Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

mumtoomany

Thanks for that. I make pizza about once a month, but DD1 doesn't like it, or pies! S-i-L1 doesn't like chilli or liver. Both work away, so evening meal changes, depending on which of them, if either, is home. That way all the adults eat whatever is dished out, thus encouraging the children to do the same.

Made bread pudding tonight. All the left over crusts, crumbs, broken slices of bread that have been collected in the freezer. Soak in water, added mixed dried fruit, sugar, some crab apple jelly that would not set last year, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, and a couple of beaten eggs. Cook until you remember it's in the oven, then eat hot or cold in slices.

Mumtoomany.

Cottage_Economy

D&#8517 wrote: »

I also need to use some of the rhubarb that's in the freezer so thinking the rhubarb crumble muffins from BBC Good Food mag plus a serious crumbling session thanks to Cottage making me dribble with her list!

It doesn't seem to matter what I make DH will always pick crumbles as his favourite dessert and victoria sponge as his favourite cake. Everything else he says is "ok" but those two get lavish praise. Does get a bit tiresome doing the same things sometimes.

mumtoomany wrote: »

Made bread pudding tonight. All the left over crusts, crumbs, broken slices of bread that have been collected in the freezer. Soak in water, added mixed dried fruit, sugar, some crab apple jelly that would not set last year, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, and a couple of beaten eggs. Cook until you remember it's in the oven, then eat hot or cold in slices.

You'be just reminded me I have a large round bread pudding in the back of the freezer!

Ok, I have had a quick scout of the pantry and the indoor freezer and spotted three things:

2kg pasta dated 2013
2kg dahl-type lentils dated 2012
half a fresh turkey crown from Christmas three years ago. There was too much for the three of us so I cut it in half.

I reckon the first two will be ok to eat as they are dried and still sealed. The turkey looks ok as it was well wrapped and doesn't seem to have any freezer burn. Thinking of pulling it out, defrosting it, giving it a good sniffing and if ok, making pulled turkey burgers.

What do you think?

D&DD

I finally made my poor OH a bread pud last week,he hasn't had one for a year or two now probably due to various reasons and after taking in a slab to work I now have a regular 'order' from the posties haha it's a dish with such lovely memories for a lot of people as their mums used to make them.


CE I've used some meat this week which I couldn't even hazard a guess how old it was to make pulled chicken funnily enough and it was fine.I'm not a stickler for dates unless the food has been stored incorrectly so I'm sure the turkey will be lovely. I find it's one of those things a bit like chicken and pork it's rather bland sometimes and I like a bit of flavour so will be nicking your idea for some sliders, DS3 loves them at the moment so always looking for new things to put into them,brilliant thankyou!


I have a ton of pasta due to our extra guest insisting that was all they ate then promptly not eating any..so planning a pioneer woman baked ziti batch with some.Have made this before with a few tweaks and it's been lovely.


The early years of perseverance with DS3 seem to have paid off and now he is eating a HUGE range of foods unlike when I first started this thread all those years ago. He's also found he loves spicy stuff yay so we often enjoy a Mexican food night

Cottage_Economy

D&#8517 wrote: »

I finally made my poor OH a bread pud last week,he hasn't had one for a year or two now probably due to various reasons and after taking in a slab to work I now have a regular 'order' from the posties haha it's a dish with such lovely memories for a lot of people as their mums used to make them.

Snap! My mum used to make it for me too. I've never managed to get the recipe quite right though. It's either too wet on too dry.

D&#8517 wrote: »

CE I've used some meat this week which I couldn't even hazard a guess how old it was to make pulled chicken funnily enough and it was fine. I'm not a stickler for dates unless the food has been stored incorrectly so I'm sure the turkey will be lovely.

Glad to hear someone else does it. My MIL, on the other hand, is a terrible stickler for timings. She labels all of her products in the freezer with the correct date it should be thrown out according to the recommendations of 'official sources'. So if it is six months for the item, she marks it in her diary and then it is thrown out if it isn't used. Ditto use by dates. She doesn't understand the difference between best before and use by. It's also not unknown for her to go through the fridge first thing in the morning and throw out anything with that day's date on it as it would be 'past it's best' by now. The amount of stuff I've rescued from the bins...:D

D&#8517 wrote: »

I have a ton of pasta due to our extra guest insisting that was all they ate then promptly not eating any..

I hate people that do that :mad:

D&#8517 wrote: »

The early years of perseverance with DS3 seem to have paid off and now he is eating a HUGE range of foods unlike when I first started this thread all those years ago. He's also found he loves spicy stuff yay so we often enjoy a Mexican food night

That's great! :T That's a massive achievement. I used to laugh at your posts everyday when you reported breakfast for him: "DS3 had the usual..."

Well, the turkey is out and defrosting in the fridge. Underneath the turkey joint I found two bags of sliced peppers, a bag of sweetcorn and some crumble mix. This was in the bottom drawer of the freezer where I rarely ventured there so that was a nice surprise. In the drawer above I found a carrier bag with a 1.5kg bag of chips! The bag was knotted at the top so I suspect it came in with a delivery like that and I put it in the drawer as it was.

Still haven't been to the shops, everything for the last few days has been out of the Home Shop apart from lunch on Sunday when we met up with friends. Have to get some milk and butter today though.

I organised the cupboard above the kettle and found three bags of coffee grounds (two out of date), three packs of loose leaf tea (all out of date) and a horrendous amount of different herbal tea that smell lovely but taste of nothing. No point using tea bags up when all of this is there to drink so from now on I'm drinking those until they're used up.

Also decided to trial the mini doughnut maker last night and while they were fun they were long-winded to make, and received an 'just about ok' reception from DH and MIL so I'm giving the machine to my sister.

D&DD

I find with the doughnut maker mine scoff an entire batch that day now they're all grown men so it gets used regularly but yes it's not a straightforward thing to use, is it!!


Ooh it's like a treasure hunt isn't it lol my freezers are vaguely organised into meat drawer,veg drawer etc but this time of the year with harvesting anything goes...


Speaking of DS3 he's had garlic and coriander pita bread,chilli tomato puree on top and bacon/mushrooms and scrambled eggs on the side for brekkie today who would have ever thunk it all those years ago he'd be eating that!


I had to get a new oven a few years back and it has a slow oven so in there today is a double batch of the sausage and bean casserole (think it's Schwartz mix) used up a few short dated tins and now need to work out how to shoehorn some into said freezers..


OH has a week off and has been put to work vaxing the carpets he's soo happy about that and I've been tying in erroneous squash plants here there and everywhere!!!


Flour usage today will be a nice fresh loaf probably 50/50 wholemeal and white and I have been asked for a red velvet traybake by DS2 so that'll use a bit more although I need to check my cocoa pots in case they've been raided!!


Had to do an emergency dash for strawberries but that's about all so far this week I think

Cottage_Economy

I'm impressed with DS3's breakfast! Is there anything he refuses to eat now? Also, am I right in thinking he still has his daily strawberry habit?

I must confess, there was an element of pre-dinner scoffing going on with the doughnuts - some of the first were a bit funny so they couldn't be served for dessert but the rest I served up with raspberries and blackberries from the garden and a surprise pot of single cream that appeared in the fridge as if by magic (looks like DH was hinting he'd like more desserts). MIL commented that they were very cake-like, so I figured I might as well just bake some fairy cakes instead.

Freezer diving is absolutely a treasure hunt! Yesterday I found four small beef roasting joints - looks like I bought a large 'yellow sticker joint' and cut it up - as well as three chicken breasts and a bag of chopped leeks. Dinner last night was baked chicken, ratatouille (made from the peppers, leeks, and some runner beans and toms from the garden), and spiralised baked potato ribbons. The spiraliser was an unexpected crimbo present from DH about three years ago and I'd never used it until last night, but I'm going to be using it a lot more from now on. It was fabulous, very quick and easy.

While turfing out a shelf of the pantry I realised that both slow cookers need replacing. My one has a missing settings knob, the front is hanging off showing the wires, one of the plastic handles is cracked, and the lid knob is cracked and partly missing. MIL's has no glaze left on the pot at all so food burns on every time and it smells a bit funky. Sod's Law that my perfect interior pot does not fit her perfect metal housing. :mad:DH is going to glue the front back on mine as a temporary measure so I can cook that turkey today but a new pot has gone on my christmas list.

Also found a very small George Foreman grill that served me well during my single years. I have a larger one that we take camping now so the smaller one is just wasted sat in the cupboard. That is now destined for my sister.

Went to the supermarket yesterday for olive oil, butter and milk, and came out with an additional couple of jars of curry sauce on offer and bananas. Only afterwards did I think "why am I buying fruit when I have fruit bushes and trees producing at the moment, as well as fruit in the freezer, including bananas?"

Doh! My brain is slowly cranking up after nine months of being a dazed zombie operating on auto-pilot I'll get there.

D&DD

Oh what a shame the bits won't fit on the slow cookers it's annoying when that happens and you still can't make a good one!
I see them on offer sometimes in Robert Dyas might be worth keeping an eye on? I scored enough seals for my kilner jars for years one day in there @49P I cleared the lot! Still using them now as they work with my ball jars just as well.


Yes DS3 still has a daily strawberry dose but now sometimes accompanied by raspberries as he grows his own very nice fruits! He had his first ice peach this year off his tree and he's currently scoffing yellow raspberries and some everbearer strawberries but we still need to buy them on a reasonably regular basis!!


He will eat most things now apart from mash and gravy lol yet he'll eat all sorts of potatoes and a curry??? It's a texture thing and as he has matured and can express himself so much better we have enjoyed learning and experimenting together to find new things for him.


This morning he's had a bacon roll (h/made) with English mustard no less and sauce. We were running late due to the boiler check so I'm doing pizza in a bit for early dinner he'll get his salad from the garden if he fancies it or he loves potatoes pan fried with a few veg..What a difference eh???


I love my spiraliser too haha it got him eating sweet potato of all things so I use it to make sweet potato special fried rice the recipe is on her site I think??


I'm still keeping a leery eye on the apples we picked early and using any that look a bit suspect so will probably make an apple braid later.


I do exactly the same when I get into a supermarket the ONE thing I really need is generally the item I come home without


I'm off to a posh place tomorrow with a Lakeland store god help me I need to behave...


*translates as I'll probably come home with more gadgets* lol XX

Cottage_Economy

D&DD - did you succumb to the temptations of Lakeland?

I can't believe what a wide variety of foods DS3 is now eating!! You've done an amazing job encouraging him to explore different foods. I know quite a few people who don't like mash due to the texture - DH's nephew hates it - says it looks like thick wallpaper paste and it gets stuck at the back of his throat.

I haven't seen a Robert Dyas since I was a teenager! I'll have a snoopy on that website today and see where there is one near me.. I managed to use the slow cooker ok Wednesday and yesterday so I might persevere with it until Black Friday and see if I can get something on a deal from somewhere.

The pulled turkey was absolutely gorgeous with another mealsworth leftover so that's in the freezer. The sweet potato curly fries were not so good - not sure whether the oven temperature was too high or I spiralised too thin - but they caught a bit and had a slightly 'charred' flavour so I'll have to practice those.

Did a double batch of lamb rogan josh yesterday with some ancient diced neck pieces out of the freezer. I did it in the slow cooker to make sure the lamb was tender so MIL could chew it. At 86 she has blunt teeth so red meats can be an issue. Also whipped up a batch of butterfly cakes which my husband is single-handedly demolishing.

Still slowly working my way through the pantry. I can see the gaps in my food stocks and have a Lidl £5 off a £25 spend burning a hole in my pocket....

D&DD

ummm yup twice over
Our store has shut their upstairs off so I couldn't get the jars I wanted (brown ones for my dehydrated stuff to keep out the light) so I had to do an online one as well...That's my excuse *whistles*


I did get the trays I wanted and managed to snaffle a deal on the hotdog bun tray I'd had my eye on for a while that was knocked down (DS3 wants to make brioche rolls)
I managed to spend my £10 0ff voucher,then used the £5off on the online order so it just squeaked in about tuppence under my birthday money I'd saved up for the occasion so MrD was happy..apart from the weight of the bags!


He's still in cleaning mode today bless him so I'm making him a nice Hairy Biker Apple Pie to say thanks for all his hard work..and to distract him from the large Lakeland box when it arrives!!


Chicken and sausage traybake is on the agenda for today and I need to make another loaf plus the blackberries need attacking to vacate some freezer space.
I had the meat in the freezers,tatties from the garden as are the carrots,onions and peas!


I too have some elderly neck fillets which need using so may well do a curry as I've got a mountain of the sachets still to work through. My slow oven does a cracking job on the tougher cuts and the weather is now a little cooler so I need to make use of it more as its so economical compared to using the fan oven.


Glad to hear the turkey was so good I'm definitely trying that as I'm loving pulled anything at the moment lol isn't it funny how you don't think to try something you like with different meats I think my brain is still a bit foggy from all the tramadol I had to take I lost a few cells methinks!!


I love batch cooking in the slow cooker it always tastes even better second time around doesn't it?


Hope you have a lovely day xx

Cottage_Economy

Ahhhhh...the Lakeland baking trays. Love them! I just missed out on a fantastic baking tray a few years ago for individual pineapple upside down cakes. Sold out before I could get my hands on one and never found another one. Sounds like you got a great deal on them and that more cupboard space will be required when your mammoth box turns up

By the way, are you still cooking gluten-free? If so, do you have a simple-ish gluten-free recipe for brioche rolls at all? I think the pulled turkey would have been even better in brioche rolls.

So, I went on the Robert Dyas website and instead of s slow cooker ended up getting a digital air fryer in it's sale for £20 off plus another 15% in a flash weekend sale. DH is often given fruit and veg from the people on his rounds (rural), which includes a producer who gifts him a 25kg sack of spuds a couple of times a year. I never get though them all before they go manky, no matter where I store them, and I've tried making chips and crisps many times but can never quite get them right so we end up buying them. This way I can stop buying store bought stuff when I have potatoes in the house.

Snap on the tray bake sausages for tea last night! Added some whole shallots from the garden and elderly new potatoes from the crisper drawer and baked it all up. Nom!

Eating out tonight at a work colleague's wedding anniversary party - hog roast - so that's one meal I don't need to think about.

The blackberry and raspberry bushes are producing like mad at the moment so I'll be picking and freezing some of those. Discovered a pack of frozen cherries in the freezer - annoying it looks like they have stones in them so I can't just chuck them straight into the bottom of a tray for crumbles. I'll have to defrost and stone them first. :mad: Yuck. Messy job.

EDITED TO ADD

So it looks like this thread may become more relevant than ever.

DH had to attend a ‘gate meeting’ in the week with the union. It appears that the new CEO intends to squeeze the pips out of Royal Mail to make it profitable in the same way he did for the German postal service. The union believes this means an erosion of pay and conditions, as it happened in Germany, and to prepare for the possibility of strikes. Also, there will be a splitting off of the parcel section of Royal Mail to make a separate department to deliver them, rather than posties delivering them. I forsee a tough time ahead.

DH has four years left before he wants to retire. I want to get that down to two years some am going to see if we can live on my income and save his. The Tightwad Gazette has been put on my bedside table to refresh my memory and provide inspiration. Tomorrow is finance planning day.

Thankfully almost all my winter preps are done. Chimneys are swept, septic tank emptied, lots of coal and wood left over from last year still, just waiting for oil to be delivered and boiler to be serviced.