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

carinjo

In: leftover white beans and mince. I don't think i'll ever buy a tin of beans again unless for camping. Buying dried beans just so much cheaper!
Out: jar of hm bottled pears

Cherryfudge

In: pizzas, pasta, salad, popcorn (yes, I had friends round to watch a film!).

JIL

Frugalista said:

JIL said:

Frugalista said:

My sister has given me a pack of pigs liver (500g) use by 17th.  I usually do the regular bacon, onions, gravy, mash thing - but was wondering if any of you good folk had any ideas for something a little more exciting.

I realise liver is not everybodys cup of tea - but someone must like it!  Ideas anyone??

A bit late now, my apologies but what about a meatloaf or faggots? This can be made as faggots or in a loaf tin.

Thanks for replying, at least.  I actually managed to squeeze it in the freezer. 

I did eventually find a recipe for a kind of spicy casserole in the Complete Cooking Collection, so will probably make that, but will keep your recipe for when I finally get a food processor. Thank you once again.

An absolute pleasure.

Liver was one of the first things I cooked for a boyfriend many years ago, I cant remember the recipe exactly but it was impressive.
It was basically fried onions, into the bottom of a dish, then topped with slices of liver, lightly browned, with slices of apple and wrapped in streaky bacon. These went on top of the onions, sideways. A gravy made in the pan and poured over. Then into the oven for 25 mins. 
The apple apparently is good with pork liver as it takes away the bitterness. 

Cherryfudge

That sounds soooo good, @JIL!

carinjo

out: last of the sardines

Cherryfudge

Out: broccoli, sweetcorn, peas, an ice cream, sorbet, a few of the blackberries.
In: cauliflower.

carinjo

In: M0rris0ns whole salmon on special (£6.99/kg), fishmonger filleted to half side and i portioned it further. Got about 22 portions! Busy making fish stock, will go in later. Earlier this week: ham stock from boiling a gammon. 
Out: fresh (frozen) pasta, hm coriander pesto, allotment chard, all for a delicious dinner. 

Cherryfudge

Who's still recovering from Christmas? I just can't fit any more in my fridge or freezer and have a bag of things out of doors to keep cool!

Yesterday I had an attack of fridge-top cleaning and re-found a box of packet mixes which need a plan. Today I've used a sausage casserole one with the rest of the Christmas sausages and tins of tomatoes and beans from stores. That also used up a few cherry tomatoes and led to me cleaning out some food storage. I haven't made huge inroads but what I've done is now clean and tidy. A tin of mandarin oranges went into a jelly of uncertain vintage and was a nice change though not to my usual taste. I also used up the broccoli with a handful of pasta and a packet mix cheese sauce which makes me two lunches and was surprisingly good.

It's amazing what I have in the cupboards and I feel guilty when so many don't have enough. It's not really donatable, though. Most is opened and some went out of date but is okay for me as I can make a judgement about whether it's okay.

Some of my things to use up include four jellies, two tins of custard powder, several jars of jam (I sense a pudding theme developing), some small pumpkins, a butternut squash, quinoa (I wonder if I could grow my own using some of this for seed?), bottles of squash (I threw out the remnants of one that I realised I just don't like), pickles and sauces, eleven tins of beans /chickpeas (not baked beans), five tins of ratatouille (DH likes that so he has been notified), two tins of treacle (did you know it can explode when out of date?), golden syrup, cornflour, dried pulses galore, two bottles of maple syrup, a few beers, vegetable suet, 2 jars of chocolate spread (I went off it), ridiculous amounts of ground coffee as I get given some as gifts by a couple of people, a curry mix, nuts galore, a microwave pack of mixed grains, dried veg, baking ingredients (glace cherries, dates etc), angel delight and salad dressings. That's just a sample, not to mention the remains of the turkey, half a large pack of bacon, some smoked salmon and some nice cheeses.

At least my younger children descended on Christmas afternoon and polished off all the surplus cooked veg, a helping each of turkey and whatever trimmings they wanted.

The other side of this is that most of those listed are for me - DH is lactose intolerant and quite cautious about new savoury foods, though I'm sure I could talk him into sponge pudding provided it's not every day.

Tomorrow's task is to deal with the rest of the turkey and resist the temptation to make stock because every year I have to throw that out months later. I really, really dislike it so it's  false economy.

How is everyone else doing?

jackieblack

I know I’m a bit late to the party, but can I join your thread please? 

I have two bulging freezers and definitely need to work my way through them. One is a very very old chest freezer that I offered to store for a relative and they suggested I might like to use it. It sits in a fairly inconvenient spot in the far corner of my kitchen/diner and is not easily accessible so I only end up using (and replacing) the stuff in the top. The other is the bottom half of my big fridge/freezer two drawers of which is stuff I use frequently but the bottom drawer is a bit of a black hole. Apart from some frozen fish, fruit and veg, everything else was bought fresh, one portion eaten and remaining portions frozen. So instead of keep buying more fresh produce every week, I’m challenging myself to eat from the freezer for the whole of January and then I will take an inventory - it would be far too difficult to do now that as things currently stand.

Now… best go and dig something out for dinner tonight! 

Cherryfudge

Freezer
In: parsnips, baked potatoes.
Out: blackberries, casserole sauce, couple of stray sausages, melon, some blueberries.
Rediscovered: end of a pack of spinach cubes. I've been avoiding buying more till we had space.