Store cupboard challenge

liz545

Ok, so I'd really like to cut prune my storecupboard back a bit, and I need help! I have the following things:

Protein

• Chicken thighs x 4 portions
• Bacon (200g)
• Cheese (several different kinds)
• Tinned tuna (4 tins)
• Parma ham

Carbohydrate

• Long grain rice
• Pasta
• Potatoes (2 portions)
• Grits
• Dumplings (2 portions)
• Cereal
• Noodles
• Tortilla wraps
• Green lentils
• Pinto beans

Vegetables

• purple sprouting broccoli
• spring greens
• cherry tomatoes
• salad
• plums
• pears
• carrots
• onions
• frozen peas

Sundries

• tinned tomatoes
• passata
• fresh parsley & mint
• chicken stock
• frozen cauliflower cheese
• frozen pretzels (2)
• pate
• flour
• sugar
• butter
• milk
• cream
• coconut milk
  

I'm not too fussy, but OH can be; I'm happy making a meal plan for a week whereas he tends to get a craving for, say, tiger prawns, and consequently pops into Tesco and spends more than we can afford! Looking at this list I can see a couple of pasta bakes, maybe some kind of pilaf and a veggie stirfry. Can anyone else suggest some things I can do to use this lot up?

ifonlyitwaseasier

off the top of my head:
chicken casserole
thai curry
cauliflower and bacon pasta bake witha cheesy sauce
pea soup with parma ham crisps
tuna tortilla melts

i'll look again later once i'm not at work

Skint_Catt

What's a Grit?

daisy_steiner_2

How about burritos or something similar by stripping the meat off the chicken thighs and using passata, tortillas, onions and cheese.

Again, by stripping the chicken thighs you could make chicken arrabiata and pasta.

You could make fishcakes with the tinned tuna, serve with savory rice or pasta with some kind of sauce.

Lentil, broccolli and tomato stew.
Lentil spag bol.
Lentil loaf.

Most of those are easy enough to find on google.

count_rostov

1) parma ham, brocolli and mint pasta
2) Coconut chicken curry with rice and spring greens (using two chicken thighs)
3) stir fried vegetable rice with peas, onions, maybe some brocolli and greens if you have left over? Also make too much rice for curry and use leftovers. Or use noodles instead
4) chicken, carrot, onion and potato stew with dumplings
5) Bacon and lentil soup
6) tuna and tomato pasta bake
7) Plum tart (shortcrust pastry made from flour, butter, water, topped with halved pears, sprinkle with sugar and bake at 180 until pastry and plums are cooked)
8) pear crumble

sleepybookworm7

pasta with cheese sauce
stir fry with rice/noodles
lentil daal

liz545

Skint_Catt wrote: »

What's a Grit?

Grits are corn, they're the American equivalent of polenta. My sister brought them back from America, and I wasn't really sure what to do with them, but I found this recipe on google which looks worth a go: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oklahoma-Cheese-Grits/Detail.aspx

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, there's some great ideas here. Tacos/fajitas are definitely a goer, OH loves them, and fishcakes I hadn't thought of but worth a try, and the parma ham & broccoli pasta sounds like tonight's dinner!

geekychick

Does anyone know how long things last in the freezer? I made and forgot about some spag bol about 6 months ago. I'm always paranoid I'll make people ill and end up chucking things out just in case!

frazzmunch

Being a good girl and have done an inventory of my freezer and cupboards...made a menu plan for the next month and a shopping list for each week....here is the menu plan for anyone who is interested - I have tried to show what i have/will have in my store cupboards and freezer so that you can get an idea of how i can do it for about £20-25 per week. This is for 3-4 adults:

Beef & pork curry and rice (I have a 25kg sack of rice..I buy in bulk. The beef is from a casserole we had over the weekend and the pork is from yesterdays joint)

Pork and apple bake with caramelized carrots ( diced cooked pork from joint, sliced apples and onion from store fried in butter and corn oil topped with leftover mashed potato and grated cheese baked in oven, carrots from store par boiled then cooked in corn oil, butter and demerara sugar from store until soft and fluid evaporated)

Spaghetti bolognese & salad (bolognese made with TVP mince from store, spaghetti from store, nuts and dried fruit for salad from store)

Polenta, black eye peas with roasted tomatoes, red peppers and red onions (all from store or freezer)

Homemade pizza (all from store)

Chilli, tortilla wraps, rice & salad (TVP chilli & rice from store)

Roast Sardinian Lamb, yorkshire puddings, carrots, cauliflower & broccoli with roast & mashed potatoes (all from fridge & freezer)

Sardinian pasta & salad (sauce from cooking lamb, pasta & salad from store)

Shepherds pie & vegetables (leftover lamb & potatoes, whatever veg available)

Tagine & cous cous (nuts, seeds, dried fruit & cous cous from store, remains of lamb, some butternut squash, sweet potatoes & tin tomatoes for tagine)

Sushi & salads (sushi ingredients from store)

Lentil and pasta mousakka (brown lentils, pasta, cheese, tomato sauce & white sauce from store)

Lemon & lime rice, falafels & salad (lemon, limes, stock, chick peas, herbs & salad from store)

Roast chicken, veg & potatoes

Chicken soup, homemade bread & salad (chicken & stock from roast, bread & salad from store)

Lentils & rice (lentils, rice & stock from store)

Cannellini beans cooked with sage, mediteranean style sage potatoes, veg (all from store)

Pasta & roasted tomato sauce & salad (both from store)

Lime, coconut & basil soup, homemade bread (tin of coconut milk, shallots, kaffir lime leaves, stock & bread ingredients from store)

Roast beef, yorkshire puddings & veg

Beef fajitas, salad & rice ( beef from roast, spices,rice & salad from store)

Beef & potato pie & veg (beef & potatoes from roast, oat pastry from store)

Millet & quinoa bake, blackeye peas and roasted peppers & salad (millet, quinoa, blackeye peas, onion, stock, roasted red peppers from store)

Pasta & red pepper sauce & salad (pasta, red peppers, balsamic vinegar & salad from store)

Chicken wrapped in ham with herb cheese filling, new potatoes & salad (soft cheese from store)

Vegetable soup & homemade bread (whatever veg is left in fridge & bread ingredients from store)

Salmon parcels, new potatoes & veg

Pasta with rosemary, garlic and white wine sauce (pasta, rosemary & garlic from store)

Hope thats of help to someone...definately is helping me!!

frazzmunch

geekychick...should be fine...but use it within the next few days...!!