Store cupboard challenge

greenbee

leiela wrote: »

The bean recipe looks great too those dried beans have been in my cuboard forever, i bought them and never quite worked out what to do with them, the others look good too thanks for some great idea's

If you add beans to your sausage casserole (make it in the SC) this will make it go alot further. We usually eat the sausages with a bit of the bean casserole bit first, then either water down the bean bit and have it as soup or leave it as thick and have it as bean casserole. The sausage flavour infuses the rest of the casserole, which may help get over the feeling of not having had meat!

greenbee

leiela wrote: »

Dinner im going to make HUGE curry enough for 2 days with the leftover chicken and a ton of veg. i was going to freeze a portion but i don't think it's going to fit in the freezer so we'll have to eat it in the next couple of days.

Take something else out of the freezer to have for variety and put this in the space you've made to save for later in the month.

leiela wrote: »

Im also aware the stirfry stuff needs eating but thats ok, it's was mostly only bought back end of last week so i still have a few days with it, and what i don't use i'll chop/freeze (if i can make space for it)

Beansprouts are great in salads, so you can always use them in that. How about a big stir-fry on Sunday evening with the stuff that does need using out, and try to spin the rest of the fresh veg out as long as you can during the week? That'll save your frozen veg for when things get tight at the end of the month.

And use the cakes from the freezer before making anymore (although making banana bread from your bananas on the turn might be an idea). That way you also clear a bit of space for any big batches you do so that you can freeze for later in the month.

tomterm8

I tend to bake a cake or make bread when I'm cooking a casserole, roast etc even if I don't need them immediatly. I put it in the freezer.

greenbee

tomterm8 wrote: »

I tend to bake a cake or make bread when I'm cooking a casserole, roast etc even if I don't need them immediatly. I put it in the freezer.

I don't think leiela's got much room in her freezer, and with money as tight as it is, it might be a good idea to use up what's already there as she may have to be creative at the end of the month - so keeping ingredients as ingredients until the last possible moment will help. Especially if there are more unbudgeted costs on the horizon with the dog.

tomterm8

Yeah, I agree, I got the impression she has egg's / butter etc that is near their use by dates and need to be used up. If they are fine, then she would probably be better off leaving them as they are.

leiela

The date on the eggs is the 11th so i've got a couple of days, tbh i don't worry about the sell by too much as long as they are used this week they will be ok, i don't belive eggs have alittle time inside them saying they go off EXACTLY on the day stamped on them, it's easy to see when an egg is off as soon as you crack it.

i'll boil some of them up tommorrow into hardboil eggs, they can then be used for egg salads in the early part of the week, and just as snacks (good protien and fats) tbh we eat an obsene amount of eggs anyway because they are often cheaper then meat as a protien source and tbh because they contain a reasonable amount of fat they are the perfect combo for my husband.

Im also gonna make a banana cake, today to use up these banana's before the run away from home haha.. so that will be eggs 3 gone. I'll just have to convince myself that banana cake is just as good as putting fruit into the kids lunch boxes during the week hehe :rotfl: well it with have banana and raisins in it .. it's better than nothing right?

Frogling

leiela wrote: »

Can you use dried milke for custard?

I used powdered milk to make custard, and it works really well. If I'm making 2 pints of custard, I boil one pint water in a pan, then I take 2oz custard powder, 4oz powdered milk and 1oz sugar (sometimes more sugar, depends how sweet you like it). Whisk all that up with one pint of cold water, add it to the boiling water and keep whisking it until it just starts to boil.

For a variation on a theme, if I want chocolate custard, I just add some cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, or sometimes I add powdered raspberry jelly crystals to the hot water to make raspberry custard - turns the custard a pinky-orange colour, and my kids love it (actually so do I hehe).

Frogling

leiela wrote: »

The date on the eggs is the 11th so i've got a couple of days, tbh i don't worry about the sell by too much as long as they are used this week they will be ok, i don't belive eggs have alittle time inside them saying they go off EXACTLY on the day stamped on them, it's easy to see when an egg is off as soon as you crack it.

I can remember when I was little we used to get our eggs fresh from the farm down the road. After we'd had them a while, mum would put them in a bowl of cold water to check whether they were still ok - if they sink, they're still nice and fresh, if they tip up slightly in the water, still ok, but if they float right up, they've gone off (something to do with air pockets in the egg, but can't quite remember).

leiela wrote: »

Im also gonna make a banana cake, today to use up these banana's before the run away from home haha.. so that will be eggs 3 gone. I'll just have to convince myself that banana cake is just as good as putting fruit into the kids lunch boxes during the week hehe :rotfl: well it with have banana and raisins in it .. it's better than nothing right?

Ooh I haven't had banana cake in ages, and hey raisins in it too - might send my kids to school with some, anything to sneak extra fruit into them! :rotfl:

leiela

Frogling wrote: »

I can remember when I was little we used to get our eggs fresh from the farm down the road. After we'd had them a while, mum would put them in a bowl of cold water to check whether they were still ok - if they sink, they're still nice and fresh, if they tip up slightly in the water, still ok, but if they float right up, they've gone off (something to do with air pockets in the egg, but can't quite remember).



Ooh I haven't had banana cake in ages, and hey raisins in it too - might send my kids to school with some, anything to sneak extra fruit into them! :rotfl:

My kids are terrible with fruit, DS1 with only eat grapes and banana's, DS2 will only eat Banana's and the occasional apple (he'll leave it more often than eat it) but i sneak loads into them though cooking ... raisins mixed fruit, apple pie ... ok granted the suger isn't great but at least they are getting something.

Tbh in fairness they are getting better, they both managed strawberry's a few weeks ago.. i just wish they would eat the cheaper fruits like apples/pear's grrr...

leiela

ok quick update on the food situation.... i've updated the list, taken off what i;ve used and added anything i've made for use later.

I got a half packet of chocolate chip cookies off one of the lads in work yesterday, he'd only ate half and gave them to me for my kids..little does he know my financial situation atm haha.. so it was a nice gift ill make sure the kids appreciate.

Also while delving in the back of the freezer i found some bacon rounds that i'd forgotten about, bought when asda had them on special, which is good 8 rounds will mean that with the eats my husband can stick to his usal breakfast for at least another week.

Tins / Cuboards

5 tins of plum tomatos
1 tin of beans
3 tins of tuna (me and DS1 are the only ones that will eat it)
2 john west tuna filets in sauce
½ small bag of pasta (maybe enough for 1 meal)
1 packet of spaghetti
Nuts/seeds - various
Raisins – ½ big bag
Dried Apricots – ½ bag
Dried mixed Fruit – ½ bag
1 bag SR flour
1 med bag brown rice
22 eggs
5 wholemeal wraps
1 bag sugar
1 bag oatmeal
2 packs jelly crystals
Gravy granules chicken/small amount of beef
Oxo – various
Red Lentils – half bag
Barley – full bag
Dried mixed beans – full bag
Herbs + spices – enough to drown a battleship
1 packet desert whip - strawberry
1 tin bamboo shoots
½ packet of lasagne sheets
Golden syrup
1 bottle of squash
1 carton of longlife apple juice
1 tub dried milk
Toffee sauce
Custard powder
Lemon juice
Tea – green/normal and fruit
Coffee
Drinking Chocolate
½ pack ritz crackers
6 bags of crisps
Woustshire sauce
3 tins of kidney beans
2 christmas puddings
1 small choc pudding
1 pk egg noodles
1 tin pie filling (blackberry)
1 pk of flavored couscous
[strike]1 bag plain wholewheat couscous[/strike]3/4 bag couscous
1 and 1/4 bag soup mix
balsamic vinagar
rice vinagar
Texan chicken cooking sauce - 10 jars (don't ask!!)
1 bag chickpeas
hot and spicey marinade
Peppercorn marinade
various cup a soups no-one likes but can't bring myself to throw away.
2 tins coconut milk
peanut butter
mustard
baking powder
Popcorn - unpopped
cornflour
dried breadcrumbs
demerara suger
icing suger
pudding rice
36 weetbix - for kids breakfast
rice cakes - 1/2 pk
Cornflakes - 1/2 pk
all bran - 1/4 pk
cracker breads - 1pk
1/2 pk choc chip cookies (given to me by one of the lads at work, for the kids)

Veg

8 small potato’s
[strike]5 leeks[/strike] 4 leeks
1 celeriac
[strike]1kg carrots[/strike] 800g carrots
Sack of onions
4 medium sweet potato’s.
[strike]1 savoy cabbage [/strike] 1/2 savoy cabbage
1 bag spinach
[strike]½ iceburg lettuce[/strike]
[strike]1 round lettuce[/strike]
4.5 peppers (2 green, 1 yellow, 1 and [strike]½ red[/strike])
3 courgettes
1 bag bean sprouts
[strike]1 cucumber[/strike] 3/4 cucumber
1 packet of mange tout
[strike]1 white cabbage [/strike] 3/4 white cabbage
[strike]2 avocado[/strike] 1 avocado
4 sticks celery

Fruit

4 banana’s (on the turn)
1 punnet of grapes (bought for ds1’s packed lunches)
[strike]3 apples[/strike]
[strike]3 sticks of rhubarb[/strike]
2 grapefruit
2 cartons of Fruit juice – 1 mango/orange 1 pineapple
Stewwed Apples for Crumble

Meat - fresh

5 slices of ham
½ packet sliced chicken (maybe 8 slices)
1 small gammon joint
[strike]1 pack bacon[/strike]1/2 pack bacon
8 steak mince burgers – quite big
[strike]1 chicken [/strike] 1/2 chicken meat
Chicken Stock


Meat - Frozen

1 pack turkey mince
1 small pack – beef mince
1 small chicken
1 packet sausages
2 large chicken breast
4 beef steaks (very small)
1 packet of chicken strips in batter
4 fish fingers
1 packed diced chicken breast
1 small portion of plain cod
4 very small chicken breasts
1 pk bacon
8 bacon rounds.

Fridge

2pts full fat milk for kids
1 pts skimmed milk
1 large tub of stork for baking
¼ tub marg
¼ block of cheese
1 packet cheese strings – (8)
1 packet of frubes – (9) + 3 loose
½ pack of cocktail sausages – about 15 sausages
14 mini savoury eggs
[strike]3 strawberry jellys made up[/strike]2 strawberry jellys made up
7 yogurts
2 large pots of natural yogurt
2 blocks of salad cheese (cheap feta sort of thing)


Frozen – Pre-prepared meals

Lentil and Lamb – Casserole (1 person portion)
Chicken Soup - (1 person portion)
Sandwiches/filled wraps – 8 sets.
2 low carb chicken soups
2 higher carb chicken soups
1 chicken stir fry (husband didn't eat his lunch yesterday)

Frozen Veg

Green beans – ½ pack
Broccolli – 1 pack
Onions (home - frozen) – 4 small bags 1 chopped onion in each
Mushrooms (home - frozen) – maybe 200g
Peppers (home - frozen) – 200g
Stirfry Veg (home - frozen) – 400g ish
Casserole veg – precooked (home - frozen) – 400g ish
Cauliflower – ½ pack
Spinach – 1 pack
Sprouts – 1 bag (im the only one who will eat them)
1 bag chopped 1 whole white cabbage (home – frozen)
Asparagus - 1 pk

Frozen other –

Frubes – 1 pack (9)
HM flapjacks – 8
HM chocolate fairy cakes – 4
HM Banana Cake – ½ loaf
HM Chocolate Cake – ½ loaf
Small HM Rhubarb Crumble
HM Frozen pancakes (leftover from pancake day) – plain – 8 large
20 mini sausage rolls
1 large cheese and tom pizza for kids
1 punet of rasberry's
4 donuts
1 small apple / rhubarb crumble.

Dogfood

[strike]2 tins [/strike]1 tin
Enough dry for 4 days

Catfood

[strike]30 foil packets [/strike] 29 foil
Enough dry for 3 days
Cat litter – 1 weeks’ worth (and even thats leaving them abit stinky)

Other

Loo rolls – 8
Stardrops – 2 bottles
Various other cleaners
1 bottle white vinegar
½ small box of soap powder
1/3 bottle of fabric conditioner
Washing up liquid – ½ bottle