currants and a teaspoon or so of mixed peel .

Going to make into a turkey type curry and serve with couscous that we bought a few months back and desperately needs using up.

If too runny will use flour, cornflour or spuds. Will let you know more tomorrow.

With the turkey should I fry a little before putting in the SC as I will be frying up the onion first???

Fingers X'd!!

PP
xx

hey PP

cant offer any advice on the turkey/slow cooker as i dont currently own a slow cooker (no room for one)

as for turkey meat in general.. i dont know if you've used it before, but i think it makes a great alternative to chicken. its normally both cheaper and healthier..and if you're smothering it in a sauce anyway, you'd be hard pressed to tell that its not chicken.


i really love the way challenges like this make you look at the contents of your cupboards in a whole new way...suddenly, there IS a use for all those obscure things we buy on a whim, only for them so sit there for months on end :rotfl: ! i cant wait to attack my baking cupboard, but due to exams i dont really have time at the mo.

its also really satisfying to know that you've made a whole meal from things you had in, and haven't had to spend a penny. just goes to show what you can do if things are tight and needs must.

dont forget to report back and let us know how it tasted im not a big fan of curry (its taken me best part of 21 years to learn how to like chicken tikka massala :rolleyes: ) but it sounds nice, and i bet cous cous will be a lovely alternative to rice

pavlovs_dog

lynzpower wrote:

Yesterday i knocked up with
end of some cheese,
dregs of bag frozen sweetcorn
2 limp looking spring oinons
couple of mushrooms, halfa red onion
pizza base mix found at back of cupbard
leftover half a pack of passata

:beer:

can you use spring onions on pizzas?! i would never have thought of that - do they come out ok? i always find spring onions taste much stronger than normal onions

Pink.

pavlovs_dog wrote:

can you use spring onions on pizzas?! i would never have thought of that - do they come out ok? i always find spring onions taste much stronger than normal onions

It's fine to use spring onions (or scallions as we call them here) on pizza, but put them on before you add the cheese or they just burn.

Pink