let there be cake

greenbee

ETA - silken tofu I use to make veggie pasta sauce, or add it to meat-based bolognese etc to lighten it.

Will try to think of more ideas later!

TiredIAm

Freezer - needs defrosting

Chicken
1 x 2kg whole chicken
3 x 2 breasts (one frozen to the side of the tray!)
5 x carcasses, maybe 2 with enough scraps for meal
1 x chicken roulades with onion jam (very RTC)
1 x 4 leg quarters
32 nuggets (boys love these)

Lamb
1 x 500g bone in neck - no idea what to do with this
1x whole shoulder (1.8kg each)
1 x whole leg (1.9kg)

Beef
1 x 500g mince
7 x 500g stewing beef - good stuff from the butchers, no fat. Could mince?
1 x beef curry
Pork
1 x 2 chops
2 x stir fry
sausages x 40
Fish
14 x battered (boys love these)
1 x smoked salmon scraps 120g
1 x kippers
100g king prawns
150 scampi

Veg
.25petit pois
.5 sweetcorn
.75 mixed veg
mountains of parsnips
chillis
small bag of peppers
1 x wedges
16 jacket pots (for mash)
3.5 bags x french fries (37p in Makro!)
4 waffles

Cheese
1 x goats
1 x mozarella

Bread
4 loaves
2 packs crumpets
10 muffins

Fruit
Raspberrries
Blackberries
bananas x 3

Misc
2 quorn sausages (boys)
Buttermilk
2 x chicken stock
2 x curry base
1x puff pastry
1 x filo
15 x DH lunches
2 x chorizo 60g portions
2 x curry meals

TiredIAm

Oven on for bread so roasted chicken at the same time, letting it go cold as it is easier to slice thinly that way. Chocolate chip Darth Vador cake made, store lists adjusted.

Lunch was the last of yesterdays soup for DH and some HM bread. Boys had bread, carrot sticks and cheese, followed by apple slices.

greenbee

Don't mince the stewing beef! Make stew from it... Or pies... Or pasties...

You have MASSES of food, so I think you just need to sit down and really work at a plan. Maybe aim to get through to the end of the summer holidays just buying milk and the veg you can't grow?

I think MG said she has a £20/week budget for the three of them, with approx £13 spend on weekly essentials and the rest put towards store cupboard bargains.

Sounds like you need to find a way to use up parsnips. Soup maybe?

Did you have any lunch?

TiredIAm

The logic of mincing the stewing beef is around being able to stretch it further as (yuck) chilli for DH/SS. We did have 20 lots, but have had it with coconut block and red thai paste, or as beef pie - both are lovely.

I really like parsnips but no one else does - 4 a week in the veg box for the last year means there are one or two in the freezer.

My aim is to stick to that maximum £20 a week, with the bulk going on milk, fruit, veg and bread/strong flour.

Garden has radishes and spinach thinnings, chives, thyme and rosemary ready currently. Lots on the go in the garden, using last years seeds. Sowing every two weeks atm. We are lucky and have raspberries, rhubarb, apples, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries and lots of herbs before I even start planting seeds. Greenhouse and hens help too.

I have just had a chicken sandwich for a very late lunch .

greenbee

Glad you had lunch.

You can use the stewing beef for chilli without mincing it - just be strict about the weight per portion when you use it. 4oz per person is the maximum you need to allow, and if you have beans etc then it can be less.

Parsnip soup for your work lunches? Would the others eat it if you mixed it with potato in a gratin?

If you have LOTS of radishes I have a recipe somewhere for them cooked...

Sounds like running down the freezer to make room for stuff from the garden is a logical thing to do now anyway...

never_too_old

Hi
im going to wish you luck and follow your journey.I may not be able to give to much advice but i can give support.:D

TiredIAm

Thanks never too old

greenbee - cooked radishes? wow, new one on me. I like parsnip chips/roasted and as soup, carrot and parsnip mash is lovely but none of them will touch it. DH will eat it as soup if he must and if I put enough spices in. I agree ont he emat portion sizes, we have really reduced these lately.

I made MGs cookies on her blog this afternoon, easy, tasty and DS2 actually likes them (as long as no one mentions the peanut butter!) so sneaky protein. DH likes them too, and he doesn't do sweet. Also going to do the 'curry in a hurry' paste when I can get some onions. I can't link to them so if anyone wants the recipes you need to click on Memory Girl and look at her home page.

Noodles and chicken stir fry for dinner for those who wanted some. Lists adapated to reflect what was used.

greenbee

That 9.5kg pasta should help!

If you're anything like me you'll need to do the decluttering, tidying and cleaning before you can sit down and do a long-term plan. So for the moment, concentrate on using up stuff that needs to be used up, but try to come up with a meal plan and do some bulk cooking before you go back to work so it isn't so much effort then and you don't run into problems because you have to work late or are tired.

Maybe having cakes/cookie dough in the freezer would help so you can keep the boys happy!

Skintfoodie

*subscribed* I'm really impressed with how well stocked your cupboards and freezer are. Sounds like things are going to be really tight for you, I'll be following to hopefully pick up a few frugal tips on saving money on our food shopping.