Store cupboard challenge

[Deleted User]

youngmummy well I am still battling through my food mountain I swear it multiplies once in my freezer :):)I have done my last big shop for 2014 and don't intend to buy anymore.The only thing I have to buy before Christmas is sausage meat for the sausage rolls and I'll get that just before I make them on Christmas Eve.I am away for most of the Christmas /New Year dividing my time between my two DDs and their families, so the week before Christmas I usually spend eating up the fresh stuff in my fridge. I can't get anything else in my freezer at the moment and even my fridge is pretty full.Still it means I won't have to shop now until at least january .My purse is firmly shut for a few weeks :):)
Have a great Christmas everyone and try not to overspend
JackieO xxx

Kitchenbunny

Good afternoon, I've decided to try and make a go of frugality again. I've got to get my behind to the grind and start saving money after a splurgey Christmas. Over the last few days I've not really spent all that much, and I do not intend to until the stores are seriously run down. I've lost track of the times I've started a Grocery Challenge and not finished as I get disheartened when I can't stick to my budget, but with this challenge I can at least make every effort to stretch everything as far as it'll go.

Tomorrow it's New Year's Eve, and my first job will be to inventory my storecupboard, my baking cupboard and my freezer so I know where I stand.

Frogletina

Kitchenbunny wrote: »

Good afternoon, I've decided to try and make a go of frugality again. I've got to get my behind to the grind and start saving money after a splurgey Christmas. Over the last few days I've not really spent all that much, and I do not intend to until the stores are seriously run down. I've lost track of the times I've started a Grocery Challenge and not finished as I get disheartened when I can't stick to my budget, but with this challenge I can at least make every effort to stretch everything as far as it'll go.

Tomorrow it's New Year's Eve, and my first job will be to inventory my storecupboard, my baking cupboard and my freezer so I know where I stand.

Hello Kitchenbunny

I think I will do the same. I nearly went to Sainsbury's this afternoon but then realised I really had no need to go, it was just something to do. So I went and put some money in the bank and just bought a newspaper before I came home.

I think I stopped updating my inventory after my holiday as I was not well for a while. It is around somewhere so I could look that out tomorrow and update it.

I've a couple of tins of soup which I really don't want. They are past their best before date so cannot be donated to a food bank (should have thought of that before). I'd rather not just throw them away as it seems such a waste but I keep looking at them in my food cupboard and on my inventory and wonder what to do.

frogletina

SmlSave

What flavour soup frogletija? Perhaps we can think of something

Frogletina

SmlSave wrote: »

What flavour soup frogletija? Perhaps we can think of something

Butternut squash and red pepper
Carrot and butterbean

They sound nice but I'm not really a soup person.

Do you think I could try them in a homemade curry? I really do need to up my vegetables.

beluga

Great idea - I'm going to go and make my inventory now! I want to empty the freezer, cupboards and odds and ends in the fridge so I can restock with things we actually like and will use!
If I make a list I'll be able to come up with some meal ideas and then just buy what I need to use up specific items.

barneydee_2

Hi just popping back to say that as I have a long weekend off sat to Monday & will have a free house from people popping in I'm going to do a inventory of my cupboards fridge/freezer and the plan from there I really need to get saving for work I need doing roundly the house
Happy new year every one
Dee x

Kitchenbunny

Frogletina wrote: »

Butternut squash and red pepper
Carrot and butterbean

They sound nice but I'm not really a soup person.

Do you think I could try them in a homemade curry? I really do need to up my vegetables.

I think that's a great idea. You could always add a little extra curry powder if the addition of the soup makes it too sweet. I've done a bit of a netsearch on freezing tinned soup and it seems to be OK, so you could always add 1/3 or 1/2 a tin at a time, and freeze the remainder in a mug or something to use another day.

While doing the baking cupboard inventory this morning I've found 1/3 of a jar of mincemeat. There doesn't seem enough to make a batch of mince pies (and to be honest I've had enough of them to last me until next Christmas!) so I'm thinking of an apple and mincemeat crumble to go in the freezer for a quick pud.

Frogletina

Kitchenbunny wrote: »

I think that's a great idea. You could always add a little extra curry powder if the addition of the soup makes it too sweet. I've done a bit of a netsearch on freezing tinned soup and it seems to be OK, so you could always add 1/3 or 1/2 a tin at a time, and freeze the remainder in a mug or something to use another day.

While doing the baking cupboard inventory this morning I've found 1/3 of a jar of mincemeat. There doesn't seem enough to make a batch of mince pies (and to be honest I've had enough of them to last me until next Christmas!) so I'm thinking of an apple and mincemeat crumble to go in the freezer for a quick pud.

Thanks for the tips Kitchenbunny - would never have thought to have used part of a tin, I had no idea the rest could be frozen.

Well, I have completed my inventory and I have

34 store cupboard items which have passed their best before date.

4 cup cakes, half a loaf of bread, 4 almond slices, 5 mince pies and 4 apple pies. Far too many carbs to eat as there is only me here. The cupcakes were a present and the mince pies were bought by someone else.

13 items in the freezer that I need to start using up, mostly partly open packets or past their date.

11 items in the fridge, including the rest of my chestnut roast from Christmas day.

Everything else is noted in month order for 2015, and year order for 2016 and 2017.

I don't think I need to buy much at all for ages other than fresh foods.

Went out today and just bought a newspaper and some milk.

Kitchenbunny

I've now inventoried all of my cupboards and know what I've got in the freezer too. The fridge has pretty much been emptied of anything that resembles a Christmas leftover apart from a little bit of double Gloucester with onion and chives in, which I know my hub will tuck into in a toastie at the weekend.

I have so many tins of chickpeas I don't know what to do with them! I've made hummous and chick pea & chorizo soup, but I've completely run out of ideas.