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

Cherryfudge

A little progress made: I have eaten a bagel.

I also had an inspiration and poured off a cup of milk from the short-dated 4 pints (used it for hot chocolate) then froze the rest and wrote a note for our hosts to let them know it has 2 days from defrosting.

That vastly simplifies the rest of the use-up challenge.

C_J

Cherryfudge said:

We are officially on holiday, staying in a relative's house at the other end of the country, and there was a note from our hosts (themselves away on holiday) to say 'help yourselves from the fridge etc'. It was very kind of them and very practical, as they've not needed to do the finishing up dash before leaving, and we have planned for today around using up a pepper and some tomatoes. We did, however, brave our first ever trip to Waitrose: there's quite a decent-sized one in walking distance. Yes, it was more expensive but we didn't need to go over the top. We got oranges and ingredients for tuna pasta.

So here's my challenge to myself - and it's limited by DH being lactose-intolerant and disliking eggs, and us only being here till Friday:
2 bagels
2 Scots pancakes
11 eggs
lots of carrots
5 pints milk (4 go OOD on 4th)
2 Little Gem lettuces
Fresh coriander
Mixed salad leaves
Half a pepper
Half a cucumber
Couple of spring onions
Couple of new potatoes
2 bananas
2 limes
One and a half lemons (aha - lemon curd, lime curd, use up eggs...!)
1 pear
4 apples

To which we have already added 2 grapefruit, a bowl of tinned sweetcorn, a big handful of damsons (found on a walk this evening) and the greengages we brought with us.

I suspect I may be eating Spanish omelette with salad for lunch quite soon...

The carrots, half pepper, spring onions and new potatoes could make a pan of soup. The bananas, pear and apples could be stewed together and served on top of scotch pancakes. A bagel each with salad leaves, grated carrot, cucumber and tomato for lunch?

Cherryfudge

The list looks like this now (we leave in a few hours):

2 bagels - eaten with cheese and salad
2 Scots pancakes - alas, binned
11 eggs - six will still be in date when out hosts return and four are used.
lots of carrots - mostly used
5 pints milk (4 go OOD on 4th) - four frozen, the rest used up
2 Little Gem lettuces - put in fridge in cold water 
Fresh coriander
Mixed salad leaves - used
Half a pepper - going in our lunch today
Half a cucumber - lunch today, and will take the rest home or it will be a mush when hosts return
Couple of spring onions - some used, will take the rest or add to today's lunch
Couple of new potatoes - in good condition, so will leave for hosts
2 bananas - eaten
2 limes - leaving one, made lime curd with the other
One and a half lemons (aha - lemon curd, lime curd, use up eggs...!) - half used on fish, leaving the other in fridge
1 pear - eaten
4 apples - eaten

Cherryfudge

C_J said:

The carrots, half pepper, spring onions and new potatoes could make a pan of soup. The bananas, pear and apples could be stewed together and served on top of scotch pancakes. A bagel each with salad leaves, grated carrot, cucumber and tomato for lunch?

Oops, sorry @C_J, I've just seen this. The soup would have been a good use of those things. The bananas went on my cereal and I also had the pear while DH had the apples. As mentioned above, the Scotch pancakes had gone off.

We got through more salad than usual but that's okay - it was a nice change, and good for us!

It would have been nice to replace like with like for our hosts but it probably wouldn't keep so we have given them some other edibles as a thank you.

LotsOfTea

I used up a couple of wraps yesterday with some "shicken" kebabs and salad and wondered what on earth is in these shop-bought wraps that keeps them fine to eat for so long? I bought them to take camping with us nearly a month ago and we ended up not using them then. I've only opened them this week but they've remained perfectly edible and mould-free this whole time. Slightly unnerving if I'm honest! I've only got one left to use up so I'll probably use that up on Monday when I'm on my own for lunch. 

DH is making us all some hm pizza for lunch and I'm going to drag a pot of veggie chilli out of the freezer for tea as said pot fell out when I opened the door yesterday and got cracked so the tub needs chucking out and obviously the reason it fell out in the first place was me stuffing too much into the freezer.

greent

Hello!! I *so* need to join in this!! Our 3 freezers are rammed, the pantry is full (as is the overflow cupboard....) - some excess will disappear with DS2 when he goes back to uni at the end of the month, but I have said that we need to make a gargantuan effort to eat from the stores (mainly freezers) this month - I need the space to store the masses of fruit from the garden!

I do still need to go to the shop today - mainly for fresh fruit and veg and a couple of things to top up lunchboxes, plus more bread flour. 

The weather is awful, so I have a real hankering for something warm, study and comforting for dinner. I'm not yet wanting to do a roast (plus I have way too much other stuff to be getting on with). I really fancy a stew, but we have no beef in the freezer. Maybe corned beef hash? Or a one pot chicken Mediterranean type thing..... hmmm... decisions need to be made!

ETA: decision made - chicken breasts pulled from freezer to make a tomato/ chicken/ med veg all in one dish - will serve with rice and green veg.

Yesterday I finished up a box of taco shells from the cupboard - they'd been there for maybe 18 months. Everyone else had chicken fajitas and I just put the fajita mix in shells for me and topped with salad and sour cream. One thing gone.... (I've gone off tacos, so can't see me re-buying for some considerable time)

Roussie7

We’ve nearly cleared the freezer in the shed as we want to defrost it. It’s not a chest freezer just one with drawers so nearly done

Cherryfudge

I still have some freezer space, as I put jars of greengage puree in before our holiday and there's room above them.

We ate from stores today: lentil and chorizo soup and I finished up a posh yogurt I bought at Waitflower (discounted) while we were away. We also had the last of the ancient grains muffins from there: they were really nice but we are well away from temptation as we don't have a local branch.

A neighbour has given us tomatoes and a very generous bag of large cooking apples, and we've had about another kilo or a bit more of greengages. They are dropping more slowly now but I looked up and realised the branch by my head (weighed down almost to the ground) is in the shade and is still thick with fruit.

LotsOfTea

I made butternut squash, sweet potato and carrot soup yesterday which DS is usually a fan of but apparently I did something wrong to it and he didn't like it. Kids! He did eat plenty of the cheese and marmite soda bread I'd made to go with it so it wasn't all a disaster. I will be eating the rest of the soup for lunch for most of the week now I think.

I also made a fruit cake which finished off a few tubs of various dried fruits in the cupboard and that will be useful for packed lunches this week.

greent

Evrryone's eating something different for dinner tonight, so some bits are being used up. I had some leftover chicken and rice from last night with a large handful of mushrooms added (chicken dish had some grated courgette in from 2020....) 

I made a fruit flan yesterday which used up 2 tins of fruit from the pantry and the remaining 2/3 of a pot of double cream. Plenty left for today (and tomorrow!) Lunch was chicken fajita salad (again) with some fajita mix left from Sat night.

I'm wfh tomorrow, so will see what needs using in the fridge before anywhere else for lunch. If the weather is warm I'll have a salad with some of the cooked chicken from the freezer. Dinner will be chicken with air-fried spiced baby potatoes and salad! 

Brought a bag of huge cooking apples 🍏🍎home from work... fruit piles awaiting processing🍎🍏🍐🍐 are now taking over a good chunk of kitchen side.....