Pre-holiday pantry challenge

[lattemomof3]

Tonight will be salmon from the freezer, wild/brown rice from pantry and broccoli/cauliflower that needs to be used. Probably something for dessert - we usually have dessert on "fish night" - so my kids will eat the fish w/out complaining.

 

[tinkarooni]

I would love homemade bread but in the past all bread are too dense. We also do not eat white bread. We like whole wheat, rye and multigrain. Does it bake them too? How do they turn out compared to a bakery bread?

You can make just dough or you can make bread and it will bake it. It turns out better than bakery bread, especially when it just comes out of the oven and everybody comes running. I use a cookbook specifically with bread machine recipes, The Bread Machine Lovers Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hernsperger and so far all the recipes come out great.

So today we had for breakfast yogurt and oatmeal. DS is irritated because "his" kind of oatmeal is gone and he has to eat his sister's flavor. HA HA wait until he finds out that when the Quaker instant is going we're going to home made oatmeal. I have all kinds of dried fruit we're going to use up that way.

Lunch for me will be leftover dinner and dinner tonight needs to be quick. I'm pulling some frozen meatballs in sauce I had pre-made and cutting a quick salad from the garden and we're off.

Have a good day all!

 

[Deffenm]

So far we have eaten out of the freezer/pantry.

We have had:
Hot dogs, french fries, homemade mac n cheese
frozen pizza, fruit
turkey tenderloin (twice), potatoes, fruit & veggie

We are having tacos, corn bread, and fruit tonight and Italian beef sandwiches, fruit, and chips tomorrow night.

I thought this would be harder then it is. My kids so far have loved everything that we have made.

 

[DawnM]

Soda is GONE in our house except for when guests come. We are cutting out all dyes and chemicals from our diet....ok, well, guess it is impossible to cut out ALL, but we are sure trying!

Dawn

Even though I am drinking diet caffeine free soda I admit I am addicted lol! I usually have at least one can a day. I am going to try to just drink water for the next few days til we leave.
Tonight for dinner I am making a huge batch of chicken noodle soup. My oldest isn't feeling well

 

[disneyfan55]

I don't understand how this saves money. Instead of stocking up when things are on sale you use everything up then have to restock everything at once? How in the heck does that save anything?

I, too, was thinking this. I think I would just buy on sale items to keep up with what I use. That's basically what we can do since I do only buy on sale and with coupon if possible (we have double as well) Just my thought. Yes, I do think we should go through cabinets and freezers to use up what has been sitting there and may be soon to expire, but we do get by usually on about 100 per week and that's for 5 adults and 1 baby. that includes everything except fresh produce that I get at a vegatable/fruit stand at about 25/week (they are great quality and less than 1/2 of grocery store prices - except for the maybe 1 sale item at the grocery store)

 

[DawnM]

It is a MUCH NEEDED exercise for us.

We have far too much right now.

I will still stock pile or buy on huge sale, but I need to purge a bit and this is the perfect time to do it!

Dawn

I, too, was thinking this. I think I would just buy on sale items to keep up with what I use. That's basically what we can do since I do only buy on sale and with coupon if possible (we have double as well) Just my thought. Yes, I do think we should go through cabinets and freezers to use up what has been sitting there and may be soon to expire, but we do get by usually on about 100 per week and that's for 5 adults and 1 baby. that includes everything except fresh produce that I get at a vegatable/fruit stand at about 25/week (they are great quality and less than 1/2 of grocery store prices - except for the maybe 1 sale item at the grocery store)

 

[momto1]

Any ideas for Kaiser rolls that aren't good enough to be sandwiches? There were in the freezer a little too long and are hard in some places. I could make croutons. I could use in meatloaf but I made that last week. Any ideas for a casserole using bread?

Tonight will be flank steaks, package of noodles and sauce and some type of veggie - maybe acorn squash or something from a can.

Lori

 

[DawnM]

You could make a breakfast casserole with them.....

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,195,133187-241193,00.html

I normally mix everything but the meat and cheese and leave it overnight to soak and then bake it in the morning.

Dawn

Any ideas for Kaiser rolls that aren't good enough to be sandwiches? There were in the freezer a little too long and are hard in some places. I could make croutons. I could use in meatloaf but I made that last week. Any ideas for a casserole using bread?

Tonight will be flank steaks, package of noodles and sauce and some type of veggie - maybe acorn squash or something from a can.

Lori

 

[momto1]

You could make a breakfast casserole with them.....

Thanks, Dawn! I should have thought of that!

Lori

 

[belle41379]

I"m going for sloppy joes and boxed juillian potatos tonight.

 

[charming23]

Tonight is homemade macaroni and cheese.

 

[momx2]

Well, tonight we had the pork chops and stuffing with frozen fresh corn that we were going to have last night. My dd's teacher brought us chili and the fixins last night because my husband has been recovering from surgery for 2 weeks and me and my oldest dd have both been sick. That was so thoughtful of her!

Tomorrow I think I will have homemade potato soup with cheese and bacon..yum!

 

[neatokimmo]

Soda is GONE in our house except for when guests come. We are cutting out all dyes and chemicals from our diet....ok, well, guess it is impossible to cut out ALL, but we are sure trying!

Dawn

I'm trying this too, it is hard!

 

[neatokimmo]

We had brat, cabbage, noodle stir fry-ish type stuff tonight. The cabbage and noodles were great, I dried out the brats - meh.

 

[smiller]

Dinner was at DSis's house, so delicious.

I must say I was kind of hoping to eat dinner at home just to eat up more from the pantry!

Am hoping my chicken thaws out quickly - want to make chicken & bok choy stir fry over rice tomorrow.

 

[tinkarooni]

Kids are still eating up that stockpile of instand oatmeal for breakfast, along with some yogurt and OJ. Lunch for them was some chicken noodle soup in their thermos. Dinner was prepared on the fly today, I was so busy yesterday I forgot to thaw something. I threw some frozen boneless chicken into the slow cooker with a can of cream of chicken and a can of cream of mushroom. I'll make some mashed potatoes later and pour the whole concoction over potatoes with probably a side of broccoli and some applesauce.

I have identified some problem areas. Squash, I have about 50, both spaghetti and butternut, sweet potatoes, we all know about the never ending pile of potatoes that really does seem to be multiplying in my basement. I also have some odd cuts of beef left over from last years 1/4 beef that I need to clear out. My new meat will be ready in December and I'd like to be all cleared out of the old stuff. So my new menus will try to focus on beefy squashy creations.

 

[charming23]

Tonight will be something with chicken breasts. Most likely out on the grill since it is fairly decent weather today and I have some potatoes I should use up soon.

Tomorrow we are spending the day at the food show in Cleveland so I hope to crockpot something to have it ready by the time we get home.

 

[DawnM]

Last night I used the pizza kit from a couple of months ago. Still good.

Tonight, not sure yet. Maybe homemade soup and grilled cheese sandwiches????

All bought before November.

I may add salad. That was bought this week.

Dawn

 

[neatokimmo]

We are having home made pizza tonight I am using the last of the tortillas, pepperoni from the freezer, cheese from the fridge and sauce from the pantry.

 

[momto1]

I also have some odd cuts of beef left over from last years 1/4 beef that I need to clear out.

We get beef, too. Do you get the odd cut called Boiling Beef? If you do, what do you do with it? The meat processor said to do it like Italian Beef. But, I had to cook if for so long and it was a lot of work to get the meat from the fatty part. I have only cooked it once in the last 3 cows. I hate to throw it away but I just don't know what to do with it.

Lori