One thing I mean to do in this challenge is use up expired, older items that have been lingering in the pantry and freezer. I have a small amount of stuff on a pantry shelf that I need to use. There are two or three items in the prepared foods bin in the freezer that I certainly need to use. I did not even pull the about the expire items on the shelves of the pantry, just those that absolutely were expired.
This is my attempt to use food we've already paid for and not let it just become money thrown away. I confess they are sometimes things I just don't want to eat, but we will eat them. On the days when I cannot make something more palatable with an item, I will make a plan to have something we really like along with it or at least at the next meal. We are adults. We can eat our foods and not kick up a fuss about it.
Saturday: Buffalo Chicken Calzones, Green Salad. I was surprised to see that this was dated March. Wow. They turned out okay, really. It was okay. Not super tasty, not blech either.
Leftovers from this past week: Chicken Pot pie, Brenda's Sausage and Potato Casserole. Now the fridge is free of leftovers from the week behind and we can start fresh.
Sunday: Nothing from the freezer or pantry today. We had breakfast at home but picked up deli food to eat when we finally got home today which was at 4pm. Sundays are crazy for us and we often end up eating breakfast and if we manage it, we'll get a second meal after 3-4pm.
Monday: I had one leftover in the fridge, and we used that at breakfast this morning. I took the last of a can of Turkey Spam and made breakfast sandwiches using English muffins from the freezer. We ate one each and there are two more in the refrigerator.
leftover: Fried Chicken, potato salad.
John off to men's meeting. I ate a frozen dinner entree from the freezer, one I'd bought while keeping the boys. Ugh.
Tuesday: Ham Sandwiches, Peaches, Brownie
I found the ham slices in the freezer. I think I just bought this ham back in July and froze it in sandwich sized portions.
Philly Cheese Steak Pizza. I was digging to find the older ground beef in the beef basket and came across two petite sirloins that I knew full well were from the first months of this year. Scratch the Sloppy Joes I'd planned and switch gears. We'll use this older meat first. The peppers are in the freezer as well and have been there for quite some time. Only the mushrooms are fresh, bought just yesterday.
I think I'm going to continue with this challenge at least thru this week and possibly into next. I just can't see us leaving these older items behind and eating fresher ones.
Wednesday: Spoonbread Ham Supper, Lima Beans, Sliced tomatoes. While digging around for the sandwich ham yesterday I found sliced ham I'd put heaven knows when, probably last winter. I took out a packet to make this dinner today. I should have made the sauce to go with this meal, but I simply didn't. The spoonbread was too dry and more like cornbread than spoonbread.
I told John if he'd leave some lima beans I'd make him succotash this week.
Fruit punch. Instagram idea from a young man. She takes all the peels, pits, apple cores, fruits of all sorts that are left at the end of each week, covers them with water and makes juice for her kids to drink. No additives, no sugars. I'd seen her do this several times and today I gathered up all the bits and pieces of fruit I'd frozen that wasn't prime fruit for anything, but I didn't want to waste it. I had cherries, peaches, blueberries, grapes, plums. I covered with water and simmered for a couple of hours. I did put some sweetener in my jars (a bit of Stevia, a bit of sugar), then added the hot juice. I had a bit left when the jars were full, so I poured it over ice and drank it. Gosh but that was good. The only thing is now I'm wondering if I should have added sweetener to my jars. Next time I don't think I will. note: Actually, the sweetened version turned out perfect. Not too sweet, not too flat tasting.
I looked at ways to use the fruit pulp and the only one that appealed was making fruit leather...but we don't even eat that. I put the fruit pulp into my compost can.
Leftovers for me (lunch) and John had a PB and Cheese sandwich. John felt like he'd hit the jackpot this evening when he announced he planned to make a peanut butter and cheese sandwich, which is one of his favorites and I didn't fuss, but told him which packet of cheese he should open. His sandwich is not to my taste at all! I opted for leftover lunch but did make the 'sauce' the original recipe suggested.
Thursday: Eggrolls, Popcorn chicken. I was tired from my morning of canning and had just refilled both the water bath canner and the pressure canner. I'd made egg rolls this morning, using cabbage and carrots and onion that were on hand. I'd bought egg roll wrappers a couple of weeks ago planning to do this today. Since they were made, I dug about in the freezer and found the small bag of popcorn chicken we'd brought home one day when we'd grabbed lunch out. It was barely enough for two, but we had plenty of eggrolls.
Taco Salads. I'm tired from my week of working in the kitchen. I had planned to have a cooked supper tonight but I'm too tired to cook much of anything. I took a quart of chili from the freezer that I cooked down a bit and let cool slightly and I will make a big salad. I'll top the salad with chili and shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips and French dressing. This fell flat...It didn't taste like taco meat at all ,even though I added seasoning to the chili.
Friday: Pork Chops, Fried Green Tomatoes, Pan Mac n Cheese. Everything mentioned here was purchased this month (pasta, chops) and the tomatoes were bought at the peach shed when I took the kids. The mac n cheese was over seasoned and had far too much sauce. The fried green tomatoes were delicious though!
This whole week has been disappointing foodwise. I've overcooked, over seasoned, under seasoned and just generally missed the mark all around with meals. I think it's because I've been so distracted by all the other kitchen work that I didn't pay close enough attention or plan as well as I should have. Oh well....
I still have foods to use up in the freezer and a handful of expired items on the shelves so this will continue at least one more week. And seriously if I'm going to go one more why not try for two? I'll just bet I can scratch up enough stuff to finish this month off as a full pantry/freezer month.
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1 comment:
I really enjoy pantry challenges as it encourages creativity in the kitchen.
This morning I found the refrigerator freezer in the garage open a few inches. Things inside were still cold, some still frozen, but much was thawed and drippy. I rescued what I could (the two packages of pork chips still frozen, thank goodness!), tossed what I couldn't. A small serving of cheesy potatoes and one of baked beans will be supper tonight with the ribs Greg is currently cooking on the grill.
Some tater tots that were vacuum-sealed but thawed turned into tater tot casserole that I packaged in single servings for Greg for lunches.
Thawed mixed fruit was blended with homemade yogurt and packaged in 1-cup portions as a smoothie base.
Rotisserie chicken from the frig (that stuff was cool, not cold) meat pulled and carcass/bones/skin in the crockpot with half-thawed cubes of homemade veggie broth for homemade chicken stock. The meat will make some chicken/broccoli/rice casseroles. I made a pot of rice in the IP and it's cooling now.
I have two bags of cauliflower rice that thawed. Those are in the frig, but I'll make some cheesy zucchini rice with them and portion them in single servings. There is a vacuum-sealed package of red sauce I'll use for lasagna. I'll assemble that later today or tomorrow.
My losses weren't too heartbreaking - stuff that had been in there too long anyway. Two rice bags that I keep in the freezer for when my knees hurt - they got wet and had to be tossed. Another was in a ziploc bag, but these were not.
I'd been thinking I'd clean out freezers when we get a cool-ish morning. Today was not cool-ish, but that freezer is wiped out and clean now. As far as who left the freezer open, I have my theory, but I know it was unintentional. Things happen, but we made the best of it and now have some delicious freezer meals to enjoy.
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