Store cupboard challenge

MummyD

Hi - I'm new at this - just signed up to post although I've been lurking for a while!
Carrying on the sausage theme, I've developed this receipe which is great for using up.

Sausages (BOGOF at some point then frozen). Cut each one into 4 fry in a frying pan with a bit of oil and a sliced onion (I've always got at least one manky one lying around!)
I then added a tin of chick peas and a tin of mixed bean/pulses that'd been knocking around in my cupboard for AGES, a tin of chopped toms and 1/2 the empty tin of water. simmer for about 20 mins and voila - sausage and bean casserole.
We enjoyed it so much it became a staple! It'd be great for using up dried beans in the cupboard.

Fivenations

Use half of the haricot beans and tinned ham to make a poor man's cassoulet ( maybe a highly spiced one!) then add the other half of the beans to the tin of veg soup plus assorted veg and pasta ( broken spaghetti will do) or rice and Italian herbs to make a minestrone.

joannasmum

Just done a freezer invantory. OMG how much stuff do I have in there. So its a storecupboard challenge for us for at least the next 2 weeks until DH gets paid. We may be able to go longer hopefully and save afew quid next month

Tonight I'm making a spag bol for our tea with a lb of mince, and some extra lentils to pad it out abit. Then using the other half to turn into a chilli for the freezer.

Anybody want to join in?

Here is the link to my meal plan for the week

Toonie

I thought I'd give this a go after looking in my drawer of the freezer (the rest is my parents) and found some pork mince, half an onion, handful of baby carrots and some ginger root which I bought last time I had a cold and had only used a little.

In the cupboard I found some slightly dated bramley apples and some slightly squashy pears.

I fried off the mince with the onion, then peeled and chopped up the apple, added half to the mince which I then cooked a little longer. I then transferred it to a casserole dish and added the baby carrots and a little apple juice from the fridge. I bunged it into the oven for 20 minutes and then enjoyed my mince mash with slices of french bread.

The other half of the apple went into a pan with the peeled pears, a little lemon juice and some more apple juice. I also peeled some ginger and chopped it up and added it in to stew until the apples were soft. It was a lovely dessert to follow my mince.

Careful_2

We started limiting our grocery 'spends' at the beginning of the year, budgeting £60 for monthly grocery bill.

This covers food, toiletries & cleaning products.

We absolutely spend all of it, but with a bit of prior planning and sticking to our shopping list, we do seem to make it work - and still have really nice food.

- we also immediately switched supermarkets, & buy our veg at the market, and although household products are still expensive, we now look at the active ingredients, and buy the cheapest product with the same active ingredients - to us, it still does the same job as the more expensive brand.

I also put my newer recipe books in the cupboard and got out my older (old fashioned) books instead, where they use less expensive ingredients - its been quite sentimental, and we now have lots of 'homemade wholesome food' like grandma used to make!

For us (myself & my husband) the key seems to be to make sure that we have a good supply of basic ingredients, such as spices, herbs, flour, potatoes (full size sack from market-much cheaper than buying small bags form the supermarket), & rice, then we can add pretty much anything else we have at the time, and have great meals.

I am also a stickler for keeping the previous months receipts and using this for my shopping list.


:j

nicki_2

I spent £100 last Wednesday on a weekly shop & DD's birthday party (I got £12 back for the cake though from my mum - Thanks mum! ) so the shopping budget for the rest of the month is down to £8 plus whatever I can get out of my £2 coin stash & money bottle (At least another £8 I think) :eek: Fortunately I only need to buy fresh fruit (Aldi or Asda) and milk (Aldi or Asda SP Long life stuff) and one or two bits of toiletries for me so I should be able to stretch it to last until the 26th...I hope :eek: Will have to do an inventory of the fridge/freezer/cupboard as the only thing I know we have plenty off is mince base for savory mince/bolognese and pasta :rolleyes: I think I'll be hitting the recipe threads with avengence :rotfl:

smiler34

I cleaned out my fridge this morning and was disgusted at how much food I had let go off, I had to throw loads away. I am also trying to save money of groceries for the rest of April and for May so I have set myself the challenge of getting most of the next 6 weeks meals out of what I have in the store cupboard.
The items will be used for dinner for me and my partner every night and sometimes lunches on a weekend. I would be grateful if anyone can give me any ideas on how best to utilise the items I have as I always look in the cupboard and think there is nothing to eat but obviously looking at the length of my list I just need to be more creative.

• 5 tins mackerel in tom sauce
• 4 tinned fruit
• 2 tins beans
• 4 tins spaghetti
• 2 bolognese sauce
• 2 tins tomatoes
• 1 tin kidney bean
• 2 tins sausage casserole
• 1 tin peas
• 6 tins various soup
• 3 dried chicken noodles
• jam
• 2 goblin puddings
• loads of cup-a-soup
• lemon juice
• 2 tins tuna
• pasta bake jar
• 2 packs choc diegestives
• 1kg dried fusilli
• 500g taglietelle
• 4 portions egg noodles
• pack long spaghetti
• porridge oats
• chow mein sauce serves two
• pack mushroom cous cous
• pack red lentils
• 1/2 pack yellow split peas
• veg stock cubes
• pack pearl barley
• stuffing mix
• sausage casserole packet mix
• onion granules
• dried mint
• dried oregano
• salt
• 1 1/2 tubes tom puree
• two packets boil in bag rice
• oil#
• vinegar
• lea n perrins
• salad cream
• gravy
• bread flour
• caster sugar
• granulated sugar
• self raising flour
• AND IN THE FREEZER
• Yorkshire puds
• Roast potatoes
• Fish fingers
• sheperds pie for one
• oven chips
• sausages
• Various bags with little bits of frozen veg

I will still be buying fresh items like cheese, milk, fruit etc. I have a bread maker but no slow cooker.

PLEASE HELP!!

smiler34

Ok here is what I have in my cupboards, any ideas would be gratefully received as I am always looking in there and thinking there is nothing to make a meal of but desperatley need to save money on groceries and sick of wasting food. Thanks

Bread (hm) 5 tins mackerel in tom sauce 4 tinned fruit 2 tins beans 4 tins spaghetti 2 bolognese sauce 2 tins tomatoes 1 tin kidney bean 2 tins sausage casserole 1 tin peas 6 tins various soup [STRIKE]3 dried chicken noodles[/STRIKE] jam 2 goblin puddings loads of cup-a-soup lemon juice 2 tins tuna pasta bake jar [STRIKE]2 packs choc diegestives[/STRIKE] 1kg dried fusilli 500g taglietelle 4 portions egg noodles pack long spaghetti porridge oats chow mein sauce serves two pack mushroom cous cous pack red lentils 1/2 pack yellow split peas veg stock cubes pack pearl barley stuffing mix sausage casserole packet mix onion granules dried mint dried oregano salt 1 1/2 tubes tom puree two packets boil in bag rice oil# vinegar lea n perrins salad cream gravy bread flour caster sugar granulated sugar self raising flour AND IN THE FREEZER Yorkshire puds Roast potatoes [STRIKE]Fish fingers[/STRIKE] sheperds pie for one oven chips sausages Various bags with little bits of frozen veg

Made fish fingers and noodles last night

Penny-Pincher!!

We dont have alot in today:o ....so OH peeled a few spuds (which were sprouting), 3 manky carrots, onion and some frozen beans and is making a bubble and squeak for lunch. I'll have whats left of the cheddar and he's having a fried egg.

PP
xx

Anu

HI everyone,:wave:
I've been reading through the Old Style board for a while stealing tips on how to make good yorkshire puds and clean my house but i am feeling quite inspired by the storecupboard challenge i've seen on here in the past (couldn't see a current one so forgive me if I'm supposed to post on there!). Now I've had a bit of a reputation of hoarding things in my cupboards since i was renting, my housemates used to call my cupboards the disaster cupboards because we could have lived off them for years in an emergency!

Now since we bought our place and put in a massive kitchen it's got so much worse...every cupboard is rammed full of stuff and i really need to make a change! So yesterday I went and listed everything that is in the cupboards...I haven't listed multiple items because then this list would never end, just one example is the 15 or so boxes of different stock cubes i found!! On the whole i've also left out sauces and condiments....and the list is still huge....

Please don't laugh!! I really need help with some healthy meal idea's, i'm also on Weight Watchers trying to get slim for my wedding so healthier the better....ok here we go....

Fridge
Milk,Marinade,Garlic,Feta,Eggs,Cheddar,Mustard,Lemon,Red Pesto,Yogurt,Green Pesto,Fruit Yogurt,Mozzerrella,Lime,Orange Pepper,Chorizo,Aubergine,Cucumber,PArsnips,Carrots,Swede,Celery,Tomatoes, MUshrooms, Garlic and Herb Soft Cheese, Leeks, Red Peppers, Raspberries

Freezer
Chicken Breasts Chicken Thighs and Drumsticks, Pork Chops, Quorn Mince, Lamb Neck Fillet, King Prawns, Beef Mince, Quorn Sausage, Mixed Baby VEg, Waffles, Turkey Strir Fry Strips, Breaded Cod, Southern Fried Chicken,Peas, Turkey Mince

Cupboards

Bread, Pasta (any shape or type you can imagine), Rice (Brown, White, Wild, Risotto, Paella),Tapioca, Polenta, Soya Chunks, Various dried Beans and lentils, Chicken Gravy Granules, Balsamic Vinegar, Vinegar, Light Soy,Choc Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Rogan Josh curry paste, Chicken Oxo, Beef Oxo, Veg Oxo, Lamb Oxo, Chinese Oxo, Italian Oxo, Veg Oxo, Indian Oxo, Mexican oxo, Baking Powder, Curry Powder, Sweet Chilli Sauce, Sundried Totato Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar, Lime Pickle, Five Spice Paste, Rich Soy, Sesame Oil, Chew Mein Sauce, Tandoori Spice mix, Veg Bisto gravy, Vanilla Extract, Onion Gravy Grans, Beef Gravy Grans, Basil Oil, Yellow Bean Sauce, Plain Flour, Lemon Curd, Chopped Toms with Herbs, Tinned Sweetcorn, Marinade, Spagetti Hoops, Tinned Pineapple, Tinned Peach Halves, Ryvitas, Instant Chicken Noodles, Passata, Cornflour, Rasins, Olives, Oats, Mixed Nuts, All Bran, Icing Sugar, Krispbreads, Instant Mash, Golden Syrup, Condensed Mushroom Soup, Green Curry Paste, Condensed Chicken Soup, Tin Spinach, Tinned Tuna, Tinned Crabmeat, Tinned Chickepeas, Mango Pickle, Cocoa powder, Corned Beef, Tinned Rvaoili, Tartare Sauce, Water Chestnuts, Tomato Puree, Baked Beans, Garlic Puree, Tinned Borlotti Beans, Tinned Haricot Beans, Hp Sauce, Tinned Custard, Potatoes, Onions

Ok so there's actually a few things than that because I have every herb and spice in the world, i love to cook but have no imagination at the moment and although it's hard to tell from the list above we very rarely eat processed food at the moment which is why a lot of stuff is just sitting in the cupboards...I'd really appreciate some help and idea's to get us eating through this mountain of food, I plan to only shop for fresh veg, fruit, bread and Milk.....wish me luck!!!