Pantry/Freezer Challenge Week #5

 

Saturday:

For breakfast this morning, I pulled muffins from the freezer that I'd made earlier in the month.

lunch: we had leftover pizza slices left from mid-week.  

supper:  Chicken and Rice Soup.  One container of the Chicken soup said it had been in the freezer since 2023...Sheesh.  How did I miss that one?  It smells good still.  It's basically just leftover broth and bits of meat from cooking off broth at some point.  I added rice to the pot after the soup base came up to a boil.

Sunday:

Breakfast was bagels and I do want to say that when I cleaned up the fridge freezer, I found bagels in various places, so yes, this was a pantry/freezer meal.  We finished off the last of the 'strays' this morning and the next weekend will open the newest package in the freezer.

The other meal we ate here at home was supper and that was just a quick cheese omelet and toast and a bit of bacon I realized had been in the fridge for a bit longer than I'd meant for it to be there.  Tomorrow we'll start the week all fresh and we'll see what I can used in our freezer and pantry that needs to finished up.

Monday:

Tuna Casserole, Beans and Taters, Sliced Tomato Salad with Mayonnaise.  The only meal we're eating that is from pantry and freezer today is dinner.  I had a tuna casserole in the freezer that's been there since February.   

While I was in the freezer I went through the basket thoroughly and pulled out another casserole for another day this week and then I sorted out the chicken basket and pulled out a couple of breasts that weren't vacuumed sealed.  I think I know what I'll do with those.  

I decided it wasn't worthwhile to pull out anything more just now since I've found pulling out too much at once often means it sits far too long in the fridge.

Tuesday:

Chili dogs, homemade pickles. I found the four hot dogs in the poultry basket.  I'm sure they are chicken based.  I can't recall how long ago I had the kids over and fed them hot dogs, so I'm making lunch from them.  The chili was leftover in the fridge, and the pickles are the last of the jar Sam made and sent over.

Chicken and Dressing, succotash, cranberry sauce.  The breasts aren't really old, just from April, but the 'dressing' is actually cornbread I dehydrated, and vacuum sealed with the intention of trying to make my own 'stuffing mix'.  I added in dried onions; dried celery leaves and some bouillon powder.  We'll see how this turns out this evening when I serve it.  

I'm using leftover lima beans to make the Succotash.  And I'm pretty sure this cranberry sauce (store bought) expired last month.  It's all good. Actually, discovered it expired in January.  It was fine.

I'm glad I didn't take out more food to thaw.  We had leftovers of the tuna casserole last night and leftovers of Chicken and Dressing tonight.   We'll be having a leftovers night on Thursday evening, I think.

Wednesday:  

Chicken and Rice Soup, PBJ sandwich, fruit juice

Enchilada Casserole, Pan Roasted Corn, Pico de Gallo Salad.  We had leftovers of this, too.  On the one hand, I am so ready to do some 'real' cooking but on the other...I have plenty of edible food in the fridge and I guess we'll eat our leftovers before I plan to do anything else.

Thursday:  

French Toast, Smoked Sausage.  I used the last portion of the loaf of bread I made last week to make the French Toast this morning.  I was able to get six slices.  That is two meals for us (two pieces for John, one for me) so I put some in the freezer for a future meal.

Saltines, cheese, plum.  We ate a very late breakfast, and I didn't want anything terribly heavy.  John changed mower blades and went off to mow and I knew he wasn't going to want anything to eat prior to leaving.  He'll have a snack of same as I had when he does come in from The Manor House.

Funny man that he is, he's already got a name for Katie's place whenever she's able to get moved out here.  Hers will be "The Palace".  

Leftover Chicken and Dressing, cranberry sauce, Succotash, Beans n Taters.  I wish I could say I am excited about what's left in the fridge.  Frankly I really, really have to be in the mood to eat a tuna casserole, and I seldom want seconds of it.  I think tomorrow, we'll take a break from pantry/freezer challenge and free fall with whatever we feel we might want.

Friday:  

breakfast out and it was a big one.  Really enjoyed that.

Pizza, fruit salad.  Just a small one.  I mixed up my regular pizza dough and put the rest of it in the fridge.  I suspect we'll end up having pizza with the kids tomorrow unless they specifically ask for something different. The pepperoni is from the freezer.

John requested fruit salad this week and when he explained what kind of fruit salad, I knew I had to go purchase sour cream and marshmallows.  I also decided to get a can of fruit cocktail.  I drained that well then added fresh plum and fresh apple to the fruit mixture.  This was something I was told to do ages ago by a local librarian and writer who published a syndicated cooking column.  She said to always have both canned and fresh fruits when making a fruit salad because you needed the textural differences to balance one another.  

Steak, Pub Fries, Salad.  I had leftover salad the other night, so I'll just add a bit of lettuce to that.  I like to make pub fries now and then, which is just oven fries that are sprinkled with a generous amount of salt (preferably a coarse salt), malt vinegar and parsley and then run them back in the oven to get really hot all over again.  They make a nice change from a standard French fry.

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