It's been a good food waste week so far.
Well, it's been more of a good "use up the food so it doesn't go to waste" week, really.
- On Friday, I looked in the fridge and found leftover lunch meat, some random bits of cheese, some mushrooms, lettuce, and tomatoes. I also had some day old french bread on the counter.
It was most decidedly not the night to have the planned meal of grilled chicken. No, instead I made mushroom, cheese, and roast beef panini sandwiches (which were possibly the most delicious panini I have ever made!) and we had a green salad along with it.
I love it when things work out that way.
- I had a little bit of lettuce left after that dinner, so for lunch on Saturday, I had a lettuce and cucumber salad with some Romano cheese sprinkled on top (I topped it with some leftover salad dressing).
- I used a cup of leftover pumpkin to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for breakfast on Sunday.
- I used up a few apple slices that were left from dinner earlier in the week by sauteing them in a little bit of butter for about 10 minutes. They were really tasty...sort of like eating applesauce with a fork. (I do often make applesauce with leftover apples, but there were so few this time, it didn't seem worth the effort).
- I had several tomatoes that were going to go bad before I used them, so I blanched them, peeled the skins off (they practically fall off after blanching), and froze them to use next time I have a recipe that calls for canned tomatoes.
- 4 very black bananas had inhabited a shelf in my fridge for a week or two, and I finally used them up. I made banana muffins with 1 cup of mashed bananas, and I froze one more cup of mashed bananas to use later.
- I had a lone peeled potato in the fridge. I accidentally peeled too many when I was making potato cubes the other night. So, I boiled it, shredded it on my box grater, and froze it to use when I make Deep Dish Pizza on Saturday.
- One small head of broccoli was in the veggie drawer, so I cooked it last night. Lisey and I sprinkled leftover Romano cheese on it and ate it with our dinner.
- I had a couple of peppers and a few mushrooms in the fridge, so I bought two zucchini and tonight we will have grilled vegetables along with our grilled chicken.
I purposely did very minimal grocery shopping this week in order to force myself to use up the contents of my fridge, and it's working pretty well so far. My fridge hasn't been this empty in a long time, and I'm thinking I just might have a no-waste week at long last!
Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention that I used up the white rice I asked you all about. You had so many awesome suggestions, and I decided to use the rice pudding suggestion. I cooked it and had it for breakfast on Saturday, so it's all gone now. Yay!
Wow, very resourceful and creative. I am impressed and very ashamed at how often I throw out the things you put to good use.
I've been trying to use up my huge amount of leftover turkey! We were out of town for Thanksgiving, so I bought 2 turkeys (for $.39 a pound!) to use afterwards. I cooked one on Saturday, so I have a TON of turkey to use. Luckily, turkey is my favorite meat!:) Yesterday I made an awesomely tasty turkey soup. Today I'm hoping to make turkey stroganoff.
So many great ideas! Whenever I have languishing veggies, I usually throw them all in a skillet together and toss some garlic in. Great as a side or over rice, pasta, etc.
The freezer is, indeed, a powerful ally in the fight against food waste. The hard part is remembering what you have in there! I keep a list on my freezer door.
Frugal Liz, have you considered freezing the cooked meat? When bird is really cheap I cook, debone and chop it, and freeze in 1 or 2 c. portions. There are lots of recipes that call for cooked bird. An excellent source is "365 Ways to Cook Chicken," which has an index entry for cooked chicken (bless them for having a good index). This is also a good book for cooking on a budget. PS - a tip from Alton Brown: roast frozen veggies before adding them to a recipe; they taste much better than just defrosting them.
Just last night I made a Chicken-Rice custard from that book. It used up so many leftovers, frozen bits, and things that needed to be used. I'll mark those with an asterix.
1. Mix rice and breadcrumbs*, put in greased 8x8 pan.
2. Make a custard by mixing 1 c. milk, 1 c. chicken stock*, 3 eggs, and spices.
3. Add 2 c.chopped chicken* and sauteed veggies to taste (I used mushrooms* and onion, and should've added broccoli*). You can also add shredded cheese for an even richer product.
4. Pour into pan on top of the rice.
5. Bake at 350F till custard is set, maybe 30-40 min.
Yum! Kristen, you make leftovers sound so yummy. I coincidentally just posted about some noodle soup I made from leftovers. It must be that kind of week.
Love it - great, resourceful ideas! I try to always make something out of "nothing" as well...not that leftovers and odds & ends are nothing. I'm sure you know what I mean. Good for you!
Wow. This makes me scared to clean out my fridge! I have decided to start doing Food Waste Fridays as well and am doing a preliminary cleaning of the fridge this week before I start. (I wanted to start with a clean slate!) I am kind of scared to go through the fridge. My main problem is that I cook for 2 adults and 1 toddler and usually end up with leftovers, that only I will eat. And I will make a good attempt at it, but after a while, I get sick of it too. My "aha" moment yesterday was that I need to start cooking less so as to avoid leftovers. But I still need to clean out my fridge to begin my goal of no food waste and this has definitely inspired me to at least attempt to use up what's in there before I chuck it. I will be honest and say my main motivation for this is to save money, not necessarily to be creative with leftovers.
Any suggestions for a ton (I am talking LARGE costco sized sour cream container) of already cooked onion? This was leftover from a church event and was given to me. I was thinking a normal tiny tub of sour cream when I agree to accept it and now am feeling guilty that my 1st instinct is to toss the whole thing!
Response to Shaylin - French Onion Soup! It calls for lots of onions and the first step is to cook them. Google it or go to Food Network or Allrecipes. You could measure out the remainder in 1/2 cup portions and freeze them. When you need sauteed onions for anything, you are one step ahead. (Tacos, fajitas, any soup, stroganoff, many pasta dishes, pizza - the list is nearly endless!)
Hey Kristen, another use for those sliced apples - melt a bit of butter, add apple slices and a teeny bit of water (less than a teaspoon), cover, simmer over low heat stirriing often, serve over waffles or pancakes. If you have apple cider or juice, more yummy! I did this as a 'gravy' for pork chops and they vanished. Elegant dessert with vanilla ice cream,too.
For Shaylin - lucky you! My vote is for French Onion Soup. Here's how you make it:
You'll need the onions, some sugar, some flour, 1-3 quarts of liquid (amount depends on how much carmelized onion you end up with and how thick you like your soup; beef stock is traditional, but you can use chicken or veggie stock, or water; don't use milk), and the optional topping of toasted french bread and grated jarlsburg-type cheese. You may also need some red wine vinegar.
1. Carmelize several pounds of onions. This is where all the work is. You've got a head start because the onions are sliced and cooked. Put them in a deep pot (not a large pan), add 1/2 c. water, cover, and simmer over low heat. (A deep pan so the onions don't burn easily, and water to get the cooking started and to prevent them burning before they get hot.) Every 5 min or so, check to see if it's burning and give it a good stir, scraping the onions off the bottom of the pan; during this time the onions may give off liquid (it depends on how cooked they are already; if you were using raw onions they'd be swimming in onion juice for 30 min or more). When the onions start sticking persistently, your work begins: add a tablespoon or so of sugar (to help carmelization) and stir constantly till the onions are medium brown and look thoroughly mushy. You can freeze the onions now and make the rest of the soup later.
2. When the onions are carmelized, increase heat to medium, add 2-4 tablespoons of flour (again, depending on how much onion you have) and stir till the flour is incorporated and light brown - you've made a roux.
3. Add liquid, 2 c. at a time, stirring. The resulting soup should be a bit thickened by the roux. Add salt to taste. If the soup is too sweet, add vinegar to taste.
4. Optional: toast the bread, top with grated jarlsburg-type cheese, and broil till bubbling.
5. Add soup to bowl; some people like the cheese crouton on the bottom, the showier presentation is to put it on the top.
Thanks Theresa.....I just scooped the onion into 1 cup portions ( I was low on ziplocs...) and stuck them in my freezer. It was a 5lb tub and I got 12 cups of precooked onion out of it!!! No buying any onions for me for a while! 🙂
I love all these ideas! I actually was up late baking a cake last night because we had some leftover greek yogurt that needed to get eaten. I found a yogurt spice cake that I baked and we'll see what it tastes like today with afternoon tea! The husband had to be kicked out of the kitchen from eating it all at midnight!
Great ideas! I always love a no-waste week, but I REALLY love it when I'm having one due to my own resourcefulness. Speaking of my own resourcefulness, I should probably check out our fridge before it's too late.
You rock! You totally are inspiring me to eat out of my pantry for a week or so!
We are having a good week too! This is mostly due to the fact that we will be going on vacation in a week and don't want anything left that could spoil. Still there is only half a head of lettuce, half a bag of carrots, and the bread is practically gone along with eggs and milk. The bread is an issue but I guess I'll make a loaf and freeze it before we leave. I also have to decide whether or not to buy eggs or wait til we come back.
The pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins look awesome. I need to start doing better about food waste. I am trying to eat meatless one day a week, so I think that's been helping with my vegetables-going-bad problem.
These are all such great ideas!!! Thank you so much!
Also, am I missing something, or did you not put up a grocery shop and menu plan on Saturday? 🙂
Sarah, you're the first one to notice! I didn't post one, because I didn't really go grocery shopping. I picked up a few things on Saturday and a few on Monday. I'm going to shop for real on Friday, so this Saturday, my blog should be sporting a grocery/menu post as usual. 🙂
I like to postpone the shopping too, it forces creativity. Great post, very resourceful.