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

Cherryfudge

We made the chick pea tikka again tonight and suddenly there's room in the tins cupboard! It takes three tins of chickpeas, three tins of tomatoes and a tin of coconut milk, and make 6-8 portions if I remember rightly.

I bought more rice as I had 15% off at L1dl, and I'm trying really hard not to take advantage of the same offer on lentils, as I already have about 2.5kg of them...

Cherryfudge

JingsMyBucket said:

@Cherryfudge can you blitz the melon to make frozen pops?

Guess what I'm doing today? 

greent

We have used up several things out of the freezer this week and tonight I cooked half a pack of chicken sausages from the freezer and made up a half pack of flavoured couscous hanging around in the pantry - I'll eat half of each for lunch tomorrow (I'm not sure I actually fancy it, but it needs using up!) 

I need to get my b*m into gear and plan how to use some more things up over the next week..  but that means being organised 😁

Frugalistamama

Hello there! I'm back... Again .. after a year. Trying to reduce food spend again and stock.  Although I'm not as overly stocked up as I was before. Things are more organised and I haven't been 'fear' stocking. I still have plenty to be using up though, but I've got a different strategy. I have a 5 week rotating meal plan of about 4 meals a week as I can't be creative all the time as I'm working with 2 kids so it gives me a guide. In the plan there are all the things I know everyone will eat. I make sure I have the stuff in for those meals and use weekend lunches and dinners to use up stuff in the cupboard or leftovers. My 'creative' cooking, although my husband and me enjoy it, doesn't always go down well with the kids!! So I'm trying this new strategy to see how I get on. I've been doing it for a couple of weeks, I don't always make the set meals but I have the ingredients for when it comes around again. So it's very flexible. 

This weekend I had a lot of bits about so I made a minestrone soup with random veg, some rice, beans pasta and even some leftover chicken bits. One child hated it 🙄 
I had some really old dessicated coconut, I found a recipe for oat and coconut biscuits which were a big hit.  They will be turning up again when I have time as I still have more coconut. You couldn't tell they were well over a year past the date!! 

I also had some mince pork in the fridge so I have recreated a hello fresh taco meal which everyone liked for tonight.  I've bumped it up though willth some soya mince and a tin of beans to give me lunch for two/three days as well.

I also have a goal of not buying random things that aren't part of the meal plan. I'm a sucker for a Lidl 'special one off from around the world'! Or random treats. Lunch box and meal plan ingredients only!! This will need a lot of will power!

I hope you are all well and keeping those stores in order x

suzeesu2000

Went through my freezers this afternoon. Now have a list of exactly what we have so am able to properly meal plan around that. 

We seem to have a lot of Indian takeaway foods but not so much of, what I would call, dinner foods. 

No worries, I am up for trying stuff I haven’t had before and a bit of mix and match. 

This is the second week I am not shopping, doing a bit of Shelf-tember but in the freezer…
Night night all xx

Cherryfudge

Welcome back @Frugalistamama, I hope all's well with you and the family? I've found the same with desiccated coconut: it seems to stay usable for a very long time.

@suzeesu2000, I haven't come across Shelf-tember before but what a good idea!

Today we used some curry paste that's been in the fridge for ages but tastes good. There's still half a jar in to use and quite a lot of curry left over, though it did help with the yogurt surplus. I also spotted a couple of those spice mixes that are supposed to save you having to sort out your cooking - 'just add chicken etc.' (in other words it saves shopping for spices). I had these on a promotional offer and the meals were quite nice but to me they seemed overpriced. We've decided to use them up though.

We are still eating our way through the gigantic bag of spinach and it's still in good condition! The fridge needs looking at... let's see if I can organise ingredients into at least lunches for me.

Watty1

Tidied the tins and bags cupboard up.   Despite my earlier in the year "use up" I still seem to have way to much in there.   Should there be a national shortage of chia seeds dear friends do not panic.  I will mail you all a bag.  This is no idle promise - I have A LOT.  I think I might just add them to a breakfast smoothie in an effort to use them up (also found a chia seed pudding on line but tbh it sounds horrible).

The flour mountain remains, and there are many signs of panic buys.    I've done a meal plan for this week. I'm not sure how much of anything it uses up but it is a start. I've also made a list of what is actually in the freezer.

Cherryfudge

I've used up one of the mixes that I rediscovered yesterday - a mushroom/pasta meal. There's enough for a second helping but I don't think it's a thing I'd buy again as it's salty. As well as putting the small box in the recycling, two bags of mushrooms are gone from the freezer and one onion from the big bag of irresistible bargain onions that I've bought a few times recently. Also some yogurt from the big container of it that I made to save wasting the milk. Win!

rtandon27

Watty1 said:

...also found a chia seed pudding on line but tbh it sounds horrible...

@Watty1 - it's very similar to tapioca pudding, I quite like it, but tailor it to the season - apple cinnamon atm - a great way to have a 'not savory' breakfast without spiking the blood sugar!

LotsOfTea

I'm back home today from a long weekend with family and the weather is grim so I've pulled some spicy courgette soup out of the freezer for tea. 

I too have more than one pack of chia seeds in my cupboard which I've picked up when I've seen them cheap. I'm going to start chucking a spoonful on my porridge every morning and hopefully that'll see them off. To be honest I much prefer pumpkin or sunflower seeds but I think I've been suckered in by the super food hype. I don't think I'll buy any more when they're gone, they're not especially tasty and can go a bit slimy when wet which I'm not a fan of. 

Well done everyone who has done a freezer or cupboard inventory. I need to do that again but am summoning up the energy.