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

LotsOfTea

I made some flatbreads today using half plain and half chapati flour for extra fibre but also because I have a massive sack of the stuff. They came out just as well as the completely white flour ones and I had one for lunch with some homemade hummus, salad and a "schicken" kebab skewer from the freezer. Tasty and filling. I made 8 flatbreads so I'm going freeze most of them to get out for an easy meal some time when I don't fancy getting flour all over the kitchen. Maybe some people aren't as messy as me but it always seems to get everywhere when I'm making any kind of bread products! 

I've got the last of the spicy parsnip and carrot soup left for tea and then I need to look at what else needs using up. I know I've got quite a lot of eggs as DH is away for work and he normally has omelettes a couple of times a week for his lunch when I'm out at work. I'll make a start by having scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

LotsOfTea

I've nearly made my way through the eggs now by having a couple of egg on toast meals and having some curry with a couple of fried eggs rather than rice or naan for lunch today. I suppose that makes me one of them keto-diet people (it doesn't, I could never give up the carbs) and soon I'll start getting excited about grams of protein 😂. The curry was to use up a jar of what was supposed to be coconut & chilli curry sauce but the resulting curry is mild and not coconutty. It's fine though and I got to use a tin each of chickpeas and lentils from the stores as well as fresh butternut squash and cabbage. I've had a few portions already but had to freeze some as I was getting bored. I've got one more unfrozen portion left and 2 more eggs from the carton which is past its BB date so I'll have the curry and eggs combo for tea tomorrow as well and then that's done!

I did a bit of batch cooking today and made a huge pan of leek and potato soup and another huge pan of veggie chilli which used up a bag of veggie mince and half a bag of very old mixed peppers from the freezer. The peppers were only 3 years out of date! I also bunged in a selection of veg from the fridge and a tin of kidney beans from the stores. 

If I can motivate myself to get back in the kitchen I think I'm going to try and make a kind of stew with puy lentils, beetroot, lemon, roasted garlic & chilli. I have loads of beetroot and I think those flavours would be good together. 

Cherryfudge

I had to throw out some very OOD eggs... I feel guilty but after a certain point they just aren't going to be eaten.

I've also bought some store cupboard ingredients and various fruit and veg. My diet recently seems to be about 50% cake so I'm trying to improve it. Dinner was a vegan stew and there's enough left for another day.

LotsOfTea

Maybe get it down to 40% cake @Cherryfudge! 😂

I did get round to making my beetroot & lentil stew thing yesterday in the end so I've now got loads of ready-made food to cover the next few days. I also, to my son's great delight, used up some leftover pizza dough that was in the fridge from last weekend to make him a pepperoni pizza last night. 

As for eggs, I keep mine in the fridge and I find they last a long time past the BB date. I've happily eaten them a month after with no ill effects. I appreciate that gung-ho attitude isn't for everyone though.

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - we've used the egg float test for a few years now as in pandemic days the only eggs we could get were flats of 60 from a local farm.

Here's a link to a description...
https://www.milkandmore.co.uk/news/egg-float-test-how-to-tell-if-eggs-are-good

Cherryfudge

Thanks @rtandon27, it's a useful one to know. Alas, these eggs went out of date before Christmas so I wouldn't have wanted to try them even if they stayed sunk!

I bought a large chicken today so that's going in the slow cooker for dinner, and dinner, and dinner, and possibly dinner too, depending how we eke it out. Roast tonight, chicken and chorizo pasta another day, possibly cold one day and remnants into pie. I know I should really do a stock with it but I have a real aversion to chicken stock for some reason so I miss that stage out.

I've finished one of three avocados that need to be used up soon, so I will probably have some in tomorrow's lunch too.

LotsOfTea said:

Maybe get it down to 40% cake @Cherryfudge! 😂

Sounds good to me! 

LotsOfTea

I tried out a new recipe for roasted garlic soda bread today which we had for lunch with some "orange" soup. No actual oranges in it, just lots of orange things - butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes and red lentils. It was all delicious and there are plenty of leftovers although the soda bread will need to be toasted after today as it doesn't stay fresh long. I was super impressed by how easy it is to make and will definitely try the same recipe with different flavours. A suggested variation was Stilton and walnut but since no-one likes blue cheese in this house I might sub in feta. 

I've got quite a few potatoes in at the moment so probably need to think of things to do with them next. 

JIL

@LotsOfTea I make a lot of soda bread. It was my Irish mother in law's speciality. When she unfortunately became ill with dementia, I started making it. Mostly for my mother in law and father in law.  However she thinks she made it earlier that day.  

Re the potatoes, boxty?  Again something my mother in law made. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/boxtywithcrispstreak_91836

LotsOfTea

@JIL Boxty is an excellent idea - thanks! 

That's lovely what you do for your MIL - it must be a real comfort for her to have that familiar food that she's always made (even if she hasn't really made it). 

Cherryfudge

I see I've not updated for a while:

Panettone is finished (alas).

Spare cake went in the freezer in portions - four-layer celebration cake eaten so 'just' parkin left (proper Yorkshire parkin made by someone with decades of cooking experience)
.
The chicken has so far made 2 portions of roast dinner, 2 sandwiches and a chasseur (3 portions in itself). There's a lot left in the fridge but I broke my rule and made stock, in the hope of making risotto or gravy.

Down to the last half avocado so I'll probably finish that today.

I've been increasingly picking at things that should be rationed due to lack of food value or an abundance of empty calories, so This Has Got To Stop.

Tonight's dinner will be finishing up the chasseur (DH) and finishing up the Moroccan-style vegan casserole (me). I know there are also more eggs that would float if tested so I have to throw them out and not buy any more until I have a need for them. It's not a bargain if it gets wasted.

F&V-wise, we are doing well for fruit and all but some limes are fresh. I already have limes in the freezer so the only thing I can think of is to make lime curd. Oh dear, so much for restraint when it comes to buying eggs. However, DH needs more things to spread on bread so it's a possibility. We have plenty of onions, the garlic overspill is slowly going down, there are courgettes that might have gone bitter by now so I need a plan for them, two peppers, fresh ginger and some shrink-wrapped beetroots. Oh, and sweet potatoes.

So no lack of healthy things to eat, but January was busy and we did a lot of eating straight from the supermarket rather than using up from the freezer, and I didn't have much energy to cook. I seem to have spent a lot on food and we've also had big bills for the car, holiday accommodation, a big bookcase, a chain saw...

I'm not sure I can get my head round a major plan but I'll have a look at what could go in a risotto.

Onwards and upward (in baby steps).