I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge

Jelly_Biactol

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

I've got bags of lentils in the cupboard so need to search out some recipes and find some time to make some soups etc.

Try supercook, recipepuppy, recipematcher or similar
http://www.supercook.com/
http://www.recipematcher.com/
http://www.recipepuppy.com/
to search for recipes with specific ingredients, if you have a surplus of certain foodstuffs you want to use up.

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

I'm looking for any money saving ideas and cheap meals.

A Girl Called Jack's blog is a good place to start
http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/below-the-line-budget-recipes/
including a couple of lentil-based soup recipes (just search for 'lentil').

Mrs_Cheshire

Thank you Jelli, for the help and links. off to check them out.

zafiro1984

Freezer movements yesterday
In - apples again
Out - nothing
Lunch was egg on toast, ooops yes, 2 pieces of bread from freezer
tea - things from the fridge that needed using up.

planned for today
Out - sausages. smoked salmon bits, a few bits of asparagus
lunch to be something to do with a couple of sausages for MrZ, I'll have my usual soup
Tea:- smoked salmon/asparagus flan, also need to use the YS lettuce from the fridge, Also think I'll make a rice pudding in the slowcooker as the weather is really on the turn.
In - guess what: more apples, if the weather holds off I'll see if I have time to pick some more blackberries. Must go and have a look at the elderberries to see if they are ready for collecting.

Edwardia

Hello everyone, Happy Birthday Florenceem hope everyone well xxx

Iceland order today so IN freezer went
- Wall's Viennetta (sshh don't tell Kirri) junk food treat for Saturday night.
- Allinson's wholemeal (not convinced this that healthy but OH has organic cheese to use up)
- Iceland 4 cheese and onion crispbakes (additive free, Vegetarian Society-approved and only £1)
- 2 boxes Birds Eye 10 vegetable fingers currently on offer for 75p each saving 25p (junk food I guess but handy standby for visiting veggie mother if she arrives while we're tucking into organic sausages)
- Anchor butter 250g on offer for 1.30 saving 30p - though only realised today not made in NZ anymore :eek:
Dinner.. I'm thinking of having a couple of the cheese and onion crispbakes (depending on size) with organic leeks, peas and courgettes. OH could have (all from the freezer) a Pegoty Hedge organic cottage pie or an organic Abel & Cole mushroom and spinach pasty or a beef and veg one or a mini Higgidy quiche (all previous special offers) with organic Waitrose oven chips which he lurves and the same veg. Has to be something straight from freezer as going out to B&Q (deep joy).

Tomorrow having new kitchen window put in so think that will mean lunch is something quick too. Not gonna be our healthiest food ever

Jelly_Biactol

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Just went out there and it's a pear tree, like small conference pears.

You can store them long-term (2-6 months depending on variety), in the fridge is the best bet if you have room there. Also mentioned this to a work colleague, who thought that you should be able to store them the same as apples, somewhere cool, making sure you don't bruise them; she used to store apples in boxes with sand, but old newspaper etc works just as well. Some useful advice here
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/storingfoods/ht/How-To-Store-Pears-For-Winter.htm

Or you can freeze them
http://www.bhg.com/advice/food/food-storage-safety/how-do-i-freeeze-fresh-pears/

There are a couple of pear trees in the grounds at work, but those are a long way off being ready to pick/eat - tried one today, hard as nails!

Let us know how you get on:)

Jelly_Biactol

Edwardia wrote: »

Wall's Viennetta - junk food treat for Saturday night.

Nowt wrong with that 80s classic.
You can even make it yourself at home:)
http://www.southernplate.com/2012/06/homemade-viennetta.html

tootallulah

Some pears don't ripen on the trees they have to be smothered - picked and stored in newspaper, brown paper etc to ripen. Cooking pears stay pretty hard even when ripe.

zafiro1984

Jelly_Biactol wrote: »

Nowt wrong with that 80s classic.
You can even make it yourself at home:)
http://www.southernplate.com/2012/06/homemade-viennetta.html

Just had a look, interesting may give it a go using that squeezy sauce that goes over ice cream. Think I may have some caramel in the back of the cupboard. I've certainly got icecream and at a pinch I could make a runny fudge and use that.

Pleased that I stuck with yesterdays plan for both lunch and tea.

freezer movements today:-
Out:
Going to make soup:- a pk a mixed frozen casserole veg I put together a few months ago, chicken stock and some ham stock, bits of cooked chicken, frozen leeks and celery from late last year. from the cupboard soup mix and extra barley
In:
More apples!!

Also plan to make a chicken and ham pie for tomorrow and some apple and mint jelly as I've loads of mint in the garden - don't need to buy anything for either of these.

Really pleased with myself since being able to drive and get to the supermarkets after having to shop online for the past 3 years. Only spent £22.38 this week on groceries, however I need to go out today as I need some items to make 'freezer mincement' to use up some more of those apples.

This thread really helps curtailing my spending by using what I have already have. Shopping online is ok if you are housebound but I now have the freedom in being able to go out and spend under what would be the minimum spend for a delivery. It's a bit like a 'game' beating the supermarket at making us spend money.

Kirri

You bought 30kg of apples ^ :eek:

Edwardia, are you on an anti-organic month?!

Welcome to the thread Mrs C and happy belated birthday Mrs F!


No shopping here for 10 days since the Ocado order, anything fresh is coming from the allotment though I will need yoghurts, OJ and water again later this week as I only ordered 2 week's worth, plus maybe need some more Farmaround eggs as want to do another cake towards the end of the week.

Had a bit of a past week of batch cooking to use up stuff and having strange combinations of meals which I'm a bit fed up of... Freezer currently rammed from batch cooking to use up eggs this week

I've got weeks and weeks of meals I can make just from the grains/pulses etc in the cupboard, the frozen hm stuff and fresh allotment veg. Only other things I have to add to meals are feta and haloumi. Trying not to buy till I use up more stuff but I do get bored..

Have successfully emptied jars this week of: hazelnuts, quinoa, chocolate flakes.

This I need to make this coming week:
Bread
Naan bread with the coconut milk (unless I use it in a satay sauce to use up the peanuts/madras pasta/lime)
Pesto (already picked - will use up the cashews in it instead of cheese) and may do a veg pizza to go with it, rolled out in the horrible polenta
Dried herbs (before plants die back)
Lots of things with beans, beetroot, potatoes, carrots, courgettes (prob Italian stuffed).. and maybe pasta as lots of tomatoes
May do a stuffed pepper to use up the pine nuts, a risotto to use up the pearl barley and gram flour and spicy potato pancakes to use up the gram flour
Boston baked beans - new recipe to liven up the week

gunsandbanjos

Getting seriously skint waiting for my redundancy pay to come through!! Also not going to get paid from my new job til October as apparently we missed the cut off day for new starters. Waaaaaah.

Freezer is seriously depleted, written a meal plan for the week and by this time next week I suspect my freezer may be empty?!