I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge

Frogletina

I'm still trying to eat up everything in my freezer but not getting anywhere fast.

Just taken my last portion of curry out for tomorrow's lunch. Cooking jacket potatoes today to have with cheese and salad which uses up nothing from the freezer at all. I am down to two drawers of my freezer but adding up what is in there I have at least a month's worth of main meals plus extras and I don't want to eat the same things all the time. I have chestnut burgers, nut rissoles and one large and one small nut roast. Plus quorn pieces, fillets and tofu. Quorn will be turned into more curry and tofu into thai green curry

Often I only want to have something simple, like an omelette or cheesy mash with beans. I like fresh bread for sandwiches but I end up freezing the rest of the loaf and then turn it into breadcrumbs if there is too much to eat as toast - hence the nut roasts and rissoles.

My main purchases are bread, milk, eggs, cheese and fresh vegetables and salad.

Kirri

Frogletina - sounds much like here!! Even though I don't have much in the freezer, added to the dried cupboard goods/beans/pulses I can still make 100 meals at least, though I am sure to a meat eater they would think I have no food in

JB - sounds interesting but slightly alarming - maybe I will give it a miss also :rotfl: Has anyone here tried Asafoetida??

WP - I only had one tiny bunch on my blackcurrant bush the first year and as soon as they were ripe they got eaten BUT year 2 and onwards it produced way more than I (and the birds) could eat.

Just cooking more hm bean burgers tonight, having two as only having salad with them, topped with the last slice of Tofutti cheese leftover from November's vegan month (still can't decide what is more important ie organic or vegan... as can't have both in cheese).

ms_night_ryder

Afternoon all.

Just snacking today, got some bbq ribs, bit off rotisserie chicken coated with bbq jerk sauce and the last if the mini potatoes.

In the freezer went a bag of stripped chicken.

Don't forget to grab your free crisps coupon from Waitrose, ive had 3 packs already, coupon good until the end of the month, I need to pop into Waitrose tomorrow for some cakes to take to my grandmas tomorrow as she invited me to dinner and is making my favorite, maybe flowers if any reduced.

recovering_spendaholic

Hi everyone - I haven't been on the site for ages - been too ashamed as my spending has been haywire!

I NEED to get back on track as my finances are dire - I have bulging cupboards and a full to bursting freezer so shouldn't need to go to the supermarket for ages!

DD1 has been home from university for Easter and has eaten me out of house and home, and has cost me hundreds in contributions to rent, books, going out etc etc. End result is that I have to economise in a big way!!

Tonight we had Dominos:o as it is DD1's last night before going back to university, but I didn't have any of it because it was really not that nice (kids wolfed it down though) - I just had some snacky bits out of the fridge and freezer.

I have a real problem with Tesco Monterey Jack cheese at the moment - it is £6.00 a kilo on the deli counter and I have never tasted such lovely cheese - I bought a kilo last Monday and its all gone already!!

Anyway - off to have a good read of what you have all be doing and eating - wish me luck that I can stay on the wagon!

Florenceem

No freezer movements to report today.
No photo tonight - for dinner we had cornish pastie with HM wedges, mushy peas and baked beans.
TITH tomorrow.

Jelly_Biactol

Frogletina wrote: »

I'm still trying to eat up everything in my freezer but not getting anywhere fast ... Plus quorn pieces, fillets and tofu ... I don't want to eat the same things all the time.

To offer a bit of encouragement in your personal freezer challenge, I've delved into my recipe book collection and can suggest a few ideas (all veggie recipes), other than curry, for the tofu ; I haven't suggested any for the Quorn as obviously you can use any meat recipe and just substitute. So, how about...
Green Lentil Soup with Tofu (slow cooker recipe)
Tofu & Lettuce Soup
Spinach & Tofu Soup
Smoked Tofu in Tomato Sauce (slow cooker recipe)
Tofu & Vegetables in White Wine Sauce (slow cooker recipe)
Cassoulet with Tofu & Haricot Beans (another slow cooker recipe!)
Tofu Balls with Tomato Sauce (£1.10 a portion, apparently)
Marinated Tofu Kebabs with Green Mango Salsa (230 cals)
Sambal Goreng Tahu (Indonesian fried tofu in spicy coconut sauce)
Liu Huang Tsai ('Flowing Running Eggs' - "perfect for a high-protein breakfast")
Red-Cooked Tofu with Chinese Mushrooms
Tofu & Chestnut Stroganoff
Barbecue Tofu (vegan)
Tofu & Lentil Burgers
and for pudding...
Pear & Tofu Pudding
- I can post the detailed recipes if anyone's interested?

Frogletina wrote: »

Often I only want to have something simple, like an omelette

How about a Chinese-Style Tofu Omelette? "A sweet sauce blends delicate rice wine with hoisin, green peas and garlic in this traditional Oriental omelette".

Frogletina wrote: »

I like fresh bread for sandwiches but I end up freezing the rest of the loaf and then turn it into breadcrumbs if there is too much to eat as toast

When I buy a shop-bought loaf (usually a Mr A whoops 10p one), I cut it into enough-for-a-day-or-two sections (usually three or four), bag them up, and freeze like that; I find there's less waste ... well, not waste, but less that's only good for toast/breadcrumbs etc.

Kirri wrote: »

Just cooking more hm bean burgers tonight

What's your recipe? Is it one you've already mentioned?

Kirri

ms_night_ryder wrote: »

Don't forget to grab your free crisps coupon from Waitrose

Free crisp coupon, I've not seen this??

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

Hi everyone - I haven't been on the site for ages - been too ashamed as my spending has been haywire!

I have a real problem with Tesco Monterey Jack cheese at the moment - it is £6.00 a kilo on the deli counter and I have never tasted such lovely cheese - I bought a kilo last Monday and its all gone already!!

It's like some spenders anonymous site, come on, confess all..

and how many of you ate a kilo of cheese? :eek:

Jelly_Biactol wrote: »

Sambal Goreng Tahu (Indonesian fried tofu in spicy coconut sauce)
Tofu & Lentil Burgers[/FONT]

What's your recipe? Is it one you've already mentioned?

^ Those two sound nice, would be interested to see the recipes


I can't remember, I may have put it up but I get lost on this thread :rotfl: It's one I was given on a vegan group:


25g Engevita nutritional yeast (health shops/Ocado)
30g oats
10g sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp herbamare (health shops)
25g ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp water (creates a flax 'egg')
1 tin beans (I used ones I'd picked and frozen then fast boiled)
1 onion diced finely/grated
1 carrot diced finely/grated

make the flax 'egg' up
mash the beans
cook the onion/carrot in a pan with some water till soft
Mix all the above together, form into burgers and dry fry (I fried in oil). I also coated in flour. Can add spices if required.



I have two more burger recipes to try next:
Mexican black bean burgers with lime and coriander (vegan, Daily Mail recipe I think)
Halloumi and courgette burgers (obv. veggie - Morrisons recipe)

Frogletina

Thank you so much for the ideas, Jelly. I don't make a good vegetarian despite the fact that I have been one all of my life, mainly due to the fact that I really don't like tomatoes or most soups.

Other than that I'm rather an 'old school' vegetarian ie. the days before quorn and soya mince. In the days when eating out and the vegetarian choice was always an omelette (before the days of vegetable lasagna), when I was given a fried egg every day at school for my meat replacement and when Christmas dinner was always a nut roast (still is here!)

I love lentils, coconut, chestnuts so I would love the recipies that contain those ingedients please. Maybe I should try one of the soups too, I've actually got two cans of soup in my store which I am bracing myself to eat as they contain ingredients that I like and my task is to eat everything in the cupboards.

Frogletina

Kirri wrote: »

Free crisp coupon, I've not seen this??

It's in the magazine in the Waitrose stores


25g Engevita nutritional yeast (health shops/Ocado)
30g oats
10g sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp herbamare (health shops)
25g ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp water (creates a flax 'egg')
1 tin beans (I used ones I'd picked and frozen then fast boiled)
1 onion diced finely/grated
1 carrot diced finely/grated


make the flax 'egg' up
mash the beans
cook the onion/carrot in a pan with some water till soft
Mix all the above together, form into burgers and dry fry (I fried in oil). I also coated in flour. Can add spices if required

.

That recipe sounds lovely

Jelly_Biactol

Leek, Red Onion & Thyme Puff Pastry Tart
I made this tonight, from this recipe
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/vegetarian/leek-red-onion-and-thyme-puff-pastry-tart-recipe
You can compare and contrast the photo on the recipe page with my effort

Not one of my best efforts, I admit:rotfl:. I took the (bought) puff pastry out of the fridge too early, so it was difficult to work with, and made rectangular rather than round ones, which I overfilled, so I couldn't fold over the edges properly. But they definitely look home-made . And, most importantly, they taste really good; the one bottom right has a big chunk out of it as I was eating it as I took the photo. Total cost was £4.11, or just over £1 each. I'll freeze them when they have cooled down:)