Help me use what I've got left

crana999

Well, it's now a week and a half until the end of term, so I need to use up as much stuff from my store cupboard as I can, without buying anything else if possible.

Suggestions please made from these and nothing else:

Scraping of marge
Small amount of cheese
Couple of wrinkly potatoes
Lots of onions
Tin baked beans
4 tins tomatoes
Gravy granules
Jar sweet pickle
Jar jam
Jar peanut butter
Jar Pepperdew pickled peppers
Spaghetti & Pasta (Lots)
Rice
Pack Beanfeast Spag Bol
Small amounts of dried kidney beans, chickpeas, red lentils, pearl barley, pudding rice, oats
Larger amts of yellow split peas, dried green lentils
White & brown sugar
Carton UHT skimmed milk
Sultanas
Apples

Stock cubes, assorted spices, italian herb mix, honey, bit of chilli sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce, tiny amount of olive oil, salt & pepper

I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours. Nothing can involve frying! Most meals need to cope with being fridged-and-microwaved, and I need a couple of packed lunches.

Caz2_2

Hi quick one
with first 4 ingrediants do layonaise potatoes-layer potatoes onions and spots of marg cover with milk and cook for about 1 hr then put grated cheese on top and cook for further 10-15 mins.
all lentils soaked (apart from red) then boiled add all tinned toms, fry onions in olive oil till golden then add, also add soya sauce, chilli sauce, lemon juice add a bit of left over cheese for topping and put in oven, serve with spagetti or pasta.
Pudding rice. cook with milk (i presume you have some ) add sultanas and cooked apples and a bit of sugar
all your other stuff like beans and jam etc on toast if you have alot of baked beans cook some pasta and add that and serve with rice (sounds gross) leave some stuff in your pantry or you will have to buy it all again

crana999

Hi, some good ideas there. I forgot to say that I don't have an oven/grill - just a microwave and electric hobs. I can't fry anything.

I only have a tiny bit of fresh milk for tomorrow's coffee, plus the UHT I mentioned.
I don't have any bread either.

I really do just have the stuff I mentioned. The only things I didn't mention are some cereal for brekky (the only thing I do need to buy is another carton of soya milk. i cant stand normal milk on my cereal) and some miscellanous choccy, tea/coffee and a couple of biccys.

The thing is, I have to take every single thing I don't eat home with me, or throw it away... so the idea is to eat as many of the tins & packets as possible so I don't have to cart them all the way home! I'll "re-stock" at the start of next term, that's not a problem.

pavlovs_dog

this student existence eh crana?!!!!!!!

im soo glad i went for a longer contract, so i dont have to clear my room out for the hols

crana999

Lol, yeah, you have it there.

I could apply for an extension to stay for at least part of the holidays, but it has to be approved by your tutor and for academic reasons only - oh and it's an extra £70/week... (£10/day vacation rent). I don't really get a chance to go home during term tho so it's quite nice to get out of here and have some time with my family, see my bf without him having to spend hours on the bus, etc.

It would make me much happier if I had a proper kitchen and there wasn't this stupid rule about frying, though!

culpepper

soak kidney beans overnight
boil rice
microwave onions
boil kidney beans,peppers , tomatoes and add the onions
thicken with gravy granules
serve with the rice


pudding rice and milk (could boil or microwave)
add jam

cold cooked pasta with milk and sultanas and cut up apples

nuke the potatoes in jackets,cut open cover in cheese and baked beans

spag with pack of spag bol

porridge with sugar

crana999

All good ideas! Thanks.

pavlovs_dog

dont know what the situation is with your flatmates - whether you get on/they know that there are other food groups beyond micro chips and ready meals etc etc - but perhaps there is someone you could 'pool' resources with, to make things more interesting, and perhaps stretch the food further?

crana999

one of them only eats sandwiches, one usually eats in the canteen, and one of them only cooks terrifying chinese and pasta concoctions...and refuses to pool with me (I have asked ) - it doesn't help I'm veggie and they are all firm meat eaters. It's a good idea tho.

Btw, have you ever seen https://www.beyondbakedbeans.com ? Some good ideas on there - some good ideas for baking & stuff as well you might like?

pavlovs_dog

people keep mentioning the site, and i keep meaning to have a look, never getting round to it.

just had a quick nosey, and there are some fab ideas on there. do they get archived or do they just disappear? (should i start manically copying and pasting lol?!) is the book any good? i have several student cookbooks floating around and they're all a bit monotonous. perhaps its time i graduated to the grown up ones :rotfl:


i sympathise with you on the flatmate front. whilst our kitchen is slightly better equipped (two hobs, a grill, oven, fridge and freezer), its still hard to cook when fighting with other people for space.

of my flatmates...most wouldnt know how to cook from scratch if their life depending on it (never mind how to use a sink, some water and a dishcloth, but thats another story :mad: ), and you cant get near the freezer for ready meals and oven chips. then theres a girl whose lactose intolerant, and only eats organic, not to mention the weirdo who drowns EVERYTHING in tommy sauce

god knows how they'll survive in student houses next september lol!

crana999

lol, sounds ... fun!

The recipes all stay on there as far as I know. I have the "Green" cookbook, the author sent it me free for answering some Qs about what i cook etc, very nice of her! It's good, a lot of the recipes are online tho so I probably wouldn't bother buying it. I haven;t seen the non-veggie one.