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

ruby_eskimo

Well done on only getting what you need @oceandreamer

Dinner tonight for me is some edamame spaghetti that was in the back of the cupboard that I found last week, with some carrot top pesto I found in the freezer, with peas and some parmesan.  I also have book club this evening so will be taking along some of the snacks we have leftover from Christmas so that will be more stuff out of the house!

oceandreamer

Disaster (sort of) tonight.  Despite all good intentions I went to get some veg to put in a curry using up a solitary chicken breast I'd discovered - only to be lured in by the reductions - and ended up coming out with two pork joints and a joint of beef.  The joint of beef is going to make steak and kidney pie filling (who has kidneys lurking in their freezer?!!)  which should make two pies for us and the pork joints will do a roast each with enough left over for sandwiches and/or a tea. They were a bargain but I'm a bit cross at myself at putting things back in the freezer - I thinks it's now fuller than at the beginning of the week aghhh!

oceandreamer

By way of pentnce I ate the leftover curry for tea. I made the pie filling and it's in the fridge to be dealt with tomorrow.  However... my friend told me about too good to go bags for meat and fish at our local supermarket, and I couldn't resist. For £5 I got 12 Aberdeen angus meatballs, two cumberland sausage rings, a kilo of salt and pepper chicken wings and a huge piece of smoked haddock from the fishmonger.  Definitely goes against my aim of emptying the freezer but very moneysaving so I've let myself off.  How I'm ever going to get to the bottom of this freezer I don't know!

LotsOfTea

I think we all have that "can't resist a bargain" problem @oceandreamer and that's why our freezers and cupboards are full! 

I've made a bit more progress at using up the stores over the last few days. I made some of the flat breads using the recipe posted on this thread and they were brilliant! So easy and really delicious. We had those with some fake chicken tikka kebabs that DH found at the bottom of the freezer (that neither of us knew were there) and salad. I made them using white flour but I might try half and half white and wholemeal next time to see how they turn out. I've got loads of chapati flour which is wholemeal from when I bought a giant sack of it and I haven't been making enough chapatis to get through it very quickly.

DS finished off the last of the Christmas pud with some custard from a tin in the stores that was best before 2020 😂 It was fine but did remind me of the need to keep using these things up. 

I think I'll do some burgers for lunch today as there are definitely plenty of those that need using from the freezer.

Watty1

A version of chicken soup in the slow cooker, I really wanted to make a Chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup but after a ramble around the internet I could not find anything like that with the ingredients I have and so it will just be a chicken soup.   The point of this was to use up 2 tins of sweetcorn left in the cupboard.  I'm not really a great fan of sweetcorn and can't remember buying these but the soup will be blended and I've bread in the breadmaker

If time I'm going to use some of the chickpea flour to make socca. Never made that before but will finally start on the chickpea flour.

Slowly slowly getting through the cupboard.  

oceandreamer

Roast dinner tonight with one of the reduced pork joints from Friday.  Half has gone back in the freezer to use for stir fry or the like.  Used up some of a packet of stuffing and veg out of the fridge. It's definitely slow going @Watty1.  Everytime I take something out of that freezer I end up putting some leftovers back in! Just need to keep going.  Have written a menu plan for next week so hopefully I will be able to make a little space at least.

Watty1

It is slow going, but in my case it is just the random stuff that is an issue, although my use up meals are actually really good.  The chicken soup using a few bits of veg (celery onions and carrots) with 2 bits of chicken and all the sweetcorn was so good that we are (a) having it tonight and (b) I've noted how I made it and will have to buy sweetcorn despite not really liking it to use in the soup. 

Tonight will be soup with a buffet of random bits from the fridge!  The socca was really good too, bit too salty but I will make again (have to really there is a very large bag of chick pea flour!)

Nelliegrace

@Watty1 the Panasonic has a dispenser to add dried fruit, nuts or seeds. 

I soak my jumbo porridge oats in a wide glass bowl and microwave them for 2-3 minutes, less time than it takes to boil the kettle for a pot of tea. 

I could use every last shrivelled apple in the mushroom tray in the kitchen, or bring in another tray of perfect ones from storage in the cold garage, and let the hens finish these few. 

Wraithlady

I am also not doing very well at reducing the freezer contents - though there is more room in the drawers, so I must be doing something right.

Finished up the lasagna the other night, and used up the Italian cheese I couldn't find at Christmas to make cheese on toast. so that just leaves 1 portion of beef stew (earmarked for this weekend), the wild boar ham, 2 packs of roast chicken and the French Onion soup. Not helped by YS sausages, smoked haddock, pork joint  and a packet of peshwari naan (44p? would have been rude not to) but in my defence I have uses for all of them - I have a recipe for pulled pork I'd like to try.

Did use up the glut of parsnips to make Spiced Parsnip soup - which now needs to be frozen. I'm getting there, I'm sure I am...

LotsOfTea

I went to go and get a tub of cheese sauce out of the freezer last night and noticed that there's actually quite a big bit of space in it now. I'm making progress! 

Dinner last night was pasta with sautéed leeks and mushrooms, some chopped up fakey bacon from the depths of the freezer and the aforementioned cheese sauce. It was delicious and DH, who was slightly 'jaded' from a big night out on Friday, wolfed 2 bowlfuls. There's still a couple of generous portions left which are stashed in the fridge and will get finished off over the next few days. 

I'm feeling rather unenthusiastic about cooking today but I will get my behind in gear and make some hummus and flatbread and roast some veg. I should probably get some soup on as well as it's definitely soup weather!