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

greent

We've done quite well at eating from the freezer and fridge (veggies) this week. I went to A5da today for their usual Saturday morning YS items and bought (all YS) 3 bags of carrots, a bag of onions, a FR corn fed chicken (1.95kg, reduced from £13.30(!!!) to £7.85), a small loaf of seeded GF bread (for DS1's gf - it has gone in the freezer), a large pack of 'posh' sausages, ready made fresh mash, a cucumber and 3 beef pies. I gave the pies, some onions and 1 bag of carrots to DD.

I needed to do a big of freezer tidying when I got home (mainly to make sure the chicken fitted nicely on a shelf, rather than squashing it) and removed a large bag of tomatoes (now roasted with garlic & thyme and will blitz for soup for supper tomorrow), a bag of veg scraps (mushroom stalks, lots of broccoli stalks and leaves, 1 slice of pepper that missed going in the fajitas) and added 3 cubes of spinach from the freezer and 2 shallots (from a 5p bag), 2 sprouts (need to use them up!) and the remainder of last week's iceberg (maybe 1/5th was left?) and that's been simmering away nicely with lots of seasoning and will be blitzed for soup for lunch on Mon/ Tues (I'll add a dollop of the OOD garlic philly from the fridge) I've also cooked 2 chicken breasts in sweet chilli sauce and diced those for lunches (will add broccoli and rice) and another 2 breasts are now defrosted and sitting butterflied in the fridge in a marinade of dijon mustard, black pepper & lemon juice (found a lemon in the fridge from maybe October?? - very dried out, but fine to juice for this!), ready to be coated in panko and cooked later - to be served with the last of a bag of baby potatoes (again, bought in Oct, possibly November at a push) which will be diced and roasted off with paprika and black pepper and then a big serving of salad veggies.

We're off out for Sunday lunch tomorrow (just the 2 of us) - which will be cheaper than anticipated, as the venue does 15% off food for blue light card and I've also got a £15 gift card from my birthday (11 months ago) that I can use there - result! (It was a spur of the moment decision last night to book it and my first choice place didn't have space (and doesn't do BLC discount, nor could I use the giftcard), so this seemed like a good alternative)

3/ 6 shelves/ drawers in the kitchen freezer tidied and inventoried. There is space (even with my shopping!)

I will need more fresh f&v tomorrow from L1d1 (mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, bananas and nectarines) and some f/f Greek yogurt. L1d1 plus card means one bit of veg will be free (I'll choose the dearest one and put that through separately!), there's a free sweet treat to be had 😋, and the yogurt has 15% discount - as do kyivs and packets of micro rice, so I'll get some of both of those as well.

ETA: From the Xmas veg wars we still have 1.5 bags of 5p potatoes, 2 bags of shallots (-1 small shallot used earlier), 1.5 bags of sprouts and 2 carrots (number of carrots, not bags)

LotsOfTea

I was out for tea with friends last night and so DS & DH had takeaway pizza. There was plenty left over so they both had some for lunch today and I had a pitta bread and a fake chicken kebab from the freezer with a good dollop of hummus from the fridge.

I did manage to inventory some of the stores yesterday so I've got much more of an idea what needs using up and what I really don't need to buy any more of for a while. It's going to be very useful to minimise spends over the next few months. The next job is to do some meal planning to use it all up.

Cherryfudge

I finished up a portion of leek and potato soup from the freezer which I didn't enjoy and maybe I should have abandoned the attempt as it hasn't agreed with me. At least that's the last of it.

I'm taking liver and bacon out of the freezer tonight, ready for tomorrow, and have finished a bag of berries.

Cherryfudge

The liver and bacon was delicious and I've deep-cleaned the fridge, throwing out a couple of bits that just weren't going to get eaten and finishing up a couple of others. Love the result apart from there still being too many jars of home made jam that aren't getting eaten. The marrow and ginger is slow going and only really fit for adding to porridge as a sweetener, and the greengage, well, there's just so much of it, and some batches haven't set properly. I don't think I'll ever see such an abundance of greengages again, it was a truly massive crop even after three batches of jam and lots of bags of give-aways. perhaps I should just accept I will be eating it up till 2050…

I did discover three bottles of lime juice and two of lemon… they are all gathered on a shelf in the door where we can see them easily and know not to buy any more.

JingsMyBucket

@Cherryfudge for those loose jams, might I suggest using them up in baked goods like these puff pastry cheese danishes? https://chocolatewithgrace.com/puff-pastry-cream-cheese-danishes/

I’ve used a reduced sugar / looser set Bonne Maman blueberry jam spread in this recipe before and it’s delicious. I’m going to make another batch this week to finish up the jar of jam. I don’t bother making the icing drizzle though because we don’t like our baked goods too sweet.

ETA: she also has a recipe for turnovers too: https://chocolatewithgrace.com/pumpkin-puff-pastry-turnovers/

Cherryfudge

Oh, those do look nice @JingsMyBucket ! I went down a rabbit hole of looking at her pumpkin spice recipes, too. DH loves pastries (well, I do too, but I vary them with cake, biscuits etc.) The greengage jam gives a real surprise lift of summeriness, and would be good in baked goods. There's just so much of it! I put a small jar of it in the fridge door and am trying to remember to put some on Ryv1ta if I want something sweet to nibble. The marrow and ginger is uninspiring but could almost be used in place of sugar so nothing lost if I experiment with it.

While sorting out the fridge I found some of those tiny pots of jam that come with scones at the garden centre café. If DH gets one, he only uses half so I make sure I bring the rest home but we always forget to use them up. However, they are 75p a go, so why waste them? (In those terms, I have made a fortune's worth of jam 😁). Anyway, five of them surfaced and two are now used up, though of course I now want to keep the tiny pots because they are cute… and might be useful, just like every other container that I instinctively try to hang onto.

Today I had the ambitious idea of defrosting the freezer as I don't need to be at work till five so I have plenty of time, right? Then DH overslept (we had a power cut at the weekend and the alarm now has its mornings and evening mixed up and didn't go off) and the kitchen looks rather as though he got everything out and didn't put it away, though to be fair he did apologise. So I have some clearing to do before sorting the freezer, but if I've written it here, I'm more likely to get it done.

JingsMyBucket

Glad it’s helpful @Cherryfudge. I wonder if you could use it top a cheesecake or make a pie with it? That would use up a chunk of it.

So maybe instead of making a pumpkin or apple butter pie, you sub in green gage jam into the custard. https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/apple-butter-pie-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-17040

Cherryfudge

That pie looks interesting too, @JingsMyBucket - I think the greengages would be a lovely flavour in it though I'd leave the cinnamon out in case it clashed. We have to go carefully with anything containing lactose and DH is joining me in watching cholesterol levels, so why do I make jam? Most of the things to do with it seems to involve saturated fat or milk products! However, I'll bookmark it because we could have a bit at a time!

I've nearly finished defrosting the freezer, which wasn't too bad. I just stacked the drawers on the cooker with towels over them, but I've thrown out a frozen sandwich that was misshapen and icy, and used up some ham for lunch. A small block of cheese is defrosting in the fridge. I'm also chucking a part-tub of margarine that's OOD and has mouldy bits! I need a sensor that goes off when I'm subconsciously avoiding using an ingredient, so I know to use up or dispose.

I'd hoped to make more progress than that, but something is better than nothing.

Cherryfudge

All the freezer drawers are back in place and a small tub of ice cream that was going a bit soft has been demolished. Not all by me - I ate all the best bits then threw the rest out.

I had some inspiration and am putting coffee syrups (a gift, but I'm not keen on them in coffee) into hot chocolate, which feels indulgent and helps declutter the kitchen. The trouble is that I may be tempted to replace the best ones!

oceandreamer

Well done Cherryfudge - it sounds like you've made real progress if you've been able to defrost the freezer!

I too have quite a lot of greengage jam - it really was a bumper year. I haven't even got round to starting it yet as I've been making my way through the bramble jelly and rhubarb and ginger jam. I also have a small plum tree and the few plums made some really nice chutney, so I might look for a greengage chutney recipe for next year. I also have some greengage wine on the go but haven't really got a clue what to do with it, one day I'll get round to looking it up. And then there's the bags of greengages in the freezer …

Took a leg of lamb out of the freezer at weekend for a roast but put the leftovers back in so not a lot of space gained there. Two chicken breasts out today to make a rissoto. Still plodding on.