Store cupboard challenge

Liney_2

How about Penne Arrabiata?

We always call it our cr*p tea night when we just get round to using cupboard leftovers and we quite often have Penne Arrabiata. I always have some Penne (dried pasta) in the cupboard and a packet/tin/jar of Passata (thick tomato sauce), I add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan and add in some dried chillie flakes, some garlic cloves and then the passata, keep tasting it and adding ground black pepper and more chillie flakes until it has the right amount of kick to it. You can really add whatever else you like here, herbs, tinned veggies etc, but I prefer it without any other bits. When the pasta is cooked add it to the sauce (remember take the pasta to the sauce, not the sauce to the pasta) give it a good stir still over a low heat. Then serve, with some parmesan shavings or mozzarella if that is kicking around your fridge. And simply EAT! Delicious, you can always take leftovers to work the next day for lunch if you make too much. Nigella eat your heart out!
Buon appetitio!

HOLsale

toozie wrote:

Corn Beef Hash

Potatoes past there best, not quite sprouting
Onions-sprouting


sprounting onion or two, !

i notice you and a few others using sprouting onions/potatoes

i do that two you just cut the eyes off the potatoes, honest they won't hurt you (they can't see too once their eyes have gone :rotfl: )

seriously though what i wanted to say is that when you're using these sort of things up why not use them even further?

i make stock from all the bits and pieces you wouldn't eat. for example:

veg peelings
tops and tails of veg (carrots, swede, beets etc)
juice left in the bottom of a jar (beet root, olive etc)
hot water swished around the remains of a marmite jar
half eaten apples/pears etc (VERY nice in savoury stock)
cores from any veg or fruit like apple cores etc
onion and garlic skin
fat, skin and or bones cooked or raw from meat
celery leaves, carrot tops etc (no rhubarb, it's poisonous!)
rocket, lettuce, cucumbers etc that won't be eaten in time
anything that will go off before being eaten
leftover wine, beer etc

you name it!

my only definate no is whole peppers. the seeds give a yucky taste to the stock

i keep all this in a plastic ice cream tub with a lid in the freezer until it's full. i ususally bung mine into a slowcooker but you can do it on the cooker instead. you simply add in enough water to cover and allow it to simmer for a few hours (no more than 3) then you put a collandar in a bowl and pour the lot in. the solids get dumped away and the stock is yours to keep, all full of vitamin goodness.

if you had a carcass in the lot then you'll want to pick the meat off and toss that in with stock or set aside for use elsewhere

i've been doing this for years and it's really nice. i love it when we get roasted chicken on clearance for a £1 from tesco's or asda because the skin and carcass give such a gorgeous flavour to the stock!

HOLsale

Liney wrote:

We always call it our cr*p tea night when we just get round to using cupboard leftovers and we quite often have Penne Arrabiata.
!

we have a dish that came about as a result of using what we had in the cupboard it's called SCHLOPP (dr seuss 'the thinks you can think' 'schlopp, schlopp, beautiful schlopp, beautiful schlopp with a cherry on top' )

Schlopp

1 tin baked beans
1 or 2 onions sauteed til just brown
any veg that needs using up chopped and sauteed with the onions
bit of olive oil or butter for sauteeing veg
cheese, your choice but bleu works very nicely
condiment of your choice, we prefer bbq sauce but you can use up the sachets you may have brought home

simply sautee onion and other veg in olive oil or butter. then add in tin of beans (add another tin if you have more than 3 people eating) add in condiment of your choice and when that is nicely cooked through add in the cheese. take off the heat when the cheese is melted.

serve over rice, pasta or potatoes or serve on it's own (use 2 tins if serving alone)

mmmmmm Schlopp :rotfl:

angelatgraceland

Cheap meals tonight, I went through my freezer to see what I could find-thought we would have "fish and chips". Well I found one piece of fish in breadcrumbs, 2 fishcakes and one fish kiev and a bag of chips opened and a bag of peas opened.
Now the rule tonight was"dont open any new packets" use up the ones that are open, because the food starts to deteriorate once the packets are opened however well you seal them.
Total cost for 3 meals was £2. Now Im happy with that.
I try to make one day a week(Friday) my "use up the oddments" day.

Queenie

:T Well done! That's a great way to use up your oddments


I confess to having "planned" leftovers - all incorporated into the menu plans and shopping lists

foreverskint

That's a good idea. I am terrible for leaving odd bits in the freezer.

Today I ended up cleaning out the freezer, and had to throw away :eek: too many oddments that had
1) not been wrapped properly so had freezer burn
2) Not labled and dated so no idea how lon they have been in there.

So from now on I too shall make a point of wrapping dating and using up oddments.

Pink.

Hi angelatgraceland

Have a look at the Store cupboard challenge thread. There are lots of clever ideas in there for using bits and pieces up from the freezer.

I hope that you don't mind if I merge your ideas into that thread shortly.

Pink

angelatgraceland

Thinking of storecupboard-now is the time to datecheck your store! A lot of products have a BBE date-best before end of...... so before the month is out, have a sift through your store cupbard so you can use up anything which runs out the end of the month. Dont panic if you go a few days over though on tins and jars-just use a bit off common sense there!
Its amazing how much stuff we all end up wasting if we dont do this regularly-Ive been very guilty over the years. Glad to say Ive learned my lesson well.
Put all of your new stuff at the back of the cupboards so you you up the old stuff first. Do the same in your freezer-old stuff and oddments on top-and USE them up so that you have lots of room to restock for Christmas.
Aaaaagh-youve guessed it-I work in retail!

trafalgar_2

Great idea,I do tend to rotate my cupboards properly,putting new items at the back .

Though I have to admit that's only after doing it one yr and finding loads of old stuff that had to be thrown away

angelatgraceland

Well I hate to admit it but only one thing sorted me out-they gave me the job of datechecker where I work-Im obsessed now and its become a bit of an OCD!