Sunday 6 January 2019

Eat the Stores - Catching the Dates


One glance through the fridge at the moment shows me that there are lots of foods that have seen their dates slip by, nay more like rush by, in a flurry of busy days, junk food eating and a complete and utter break from routine.

So this morning it was time  to set to and salvage everything that I could.

I don't throw food away ever, if it's not edible for us it can usually go to the chickens and be recycled into eggs, if it's too far gone for the chickens then it would go on the compost heap to be recycled into compost for growing next years vegetables ... but both these options are the absolute last resort and nothing ends up in the bin.


The carrots with a Best Before date of 26th December although sweaty in their bag were in pretty good condition, just one of them had a slightly furry hat ... which was quickly chopped off and popped into the compost caddy..


Then they were rinsed, patted reasonably dry and put onto some dry kitchen paper ready to be re-bagged.



Next I dealt with a lettuce that had been left untouched over the whole of the holiday period.  I chopped off the root end, peeled off the first couple of layers of leaves that were decidedly soft and droopy ... these did go to the chickens,who were suitably grateful. 


The lettuce was then also sat onto some dry kitchen roll ...


...and then popped into a Stay-fresh bag.

I get these from Lakeland and I have literally been using the same bags for years.  A quick rinse and dry between uses keeps them perfectly reusable. See them here. The paper towel wicks away moisture from the vegetables and then feeds it back as the stalk or vegetable starts to dry out, meaning that the food is kept in good condition.


It is also important to exclude as much air from the bag as  possible and I simply use pegs to keep my bags fastened while they are being stored in the fridge.


Before I found the Stay-fresh bags I used to do exactly the same with the cheap supermarket Smartprice bags, as long as the air is excluded this pretty much works as well.  So just use what you have.


Next I tackled a pack of peppers and a tub of very wrinkly tomatoes.  

These were all chopped up, and a couple of red and white onions were added to the mix.  With a drizzle of olive oil, some salt, pepper, mixed herbs and a squirt of garlic paste these were left to marinate in the fridge for a few hours before being roasted in the oven for our tea.  The veggies were served with a salmon fillet each and a good helping of Basmati rice.


Some of the nicer bits of the peppers and a couple of onion slices were added to some cheese for me and some ham for Alan for a quick sandwich for our lunch.

Well that's the most urgent of the veggies dealt with, the bits and bobs that are left can most likely be eaten as and when we need them over the next few days, but I will be keeping an eye on them.   I spied the packets of meat in the fridge when I was getting the ingredients out for lunch so I will be tackling that and the cheese shelf tomorrow ... yes Alan seemingly has enough cheese for a cheese shelf!!!


🥘





14 comments:

  1. I find dealing with “fridge rubble” as Joy calls it incredibly satisfying and creative.
    All our Christmas leftovers; turkey, stuffing, potatoes, peelings, (thanks Sue), humus,
    ham etc etc went into a large pan of soup.
    I gave some to our neighbour who asked me for the recipe!
    Sue

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    1. That's the rather wonderful drawback isn't it, there's not really a recipe so no two pots of soup are identical 😃

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  2. I love lwftovers/rubble and have had a lot of fun this year. There's still a few bits and bobs to get through, mostly veg, but the condition is OK so I have time and in this dark and chilly weather, a lunchtime veg soup is just the ticket!
    xx

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    1. Soup at lunchtime is the best at this time of year isn't it. Lovely and warming ... and frugal too 🙂

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  3. Think I will join you with this challenge, yesterday I ended up using the courgettes, peppers, toms etc in a ratatouille and some courgette fritters for me. Today to use up more of the same I have started to make up portions of chilli in the slow cooker and bolagnaise in the other for hubbby and son. Looking forward to seeing your ideas for using cheese, we have 9 different cheeses in the fridge, 3 we don't eat at all only younger son eats them (blue cheese. I adore cheese but it doesn't like me very much, done't know how we ended up with 9? Yesterday I also made up 4 cheese and potato pies for hubby. Also like you have a number of cold meats that haven't been eaten. Everything must be used up! Helen S.

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    1. The more the merrier joining in 🙂

      The cheeses will be mostly added to meals ie crumbled into soups, quiches and like you have done ... pies. The exceptions are Alan's wedges of Stilton and Wensleydale, he has them with a glass of Port as a naughty but nice treat. But I am trying to ration him with this now that Christmas is over!

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  4. I've just done our meal plan for the week and it's all items from the fridge or freezer. I will only need fresh milk and bread this week, I'm usually lucky and get ys bread so minimal spend here. I've got pass the date salad and veg and fruit, I buy ys so it's always that way lol xx

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    1. Thanks for the reminder, I do need to get back to meal planning instead of standing at the fridge with a confused look on my face every teatime 😆🤣🙃

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  5. I'm inspired to do this at least in part. I need to focus on using up what I have and not buying more. Also timely as I am one of the 800,000 US fed workers furloughed with no pay for the foreseeable future. This is a relatively pain free way to save a little!

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    1. Yes, join in and save as much cash as you can. I find that trawling through the cupboards finds you foods you really have forgotten that you had. Then going forward you can plan carefully what to spend your dwindling cash reserves on. I hope you manage okay in the tough weeks ahead.

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  6. Veggies are all in good shape but I do have a lot of salad greens to work my way through this week! I'm going to spend tomorrow making a pot of soup, baking some sweet potatoes and making an apple & cranberry crumble. There is a small cottage pie in the fridge so that with salad will take care of main meals for the next couple of days. I have one piece of ham lurking in the fridge so I'm having that for breakfast tomorrow with an egg and some grilled tomatoes! I am determined not to waste things this year. No chickens but we do have green bins so anything that gets away from me at least goes for compost.

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    1. Gosh you sound lovely and organised. Your foods for the next few days sound brilliant ... and you've just reminded me of a crumble that I've got in the freezer ... that's tonights supper taken care of then 😃

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  7. I always feel so virtuous using up the 'fridge rubble' and I think I'm pretty good at it. One of my favourite ways is to chop it all up, add a few cooked potatoes and seasoning and cover with beaten egg. Bake in oven for a delicious tortilla.

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    1. That sounds lovely. My rubble is virtually always a pot full of soup, I should try being a bit more adventurous.

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