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

Watty1

The beluga lentils made into a pasta sauce with some tomatoes and red wine and carrots and celery.  Smelt lovely, but wont need to repeat that one.   Tonight fish from the freezer with roast veggies, using up stray veggies, peppers onions and courgettes and so on.  Fridge round up and chuck in a roasting pan with some potatoes.  Quick and no fuss.

Frugalistamama

Have done a rather large beginning of month stock up so I'll be on the use up part of the cycle for the rest of the month I think!? Oops

Got some milk on the turn so will make some pancakes. Last night we had a stir-fry with a bag of purpose veg. Chucked in some wilting salad leaves that acted a bit like spinach. I have very little chicken maybe 1 breast between 4 of us so I stir-fry it separately and put it on top when serving. No one noticed either! 

greent

Ate the last portion of lentil soup for lunch today - not my finest, but totally edible.

 Pulled most of a pack of chicken/ginger/spring onion YS sausages from the freezer and airfried them on low - split them into 2 and have made lunch for tomorrow and Tues with those, 1/3 of pack of microwave rice each day and lots of (ood) tenderstem broccoli. 

Have processed all of the apples and pears, so these are now in the freezer and I need to make sure I'm using some of them most weeks to free up space....

greent

Took the last crumpet out of the freezer this morning - I don't usually have breakfast at home. Instead I eat a yogurt and fruit mid morning at work. Today, though, I woke up early and hungry - and carbs and fat just seemed more appealing than fat free yogurt!

No idea what we will eat for dinner tonight- 3 of 4 of us are still getting over Covid, so appetite isn't quite back. It may be a case of random leftovers - all helpful in emptying the freezer!

Cherryfudge

Once again I have a full fridge - yogurt features largely, as does chickpea tikka. Somehow the freezer is packed with bits again... we did finish up some salmon but there are so many small bags of stuff that I bought a new piece of ginger instead of pulling everything out to find what I'm fairly sure we already have.

The latest bag of rice doesn't seem to have cooked properly and I'm wondering if I picked up the wrong packet and got one that takes longer to cook? Its nearly finished so I will probably give the last of it an additional 15 minutes then top up using one from stores which, I have just carefully noted, takes 25 minutes to cook. (We eat brown rice as neither of us gets on with white).

There's some long life lacto-free milk to finish so I will look out the pudding rice - which doesn't seem to affect us like savoury rice. Odd.

My L1dl free veg was a big bag of potatoes so we will ring the changes by using a couple of those with the tikka for dinner.

Other than that, there are carrots and celery, loads of onions and there's chicken in the freezer, so I might do a casserole tomorrow.

Frugalistamama

I'm the same @Cherryfudge I seem to have a lot of bits. 

I have a pack of salami that I'm not sure is great for eating fresh now as it's been there a while. Any ideas on how to use up. I could put some on pizza but that will only use a small amount.

Also I have natural yoghurt about a week or two  after it's sell by date. What do you think? It looks ok?

Also any idea for  semi skimmed milk that already very sour? 

See.... A lot of bits! 

rtandon27

@Frugalistamama

Soured milk pancakes, yogurt should be fine just sniff and taste and same with salami but to be safe fry it like bacon and have with eggs.

Cherryfudge

Frugalistamama said:

I have a pack of salami that I'm not sure is great for eating fresh now as it's been there a while. Any ideas on how to use up. I could put some on pizza but that will only use a small amount.

I've added spicy sausage to fishfinger sandwiches before now - it might sound odd but to me, it works!

Frugalistamama said:

Also I have natural yoghurt about a week or two  after it's sell by date. What do you think? It looks ok?
 

Live yogurt often lasts longer than it says on the tub. If it smells slightly sweet, it's fine. It seems to smell more sour as it ages. Has it been opened? Once someone's put a spoon in, things change. Licked spoon = introduction of bacteria, un-licked spoon with traces of other food like fruit or cereal = those traces of other food may start to go off. However, yogurt naturally separates, so a layer of whey on top can be used, separately, poured off or stirred in. If it doesn't smell or taste nice, it's probably past it, but I'd trust your instincts. Sorry, that accidentally turned into a lecture on yogurt, it wasn't meant to be but I make it quite a lot and I don't know what you already know.

I, too, have much yogurt in the fridge at the moment.

Frugalistamama said:

Also any idea for  semi skimmed milk that already very sour? 

If you pour some off into a cup and smell what you've poured off, and it's sour, personally I'd ditch it. I do know sour milk can be used in scones but I'm not the one to advise on that. The reason I'd pour it off is that sometimes it's the rim of the milk bottle that doesn't smell right but the actual milk is fine. Milk that's just about go off can be given a slightly longer life by heating it to 80C (where the surface is beginning to shift in the pan). This kills the bacteria that are beginning to form. It might change the taste slightly (which is why UHT milk doesn't taste quite the same as fresh), but it's safe.

I often have milk that needs to be used up, hence all the yogurt I make!

Nelliegrace

I finished a large jar of limited edition Marmite, the one with England Cricket on the label, dated 2011. I remember buying a few jars on offer. There was a food programme on the wireless which said it kept for many years so long as you didn’t get butter or crumbs in the jar from your knife. They were right. 

Cherryfudge

We are now two meals into the latest chickpea tikka. Plenty left for other meals but probably not tonight. It will keep well for a few days in the fridge, thankfully.

The reason we have so much of it is a) we like it, b) it's vegan which I prefer though I'm not vegan and c) the spices are anti-inflammatory, which helps DH's condition and probably does me good as well. It also provides a good handful of the '30 a week' plant products that are now being recommended.

There's also, as mentioned above, lots of yogurt so I will make an overnight oats to sustain me through work this evening.

I used up the long life milk in a very large rice pudding, so there's a portion of that for DH tonight if he wants it.

DH is also planning to make cakes to take to an event tonight but he's at work all day so I will make a batch and surprise him - if I can fit that in with the other things I need to do.