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

Watty1

oh that does look good (adds mixed grains to shopping list)

ruby_eskimo

Haven't been posting on this thread for a while as didn't think we had a problem with stocking food but have come to realise that I have no room in the freezer and quite a lot of things that will need to go in there in the run up to Christmas!

So starting yesterday I made a batch of lentil and sausage soup for lunches which used up some frozen veg and said sausages from there, along with lentils and chopped tomatoes from the cupboard.  Took some into the office today and it was quite lovely.

Breakfast today was the last of some all bran that was lurking in the cupboard and dinner tonight is carbonara utilising left over eggs from last week and panchetta that was in the freezer too.

greent

Roast dinner made on Sunday with a free range corn fed chicken bought YS for about £5 back in January. Also used up red cabbage put in the freezer in Feb and bread sauce left from last Christmas.... Carcass has been turned into stock and tomorrow I'll make risotto using that, all of the chicken scraps (original chicken fed 5 for Sunday dinner plus 3 for lunchtime sandwiches), half a tub of past-their-best mushrooms and some spinach from the freezer.

We were doing really well at using things up and making space in the freezers - and then found some excellent reductions at the weekend, so they're somewhat fuller (although not full) now. I've taken some teriyaki chicken out tonight and cooked it for work lunches (to be had with lots of broccoli and a wee bit of boiled rice leftover) and also made a chilli with mince from there - although some of the chilli will end back up in there! 🤦🏻‍♀️😆

Cupboards have some different things in to usual,  as DS1's gf is coeliac, so I've tried to make sure there's some easy / alternative options in for her

Cherryfudge

I'm having mixed success in creating freezer space: yesterday I replaced the frozen blueberries with more frozen blueberries and took out some ys salmon for dinner tonight, which has now been replaced by more ys salmon...

I have been using the L1dl 'prize' of free veg after a certain amount spent, to get a sack of potatoes. The first time I did this, we were rather overwhelmed with potatoes (there are just the two of us) so I shared the next sack with DD. Then yesterday I discovered part of the first sack was still under the stairs! They hadn't gone green but were sprouting madly. I chopped the sprouted bits off and threw them in a potato growing bag - whether they will survive this cold weather is anyone's guess but if they don't they can be added to the compost. I put the remains of the potatoes in water to try to un-shrivel them and some in fact did very well. Today I've turned these into mash and frozen portions which, of course, uses up most of the freezer space, so I'm back to square one.

I've also gathered quite a lot of new recipes to try, though I don't think any uses mashed potatoes.

Noticeable in the fridge are celery, jam, salad cheese, yogurt and ham, so I have to find some palatable ways to turn some of these into lunches (with mash, of course). I think the celery will be okay for a while.

There are also quite a few pumpkins and I haven't touched them yet. At least they keep well. The plan is to use some in a soup instead of butternut squash.

Cherryfudge

I haven't made huge inroads since the above post. We had a meal out on Monday and the rest of the week has been hectic, resulting in not much eating together. However, the ham and salad cheese are finished, as are all but one portion of the mashed potatoes. I've also made a start on an experimental sorbet that I made in the summer by blitzing up the flesh of a melon that had been hanging around too long. It's very frozen - I had to leave it out an hour before I could get a hot spoon to scrape anything off the surface! However, it still taste of melon so I had two helpings, the second with a drizzle of syrup from a jar of ginger.

One tub of yogurt went off and had to be thrown out ( ) but the other is slowly going down. I've also found a home for a jar of greengage jam - one down, unknown hoards to go! We had to throw out the last dregs of one we had nearly finished as it also went off.

I went to Mr T to top up some store cupboard bits and pieces (eating from it when the weather is too horrible or one of us is unwell) and it was like going into a mall in the far east, something I've only done once but the overwhelming gaudiness stayed with me. Mr T was not dissimilar: everywhere they could hang a strip of tiny things in the hope I might buy them, they had hung them: paper straws, bag clips, teething rings, toddler toys, nutcrackers, bottle openers, Sellotape, etc., etc. No metal straws, which I was looking for. I am asking myself whether people bin these bitty things after the festive season, in order to buy again next December? Or will the January sales be full of unrequited nutcrackers?

I admit to succumbing to our traditional a/f free Christmas drink as it was on offer and it will save me carrying it home another day. It's amazing what we tell ourselves, isn't it? Admittedly, it might also go off the special price.

LotsOfTea

I don't seem to be having much luck at creating space in the freezer at the moment as I seem to be putting stuff back in as quickly as I'm using it up. 

I'll be making butternut squash soup for lunch today as I've got one that needs using and I can already see it'll make too much soup for 3 of us so some will end up in the freezer. 

One thing I have been enjoying doing to make my soups more fancy is frying up a few little extras to pop on top of a bowl. So yesterday I reheated a bowl of curried parsnip and pumpkin soup and I fried up half a leek and a bit of smoked tofu and chucked it on the top. It was really nice and just made it look and feel a fancier meal than just a bowl of soup. Plus, extra veg is always good!

Cherryfudge

That sounds like the sort of thing to be found on the cover of a cookery book, @LotsOfTea. Good flavours too, and as you say, extra veg is always good!

greent

Managed to use up the last of a pack of pudding rice (although it will be replaced when I eventually track some down in the supermarket!) with a small tub of frozen clotted cream (saved from an afternoon tea - I quite like my scones warm and plain) Did have to compost a pack of stir fry veg that I'd collected from Olio and not used in time (was unwell and then out for a birthday meal)

Cupboards and freezers are groaning - so the *plan* is to use lots of things up in the first 2-3 weeks of this month

Cherryfudge

greent said:

Cupboards and freezers are groaning - so the *plan* is to use lots of things up in the first 2-3 weeks of this month

I imagine a lot of us are trying to 'eat down the freezer' in readiness for those supermarket discount veg! That's assuming they do them this year. They have to, haven't they? I mean, it's tradition now.

What are people's plans for eating through all that stuff? If you don't have a plan (I don't), where are you going to start? I'm going to defrost some berries as we like to have them on our cereal and have finished the fresh ones. I need to do some pomegranate seeds too: they've been in the freezer far too long.

I'm going to make an effort to give the fridge a proper clean this morning, too, so I have a clear idea of what's to be eaten from there. Odd meals may ensue!

The last bit of the plan for today is to make one of the pumpkin collection into spicy soup. I bought two culinary pumpkins and was given five small ornamental ones by DDiL when they took them off their step, so although pumpkins last well if not carved, I really don't want them all still here in January! I have a lovely recipe for roast pumpkin, but that would take freezer space, so soup for lunches is the best starting point.

I also have eggs, bread and milk to use so spiced bread pudding it is!

LotsOfTea

I'm targeting eating the tubs of already-made meals from the freezer as they tend to take up lots of room and don't tend to end up turned into new things to go back into the freezer like ingredients do!

I've used some beetroot dahl and veg chilli from the freezer over the last few days. The dahl was eaten with flatbread also from the freezer and we had the chilli with bulgur wheat which was really nice and I might buy more often as an alternative to rice. Once I've used up what I've got of course.