Eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge - part two

Older_But_Not_Wiser

Evening all

Hope this week is a better one for you Kirri and the cow has mooooo-ved off somewhere else :rotfl: Wish it was like a health farm at mine, could do with a lovely facial or massage about now! and the healthy-looking food is really only a penance to make up for the shocking amount of rubbish I've eaten recently (I mean seriously, who chooses thai curry flavour popcorn and lavendar & pear tart for breakfast, I'm vaguely ashamed of myself )

Really liking the sound of your meals too KittenKirst, when can I move in ?

I'm still doing the whole porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch and easy dinner thing but the sudden drop in temperature is making me hungry for hot lunches and really hearty evening meals so I need some delish veggie casserole/chilli type recipes for the slow cooker. Sure MsNR will have some and there is bound to be some on the older style thread, just haven't got round to searching for them yet.

Brrrr, off to find a blanket and to cuddle up on the sofa with the kitkat now.

Kittenkirst

Older- I use this recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1124/moroccan-tagine

But make less of the paste (there's a lot of oil in it) and substitute the veggies for whatever root veggies are in the freezer/ cheap at market or on also offers

Today's dinner was chicken from freezer, fresh veggies, half Tin coconut milk, teriyaki sauce from freezer and lots of spices. Tasted really good and made double for lunch tomorrow.

Lunch today was some free Special K granola I nabbed at my gym some time ago. Tomorrow I shall take porridge sachet (from former mum- in-law) and cool it at work instead of buying poached eggs for Brekkie!

ShoeGal44

Hi all,
I have spent the past week reading through this entire thread and I'm inspired!

I live with my DH (picked that up along the way), we don't have any kids and both work very hectic full- time jobs. We have set ourselves a target of saving £10,000 within the next 11 months for a desperately needed new car! This sounds like a lot, but we both earn a pretty good wage and have minimal outgoings in terms of rent and bills.

I would love to join your challenge? We throw food away like there's no tomorrow and easily spend £80 a week on shopping when our cupboards and freezer can't hold anything else!

I'm following a well known diet at the moment and so I do need to pay a little extra for things like extra lean mince, other than that I am determined to stop being so wasteful.

I've started already and made a beef stew yesterday - had lo for lunch today and put two portions in the freezer for lunches when I'm back at work. Jackets with tuna and salad tonight, lo tuna went into sandwiches for DH's dinner.

We both get paid tomorrow and I am setting us a £100 budget to stick to for the month. As I said, I have a lot to learn but you guys have inspired me to start!

ms_night_ryder

Older lol the Tart sounds lovely and that is something that I would eat for breakfast!

Lets do a mini Slow cooker challenge soon, like a few weeks? Slow cooker dish of the week or something along those lines.

Used up some sausages from the freezer today, had a sausage sarnie on rolls also from the freezer, then I had cooked down sausages in a tomato sauce, carton of cheapie toms from cupboard, really lovely.

Hey Kirri! hope your well.

ShoeGal44

Got 500g of mince out of the freezer and did something that I've never done before - split it in half to make two different meals! I've made meatballs for tonight and a shepherds pie for tomorrow.

Sounds silly but I never would have thought to do this before - I would have made one meal, are some leftovers but then thrown the rest away!

Good start I think!

dumpling

Hi there, I have been slowly chipping away at the contents of my freezers and it's looking promising . Today I have taken out piri-piri chicken thighs and I'm going to make the Hairy Dieters Spanish Chicken with them. The only freezer item I've ordered to come with my shopping today is a packet of oven chips. Slowly but surely I am using up all the odd bits and pieces that have been lurking in the freezer for months (years in some cases ). I haven't manged to poison anyone yet so I shall keep going lol.

Just edited to add ShoeGal44, you are definitely getting the hang of it now. Well done for thinking about how to use stuff up. It's quite a shocker when you realize how much money you are throwing away when you throw away food.

tootallulah

Nice to see you here Shoe Gal, other half?? I too am on the well known diet, seems to work as well. Freezers still full but spends right down.

Older_But_Not_Wiser

Evening all

My monthly grocery shop arrives this evening so it's been a day of using up the odds and ends, which I actually quite enjoy as it forces me to be a bit more creative. So, breakfast was a boiled egg, lunch was a strawberry, rocket, cheese and prosciutto salad (tasted lovely but my photo doesn't do it justice):
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Dinner will be stir-fried fridge contents, which seems to be peppers, onions, green beans, a handful of a frozen veg bag from the icebox and possibly some tomatoes, with the remains of the prosciutto.

Had to do a big shop this month as I've used up pretty much everything including my stockpile of tinned fish which I try to always have to hand (without a freezer it is surprisingly difficult to stockpile but a bag of pasta and tin of tuna is always my fall-back. Or a takeaway )

Starting to think about stockpiling a bit for Christmas now and was surprised not to see any Christmas goodies in my local shops. Don't they know it's the end of August already :rotfl:?

ms_night_ryder

Hey guys

Older the salad looks nice, been seeing that strawberry/salad combo a lot lately, I must give it a try.

Well my spends have been a bit all over the place, one minute i'm buying reduced stuff from waitrose, next minute i'm in china town, buying stuff left right and center lol! decided to buy seasame oil because I saw it on a food programme, so hopefully I will get around to making the recipe, sweet and sour pork, bought pork buns, cake, chips etc, next time I really must try this bubble tea though lol and those cream fish cake things made fresh.

So anyway, as i'm not really sure when I am next being paid, a fair bit of money owed, just random as to when I receive it, I have decided I better make something from home, yesterday and today I had some mince and leftover burrito mix from the freezer, along with a random cheese roll yesterday, it was the last in the packet and today, the last bits of brown rice.

Tomorrow, I;m going to visit the health shop and buy some brown basmati and see if I like it better, I have taken out a packet of sausages and am soaking the last of the buritto beans, i'm going to make a burrito bean and sausage mix, kind of like the black bean Brazilian dish, but not lol, will be made in my slow cooker, will add some of the 20p tomato paste and a can of sweetcorn, should be quite nice.

Kirri

^ Like the sound of your burrito bean sausage thing, would work well for me with veggie sausages too.

My cooking has been terrible, work gets in the way... :mad: but tonight I did actually make a mangetout and courgette risotto. Mostly I've just had veg/haloumi and putting it on toast. I did overspend a bit last month though, I blame Wholefoods and the novelty of having money for once lol. Back on track now cooking and using up food...