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

LotsOfTea

I'm usually quite good at keeping track of what fresh stuff needs using up and rarely end up having to chuck things but we've had a few visitors and I lost the plot a bit. I ended up having to throw out a manky courgette and some furry sugar snap peas yesterday but it did make me cook up the things that were still ok. I made big pot of veggie Thai green curry  with broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato and chickpeas, and another of soup using up all the leftover greenery like spinach, broccoli stalks and lettuce. I flavoured the soup with curry and added a few lentils to it but when I tasted it it was really quite bitter so I had to add a good dose of mango chutney to offset that. It's still not the best soup I've ever made but it's at least edible! I've frozen it all and now the freezers are pretty much full again. 

I've got a portion of leftover pasta in tomato sauce to use up today so I might add a few bits of extra veg and a bit of leftover cream cheese to it to build it up into lunch for DH and me and give DS something on toast which is his favourite meal option. We've been invited to visit friends for tea so I don't need to worry about that.

Cherryfudge

I'm down to one portion of soup and some home made yogurt out of last week's cooking. We got a discount on some fish that we liked so there's some for tonight and a spare pack in the freezer - just before the Easter 15p veg come into the shops, so quite how I'm going to store those, I've yet to work out.

I will say I'm enjoying these veg soup lunches. They are nice and filling.

There are now a couple of bananas to use up (banana bread, I suppose) but in general the food stocks are fairly in control. 

LotsOfTea

Now we're all back to school and work after the Easter break I'm back to trying to use stuff up. I remembered to take a tub of veggie chilli out of the freezer this morning that we can have for tea tonight with jacket spuds. 

I'm going to try and make some space in the freezer again as I seem to have filled every available gap very shortly after getting it to the stage of being able to defrost it and now have no room for anything new. 

My aim for tomorrow will be using stuff from the freezer for lunch and tea, probably soup for lunch and Thai green curry for tea.

Cherryfudge

I'm amazed it's been ten days since I last posted here, but of course those ten days have included Easter, and with it, the cheap veg...

Before Easter I had planned a pizza evening with a couple of chums but someone had to work and we've not been able to set another date so there will be two pizzas in my freezer for the next few weeks, and it's not easy to accommodate things around pizzas, is it? The drawers aren't made for large flat things. These include dairy so DH can't have them.

The fridge is jam-packed (talking of which I made a batch of marmalade so we have plenty of that too). I have a bag and a half of tatties, the same of carrots, some parsnips and the remains of some broccoli. I also bought half price hot cross buns, having made some of the earlier batch into bread pudding and not only used up some eggs, but discovered how absolutely perfect that version of bread pudding is.

Today DH made a chicken pie and threw in carrots, onion, peas, red pepper and cherry tomatoes, which have made a small dint in the veg. We followed it with the remains of yesterday's bread pudding, and there's still enough of Sunday's chicken to make a meal, and enough of tonight's pie to feed DH tomorrow.

I bought some yogurts to stop me snacking on carbs, so there are those to finish, but I really need to clear out the fridge and work out what's what.

I once again have a couple of bananas (I ate the last lot) so I might make overnight oats for one of my meals tomorrow and the other meal may well be a use-up of something.

LotsOfTea

So yesterday DH & I had a soup from the freezer which was mostly green stuff when a mild curry flavour and I added the last of a tub of mascarpone that needed using up. Tea was Thai green curry veg and chickpeas also from the freezer. 

Today I was at work so took in a sarnie but tea tonight is veg chilli from the freezer. I'm going to be away for the weekend so I don't expect much progress will be made by DH & DS while I'm gone unless they attack the frozen chips but I'll get back on it when I return!

Watty1

just catching up with you all.   My freezer may be much improved but my cupboards still overflow with random "stuff".     Been feeling less than spectacular so food use ups stopped but hopefully by next weekend will be back to it.  I actually have cooked this week so improving

Cherryfudge

I'm glad you're up to some cooking again Watty - but give priority to your health. I'm looking forward to the next section of your culinary adventures though: 'Watty Cooks Cupboards' will be every bit as interesting was 'Watty Wades the Freezer', which I enjoyed very much and always read the latest episode for new ideas!

As for me, I have a full freezer again, apart from a very small bit of the bottom drawer. I've just blanched and frozen the remains of the Easter broccoli and there are quite a few portions in there. There are still lots of potatoes and carrots: has anyone else found this year's Easter carrots (8p and 15p version) to be very bland? Okay, but bland.

There's also some cooked chicken gone into the freezer and the remains of the chicken gravy and some beans gone in the bin due to age.

LotsOfTea

Back from my weekend away and I got organised and hoiked some carrot & parsnip soup out of the freezer which we had for lunch today. It might not be soup weather really but I have so much of it in the freezer we're just going to have to power on through! I also took out some leftover cake that was frozen in December to use in DS's lunchbox. 

Not sure what's for tea tonight as we'll all need to be eating at different times due to various activities. Things on toast might feature heavily. 

Cherryfudge

I got sweet potatoes the other day to use my 'free veg' off the L1dl app and I was going to make something with them today when I remembered the very last of the Christmas veg - a red cabbage - still needed to be eaten! I had to compost the outer leaves but the rest was still pretty crisp as I'd kept it watered for some time. I made braised cabbage with kidney beans and rice. DH was out and it makes at least four portions so that's another thing gone in the fridge. The red of the cabbage has turned the whole thing purple, which is original, if nothing else.

I think I'm down to the last two hot cross buns unless there are any in the freezer. Tea tonight was breaded chicken in a bun, so no inroads made into stocks. This power outage in Spain and Portugal is making me think about how practical my stores are - I know I need to get more liquids in. If the electricity went out, we could at least cook on the top of the woodburning stove but I couldn't cope long without water.

MikeyPGT

Cherryfudge said:

 This power outage in Spain and Portugal is making me think about how practical my stores are - I know I need to get more liquids in. If the electricity went out, we could at least cook on the top of the woodburning stove but I couldn't cope long without water.

I'm not sure how reliant our water supply in the UK is on electricity - I'm guessing some areas there may be a need for pumps but I suspect most is gravity fed ...