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

Cairnpapple

Just been through the tea/ coffee/sugar cupboard. Still have 5 different types of sugar which is down considerably from when I used to bake a lot,  but is a bit excessive now that I don't.

Coffee is fine and gets used.  However tea is out of control! Have put some fruit teas beside the kettle to tell us to use them up, and managed to consolidate some individually wrapped teabags into a glass jar. 

Any ideas for how to use up black tea (English breakfast/lapsang souchong) other than just drinking it? I made a teabread but that only uses one teabag and lasts for like a week, so not very useful! I think I read that you could use tea in a bolognese instead of wine because of the tannins, but seems a bit odd.

Cherryfudge

I think using up tea is like using up carrots or coffee (the same things probably get suggested and you use up 1% of your overwhelming stash... at least, that's my experience. I have soooooo much coffee, and I'm limiting myself to two a day, DH doesn't drink it, I've given some away and the coffee grinder I got for Christmas several years ago is still unused as I haven't got to the bottom of the ready-ground coffee mountain yet).

I expect there are a variety of tea bread recipes, so perhaps you could ring the changes and do a different one every few days, but that's really not going to solve Tea Mountain either. I have a favoured one somewhere which I'll look out but it could be exactly what you're already using. The bolognese sounds worth a try: it could be a new favourite. Some of these unlikely-sounding things are actually very nice, like chillis in chocolate or marmalade on mackerel.

And don't forget black tea or coffee is quite useful as plant food, and the tea leaves/coffee grounds can go in the compost if you have it. I think you might need to be cautious if you have vast quantities, though.

Pollie

Empty teabags and use to smoke food. There are online videos etc showing how.

Cairnpapple

Pollie said:

Empty teabags and use to smoke food. There are online videos etc showing how.

that sounds intriguing!

Cairnpapple

ooh the idea of tea-stained eggs just popped into my head.  love a tea-stained egg!

LotsOfTea

I've not been posting much recently but I have still been trying to reduce the food stash. I've been working my way through a big pile of tinned fruit and so I've had a lot of fruit, yoghurt, oats and seeds for breakfast lately. The last few days it's been mango which has been delicious! I've also been digging ancient things from the freezer to use up. I've nearly finished a bag of green beans that had clearly been in there a long time as they were very frosty by chucking a handful or two into every curry or chilli I've made and I took out a ys packet of vegan pepperoni which I chucked on today's hm pizza that we had for lunch. It was ok but nothing special and there's still half the packet left so I might chop it up and add it to some pasta tomorrow. 

I have to admit, I can't imagine ever ending up with too much tea, I drink loads of the stuff! I've never tried adding it to stews instead of wine but I have read a few times that it's a suggested substitute if you don't have wine or don't drink so it's got to be worth a try. 

I'm patting myself on the back because everything new that has gone into the freezer over the last month has had the date marked on it before going in and in the case of hm stuff and leftovers, what it is. Once I've finished eating down all the old stuff I shall be in control, the empress of ice!

Cherryfudge

This is basically the recipe I use for tea bread except I have it in a Marry Berry book and she uses dark muscovado instead of dark brown sugar, and an extra 50g of flour.

It's very nice.  

Cairnpapple

Cherryfudge said:

This is basically the recipe I use for tea bread except I have it in a Marry Berry book and she uses dark muscovado instead of dark brown sugar, and an extra 50g of flour.

It's very nice.  

not dissimilar to the brack from the Be-Ro book which was the one that I made, the sugar in that one was demerara which was great because it's one of the sugars I wanted to use up. 

I thought I might try making a gluten free version for my friend but not sure how she is with that much dried fruit,  I will find out. 

Cherryfudge

There's nothing to say you can't experiment with halving the dried fruit, @Cairnpapple! I remember recently I compared notes (was it on here?) with someone on the forum who had a later version of a cookery book I owned. Mine was wartime and hers was 1960s. The main difference I noticed was the reduced quantity of 'luxuries' which off the top of my head were probably fruit and sugar. You could make up some of the weight with flour and a bit more liquid?

If you find a good g/f version, I'd be interested to know as my sister's g/f.

Cairnpapple

Cherryfudge said:

There's nothing to say you can't experiment with halving the dried fruit, @Cairnpapple! I remember recently I compared notes (was it on here?) with someone on the forum who had a later version of a cookery book I owned. Mine was wartime and hers was 1960s. The main difference I noticed was the reduced quantity of 'luxuries' which off the top of my head were probably fruit and sugar. You could make up some of the weight with flour and a bit more liquid?

If you find a good g/f version, I'd be interested to know as my sister's g/f.

friend says she's ok with dried fruit as long as it is moist, so gf experiment is on! If my fatigue isn't too bad I'll try to make it before Wednesday which is spouse's regular D&D game (of which gf friend is a part). The teabread method is actually very friendly to my fatigue as it's split across 2 days and no chopping or anything.