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

Nelliegrace

This week I have used tinned Spam, kidney beans, tomatoes, pineapple, and evap. 
Three small portions of meat, and blackberries from the freezer. I froze two small pots of tomato sauce for baked beans
It hasn’t made much of a dent on the stores.
I shall do the May Grocery Challenge to stop buying instead of using up the excessive hoard. 
With Lent over, and after the Easter holiday treats, it is harder to focus again. I have had to throw away a few things really past eating, from the store cupboard and that annoys me. 

Cherryfudge

Nelliegrace said:

It hasn’t made much of a dent on the stores.

I know that feeling. Using things up seems to require buying more ingredients.

Cherryfudge

I haven't posted for a while but I remember using up a couple of portions of soup and some mushrooms from the freezer, and adding a bag of sweetcorn. Any space created doesn't last long.

Sadly, I didn't finish the mushrooms in the fridge and had to compost them. I seem to have accumulated a few things that need to be used: beetroot, cucumber, chorizo, pretend Feta, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower leaves (which I think I might roast as an homage to that other world, pre-pandemic, when I had roasted kale in Sydney: those were the days. .

We had a liver and bacon casserole tonight (chicken liver is now £1.25: a couple of years ago I'm sure it was 55p). I threw in onions, tinned tomatoes, herbs from the garden and half a bag of new potatoes and it was extremely tasty, though I say so myself. There's a lot of bacon left (it was a 'cooking bacon' pack carefully selected because it had a brownish look that tends to mean smoky) and enough liver for another meal. There's also a chicken to roast on Saturday and feed us another day too.

I think I need to get my planning head on.

Wraithlady

Cherryfudge said:

While I was in the depths of the larder (it's not very accessible as the freezer's in the way), I found half a bottle of fizzy lemonade which will have lost its fizz. Neither of us likes it, but before I chuck it out, I wonder if it can be used in recipes other than fizzy jelly (which we don't really like either)?

Is it lemony lemonade (IYKWIM) or the bogstandard clear, faintly sweetish beverage? If the latter, you could add some lemon juice (or other fruit juice) and freeze to make a sorbet. If the  former, obviously, don't add lemon juice but freeze it to get lemon sorbet.

Cherryfudge

Wraithlady said:

Cherryfudge said:

While I was in the depths of the larder (it's not very accessible as the freezer's in the way), I found half a bottle of fizzy lemonade which will have lost its fizz. Neither of us likes it, but before I chuck it out, I wonder if it can be used in recipes other than fizzy jelly (which we don't really like either)?

Is it lemony lemonade (IYKWIM) or the bogstandard clear, faintly sweetish beverage? If the latter, you could add some lemon juice (or other fruit juice) and freeze to make a sorbet. If the  former, obviously, don't add lemon juice but freeze it to get lemon sorbet.

Oh that's a good idea, @Wraithlady! It's just a basic fizzy lemonade that DS2 left with us, so could be very good for adding to things. I have a lot of lemons at the moment, but not much freezer room. I do remember now that a friend adds it to jellies, and I'm sure I have some of those somewhere - maybe a Fifties party vibe for Coronation weekend.  

Nelliegrace

I have used two tins of soup, having been a bit under the weather. A tin of chick peas and red kidney beans and two tins of chopped tomatoes, and we did battle with a tin of corned beef without getting bloodied. The key was missing and I didn’t think to borrow a key from another tin. DH opened a 400g tin of mackerel in tomato for a lunch of fish on toast for one, because he did not see the small tins at the front of the shelf.
The tins to use up are in a bag, everything well in date is back in the cupboard. 

Portions of mince, stewing steak, sausages, bacon, and cheese were used from the freezer, replaced with portions of cooking bacon and yellow stickered fresh sausages and chicken thigh portions. 

Cherryfudge

We have a little more space in the freezer - I think all the soups are finished for now, unless there are any lurking on the top shelf of doom. I've taken out stewed rhubarb for this weekend, and found some chicken pieces which was a surprise as I thought they were finished. I've made palmiers to save us buying pastries (that we don't need) and the spare pastry is frozen for another day, and a few cupboard things have been used up too, particularly jams and cous cous. The main dry goods bought have been sachets of cappuccinos because I get them whenever I see them a bit cheaper.

I also found Asda does tinned fruit cheaper than anywhere else in town (as far as I can see) so I got some while I was there.

carinjo

My kitchen is an absolute mess, not sure how i lost control of it all 
Got a week staycation starting tomorrow, so it on my list along with the allotment prep and planting. 
@Cherryfudge, do you have a recommendation on how to freeze traybakes? I've made a few recently, but once i portion it into cubes, it a bit fiddly to try and freeze. I was even thinking of putting it onto a piece of cardboard into a big ziplock bag. Any way that won't take up too much space.

Cherryfudge

@carinjo, I don’t think I’ve ever tried, as the space in my freezer doesn’t have any flat surface, which I’d imagine is where you need to start! Could it be frozen in the tin it was made in, marked into portions first, then once it’s solid, remove the tin?

I hope it works out- I’m guessing the idea is to use one or two pieces at a time, which seems very MS.

carinjo

Closed my eyes and bought a fridge freezer on FB marketplace. Bigger than our current one and the fridge section is on top. We both have back issues, so bending down everytime i need milk for coffee is a pain (literally  )