Store cupboard challenge

nicki_2

I gave up trying to work from my inventory as I seemed to struggle for meals as any I spotted seemed to take too long to make. Last week I sat down and made an up-to-date inventory after an Asda delivery so I could see exactly what I had, then I wrote down a menu of sorts sorted out into different categories and so far its working to some extent.

• Quick (for days when I've lost track of time!)
  • Chicken Soup (tin)
  • Mushroom Soup (tin)
  • Tomato Soup (tin)
  • [STRIKE]Ravioli [/STRIKE]
  • [STRIKE]Macaroni Cheese[/STRIKE]
  • Pasta
• Oven (For days when I remember to heat the oven up when I get in - made all the more difficult now as the indicator light has blown and now I have to turn the temp dial to see whether its up to temperature as it clicks on/off :rolleyes: )
  • Chicken Kievs, mash & veg
  • Chicken Kievs, mash & veg
  • Samon Encroute, mash & peas
  • Lamb Grills, jacket spud & veg
  • Lamb Grills, mash & veg
  • Cauliflower Cheese (made with broccoli as well)
  • Cottage Pie & veg
  • Cottage Pie & veg
  • Fish, chips, mushy peas (fish fingers for DD)
  • Fish, chips, mushy peas (fish fingers for DD)
  • Fish fingers, chips, mushy peas
  • Breaded Chicken, mash, beans
• Slowcooker (for work days )
  • Meatballs in Bol sauce
  • HM Chicken Soup
  • Meatballs in gravy
  • Sausage casserole
  • Chicken Stew Already had once, leftovers frozen
• Prep Required (things that need me to do something ahead of time)
  • Lasagne
  • Soup
  • Pizza (Base to be done in breadmaker)
• Left Over (not menu planned or not specified, like the pesto will be used with the pasta)
  • Breaded Chicken fillets
  • turkey steaks
  • chicken breast fillets
  • broth mix
  • BIB rice
  • Pesto
  • Chopped Tom
  • Eggs (whisked & frozen, 3 per bag) x 4 I think
  • Corned Beef
  • Tuna flakes
  • Beef (joint, sliced & frozen)
  • Pork (joint, sliced & frozen)

I'm hoping to only have to spend money on sandwich fillings (although I'm going to try and use up what I have in first though), fruit & at some point more potatoes for the whole of October. We'll see though!

gingernutbizkit

ok, so here's the plan for the next couple of evening meals.

Today (day 15) - spaghetti bolognese.
Day 16 - pizza
Day 17 - sausage and mash

dawnylou

Hi all,
As the title states....I am struggling to reduce my grocery budget so I decided to try and survive on what we already have in.
I made a list of my freezer and main cupboard contents and decided that I would spend all day tomorrow cooking things that can be frozen, however I am not too sure on what can and can't be frozen!!
I wondered if I copied my list here if people could help me make meal plans that can be safely frozen?

We really need to cut our costs as much as possible to ensure we can afford to go ahead with our wedding next year!!

Anyway....
In my freezer:
350g morello cherries
puff pasrty blocks
filo pastry sheets
2 lots of chicken drumsticks and thighs
pork leg roast
730g lean beef steak mince
2 salmon fillets
500g beef frying steak
3 pork chops
8 turkey sausages
5 piripiri sausages
5 bbq sausages
10 vegetable fingers
baby carrots
garden peas
mixed veg
hash browns
smiles
port sauce
tarrgon, chives and lemon thyme

In my main cupboard:
tin rhubarb
tin black cherry fruit filling
2 tins sliced peaches
tin quartered pears
tin mandarin segments
tin evaporated semi-skimmed milk
passata
2 tins tuna
tin peeled plum tomatoes
4 tins chopped tomatoes
3 sachets cous cous
8 flour tortillas
8 corn tortillas
pearl barley
sweet thai chilli sauce
refried beans
tomato rice condensed soup
sundried tomatoes
corned beef
butterbeans
chick peas
green lentils
brown rice
chilli penne
medium egg noodles
shallots
white sauce
jalepenos
salsa

I then have my eggs, and my baking cupboard is fit to burst.
I guess my main problem is that I have never done this before and just don't know where to start, what is safe to freeze, and I want to ensure my meals are as healthy as possible too!!

Anyone got any pointers? Tips? Ideas? :o:o

So sorry to be a pain, but I see you all batch cooking and so on and I would like to be able to do this too!

scaredy_cat

if you go to the BBC web site and into the Lifestyle pages, they have a food section where you can search for recipes by entering up to 3 ingredients.

Hardup_Hester

Are you feeding just 2 of you or more?

moo2moo

Do you have any potatoes, pasta or bread?

Mexican Enchiladas or something along those lines....

Fry up onions, lots of veg and 300g ish mince (1/2 your big pack) add tomoato or a sauce. Once cooked place inside a tortilla, add cheese and ewither roll, top with a cheese sauce and oven cook or fold in half and quickly sear in a little bit of oil in a frying pan. You could add the refried beans to this to stretch it a bit further. You can also do a variation with tuna.

dawnylou

Yes Hester, just 2 and Im certain that we can survive without major shopping for awhile with what we have!

We have 4 baking potatoes, chilli pasta, normal pasta, 1/2 loaf of each brown and white bread.

Thanks for the idea. I am going to try and make a start now! Wish me luck!!

Also, is it possible to freeze hard boiled eggs mixed with salad cream??

Cerisa

make hummus from your chick peas

Use the thighs/drumsticks in casserole. Use the bones/skin in soup (obviously take out later) because the marrow juice and fat will make the soup extra tasty and nourishing.

Use pearl barley to bulk things out - again fantastic in casseroles as it soaks up flavour.

Use the tinned fruit and filo pastry to make sweets - if you do without pudding entirely you'll end up craving and buying extra pastries etc. Also make healthy cornish pasties with mince and other ingredients - traditionally the pastry was a kind of edible lunchbox, you could put anything in it.

Hope this helps.

falady

Hi there,

I think that most things are safe to freeze. I often defrost some raw mince to make a meal, then refreeze the meal. Once you want to eat the meal, defrost it overnight in the fridge, then reheat thoroughly. You can only reheat once.

Things which are safe to freeze:
fish pie
sherpherds pie
bolognese sauce
lasagne
pasta bake
chilli
chicken casserole
chicken curry
etc.

These meals could all be made with your ingredients and little or no extras. For recipes, have a look on the board, or drop me a mail and I'll send you some.

Good luck - you can easily get by on what food you've got!

Ali

vinakanailavo

hello everyone...
well i have a little bit of a challenge for myself..
dh and i did a shop...and we want to see how long we can make it last before having to do a big shop again...

heres everything we bought...

freezer

- 3 cartons of minced Beef
- 6 chicken fillets diced
- 10 chicken thighs
- 2 pork chops
- 3 big chicken leg things
- 2 plain cheese pizzas
- 2 fish crumble pies
- 10 fish fingers

large bags of frozen :
- Peas
- Sweetcorn
- Roast Potatoes
- Carrots
- Sliced Green Beans
- Leaf Spinach
- Sliced mixed peppers
- Oven Chips

store cuboard
- 15 eggs
- Jar of Tika Sauce
- jar of Bolonaise sauce
- jar of korma Sauce
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- Cooking oil
- 4 tins of spaghetti in tomatoe sauce
- 2 kg rice
- 1.5 kig couscous
- 1 box of taglitelle
- 15 packets of instant chicken noodles
- 4 tins of tuna
- 2 packets of stirfry noodles
- 2 tins of sardines in tomatoes sauce
- 2 loaves of wholemeal bread
- one jar of sour cream
- one jar of chillie con carnie sauce
(edit forgot to add ...)
- 4 large onions
- 1 bag of potatoes
- 12 bananas ( dh's favourite!)
- 1 bag of applies
- 1 bag of clemintines



fridge
- easy garlic, ginger and red chillie
- cheese
- milk
- ham


and thats it for now i think..lol..

so from reading through all the wonderful posts in here..i can see that we probably waste alot of food...
so im really just looking for a bit of advice and useful recipie tips and ideas as to how i can make this food last....

thank you in advice for any replies!!! so heres day one and lets see how many days we can go without having to buy anything else...
i have a budget of £20 to buy any extras needed to make things!!!

Note, this food is just for myself and DH (no kids as of yet!!! hehe....feeling rather broody..but thats for another thread i guess! lol)

ohh im excited!!!:j