Please help my family!

Valli

sillylittlejill wrote: »

The freezing instructions on the pack say must be frozen immediately then used within one month...it had all been in there for at least 2 or 3...



x

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

then you buy more;)

seriously; it'll be fine.

Borrow one of my mottoes;)

tessie_bear

hi...i agree with the name change...iv just changed my sig to give myself a bit of motivation...i like my slow cooker and use it quite often but i dont think buying one will solve all problems of time/lack of energy/no time/limited cash....i think u might do well with a bit of batch cooking at the weekend and freezing in tubs then lifting out in the morning

id go to a supermarket when u have a bit of time and browse the aisle with the blackbean sauce ect in....that sort of thing would make u a takeaway type meal and u can put in extra veg and u know the provedence of the food...no chance of horse:)

further to chucking food out...i would have defrosted it a bit at a time and given it the once over (sniff look) and decied if it was ok

dont be hard on yourself...kids are hard work im sure it will all start to fit into place....baby steps
good luck

sillylittlejill

Ok guys, child is currently eating her books (yknow, as you do?!) so I've started on the list of everything we have.
Big Cupboard
Heinz beans big tin x3
Curried beans sml x2
Mulligatawny soup
Pea & Ham soup
Vegetable soup
Mushy peas tin x2
Tin spaghetti lge
Spaghetti hoops sml x2
Tin apple slices
Tin pear halves
Tin raspberries in juice
Tin rice pudding
500g chilli penne
500g penne
Mexican rice microwave
Tin macaroni cheese
Nandos bbq sauce
sharwoods sweet chilli stirfry sauce
Homepride cheese & bacon pasta bake x3
Sharwoods tikka masala ex creamy
Sharwoods szechuan sweet chilli sauce
Sharwoods madras sauce
Sharwoods h&s tikka masala
Sharwoods bhut jolokia curry
Sharwoods cantonese curry
Sharwoods tikka masala
Discovery cajun chicken sauce
Homepride peppercorn sauce
Levi Roots rasta pasta sauce
Chopped tomatoes
Vegetable broth mix
Pataks korma sauce
Gravy granules x2
½ bag risotto carnaroli rice
Curry savoury rice
Golden veg rice
4 lasagne sheets
¼ bag trottole pasta
Bag of pancake mix (bb nov 12)
Full bag sharwoods noodles
½ bag caster sugar
Flava it Piri piri marinade
So crispy lemon and herb chicken
So Juicy Sweet&sour chicken x2
Colmans chicken nuggets spice mix
Medium fajita spice mix
Crispy chicken fajita spice mix
So Crispy chilli chicken
Schwartz potato dauphinoise bake powder

Fridge
lemon curd
raspberry jam
filled pasta x2
cheese spread
marmite
filo pastry
sausagemeat (defrosting) x2
chicken fillets x2 (defrosting)
2 pints blue milk
exotic fruit smoothie
Freezer
2 portions white fish
half bag of homefries
chopped leaf spinach
big bag petits pois
full bag chicken fillets
1 ptn potato croquettes


We've got more than that in the freezer but havent had a chance to check yet.
Need to think of something to do with the sausagemeat tomorrow, will be making a chicken curry with one of our many sauces!!

Ran out of fresh stuff, hence the need to do a food shop.
Any meal ideas from all this junk would be awesome guys

Thanks so much for all your advice.
Btw how do I change my name?! I couldnt find any option to change it :S

Thanks again, you're amazing
xx

aliama

sillylittlejill wrote: »

The freezing instructions on the pack say must be frozen immediately then used within one month...it had all been in there for at least 2 or 3...

Is that one of the instructions I should actually ignore? When are things safe? I cant put them back in the freezer now, its all in a binbag outside

I went on a cleaning frenzy this morning, I wouldnt normally throw everything out!

x

Yep, that's something you can safely ignore. Once food is frozen it should be safe to eat indefinitely (assumiing it was fine when it went in and the freezer doesn't break down or something). Sometimes instructions will say it needs to be used within a month or three months, but this isn't to do with safety -- it's because the taste and texture of food can deteriorate if food is stored in the freezer for too long.

When you've got a bit of free time, I think it would be an idea to make up a double batch of food -- stew or spaghetti bolognaise, for example -- and freeze half of it, so that you've always got something easy in the freezer.

I also think online shopping is worthwhile, interspersed with trips to the supermarket in person to pick up any reduced items or to visit the bit where they sell foreign brands of food (coconut milk for example) at cheaper prices, which don't show up online.

Sambucus_Nigra

You've got enough sauces and packet mixes there for at least 23 main meals! I can't see normal 'rice' - either basmati or long grain - on your list.

You could buy a big bag of rice, a big bag of spuds, and the meat to go in those sauces and that's enough meals for nearly 4 weeks.

diane39

Check out https://www.allrecipes.co.uk and http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes These websites are great for searching for recipes when you've only got a few basic ingrediants in.Good Luck,it does get easier.You've got loads there to work with x

sillylittlejill

Thanks guys
OH is obsessed with spicy stuff (makes his own chilli sauces) hence all the curries...we get plainer ones so that I can have my half and he can add the scary chillies to his half.
I think thats what we're going to do Sambucus, hoping that we can use the majority of whats in the cupboard before we move then start afresh in the new place.

Thanks for all the advice
x

sonastin

Looks to me like you don't need to do a "Big" shop, just a small top up of fresh stuff. The big shop is for when the cupboards are totally bare and you're all out of storecupboard stuff. You're a long way from that state!

I still get the urge sometimes to clear stuff out of the freezer because its been in there too long. I think sometimes I look at it and think "if I haven't used it by now, I have no use for it". Lurking around this site has got me more disciplined in that respect and every now and then I force myself to use that *thing* that has been tormenting me so that I don't end up wasting it. Its usually OK, even nice, when I've cooked it, whatever it is!

I agree that the answer is to start meal planning, but start small. Don't plan complex and elaborate meals when you know realistically you won't want to cook them. If needs be, to begin with, get ready prepared veg, diced meats, etc - to go with all those jars of sauce you've got. It takes less effort (and costs less) to open packs of stir fry veg, diced chicken and stir in sauce than it would take to go to the takeaway. Crikey its borderline whether that's easier than finding the phone, dialling for takeaway and finding your purse with the delivery boy stood on the doorstep!

Once you're used to standing in front of the cooker for 5 minutes assembling the pre-prepared stuff, it feels like less of a stretch to start chopping veg and dicing chicken breasts yourself which helps shave a few more £££ off the grocery bill. And from there cooking completely from scratch and making up your own sauces isn't too much of a stretch - but that's a step that only needs taking if you enjoy cooking and/or you're really tightening your belt. You don't need to feel like you've got to start there if its just going to make you feel like you'd rather go and get a takeaway!

RAS

OK

So you need to list the freezer contents as well. You have enough cook-in flavourings/sauces for the next month. Now you need enough basic main like chicken (thighs rather and breasts if they are cheaper) to make up the meat component.

You also have a lot of tins that could be the bais of a lunch-time snack, or make 2 and a 1/13 portions out of the main meal and then freeze the small portion to have for lucnh in 2 days time.

Do you bulk meant based meals out with beans (say chickpeas in a curry)?

evie451

I find its easier to cook now than to sod around with processed meals which invariably you have to do at different times, temperatures stir halfway through etc when you are heating them up but this revelation has taken a while!

I have a slow cooker and do use it every week but it sounds like you and OH need to sit down and agree on some mealplanning.....I am in a similar position with a chilli lover and quite a lot of problems are solved with a bottle of hot sauce!!:rotfl: