Who's Up for a Pantry/Freezer Challenge?

[nd293]

This might end up being the funnest thing we do over vacation!

I'm having fun too!

 

I had some overly sour frozen mango in the freezer - too sour for my refrigerator breakfast oats - so I found a Thai Mango Pork recipe. I decided to use up some of the sticky rice with it. I finally found a recipe for an easy way to make Thai sticky rice - http://shesimmers.com/2012/08/how-to-cook-sticky-rice-the-easy-way-and-without-a-steamer.html. The whole meal was a huge success and I have demands for a repeat performance on the sticky rice. Cooking is such a pleasure when everyone loves what you've produced 😊

[BarbecueMom]

We use these to get extra calories into our ds, they may not be to your taste, but I just thought I'd put it out there.

 

Breakfast Shakes (makes 2)

Fill blender with ice cubes - leave just enough room at the top to put the rest of the ingredients in

Add 1/2 c vanilla low fat Greek yogurt (you can substitute plain yogurt and sweeten with honey if you prefer)

Add milk or milk substitute until the ice and yogurt are covered.

Add 2 packets of breakfast drink mix

Add sliced fresh fruit or frozen fruit, filling the blender to the fill line.

 

Blend until smooth.

 

Sometimes I add an extra touch:

When strawberries,are,the fruit, I add a drizzle,of chocolate syrup to the top of the glass after it is poured. With bananas, I add a,teaspoon of fresh peanut butter to the blender before mixing.

 

I have t had success doing this with pineapple or melons. ive wondered if I puréed them first, then added the rest of the ingredients in and then blended it together, if it would help, but I've never tried.

Any fruits that really do not taste good with these? I make smoothies for the kids several times a week, but they revolted once from blueberry/chocolate combination. All the packets are chocolate. Strawberry/chocolate/PB sounds good, I can try that.

 

One of my three kids really needs the calories, and he's the only one that sort-of drinks the packets in milk, but drinking it straight makes his stomach hurt.

 

I used one packet this morning in my coffee to make an iced mocha. I found a tiny half-full bottle of Jim Beam and after dealing with nonsense already this morning, I might add that too.

[DawnM]

I made BBQ chicken pizzas with Naan and BBQ sauce, Naan, and cheese  I needed to use up.

[PrincessMommy]

I've finally finished up 3 of the 4 Boca burgers that have been sitting in my freezer for 2-3yrs.  Should eat the last one tomorrow.

 

I have some SF Butterscotch pudding that I'm thinking of making up just to eat and get rid of.  I'm trying to avoid SF items now, but I may make this one exception and just not buy it anymore.

 

I have a question about odd things I know I'll never eat...

 

We have way too much apple butter.   My nephew and his wife got married about 3yrs ago in the fall and had apple butter as a table favor at the wedding.  Also, a local real-estate agent hands out jars of it door to door with her name on them 1-2x per year.  I  have about 6 jars total of the stuff and that's after giving some of it away.

 

We don't eat apple butter, but I don't think this would be a good item to donate to the local food pantry either since some of it is an advertisement and the others are wedding favors with their names on it.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by PrincessMommy

[KungFuPanda]

I need to clean out my pantry and I want to cut down on food waste. Who's interested in a challenge where for the rest of the month we focus on using up produce before it goes bad and using up all those "why did I buy this anyway?" type ingredients? This will hopefully have the side effect of helping with the food budget this month.

 

I need to use up:

 

-pine nuts (Any ideas what to use these for?)

-black bean pasta

-some brown rice I bought in 2008

-kale (if it hasn't gone bad already)

-eggs from February

-a volunteer spaghetti squash that grew in my garden last summer

-some sort of cranberry cheese spread

-sour cream

-all sorts of beans I bought in 2008

-various sauces and condiments (Don't we all need to do this?)

-pickles we made five years ago

-dehydrated strawberries

 

If you want to join, post a list of some or all the things you need to use up before they go bad or to make more space for food you actually eat.

Can you make a pesto with the kale and pine nuts and put it over you pasta?

 

I'd make a rice bowl with the brown rice and some beans and top with sour cream.

[justasque]

 

We don't eat apple butter, but I don't think this would be a good item to donate to the local food pantry either since some of it is an advertisement and the others are wedding favors with their names on it.

 

I don't think either of those things would be an issue for a food pantry.  (If it is home-canned, though, that might be an issue.)  If the food pantry doesn't take it, you might consider donating it to an organization that feeds the hungry directly (e.g. a soup kitchen).

[BarbecueMom]

I had one cup of quinoa, and used that to make taco "meat" (cook in beef broth, add water, oil, and taco seasoning). I served it over the remaining chips and salsa, some sliced bell peppers I bought marked down and froze, and the rest of a shredded block of Costco sharp cheddar. DS7 made a dent in the Taco Bell Sauce Packet Bag as well.

 

I'll be honest, I think I like the quinoa better than real meat for nachos.

 

The boys want to make carrot muffins for tomorrow's breakfast with the rest of the shredded carrots. I found a container with a homemade spice that smells pumpkin-y pie ish. Hopefully it'll work in the muffins and they don't come out tasting like fajitas or something.

 

This is fun, in that I like using up pantry stuff and seeing empty shelf space. But knowing I went over my grocery budget this month PLUS ran down the supplies to near zero makes me nervous.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I missed this and have been busily eating out of the freezer with no fanfare 🤓. Tonight us a chicken salsa casserole using up chicken I picked from a carcass and 1/2 jar of salsa.

[Baseball mom]

Found some cream cheese & pepperoni that needed using and some mozzarella cheese that will need to be used soon.  I have a recipe for a low carb pizza crust that uses cream cheese.  Making pizza for supper.

[TechWife]

Any fruits that really do not taste good with these? I make smoothies for the kids several times a week, but they revolted once from blueberry/chocolate combination. All the packets are chocolate. Strawberry/chocolate/PB sounds good, I can try that.

 

One of my three kids really needs the calories, and he's the only one that sort-of drinks the packets in milk, but drinking it straight makes his stomach hurt.

 

I used one packet this morning in my coffee to make an iced mocha. I found a tiny half-full bottle of Jim Beam and after dealing with nonsense already this morning, I might add that too.

 

I think anything you think goes with chocolate would work. I'm not sure if the blender could handle melons, I've never tried that. 

 

Never tried the Jim Beam  :laugh: .

[nd293]

I had one cup of quinoa, and used that to make taco "meat" (cook in beef broth, add water, oil, and taco seasoning). I served it over the remaining chips and salsa, some sliced bell peppers I bought marked down and froze, and the rest of a shredded block of Costco sharp cheddar. DS7 made a dent in the Taco Bell Sauce Packet Bag as well.

 

I'll be honest, I think I like the quinoa better than real meat for nachos.

Thanks! That's a great idea. I actually forgot to add the 2 year old quinoa to my list but your post reminded me and yes, it is still there, in a container with the lentil (which are still sealed I'm their own bag).

 

This challenge is going to take me at least until the end of April...

[JumpyTheFrog]

Well, I finally remembered to soak those beans! It only took several days after posting to do it.

 

I think I will serve some black bean pasta tomorrow.

[PrincessMommy]

another person with 2yr old quinoa... I'll have to pull it out and use it.  I like the meatless taco idea.

 

Scratch two more items off my list.   I had a terrible sweet tooth tonight and went through my Pinterest list to see what I could find.

 

This recipe fit the bill exactly.  I had both canned pumpkin and a cake mix that were at least a year old.  Plus the powdered-sugar, which I rarely use.  And I discovered that I had not one, not two, but THREE jars of apple cider vinegar, plus white vinegar.

 

http://noblepig.com/2008/11/the-pilgrims-would-approve/

 

This cake is yummy.  Just ate two pieces in one sitting and I'll take the rest to my prayer group at church tomorrow.

 

BTW, I made the SF pudding... it was revolting.  It got the worst tummy & head ache while eating and didn't even finish 1/2 cup.  There's something about SF processed food that definitely doesn't agree with me.  Anyway, the rest went into the trash. 

Edited March 29, 2016 by PrincessMommy

[JumpyTheFrog]

Okay, I have black bean soup going in the crockpot. Instead of celery I tossed in two orange bell peppers that have seen better days. DH helped me make a gluten-free lasagna with some GF noodles taking up precious pantry space.

 

Tomorrow I will cook black bean and chick peas.

[Mom22ns]

Can someone tell me what to do with the bulgur wheat I found lurking in the back of my pantry?

[justasque]

Can someone tell me what to do with the bulgur wheat I found lurking in the back of my pantry?

 

Tabbouleh usually.  Parsley, tomato, peppers, onions, etc.

[YaelAldrich]

Can someone tell me what to do with the bulgur wheat I found lurking in the back of my pantry?

You can use it like quinoa or fake ground meat (do like Barbecue Mom said).

[medawyn]

Can someone tell me what to do with the bulgur wheat I found lurking in the back of my pantry?

Moose wood vegetarian chili - my favorite!

[Joyofsixreboot]

Last night I used up a bag of picked chicken. Tonight is cube steaks with crash potatoes (because I must use up those red potatoes) and "vegetable medly" which will be some frozen zucchini, half a package of frozen green beans and some bell peppers that are shrivelish (hey a new word) with garlic butter.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Tonight's plan

Dh will eat leftovers from last night.

Kids are having meatball subs to use up 1/2 pkg meatballs, open pizza sauce and 1/2 pkg provolone on some hoagie and hot dog buns.

I'll have a lonely piece of fish that is in the freezer. We'll have a fruit salad of leftover berries, bits and bobs.

[BarbecueMom]

I made some ricotta last week as a sub for cream cheese to frost DS6's carrot cake. The leftover whey was sitting in the fridge, so I used that to make biscuits to go with dinner last night, and saved the milk for something else. Best homemade biscuits I've ever had! DH agreed... and the kids nibbled on one. What kind of kids don't like biscuits (or dinner rolls, or mashed potatoes)?

 

I guess I'm getting the leftovers.

[Lady Florida.]

If you're going to label stuff in your freezer you should probably read the label.

 

Last night I pulled out the pizza dough. It was just ds and me becuase dh was working until after midnight. I had a hard time stretching the dough to make a pizza big enough to feed me plus an 18 yo male. I thought maybe that was a result of having frozen the dough. After it was done, the crust just didn't taste right. I apologized to ds, but he said it tasted fine. I forced some of it down but eventually just made a salad for myself. I had heard you can freeze pizza dough but this was the first time I froze my homemade dough. I kept wondering what I did wrong.

 

As I was cleaning the kitchen I actually read the freezer bag it was stored in. It said:

 

Dough for hamburger buns.  :lol:

[JumpyTheFrog]

Ok, I turned the sour cream and some of the eggs (both with a sell-by date of January) into cheesecake today. I also finished eating the spaghetti squash.

[Jane in NC]

Y'all have inspired me to take a serious look in the fridge and around the pantry. I found an unopened carton of mascarpone with an expiration date of March 29. I bought this at Trader Joes in December thinking I'd do something over the holidays with it.  Well I did not.

 

If you had mascarpone in your fridge, what would you do with it?

[DawnM]

Tonight I used up some meatballs from our freezer, some past and sauce from the pantry, some frozen pesto and some wine from the pantry (pesto and wine to cook up some mushrooms I bought.)

 

 

[Joyofsixreboot]

If you're going to label stuff in your freezer you should probably read the label.

 

Last night I pulled out the pizza dough. It was just ds and me becuase dh was working until after midnight. I had a hard time stretching the dough to make a pizza big enough to feed me plus an 18 yo male. I thought maybe that was a result of having frozen the dough. After it was done, the crust just didn't taste right. I apologized to ds, but he said it tasted fine. I forced some of it down but eventually just made a salad for myself. I had heard you can freeze pizza dough but this was the first time I froze my homemade dough. I kept wondering what I did wrong.

 

As I was cleaning the kitchen I actually read the freezer bag it was stored in. It said:

 

Dough for hamburger buns. :lol:

Pizza is the plan for Friday. I will look carefully 😄

[nd293]

We had a lentil and chorizo salad which took care of the green lentils, plus some leftover macadamia oil that I'd forgotten we had.

 

Also 1/2 of the remaining polenta, as polenta chips with chilli.

 

And I figured out how to make wraps with the Vietnamese rice paper. Those will take a while to use up, but I think that might become a staple item now anyway - dd15 was happy to have 3 rice-paper salad wraps and a dipping sauce for lunch, so that's a healthy lunchbox option.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Made pizza from freezer dough, half a bag of cooked sausage and open pepperonis.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[dzingirl]

I need to be in on this challenge! I've actually been trying not to buy much except perishables for a couple of weeks now, which is forcing us to use stuff up. However, I am not doing it in an organized way which means the really old, really random stuff is still not getting used.

[DawnM]

I made the 7 pound pork butt in my freezer.  I used a pressure cooker recipe and it turned out really well.  I put in some red wine, worsteshire, onion and garlic, and water.....and used that to make gravy when it was done.

 

I also took a pilsberry TUBE of crescent rolls and a CAN of apple pie filling and made my version of apple turnovers (please don't judge, all processed, I am well aware.)  

 

I added mashed potatoes and green beans.

 

It was a HIT and we have plenty of leftovers.  

 

 

[JumpyTheFrog]

Since this thread has been so popular, I started a pantry challenge thread for this week. We can have a new thread every week.

[kiana]

I need to be in on this challenge! I've actually been trying not to buy much except perishables for a couple of weeks now, which is forcing us to use stuff up. However, I am not doing it in an organized way which means the really old, really random stuff is still not getting used.

 

Oh well, if you just keep doing the challenge you'll get to the bottom eventually :D