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

LotsOfTea

Over the last few days we've finished off the leek and potato soup, most of the veg chilli and most of the "orange" soup. Just one portion each of the last two so DH will have the chilli for tea tonight and I'll have the soup. We also had that soup for lunch but I'm fine with having the same thing to get it all used up. DS has a hot dinner at school most days so he can have a sandwich. 

I found an enormous bag of vital wheat gluten in the cupboard when I was sorting though it on Monday so today I finally had a go at making some seitan. I haven't actually eaten it yet but I made a batch using this very easy recipe -

https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/quick-and-easy/seitan/

I'll have a go using it in something for tea tomorrow, probably some kind of stir fry. Hopefully it'll be nice because it only needed 120g of the vital wheat gluten to make quite a bit of seitan and it's a 2kg bag!

LotsOfTea

Well I used some of the seitan today in some spicy noodle soup DH & I had for lunch. It was pleasant enough but a bit softer in texture than I would really prefer. After a quick search online I've found a suggestion to dust the pieces in cornflour and fry them for a crispy coating so I might give that a try with the rest and not serve it in a bowl of soup which of course wouldn't help!

I think tonight's tea might be egg on toast with a glass of prosecco or two as it's start of half-term and we can celebrate a week of no school uniform needing to be ironed - whoop! 

Nelliegrace

A small portion of stewing beef from the freezer, stretched with some mushrooms, red onion, leek, celery, carrots, parsnip, potato, and sweet potato, made a filling beef stew in the pressure cooker. I shall add some steamed greens to the leftovers tonight. 
I made a quick sponge pudding in the microwave, served with a dollop of homemade jam and cream. (An egg and milk provided extra protein to the meal.)
It has been so cold this week, I felt the need for some stodge.

Cherryfudge

Our freezer was getting unusably full so we had sausages and onion bhajis from it today. We've also finished the chicken from the other day apart from the stock which I suspect was a waste. How long does stock keep in the fridge?

I bought ham trimmings, cappuccino sachets and fruit today. The campaign to have fruit with breakfast is going well.

I had forgotten the chicken pieces I froze a few weeks ago, so some of those should be used this week.

LotsOfTea

I used the veg stock I'd boiled the seitan in to make soup for lunch today using a swede, a sweet potato and a carrot and it came out pretty nice although DS didn't like it (kids!). I served that with cheese toasties DS & DH had spam and cheese ones as I found 2 tins of the stuff in the zombie apocalypse stores from when DH had a hankering for spam fritters but forgot to actually make them. They've been there for years! Anyway, it went down well in the toasties and there's plenty left of the first tin to add to something else. I added some veggie haggis to my toastie and it was delicious! 

We've dragged some curry and rice out of the freezer for tea and I also dragged a few things from a box at the back of the ZA stores to try and use up : a 2.5kg bag of dried mixed beans, a bag of fine oatmeal and a bag of pinhead oats. I must have bought the last two for specific recipes because I normally just buy porridge oats but I've no idea what. I may have a go at Staffordshire oat cakes later this week as a quick search informs me they need fine oatmeal. I'm also going to have a go at cooking some of the beans in the instant pot, they're best before 2017, I'm sure they'll be fine! 😂 

Cherryfudge

Dinner today was tuna pasta so another pepper has been used, but other than that I've been eating far too much rubbish, supplemented with fruit, cheese, yogurt and oatcakes. My excuse is that I'm full of a cold and the weather's too bad to go out. On the more positive side, I'm getting good nutrition as well as bad, and lots of necessary rest.

Tomorrow is another day, in which I hope to use up some more freezer contents!

Cherryfudge

I defrosted some chicken and used that as a base for a sort of tray bake with slices shallots (left over from Christmas!) and cherry tomatoes, topped with the rest of the tomato and basil sauce from yesterday and some flavoured cous cous. The veg bit was really tasty though the chicken was past its best. I also used the remainder of the frozen bananas in some more banana muffins and defrosted some berries for DH to add to cereal of tinned fruit. There is now a little bit of room in the freezer.

Tomorrow will be finishing up yesterday's salmon with something.

Rebelle333

Hi all, I've lurked on & off on these forums for years & gained a lot of useful advice. I'm in the process of buying my first house & looking to tighten up expenditure but also eat as much stuff from the freezer & cupboards as possible before I move in the next few months.

I've made a freezer inventory list on my phone. I'm gonna read back thru the thread to get some ideas, here's what I'm working with:

Sour dough pizza base

Garlic baguette

Garlic naan bread

2.5x packs of potato cakes

1x pack 12 bao buns

Mozzarella cheese

Cheddar cheese

2x Laines mince pies

1x Satay sauce from Chinese

2x homemade BBQ sauce (from cooking pork ribs)

2x smoky bbq sauce sachet

1x sweet chilli sauce sachet 

2x curry sauce sachet

1x bag mixed chillies

1x bag red chillies

1x ginger root

1x scotch bonnet

1x punnet raspberries

2x punnet + 1x bag blueberries

1.5  bags Halloumi fries

1/2 bag mozzarella sticks

12x duck hoisin gyoza

1x potato dauphinoise

1x Ginsters sausage roll

1x bag of 5 cooked new potatoes

1 x bag chunks of sausagemeat stuffing

2x bag cooked chicken tikka (2g2g)

1x bag cooked mango + coconut chicken Mini fillets (3 small ones)

1x roast lamb in gravy 

3x 2 sausages

1x Tesco beef brisket on gravy

1x crispy duck, sauce & pancakes

1x bag SF chicken portions on the bone

1x ham joint

Batch cooked meals:

1x lasagne 

1 x corned beef hash

4x moussaka

6x chicken curry 

2x spicy tomato meatballs

2x sausage chilli

1x beef satay

Nelliegrace

I knew there was half a haggis in the freezer. There is room to move things round now, and I was able to add some frozen broad beans. I have frozen French beans and peas to add to seasonal vegetables. Economical, easy, and no waste.

Cherryfudge

Hi @Rebelle333 and welcome! You definitely have the basis for a good few meals in your freezer! If I were you and depending on your circumstances, I'd leave the easy wins (batch cooked meals) in there for busy days and focus on the more complex things on less pressured days. Are you feeding your self or several people?

@Nelliegrace, I have haggis envy now! Is that even a thing? I like it but DH doesn't and there's a family birthday on Burns Night so there's not really an occasion for which to buy it. Perhaps I need to save freezer space for our next trip to Scotland and treat myself.

Yesterday we defrosted the rest of the gammon bought on discount after Christmas, and it's going to last a few days so some may go back in as chopped bits to go in a chicken pie. There is real room in the freezer due to both of us being unwell last week and not getting to the shops much. I need to make use of that space as an opportunity to identify more bits to use. I can start with defrosting more frozen fruit for DH.