The all new using what you have from your Freezer, Cupboard or Shed (Barn)

Frugalistamama

Well done @oceandreamer, I should do this but the task is immense! 

London_1

  Good morning chums ,well yesterday I made a large trifle and divided it between two bowls once cooled topped them both with custard One will go with me to my DDs for pudding after dinner tonight, and the other will be used this week for me, as its tucked in the fridge. So left over sponge cake, and two jellys used up from my stash.

 I also dug some chicken bits, thighs and legs from the freezer and made a large pot of Chicken Provencal in the slow cooker. Once portioned into 5 boxes and cold they were stashed in my freezer for ready meals when I don't feel like cooking, I used around 4 legs and 4 thighs  a tin of chopped tomatoes some tomato puree and two diced peppers from the fridge my DD had given me, and one of the new Schwartz 'Slow Cooker' range of sauces that I got on offer at half price before Christmas. I had made some before Christmas and it is so delicious , I added some lazy garlic as well  and my kitchen smelt wonderful yesterday It really is very nice and as I had got them at half the price I had bought a couple. Used the last of the ice cream up and won't buy any now for awhile as it takes up so much room in the freezer.I'm moving this year so its important that I use up as much as I can so far in the past couple of months I have managed to get my two bulging tinned goods cupboards now down to one, so its a work in progress. The freezer has a little more wriggle room now, and this week I may use the last of the chicken bits in a buttered chicken recipe as I found a jar in the cupboard to use up. 
  I'm on day 7 of NSDs at the moment but have a few bits I need to get tomorrow but only some fruit and veg etc I still have lots of UHT milk, and also bread in the freezer so don't need that .Seeing how much food there is to use up has certainly cut my food budget down, both last month (I was away from Christmas Eve until the New Year ) and haven't been to a shop since So my January food budget is looking quite good at the moment  

  Onwards and upwards chums 

      JackieO xx

Cherryfudge

You're doing a good job if you've halved the amount of tins in storage, Jackie! And the Chicken Provencal sounds really good as well as a way of taking care of your future self.

I haven't looked too closely at my fridge and freezer but I know there are a couple of lunches as the veggie chilli needs to be eaten up and DH isn't keen. I need to go to a sda for more tinned goods - I save a few pennies that way and DH loves tinned fruit so it's worth going. I'll also get tinned chickpea and tomatoes as we're getting low on those and I depend on having them in stock.

There's plenty of chicken and corned beef in the freezer but I'd like a few more vegan meals so I suspect it will be curry at some point. Talking of curry, I still have two jars of curry sauce but they have dairy in so DH won't be eating them. I also have jellies to use, and custard, so I might just treat myself to sponge fingers... or see if I can make my own as there are baking ingredients to use up. Thanks for the mention of trifle! Though it'll just be me eating it so perhaps I need to make small portions because if I have a big bowl, I'll just keep dipping in!

London_1

 I shall take the smaller bowl to DDs later today as her OH isn't keen on pudding so there is only me and her that eats it All the four boys are back at their various homes DGS Ben & Henry back at their house share in London

  Jack back at work at his boarding school in Kent, and Mikey back at Uni so there is only three of us for dinner tonight. 

  I really did have a great deal of tinned stuff to use up, as last year I was in hospital during the year several times so for two months there was actually no cooking done at all.

 I sorted out the tinned bits, and put tins of stuff out on the kitchen work surface to use up as much as I can, great for the pocket as well It made me concentrate on what I had, and stopped me refilling stuff unnecessarily. 

Going to be another inexpensive moth hopefully ,plus its so cold I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed this week, and I don't go out in the icy weather. I've still got ice on the windscreen of my car so I will dig out the deicer stuff from the cupboard shortly before I go to DDs

  JackieO xx

Cairnpapple

Out: leftover rice, disappointing kimchi and out of date sesame oil into a mushroom egg fried rice, it was ok but not great. Annoyingly I still have a jar and a bit of the kimchi. 

Sad veg curry made using leftover squash, yellow stickered stringless beans, 4 lonely potatoes that have been sitting around since St Nicholas day, wrinkly carrots, sad celery, a few sad radishes, sad ginger, a sad leek, a single shallot, the end of a can of chicken stock, the end of a jar of curry paste, and a sachet of punjabi spice mix dated August 2022.

In: 3 portions thai curry, 2 portions butter chicken, 1 portion dhal, 1 large sliced bakery loaf - leftovers from a family potluck that spouse attended last night.

oceandreamer

Made a garlic mushroom rissoto (left over mushrooms from yesterdays tea) and topped it with fried calamari.  I found two small squid in the freezer and was determined to use them up. sprinkled with some chilli salt it was lovely. I do think this challenge is easier to begin with when there's quite a bit of choice, I think you are all very inventive and hope to pick some tips up as I go along and get deeper into the freezer.

Cherryfudge

I remembered just in time that I bought three cartons of extra thick cream to make butter. Rather than develop my arm muscles or risk the motor on my hand whisk, I dug out the big food processor that I'd used about twice. I must say, it took to butter churning like a dream. I had the usual waiting time (and letting the motor cool, because it was rather shocked at coming out of what it thought was retirement) and frequent inspections to see if it would ever get beyond the overdone scrambled eggs stage, then it suddenly started throwing buttermilk at me. The butter is amazingly solid and I've made about 1 lb weight of butter and a carton of buttermilk from three (reduced to) 50p cartons of cream.

Other than that, we had fishcakes for dinner and I had half the remaining veg chilli for tea.

RHemmings

I'm not sure which thread is the best match for me, but I'm back in the UK, heavily jet-lagged, and returned to completely empty (and open) fridges. I've had to buy some food, which so far has been one visit to Aldi picking up some fresh vegetables and a number of new frozen 'plant based' frozen things that I hadn't seen before. I'm going to visit ASDA this morning when it opens at 7am.

There are still things to clear out. E.g. I have a lot of dry pasta. And a full 1.5kg of plain flour. I plan to use the flour to make bao buns, and the pasta for ... pasta. I'm going to pick up some dairy-free cheese. Either at ASDA if they have the single brand that I consider flavoured correctly for on top of pasta, or Tescos later tonight after work. I'm going to pick up some soy sauce, ginger, and I have new garlic from Aldi already. And cabbage. This should allow me to make a filling for the bao buns. I have a packet of pesto infused grains that I've had forever - and some jackfruit in a package bought from Heron Foods when it was cheap to try. 

After me running down the cupboards before, it feels a bit retrograde to be having these big shops, but otherwise I can't continue chipping away at the stuff that's been around forever. I'm trying to make sure that I only buy things I know will go quickly. 

My plans include cooking up some meals to freeze as home-made ready meals. So, the freezer will get more full again. But, hopefully not stuff bought as it appears 'interesting' and stays there forever. 

Frugalistamama

Oooo @Cherryfudge that's given me an idea. I wonder if my bread maker on dough setting would do the same...... 🤔

@RHemmings I'm the same as you. I ran down to move and then needed to stock back up. However it's got out of hand amazingly quickly, but I still need to do regular bigish shops as I have a family who need fresh food and the ability to make themselves something. So I've joined here to try to keep the load at bay but also the monthly grocery challenge.  

Yesterday I made the HF meal, I've two more left so that will do me for Monday and Tuesday dinner. Yesterday was pork meatballs. It was lovely, I think I'll keep that recipe.

Am not looking forward to going to work today. It's freezing!! 

RHemmings

Oh dear - first major problem. I bought some light soya sauce and then found that there was already some on the cupboard. But, its light soya sauce so loads of it will go into dishes. I'm ready to make bao buns tonight, as well as pasta. 

Frys brand 'chicken' burgers and hot dogs were half price, so multiple boxes were bought As well as some suitable bread rolls for the burgers, tomato, and sauce. 

From before, I have the plain flour, still some noodles, pasta, stock cubes, and various other things still in the cupboard. So, yesterday and today food has been going up, but now I'm in a situation where I can eat well (both enjoyment and nutrition), while also chipping away at the remaining 'too much stuff'.