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

LotsOfTea

Thanks @thriftwizard I will definitely give the pumpkin bread a go. I love the idea of one to eat, one for the freezer and one to give. What an excellent all round attitude that could be applied to lots of things : enjoy some stuff now, put some aside for the future, give some to others. 

@Watty1 it's great that you're rediscovering a love of food. I'm really enjoying getting ideas from the lovely people here too and I feel like I'm getting out of a food rut by having to be a bit more creative to use things up. 😀

Talking of using things up, I've got rid of a few more of the mountain of burgers in the freezer today - 3x beef and 1x veggie. Still plenty to get through but we've got 2 more burger baps left in the pack so I'll try and get DH & I to use 2 more tomorrow for lunch.

I also hoiked a tub of baba ghanoush and one of spicy hummus out of the freezer yesterday to add to a Greek style mezze meal. They're not finished but we'll use them up over the next few days. Oh, and a small slab of banana and chocolate cake was defrosted and used up too. 

I'm on a roll now so I'm already eyeing up what I can use next from the freezer. 

Cherryfudge

I wish this was one of those threads that linked to all the recipes on the first post. However @carinjo, who started it, hasn't posted since June so we can't ask for them to be added. I do enjoy seeing what people make, though.

carinjo

Here you go: previous thread
I have been taking a break from online forums for a bit, but have been quietly following along. Hope you are well @Cherryfudge and everyone else!

Cherryfudge

Good to hear from you @carinjo, I actually have a little bit of freezer space thanks, so I'm hailing that as a victory. How about you?

Sorry to disturb your time out, by the way. What self-restraint, to follow but not comment! I hope you found it useful (and are able to go back beneath the parapet if that's working for you).

I love reading old threads so thanks for the link. At present I'm very bemused by prices from a decade ago. I don't think the one you linked to has a recipe list, but it will still be interesting so I'm having a read and wondering where those people are now.

Today I'm finishing a curry and I could do with a few new groceries and a bit of a plan for the week ahead.

Cherryfudge

And on the subject of old threads, this made me laugh. The reality of eating from what we have...

Watty1

Two slightly soft and wrinkled red peppers lurking in the bottom of the fridge where turned into red pepper and lentil soup yesterday and as i ran out of time today to go shopping that was served for dinner with some sausage rolls from the deli.

The laugh is the soup was so delicious my boyfriend asked if I would make it again

LotsOfTea

I had a good day of using freezer stuff yesterday. Lunch for DH & me was a shared portion of veggie curry with some leftover hm naan. Tea for DS was sausages & veg (sausages from freezer) and for us it was a veggie chilli I made using frozen black beans and the last of a bag of frozen mixed peppers. 
I seem to have 2 massive bags of gyoza in the freezer so we'll have to start tackling those soon. Maybe we'll have some for tea tonight.

thriftwizard

I used up the remains of Sunday's roast pork in a pork & pepper casserole this evening, then sliced up the very last bits  of pork into stir-fry strips & popped them in a freezer bag. They're in the little freezer for another day, and the leftover casserole is cooling ready to go out into the big freezer as an option for Saturday week, when OH & I are out all day and I'll be too tired to cook when we get back. (Lots of driving, which he currently can't do, and walking too!) The peppers were bought in a bag of 8 for £1 a couple of weeks ago; it was high time I used the last two up. Instead of cider as the main liquid, I used some kombucha which had been drained off the mother when it was still too sweet, which was lurking in the back of the fridge, and loads of slightly-bendy veg. It worked pretty well, with hefty dashes of paprika, Worcestershire & Soy sauce. Waste not... 

LotsOfTea

There was only 1 small portion left yesterday of the chilli is made the night before so I added a small portion of pasta in a tomato and pepper sauce from the freezer and a packet of veggie chorizo style sausages chopped into chunks and fried, also from the freezer. It looked horrendous but tasted pretty good. 

Today's lunch was some leftover soup with assorted bread leftovers, DH & I shared reheated cheese toastie, 1 slice of hm pizza and about a third of a hm naan to dunk into our soup. It wasn't the swankiest meal we've ever had but nowt got wasted!

This afternoon I grabbed all the bendiest, saddest-looking veg from the fridge and made some curry. It had some carrots, broccoli, a leek and a bag of mixed salad leaves in as well as 4 different types of lentils and a tin of coconut milk. I tasted some earlier when I was cooking it and OMG it's blooming delicious! 

I brought a block of paneer out of the freezer today as well as I'm going to try a recipe from one of my gazillion recipe books that looks pretty easy in the next day or so. It's a spicy paneer & peppers kind of thing so we'll have 2 different curries on the go. 

Cherryfudge

I love it when 'finishing up' recipes turn out well. I think @Watty1 could write the book on it.

Today's tea was a celebration of 'I really can't be bothered to go shopping so I will look for recipes that might work'. I found one for butterbean and chorizo stew which went down very well with brown rice and less well with some sugar snap peas that needed to be used. There's enough for another meal each and it finished up a sad carrot that wasn't in the original, the tinned butterbeans, garlic and some of the fresh and frozen peppers as well as half a stock cube and a piece of chorizo.