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

YorksLass

Out of freezer today: 3 chipolata sausages for tomorrow's tea and 1 scone for this afternoon.

I have to remember that my new fridge/freezer is smaller than my previous one and that I'm now shopping and cooking for one, not two.  I have a small gammon joint to cook but, as there will be plenty to freeze, I'll have to make some space first.  Good job it's long dated!  

LotsOfTea

We managed to get the freezer part of the fridge freezer repaired today and the guy found the fault that was causing it to frost up and defrost at the top which is great as we don't have to shell out for a new one now. I'm going to continue finishing off everything out of it though as some stuff has been in there far too long and we're still eating up the things that had to be moved to the fridge as they'd partially defrosted. 

Last night we used up some of a veggie haggis in what I christened haggis fried rice. It was very tasty 😀. The previous evening we'd eaten up a load of the gyoza which were in the freezer although there's still a fair amount left. DS had an entirely freezer-food tea tonight of breaded haddock, fries, peas and sweetcorn and we'll have something with rice as I've got leftover cooked rice in the fridge that needs using. It's really nice seeing so much space in the freezer now and I will start moving some things from the small chest freezer into it soon as that isn't a frost free one and needs to be defrosted. Once it's all been eaten there will be order imposed! Things will be labelled and inventoried and eaten in a timely fashion! I'm almost convincing myself here...

LotsOfTea

Sadly the freezer has gone on the blink again and the repair guy had to give us the bad news that it needs a new part and said new part will take 5-6 weeks to come back into stock. It's mostly ok but sometimes the top shelves defrost due to the fault so we've had to chuck a few things but the stuff at the bottom seems ok and is mostly veg so not much of a risk. We'll use it all up anyway and not put anything new in until it can be fixed. 
I'm annoyed that the manufacturers can get away with making it so difficult to repair things. We need proper right to repair laws!

On a more positive note DH put a shelving unit in the under stairs zombie apocalypse stores and organised it all. He even made a spreadsheet for me so I now know I have 28 of chickpeas! 😁 It's much easier to see everything and get to what I need so I shouldn't be accidentally buying things we already have in future. Woo hoo!

Watty1

Cherryfudge said:

I really think you missed your calling @Watty1! You obviously have a gift with flavours. I'm glad you have an audience who appreciates it. 

PS. Do you include the broccoli stalks?

Yes I did. I peeled it - I'm not sure why but I found something on line that said to do that. I'm really not sure why, but, I peeled the stalk and chopped it up and threw it in.  I've bought broccoli to make more because Sunday I got some out of the freezer and it was even better than first time.

Watty1

@LotsOfTea totally agree on the right to repair.  We seem to have to repurchase which just adds to the overall world problems Hey ho.

Love the spreadsheet. I think I started coming on here to work out how to use up and not get in a mess storage wise. The funny thing is my "use up" have become favourites. Yesterday dinner was chickpea stew from the freezer with jacket potato.  Delicious and I  only started making the chick pea stew to use up all the tins of chickpeas that PPH had left behind (PPH is my ex - long story - )

Cherryfudge

I hope you've all weathered the storm okay? It's still raining here but DH has made it back from a weekend with his auntie so I am going back to eating normal food. A great deal of what I arranged for myself over the past few days was absolute rubbish, with the exception of some watermelon slices. However, being the happy owner of five custard doughnuts is handy when there's not enough turn-around time between events. Ditto chocolate reindeer cakes which I was gifted.

I do have quite a lot of veg but there are scraps of ham and chicken to use up, so today will be a pie and tomorrow, probably, nutty sweet potato and lime stew.

I've had to throw out the last of the whey, which I've been having in porridge till it turned overnight last night. The yogurt was certainly still okay yesterday but probably needs to be used up and is incredibly thick. Sliceable, in fact. I could make French yogurt cake: I'll see if I have any motivation later.

I've been glad of having tins in store as it's saved me having to go out much over the last few days. I did make Coronation-style chickpeas which must be a bit healthy and were all store cupboard ingredients (and used up a tin of chickpeas, some mayo and the end of a bag of sultanas) and I had a tuna sandwich from tuna DH left in the fridge - so my survival instincts must have kicked in post doughnuts, and insisted I try some food with nutrition in.  

Cherryfudge

I'm back to confess to having to throw out yogurt, raspberries, sprouts and a couple of lemons, all of which were beyond eating.  However, we've finished quite a few oddments: ham, more ham, chicken, mushrooms, onion bhajis: I've lost track what else. There is left over chasseur for DH tonight and I have the last of the ham in a ham and cheese sandwich before heading to work.

There's a bit of fridge and freezer space but I need to make a plan to use up some other bits: lemons and limes will make curd but we've somehow also got about 6 bulbs of garlic... and a bunch of small carrots.

There are a few bread crusts in the freezer to make spiced bread pudding, but that's not urgent and will involve opening a lactose-free milk which will probably then be used up in rice pudding. I'm also finishing up a Christmas coffee which I thought I'd been given a couple of years ago. Then I looked at the date and it was BBE 2021! It still smells and tastes lovely, though.

Cherryfudge

I've been to the supermarket on the way home from work yesterday and today: I had legitimate reasons for going as I lack daytime shopping time for a couple of days, but of course I can't be let loose near end of day bargains. There are therefore flapjacks, another bread crust and a chicken and bacon pasty in the freezer that weren't there before, and they take up rather a lot of room.

There's also houmous in the fridge but the theory is that that will help me eat more veg as I have carrots, peppers and cucumber to use up.

Tomorrow night I'm out for a Christmas get together with a group from church and I've bought some contributions to the buffet in the way of soft drinks. There's a lime and mint cordial in there that I'd like to try.   

And amidst the abundance, I've managed to run out of milk.

LotsOfTea

I'm still plugging away at emptying the freezers and ZA stores and DH having put the shelves in under the stairs has helped so much now I can see everything easily. This week I've been having tinned mandarins with yogurt and oats for breakfast or porridge with stewed rhubarb from the freezer so I'm gradually working through it. 

We've got loads of tins of tuna which I bought when DS used to like it on jacket spuds and then he decided he no longer likes tuna so it's been gathering dust for a few years. Thankfully since I'm vegetarian DH is now starting to plough through it so I don't feel like I have to throw it out (it's all past best before dates so can't be donated anywhere).

Tonight's tea will be spicy noodles which I bulk bought cheaply a few years ago and have been sitting in the stores for ages just like everything else. I've been doing them about once a week to get them used up and add a whole load of stir fried veg and some sort of protein to them to make it a proper meal. Tonight it'll be leek, cabbage, sprouts, edamame and cashew nuts I think. 

I have resolutely resisted putting any extra stuff in the freezer for Xmas so I'm feeling very happy with myself for that. * Pats self on back *

Cherryfudge

I had pizza dinner with my friends tonight and probably far too many calories but it was a super evening. I donated one of the bottles I'd brought to our hosts who I know like that flavour, and brought most of the other two home so that's what I've been drinking, as I still didn't manage to get any milk!

The houmous is still unopened but I'll probably have some for lunch tomorrow. Meanwhile I've had one of the chicken and bacon pies and a cinnamon bun from what I bought the other day, and a stray carrot as a snack: I'm not exactly rocking the healthy lifestyle, am I?

I'm excited that the 15p veg are back in the supermarkets but I was babysitting today (actually yesterday) so I wasn't best place to carry heavy stuff as I was juggling a pram and a bottle of wine among other things. I hope to pick up one or two soon.