Pantry challenge? Anyone game? - Page 2

[lunamama]

I'm in. We are leaving in 2 weeks for thanksgiving holiday. I am wanting to eat out of the pantry and freezer and restock when we get back. I think I will make a list of the food we have and make meals accordingly. I am hoping to only have to buy veggies and fruit and dairy. We'll see. Either way, I want my pantry to be utilized right now so we can save a bit for the trip too.

[homeschoolAK]

Originally Posted by akwifeandmomma

Joining in! :

I need ideas for whole chickens. I have three (four?) in my freezer, and we're tired of whole roasted chicken. I get a bit squeamy about cutting up raw meat, but I'll get over it if someone can tell me what to do with it!

Also, persimmons? I have 2 from our CSA box this week, and I've never used a persimmon in my life.

My family loves chicken and dumplins, chicken soup, enchilladas...
Just boil the chicken whole then let it cool to cut it up. (I don't like handling raw chicken either!)

OK kids in the pantry... Gotta go.

[Softmama]

Originally Posted by homeschoolAK

Just boil the chicken whole then let it cool to cut it up. (I don't like handling raw chicken either!)

.

and then you also get a huge batch of wonderful chicken broth to freeze and use as needed

[cristina47454]

Persimmons? Yum! Just peel, slice in wedges and eat! Make sure they are ripe, otherwise they'll coat you tongue with a waxy, nasty film!

[HydeParkB]

I got about a dozen persimmons at the Asian market for $2. I peeled and cut them into chunks, and dehydrated them. Very good that way - they could go in granola or cereal.

My successes today:
Made Lasagna - Everything was on hand except for the Italian sausage. Cleared stuff out of the freezer: Chard, tomatoes, pasta sauce, ricotta, mozzarella

Stock up - Good sale on boneless pork loin and chicken leg quarters

Homemade BBQ sauce - Used up ketchup (which we never use). I'll use the sauce for crockpot ribs later this week.

We've also been eating our leftovers for the last few days - pancakes, chili, taco fixins, sausages, eggplant curry.

[akwifeandmomma]

Originally Posted by homeschoolAK

My family loves chicken and dumplins, chicken soup, enchilladas...
Just boil the chicken whole then let it cool to cut it up. (I don't like handling raw chicken either!)

OK kids in the pantry... Gotta go.

Tell me how you do chicken and dumplings, please?

My husband put in a request for persimmon cookies, so I googled and found a yummy-looking recipe on allrecipes.com

Today, in preparation for the week, I made:

Cinn. Raisin bread
White bread
Doz. Cinn. Raisin muffins
Doz. Double choc. chip muffins
Egg salad (for hubby's lunches)
Tuna salad (ditto)
and prepped baked oatmeal for tomorrow morning. : YUM.

I feel... so... domestic! :

[holidaymama]

I have to join as well! We are about 1 1/2 weeks from pay day again and I only have about $40 in my grocery envelope...granted I could take from another, but I think we can do it! We have so much around that the only thing we should need is milk and maybe some sandwich meat.

I am trying really hard to have money left in some of the other envelopes to put towards Christmas.

Also, we had to buy a new vehicle and since we weren't quite ready financially we had to take out a loan, however, every penny we can will be put on it so we can pay it off in a year!

So, long story short, I am in for the pantry challenge!

[Norasmomma]

Well we got our money that we were waiting for, but I still am in. I did spend $108, but that was my first big shopping trip and we were already 8 days in to the month. I seriously am stocked to the hilt. I have already planned out the next few days and have my dinners prepped. Tonight it's beef stew in the crock pot, yummy with biscuits or homemade bread-probably bread.

Tomorrow I have prepped for teriyaki pork with pineapple chunks and rice-I am making this in the crock pot too.

I am thinking that we'll definitely be able to go a few weeks with minimal store purchases. I do know I'll be stocking up on chicken stock because of Thanksgiving sales. Gotta buy it when it's cheap, and keep up my stock pile.

[Mountaingirl79]

I'd like to join in too! :
We have a nice rotated and stocked freezer but I want to start working on the pantry. The other day I bought 5 for $5 organic canned veggies at Ingles. I thought that was a good deal. I need more non-perishables and then we will be fully stocked.
I'd also like to make more treats and snacks for the holidays so I need more baking stuff!!

[threekstrio]

I'm in!

I need help knowing what to do with:

steaks
fish
strawberries
cottage cheese
black beans
a whole turkey
<I know there are more items I need to use up so I'll post again when I come up with more! >

I'd love a few crockpot recipes if anyone has any to share.

[kis95]

Originally Posted by homeschoolAK

OK kids in the pantry... Gotta go.

That's a tough one. What are you going to make with them?






:

(Sorry...I'm a bit of a lurker, but I just couldn't resist!)

[lil_earthmomma]

steaks

Well other than throwing them on the bbq to stretch them I would make fajitas the first night with half the meat, and stir fry on rice the second night.

fish

What kind of fish? With haddock or cod etc. I would make a healthy crust with some oats pulsed just a bit in the food processor, some salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder (whatever seasonings you like). Mix some honey with an egg and a little bit of dijon mustard. Dip the fish in that, then in the oat mixture. Bake at 400 for 7-10 min per side.

strawberries

Fresh? I'd just eat em!!! Maybe dipped in chocolate. Cut up into yogurt?
Frozen? Smoothies!

cottage cheese

I only use this in lasagna if I don't have ricotta, so I'm no help there!


a whole turkey

Roast the turkey. Have turkey dinner with gravy (yum! If you need instructions for gravy I'll be happy to share!) You will have left over dark and white meat. And a carcass.

Make stock with the carcass. (Again, totally willing to share tips if you want)

Now you have awesome turkey stock, white meat and dark meat. The white meat can be cubed and used in any of your fave chicken dishes etc. The dark meat can be used for soup, stew, or mixed with mayo, some left over gravy, salt pepper, celery and voila! Turkey salad sandwiches!

Other than traditional turkey soup, (which is awesome!) Here is a recipe that uses turkey and your black beans!

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
4 cups stock
1 can tomato paste
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup salsa
4 cups shredded cooked turkey
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 can black beans, rinsed, drained
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Toppings:
corn tortilla chips
hopped green onion
shredded cheese
chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream

DIRECTIONS
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add minced onions and cook until onions begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Stir in water, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, salsa, shredded turkey, parsley and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until bouillon cubes dissolve. Add black beans, corn, sour cream and cilantro. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve soup with crushed tortilla chips, chopped green onion, shredded cheese and additional cilantro and sour cream.

[Softmama]

Originally Posted by kis95

That's a tough one. What are you going to make with them?

[/I]

[absinthe]

I'm so in! My pantry needs to be rotated and restocked, and anything we can save on the grocery bill will be used toward christmas. I think I can last to the end of the month at least.

This week I made a turkey from the freezer, and used some forlorn breadcrumbs from the pantry to make stuffing. Between turkey, turkey pot pie, and turkey and barley soup, That should get us through most of the week.

[Norasmomma]

Well I made muffins, for our breakfasts the other day while I was prepping all my crockpot meals. I also ended up making bread and now have extra dough for pizza in the freezer.

I think tonight we will have tacos, I have a bunch of avocados that I got the other day at 4/$3, so I could make deluxe tacos or tacos salad.

I'm thinking that I will make some beans also I have a bunch of different kinds and DD loves them plain. We really have a ton of food still and my freezer is just about overflowing.

I ended up making a sweet and sour sauce with a random can of tomato soup I had, I also had some frozen pineapple juice, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and ta da, sweet and sour sauce.

[HydeParkB]

I've got a can of Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup. What do you think I should do with it? We have broccoli on hand, so maybe I could use it as a cheese sauce for that. Or, we have lots of pasta. DD loves macaroni and cheese.

I just won't know the consistency of the soup until I open it up - I never use the stuff and am not certain why or when I bought it.

What do you think? Would either of those work.

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by HydeParkB

I've got a can of Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup. What do you think I should do with it? We have broccoli on hand, so maybe I could use it as a cheese sauce for that. Or, we have lots of pasta. DD loves macaroni and cheese.

Well, the soup's pretty salty (and thick), but it may work.
What I'd do?
Mexican night! Saute up some cubes of chicken (like 2 breasts), add the cheese soup, some salsa until you like the taste/consistency, put on tortillas to make quesadillas, and bake in oven until crispy, like 10 minutes. Recipe may actually be on the can, and it's not too bad.

[missmich]

If you have potatoes you can slice them up and poor the soup over them and add broccoli and then bake it. Like scalloped potatoes I guess. A little cheese on top would make it better if you have it. Or you can use pasta instead.

[Softmama]

Checking in to say I've been doing great so far! I do have to go to the grocery store tonight as it is our day for snack at school for two of my ds. something tells me those kids would not appreciate getting my pantry leftovers

other than that the only thing I have bought so far is bananas (we go through those very quickly). and I have at least another week of meals planned out of the pantry

[RasJane]

So far I'm doing pretty good. Except I really need to do some baking.

I made yummy baked beans from scratch the other night. Served them with coleslaw from cabbage I had in the fridge.
But now I have leftover baked beans. I think we're done with the re-heat and eat routine. I need creativity. Any ideas? I have roughly 2 cups left.