View Full Version : A personal food challenge.
small & friendly
6-2-12, 2:22pm
Even a small household like mine creates leftovers. Therefore I have challenged myself to use up all the leftovers and everything perishable in my freezer and fridge before stocking up again. This will ensure that everything is fresh and current.
It's amazing, however, how one leftover will generate another! For instance, I used some frozen meat sauce and a small amount of frozen baked pasta to make a soup. Well, now there is a small container of soup to finish off.
I froze eggs several months ago when they were on sale. Now I want to use them up so I will make some cakes to give away. The same with some frozen bananas which will be used to make a quick bread, and, also, some sausages that will go into a dish of mac and cheese to be donated to a youth group.
This morning I defrosted some cooked, frozen chicken breast and made it into chicken salad with almonds and cranberries. There's probably enough for four good sized sandwiches.
I think, if it was all I had to live on, there is probably about two weeks of food (if I extended it in soups and casseroles). I can't imagine dealing with a large freezer. It would take forever to use everything!
Once the current food is gone, I am going to try an experiment and see if shopping for fresh items every few days (which is not hard...I live in a very small town and shopping involves no great distances or usage of gasoline) would be a better plan for me.
If it were up to me, I would replace my already very small apartment refrigerator with one even half that size. The tiny ones college students use in their dorms, for instance. I know I couldn't totally eliminate some kind of refrigeration because I get pints or quarts of milk occasionally and fresh veggies that need to be kept cold.
Anyway. This is probably terribly boring, but it's something I want to do to eliminate excess food purchases.
Now if I could only stop liking potato chips!! :(
My kids left yesterday morning for a 10 day mission trip. First thing I did this morning was deep clean the fridge/freezer.
I have a feeling that DH and I will be happy to eat whatever I can come up with from what is left in the fridge & freezer and then I can do a big stock up right before they return.
I agree, small & friendly. I have been rethinking our Costco stock-up strategy lately. In the end, I think it is a deal on things like butter, lunchmeat for DH (bless him, he has a sandwich EVERY DAY for lunch at work - yech), sliced cheese, etc. All of it freezes well and all of it gets used. But on other stuff, I think we'd be better buying it as we used it or not at all. Pop? Before we went to Costco, we'd buy a six pack of really yummy root beer and it would take a loooooong time to use it up. Now we get 24 root beers at Costco. We don't burn through them, but we have them more often than we did before.
But I hear ya . . . I am feeling the same way about our freezers - get it used up.
Mrs. Hermit
6-2-12, 5:30pm
I am playing "use it up" too, so that I can clean the freezers before the summer veggies come in. Looks like we may get some interesting meals...
I'd be on top of the small fridge strategy if it were practical to get my fresh produce several times/week... but that would take too much time and it would be far more costly. We have a modest fridge and it is always full of produce (Kelli - if you buy leafy greens at Costco, that alone pays for the membership!). My current food methods work with little to zero waste. But that wasn't always true... I've just developed those skills.
awakenedsoul
6-2-12, 7:17pm
Same here, I eat up all my leftovers. I think it's a great idea, though. I also have a chicken, so she gets bits of produce and pieces of homemade bread and desserts. I really stock up on food and buy in bulk. It works for me, but I run it like a business. I'm spending half of what I used to on food. I also belong to an organic co op, so I can buy bulk fruit, raw milk, and grass fed meat from them. I love to cook and bake, and rarely eat out. I'm working towards growing as much of my fuits and vegetables as possible. Each year I plan to add more fruit trees. So far so good. It's such a good feeling not to waste...
I always put a list up on the fridge as to what prepared foods are in there and the servings. We have gotten much better at the "using it up" of leftovers. As a child I went to bed hungry and want to be sure that all is eaten.
awakenedsoul
6-3-12, 2:18pm
I always put a list up on the fridge as to what prepared foods are in there and the servings. We have gotten much better at the "using it up" of leftovers. As a child I went to bed hungry and want to be sure that all is eaten.
That's a great idea. I keep leftovers on the top shelf of my refrigerator. That way I don't forget about them. They're right at eye level.
domestic goddess
6-3-12, 5:28pm
I love left-overs! To me, they are a meal I didn't have to cook, but I'm the only one around here who likes them. There are some chicken wings someone around here ordered, and I"m going to eat some of those. I have a couple of frozen, cooked chicken breasts. Chicken salad sounds great, unless I use them for tacos, or something else. In fact, I think I'll go through the fridge shortly, and see what I can come up with for dinner tonight, since I will be the only one here.
I have been rethinking our Costco stock-up strategy lately. Pop? Before we went to Costco, we'd buy a six pack of really yummy root beer and it would take a loooooong time to use it up. Now we get 24 root beers at Costco. We don't burn through them, but we have them more often than we did before.
I heard recently that something like 80% of what you buy from a big-box store like Costco is consumed within 6 days of you bringing it into the house. Then, you get so sick of it it just languishes in the pantry until it gets stale and you throw it out. So those stores don't actually save you money bc you end up consuming and disposing of more than you would by buying it at a normal grocery store.
You can freeze eggs?
Bunnys, that statistic may be true for some shoppers, but I think that many of the people who post on these boards are more mindful of (a) spending and (b) waste than the average consumer. We buy a lot at Costco, mostly produce - but I don't buy more than we can eat and factor in shelf life before I put something in my cart.
I would agree. We do not waste what we get at Costco . . . actually, I have some berries in the freezer that are SCREAMING to be made up into something, so maybe I need to get my butt off the computer and make that strawberry crisp I've been threatening to make for the last month . . . :)
Don't know if all of you saw it, but we had a recent thread called The 'Use It Up' Thread that I was kind of hoping could be an ongoing discussion of these kinds of topics, as well as a place people could access if they were having trouble using something up. For me, the impetus was capers. With all the good advice offered on that thread, now I have enjoyed them in tuna salad, on green salads and in a fish dish. In fact I'll probably be buying more! Funny how that worked out! My current issue is the proliferation of GF substitute flours that I bought before I knew what I was doing. Now I have buckwheat flour, almond meal, brown rice flour, a GF all-purpose WITHOUT xanthan gum and a GF all-purpose WITH xanthan gum, and then of course, the xanthan gum itself. Whew. Time to get out that cookbook my girlfriend gave me . . . maybe some banana bread with all of that flour? Our 17 bananas that Coborn's Delivers (a delivery grocery service that I LOOOOOOOOVE for cutting down on waste - no impulse buys) sent us went off really fast. I had only ordered like 10 bananas . . . why we got 17 I will never know.
Oh geez, well that went on longer than it needed to . . . :D
And P.S. - feel free to start whatever threads you want! Just referring you over there if you wanted to check out that discussion, too.
small & friendly
6-4-12, 2:34pm
Bunnys...yes, you can freeze eggs. I did and have been using them (as part of my freezer clear out challenge) in cooked/baked items. You can do them a couple ways: break them and beat the whole egg lightly with a fork, then pour into clean ice cube trays. (I would not reccommend greasing the trays. You might want to use the egg in something that does not use oil/grease.) Freeze until solid and then store in freezer bags. You can also use the same method only separate the whites from the yolks and freeze them until solid. They can also be stored in freezer bags. The eggs will keep well in the freezer for several months.
(If the eggs stick a little to the freezer tray, simply turn the tray over and run them under some warm water. They should pop out easily.)
ApatheticNoMore
6-4-12, 3:45pm
Can you store eggs in the freezer in their whole raw form? What about hard boiled? I didn't know eggs could be frozen.
I don't stock up or buy in bulk except ocassionally with flesh (red meat, fish, chicken). It's just most things even in normal portions end up being too much for a single person. So I love my freezer (just part of the fridge), LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
My current issue is the proliferation of GF substitute flours that I bought before I knew what I was doing. Now I have buckwheat flour, almond meal, brown rice flour, a GF all-purpose WITHOUT xanthan gum and a GF all-purpose WITH xanthan gum, and then of course, the xanthan gum itself.
What is with xanthan gum, that doesn't seem remotely natural, and yet it's what the gluten free people all eat I guess, when there are so many natural gluten free foods. So weird! As for the flours, use for breading (on fish, chicken, eggplants parmesian etc.) - almond and rice should work well for this. I'd try to use the buckwheat for some kind of pancake variation (but of course :)). Can use some of them for a strusal topping on a crisp. Apparently you can make a white sauce with rice flour and the like just like with regular flour (awesome). Of course much of this is not naturally dairy free just gluten free. The almond and whole grain flours you probably want to refrigerate (the oil could get rancid), but they would likely keep basically forever in the fridge - so even if you just use them to bread a fish now and then ....
Bunnys, that statistic may be true for some shoppers, but I think that many of the people who post on these boards are more mindful of (a) spending and (b) waste than the average consumer. We buy a lot at Costco, mostly produce - but I don't buy more than we can eat and factor in shelf life before I put something in my cart.
Good point.
I don't waste a lot, either. But as a single woman with a really weird (restricted) diet living alone, I just can't do Costco. It doesn't work for me.
bunnys - that's exactly how it is, everyone has to find what works for them... and I can see how Costco would not be the solution for a small household.
Kelli - something to do with some of the GF flours might be crepes - a nice light summer meal with a filling of grilled or roasted vegetables and a sauce (if off dairy, try a cashew cream type sauce).
Oh, this is a great thread! My DH and I are in the middle of a cross-country move that should be finalized by the end of the summer. I'm mostly out west already, but he's still back east and when I'm home with him this weekend I'm going to take stock of the pantry and freezer and make a bunch of meals for DH using this stuff that he can eat off of for the next few weeks. I know this will create things for the freezer, but at least there will be meals that he can just defrost and eat as opposed to all the misc, raw ingredients lying around. My goal is to throw away as little food as possible when we actually move because that is just wasteful. I'll also have to get baking because I have quite a stock up of baking stuff too.
domestic goddess
6-5-12, 3:33pm
Oh, wasting food. I'm going to go nuts here soon! Last night dsil was all pissy with me because I took all the bottles of stuff that have been opened and left and put them in the fridge. He couldn't imagine why anyone would save a half bottle of Gatorade or juice. That stuff is expensive as it is, and dd gives in and buys it for the kids. After about 2 swallows, they're done with it (they think), but grandma is going to put a stop to that. They either drink what is in the fridge or they can drink water, or maybe dd will quit giving in to them. Last night, the other adult male who lives here went grocery shopping. He spent a huge amount of money and got everything on the list, I'll give him that. He also bought lots of single-serve portions of things like pot pies, frozen pizzas, burritos, things that can be made at home and will be better quality, and for less.So now there is also all that packaging to throw out as well as the food dollars wasted on things we can make at home. When I say something about it, they all look at me like I'm crazy, and dsil says "if you don't like it, don't eat it". I don't, but that isn't the problem anyway. I don't want them bringing that stuff home to begin with. That money could have been used for lots of fruits and veggies later in the month. Okay, I'm done ranting. I love my family, but I think I'm better off living alone!
Sounds like a great strategy Small & Friendly. Do you have space that you could garden--a 4x4 bed, 4x12 bed, or place for containers or more? If so, you could probably grow a steady supply of vegetables and just harvest as you needed.
I've also found that thinking about how much of each item might be left over from other recipes in the week and which other items they might go with is helpful. In most cases, a lot of the odd bits can go into soup, salad, stir fry, noodle dishes, or baked potato toppings.
Some people also like to make homemade frozen dinners. If you have several covered plates that are freezable, you can add leftovers to a plate until it is full. By having several plates under construction, you can put leftovers together that go best with each other.
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