Klatsch: Don't Shop Now!

[LindaK]

Yesterday was a long-planned dinner out with friends, which might count as cheating. Tonight, I was looking forward to cooking some of the brussel sprouts I'd gotten at the farmers market on Monday. Still on the stalk, they are are small and sweet and delicious. Perfect with that leftover slice of meatloaf I'd stuck in the freezer a while ago. Unfortunately, not to be.

The challenge turned out to be a little different than expected. Got home around 9:30 pm to find a big notice from the gas company plastered on my door. Apparently they'd serviced a gas leak in my neighborhood during the day and they'd weren't turning the gas back on in individual apartment/condo units until they could get inside. So I sit here with no heat, no hot water--and more importantly--no gas stove, waiting for National Grid to arrive. In the meantime, I am hungry.

There's not a lot to work with. So my plan is to grate some carrots, add some parsley (growing in a pot outside), slivered nicoise olives, some walnut pieces, and crumble in the last of the feta--toss all with some lemon juice and olive oil. Scoop with pita chips from Trader Joe's (I love those things!) and accompany with a glass of wine. Not fancy, but it does sound tasty and not bad for someone with a seemingly empty fridge. Or maybe I'm just hungry.

Off to cook!

[OliverB]

Rough life, Oliver.

LOL, wasn't done quite yet! Started with my wife dropping her travel mug full of coffee (yes, with milk) in the hallway this morning (yes, it is carpeted), followed by a flat tire and finally ended with something burning in my oven. Literally, who-knows-what that must have dropped or dripped down there was on fire when I opened the oven! A sight to behold for sure ) The smoke helped smoke the flatbreads in a not very pleasant way too...

The good thing was the salad, wild arugula, persimmon, avocado, pommegranate and a nice dressing with sherry vinegar.

Oh well, now I just hope my TV does not implode or the self made proofing chamber (cooler with a little lamp in it) I set up for my sourdough starter does not set the house on fire.

One of those days~~~

[snowangel]

Back to yesterday. Normal breakfast for Peter and I. Toasted bagels with cream cheese. We have a lot of these in the freezer. Just hope the cream cheese will cover the bagels. Lunch for me was a salad (since we bought the bis-ass box from Costco, I should be good to go). Dinner was a beef (venison here) with cilantro from Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. I have a mess of venison left from last year (about 10 pounds) as well a Thai Birds and cilantro that were on their way to be going, going gone.

This morning, Peter had toast with butter and jam (the bread homemade and in the freezer), the jam peach/raspberry made by me. I had chocolate milk (1% with Quik).

But, first off, after my choc milk, I took a picture of my little shop of horrors -- the upstairs freezer (we have a side-by-side. This freezer, unlike the one downstairs, seems to be the repository of all sorts of little bits and pieces. The single bun in a bag (multiples). The this and that, nothing labeled. The chest freezer in the basement is in much better shape.

But, forgive me; two sins.

I had to stop at the market today and buy pre-made treats; it was Peter's turn to bring things this morning for a before school Knowledge Bowl meeting, and for this afternoon for a Math League thing. Due to school regs, they have to be purchased, and in unopened packages. Granola bars for this morning, and Oreos for after school.

I have further sinned. My FIL called last night to tell me he had gotten me a deer (read, he hunted) and wanted me to come over this morning to skin and quarter said animal. I have come to rely on him to get me a deer every year. He shoots it, we skin and quarter it, and I bring home the quarters and put them in nice little well marked packages. Although I don't have a photo of the doe hanging, I do have a couple of photos: breaking down the animal is not a pretty task, and I washed my hands more times this afternoon than most do in a week:

Note the supplies at hand. Scale. Plastic wrap. Butcher paper. Sharpee marker. Masking tape. A book (Making the Most of Your Deer) -- which I really didn't need. This is the third year in a row he and I have done this, and the learning curve was in play this time. I didn't even need the book, although I would if I wanted to make gloves or mocs from the hide (we donate it).

So, this was the result:

Lunch for me today was some chicken wild rice soup and homemade bread (courtesy of my mother-in law). Since I was burning to get the doe off the bone and into packages, I left my family to their own devices, so they opted for two boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Tomorrow is my mother's 75th birthday, and her brother and his family are taking she and my dad, as well as me, out to lunch. I'm going to eat light and showcase some venison.

Meantime, I'm off to make Heidi's lunch for tomorrow (she gets on the bus at 6:50 am ( ) so I can't do it ala minute. And, I'm off to take a shower because I smell like vension. After all of that meat and blood, I have no interest in eating. Cocktail time!

[Pierogi]

OK, picking up where we left off.

Breakfasts this week have been graham crackers and coffee. I have never been a big morning eater, even when I was a kid. Lately, because I take a lot of prescriptions in the morning, I have taken to having some sort of small something to cushion the drugs and absorb the coffee. Sometimes I make biscuits or scones over the weekend. Sometimes I buy something. I haven't felt much like extra baking lately, so I've been buying. This week, however, I remembered I had those graham crackers that I'd bought for another project, and had only used about 1/4 of the box. Normally they'd have lived in the cupboard until they went limp. Now, they're mostly gone.

The downside on breakfasts is that I'm out of coffee, used the last this morning. I will be buying that. The good citizens of SoCal do not want me commuting on the freeways in the morning unless I'm caffinated.

Dinner last night was breakfast for dinner, and a very good one. I killed the bread I'd bought over last weekend by making French toast. It was the end of a loaf of La Brea Bakery's sourdough, and I got 3 good slices out of it. Normally it would've gotten tossed (most likely) or added to the ever-burgeoning stash of "bread I'll use for something" in the freezer. THEN it would've gotten tossed ! It was too stale to use as fresh, so the French toast was perfect. Bacon from the fridge, and a fried egg (from the fridge) and I was a happy puppy. Oh, and I sliced a tomato that was just this side of sad, and it turned out to actually be pretty tasty.

Lunch today was not the planned pasta leftovers, since work decided to replace the flooring in the lunch room starting at 1 this afternoon. I take a late lunch, and that killed my access to the microwaves. I managed to grab a sandwich from the vending machine before they locked the doors and ate the tangerine I'd brought from home. Tonight was the end of my work week so it is Martini Thursday. I don't cook on Martini Days, I usually get some sort of snack foods (egg rolls, taquitos, that ilk). Didn't have anything in the freezer, so I gave in, and grabbed some mini bean & cheese burritos on the way home. That and a delightful Tanquery 10 martini makes for a lovely start to my weekend. If it counts, though, the gin, vermouth and olives were all in-house !

The plans for the coming week are to use a hunk of leftover meatloaf, some ground lamb, some meatballs, some pulled pork and a halibut filet from the freezer for dinners through next Wednesday. The meatloaf, pulled pork and lamb will use all that I have frozen. I will still have one halibut filet and likely some meatballs in the freezer.

I am having my surrogate family over for our Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday, and will purchase some supplies for that. The lamb, however, will also be used in that meal. I would guess-timate that about 80% of the the balance of the supplies for the coming week, however, will be from the freezer/pantry. I am out of fresh veg, and am making a salad on Saturday, so will purchase greens and a few other things for that.

For me, though, this is a huge step forward. I am very bad about over-buying and then wasting. That is a habit (yes, it is a habit) that I need to break, and soon, if for no other reason than economics. Not to mention ethics and morality.

[Chris Amirault]

People aren't mentioning condiments and sauces as much as I'd suspect. When I get back home (in DC through Sun) the focus of my Don't-Shop stretch will be, undoubtedly, finding ways to start making my way through that stuff.

[Special K]

People aren't mentioning condiments and sauces as much as I'd suspect. When I get back home (in DC through Sun) the focus of my Don't-Shop stretch will be, undoubtedly, finding ways to start making my way through that stuff.

Oh, yeah. Condiments galore here, too! Our local QFC closed a couple of weeks ago, and by the time I got to the sale, the only things left were spices and condiments - the rest of the place was stripped bare within hours - prices were rock-bottom). I loaded up on these things (well, as much as I could considering I was on foot), and now I have to figure out what to do with it all.

[andiesenji]

Yesterday is rather a blur in my memory.

Breakfast was uninspired - cold cereal with low-fat milk and a banana.

Some friends arrived mid-morning to participate in baking some cookies and other treats for the local shelter for women and children and the senior citizen center.

They brought lunch and took me out to dinner so I have nothing to report.

It was quite late when I got home and was much too tired to report on my day, particularly since it was so mundane.

This morning I have some mixed grain cooking in the rice cooker - I have plans to prepare a supply of porridge cakes to go into the freezer for later attention - and will have a bowl for breakfast with butter, milk and honey crystals.

A guinea hen that has been defrosting in the fridge for a couple of days is going to go into the oven and braised for dinner.

I am thumbing through the recipe book that came with the TMX and a stack of recipes from the 'net as I want to prepare a side dish to go with the hen and I also want to start a batch of bread. I have made stollen (turned out very nice) but want to try one of the recipes that starts with whole grain that is milled in the TMX.

I have yet to decide on lunch but as I have several cheeses, some rather ripe pears and some grapes that have been languishing in the small fridge for a few days, it is probably going to be a combination of these.

Chris, regarding condiments - I supposed I use them without thinking much about them unless I make my own.

I do plan to make some cranberry/apple/orange chutney-like stuff to go with my guinea hen but will have to wing it because I never use a specific recipe and it is different every time.

Edited November 20, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[OliverB]

I don't eat breakfast, made English muffins with Nutella for the kids and a sandwich for my wife to take to work. Lunch was mac&cheese for the kids, they've been after me for days, and I finished my poultry in aspik Sülze thing with some bread.

I did find an other pork tenderloin in the freezer, this one seems just fine, so I'll be making the pork with raisins and pine nuts and balsamico from Marcella Hazan's book tonight. Glad I found that recipe as I have an open package of pine nuts waiting to get eaten in the fridge. Salad will be some more of the gigantic avocado, persimmon from the inlaw's garden, the other pomegranate I have and wild arugula. Might make some rice to go along with the meat.

I did buy more milk and English muffins today for the kids, there's just no way around that. And minor cheat (I hope), some extra herb salad. And coffee.

Now, I just got word that my 1/6th of a cow will arrive tomorrow and a small turkey on Tue. All this was ordered weeks ago and of course has to show up in my no shopping week. I might use some of the fresh beef instead of thawing what I have, depending on the cuts I'll get. Since I bought this stuff weeks ago, I'm not sure it qualifies as shopping. But since I have assorted poultry and beef in the freezer too, it probably doesn't matter much.

I must say that it felt a bit strange to walk out of Safeway with one gal of milk, 3 packs of English Muffins and one box of salad (plus the coffee). I had to keep my eyes from wandering and my brain from wanting....

As for condiments, I could probably feed a small army with pickled things, sauces, powders, dried leaves, curries, etc. That's what I'm actually really looking forward to with this experiment - going shopping at home and discovering hidden treasures!

Having fun so far :-)

Oh, and my sourdough starter just finished it's first round of re-activating, off to it's next feeding and I can turn the light in my cooler (improvised proofing box) off. Couple more days and I'll be baking some real San Francisco Sourdough. Yes, they make it just down the road from me, but this will be selfmade and not shopped for. Well, aside of the ingredients of course.

I also see a sourdough pizza in my near future, I'm just starting a canned tomato tasting project and have 5 or 6 or so different brands to play with.

LOL, I'm starting to wonder if I secretly planned to open a small food store here???

[Fat Guy]

I thought yesterday's food-preparation activities had concluded, but Ellen arrived home from her talk (she was speaking to a group of prospective nursery-school parents) and asked to be fed. Nobody was sure of the age of the leftover container of Chinese-takeout hot-and-sour soup, but it didn't smell bad or anything, so we figured why not?

Today was a short day at school for PJ -- he gets out at noon on Fridays, so there's no school lunch. The plan for after school was to go to the holiday train show at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. So it was another day of packing sandwiches and snacks.

I'm finally making some progress on the bread. Unless I find more of it in the back of the freezer, I've finally used the last four slices of multigrain for peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. One sandwich was PJ's breakfast for the walk to school, the other was part of the lunch inventory.

I also made a couple of other sandwiches on FCI sourdough bread -- I now only have about half a dozen slices of that left. So, progress. For one sandwich I did hummus and mozzarella (trying to use up the mozzarella before it goes bad), and for the other I did cheddar, tomato and mayo.

I assembled two types of pretzels, pita chips, rice cakes, rugelach, water bottles and the last of the bananas (which were almost past the point of usability) and we were off and running with our lunch feast.

The camera batteries ran out at the Botanical Garden and are in the charger now, so no dinner photos. But it was just the lentils and rice you've seen before, supplemented with bits of this and that from the fridge.

Tomorrow we're going to visit some friends in Connecticut so I'm not sure I'll be 100% on plan, but I'm bringing a bunch of stuff up there to cook with: two amazing salume things from Arthur Avenue that I've been holding on to, some cheese ravioli -- I don't know, it may be possible to do a leftovers dinner. We'll see. If not, I'll be back on program Sunday night.

[Fat Guy]

People aren't mentioning condiments and sauces as much as I'd suspect. When I get back home (in DC through Sun) the focus of my Don't-Shop stretch will be, undoubtedly, finding ways to start making my way through that stuff.

Depending on the definition of condiments, I do have some plans. It seems to me the only way to put a serious dent in condiments is to hark back to the recipes of the '70s that had ingredients like "1 jar of mustard" and "1 jar of currant jelly." I'll be doing something with frankfurters next week that should fit the bill. Unfortunately, I'd have to make the recipe about ten times to burn through all our inventory of condiments, and there's no way I have enough frankfurters in the freezer to support that.

[Corinna]

Yesterday for breakfast I made biscuits and sausage gravy, to use up the rest of the package of sausage patties I opened earlier this week. There's enough for this morning too. Yay!

Lunch was a little of this and that: a couple leftover empanadas and leftover white bean, kale and chorizo soup.

In the meantime, I went rummaging in our shed to get out the china for Thanksgiving. Our dishes all used to be Pat's mother's. There is a blue willow style pattern, which we use daily, and a pink one that has been packed away. Pat said the pink set would be appropriate for Thanksgiving, as it depicts scenes from American history. What a treasure! They are so charming, and there is such a great variety. I was thinking I might have to buy some serving dishes for the side dishes on Thanksgiving, but this give me an abundance to work with-- and all matching! Hurray for no shopping!

For dinner we had a package of frozen mussels that I found hiding in the freezer. The flavor is nowhere good as fresh, but I bought them as an experiment so they had to get eaten! I steamed them with chorizo, onions and a splash of Gewurztraminer, and served with a biscuit to soak up the tasty juice.

I'm making some basmati rice to take to work and have with some of the curried cauliflower, etc. soup. I also have made a salad from some fading Napa cabbage and leftover sesame/soy dressing.

[LindaK]

All these pictures of full refrigerators and freezers are amazing to me. I always knew that I shopped lightly, but now I'm feeling like there's something wrong with me. Condiments aside, I think I had a dozen items in my fridge when I started this, and maybe another dozen in my freezer. My pantry--plenty of dry goods, canned items like tomatoes and beans, nuts, pastas, crackers and chips. Even so, it hasn't been very difficult to put together some tasty meals, and I can probably do better than a week's worth.

Last night I cooked for a few friends. For pre-dinner nibbles with drinks, some tapenade--thank you, olives, for keeping so well, they were weeks old--and pistachios. Dinner: roast chicken with herbs, brussel sprouts with brown butter, rice pilaf. Dessert was a lemon tart. The latter used up most of my precious stash of eggs, but I needed something I could assemble quickly after work--my plans to bake the previous night had been thwarted by the lack of a working oven--my gas service was down and wasn't restored until the wee hours. But I made and rolled out the pastry dough and squeezed the lemon juice Thursday night, so the tart came together quickly the next day. The only thing that did not work out well was my first effort at celery root soup, which I'd hoped to serve as a starter but was regretfully tossed as disgusting. Otherwise, the dinner was simple but delicious, no one felt in the least bit deprived.

Lunch today, some leftover carrot salad from the other night and an apple. Dinner tonight is out again. I'm not trying to get around the challenge. I figure since I fed four people last night, I'm still in good standing.

[rooftop1000]

While I can't say I haven't shopped this week (really had to get my free turkey) Tonights dinner dinner is a pantry freezer meal of Chili and corn bread. The only problem was no eggs. I asked my husband if he was ok with rice or should a take a home brew next door to barter for an egg? He said go get an egg. So does bartering count as shopping?

tracey

[Fat Guy]

So does bartering count as shopping?

I've been pondering a related question: does collaboration fit within the no-shopping framework? I think it probably does. Regardless, I've engaged in some.

A few weeks ago Thomas Keller sent me a fried-chicken kit. Well, actually I'm not sure Thomas Keller would recognize me on the street. Rather, the publicity department at Workman/Artisan books sent me the new Ad Hoc At Home book along with a fried-chicken kit:

If you've been looking at some of my earlier photos on this topic, you may have noticed that fried-chicken kit sitting on my counter. It has been taunting me ever since I received it. I really wanted to find a way to use it during the no-shopping period, but the only chicken I have in my freezer is two packages of boneless, skinless breasts. I just don't think those are worthy of a Thomas Keller fried-chicken kit.

Enter my friend Sean in Danbury, CT, with whom we're visiting overnight tonight. Sean has an enviable inventory of chicken. So we're collaborating: my fried-chicken kit and his chicken. Likewise, for dinner tonight we managed a collaboration of my ravioli and salume, and a bunch of his stuff. It seems to be working well. No major disputes requiring mediation or anything like that.

After making omelets for breakfast at home (the eggs are in a bowl on account of the other day's egg-carton disaster), I pulled together my gear for the Connecticut trip: the fried-chicken kit, some knives to sharpen with Sean's sharpening system, a couple of sheet pans, about 100 pieces of ravioli (the last time I was on Arthur Avenue I bought 200 mini cheese ravioli -- even after bringing 100 to Connecticut I have another 100 left in my freezer), and a couple of salume items (also from my last Arthur Avenue trip).

For dinner we pulled together an antipasto selection from the Arthur Avenue salume and some olives and such that Sean had. We made a marinara sauce from onions, garlic, canned whole tomatoes and basil. There was a head of Romaine available so we made a salad and, apropos of the condiments discussion, pulled out many bottled dressings from Sean's fridge.

After dinner we started on the fried-chicken project. Thomas Keller's fried-chicken recipe is a two-day process (no surprise there) and it starts with brining. The kit actually comes with enough to do two batches, but we're only doing one. We boiled water and added the brine mix, then cooled it on the back porch, butchered a whole small chicken and a whole large bone-in chicken breast, and put the chicken in the brine in the refrigerator to soak overnight.

Tomorrow there's a soaking-in-buttermilk process, battering and frying. We'll probably do it as a mid-afternoon meal before we head back to NYC.

[David A. Goldfarb]

All these pictures of full refrigerators and freezers are amazing to me.

Growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, we had space for a spare freezer and had room to stock up on food, but when I moved to New York, I realized that it was much more practical to keep a lean kitchen and let all the nearby shops serve as the pantry. That means passing up some bargains, but we're saving on the square footage in the apartment, not to mention the electric bill. I can still survive for a week on stuff in the house, and do when we're about to travel and want to clear out the fridge or if we need to free up freezer space for something like our periodic cooperative beef purchase, but we don't accumulate a lot of excess. I save freezer space for things like beef fat, fatback, sauces, demi-glace, stock and bits and pieces that go into stock (and film, but that's another subject).

Edited November 22, 2009 by David A. Goldfarb (log)

[Fat Guy]

I don't know if this is true, but I've been told many times that a full freezer is more energy-efficient than a sparsely populated one. Is this for real, and if so is it true of refrigerators too?

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've been told the same regarding the freezer.

[Fat Guy]

I did a quick Google search on it and found a number of explanations that demonstrate lack of basic scientific comprehension. But it does seem that every source agrees that a full freezer is more energy-efficient. Some manufacturers even recommend filling empty freezer space with milk cartons full of water to save energy. So I guess an unintended consequence of my lifestyle is an energy-efficient freezer. Go figure.

[Fat Guy]

Breakfast this morning: pancakes, fried eggs and ham. Would have preferred bacon, but ham was what there was.

Now off to sharpen some knives.

[LindaK]

All these pictures of full refrigerators and freezers are amazing to me.

Growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, we had space for a spare freezer and had room to stock up on food, but when I moved to New York, I realized that it was much more practical to keep a lean kitchen and let all the nearby shops serve as the pantry. That means passing up some bargains, but we're saving on the square footage in the apartment, not to mention the electric bill. I can still survive for a week on stuff in the house, and do when we're about to travel and want to clear out the fridge or if we need to free up freezer space for something like our periodic cooperative beef purchase, but we don't accumulate a lot of excess. I save freezer space for things like beef fat, fatback, sauces, demi-glace, stock and bits and pieces that go into stock (and film, but that's another subject).

That's my practice as well. Though I no longer have the space excuse--when I renovated my kichen last year I was able to carve out space for a full-size 36" fridge. Except when entertaining, I never even come close to filling it. Old habits die hard.

I don't know if this is true, but I've been told many times that a full freezer is more energy-efficient than a sparsely populated one. Is this for real, and if so is it true of refrigerators too?

Yes it's true. Even the owners manual of my new fridge makes note of it--especially in the instructions of how to handle a power outage. A full fridge/freezer will keep food cold longer if the power goes out. Makes sense--the cold/frozen objects keep the temp down even when the mechanics aren't running. The same principle is at work under ordinary circumstances--the condenser goes on when the temp drops, which happens less frequently if the fridge/freeze is full of cold/frozen items helping to keep the temp down.

So it is no surprise that I'm starting to run low on food. I pulled a frozen slab of pork ribs out yesterday to defrost. It was either the ribs or a small pork roast, but I figure I'll get more mileage out of the ribs. Tonight I'll throw the ribs on the grill while the weather is still decent. On the side, I'll use the last celery root to make a remoulade, maybe grate an apple in there too. For tomorrow, I'll make a pozole with the leftover meat (and make broth from the ribs). I have a can of hominy that I bought ages ago (checked date, okay) and a bunch of cilantro that's starting to fade. I still have onions and some carrots, so in the soup they will go too.

[OliverB]

I got my weeks ago ordered pile of beef yesterday and I was too curious about it's quality to not eat some of it. It's probably a gray zone item, since I did order it long ago. I also have other beef in the freezer, so it's just a swap. I skipped lunch running errands, family had some bread and pasta left overs I believe.

Decided to make the flank steak on the Weber grill, seasoned just with s&p as I wanted to really taste the beef. To go along I boiled some brussel sprouts (for the first time, I usually roast them) and a sack of tiny potatoes from Trader Joe's. They're barely larger than a marble, cock fast, taste great and the skin stays tight. It pops nicely when you bite on it, releasing nice creamy potato. A little arugula was left over, and made part of the salad. An other part of the gigantic avocado was the base for my salad sauce, added spices red wine and balsamic, and a tad of sweet and spicy mustard. The pit of this avocado is about the size of a lime, to give you an idea. The brussle sprouts were cooked in very salty water, then thrown into ice water to cool. To bring them back up to warm temp for eating I tossed a spoon of bacon drippings from my maple cured bacon. Oh, I also made some kind of chutney from a bunch of zucchini that needed to get used up. Cooked them for a very long slow low time in butter and oil with a shallot and a larger garlic clove, added a bit of curry and nutmeg, s&p, raisins soaked in red wine and balsamico vinegar and a hand full of honey roasted peanuts I had sitting around. I thought it turned out great, but I was alone in that opinion. Oh well, more for me and my sandwich

I could have pulled the flank steak a bit earlier, I measured it's temp but my remote therm is busy in my improvised proofing chamber for the sourdough. When sliced into it was perfectly med rare, but cooked a bit further on the cutting board. But wow, was that a tasty piece of beef! Easy one of the best flank steaks I've ever eaten, a wonderful beefy flavor! I can't wait to sink my teeth into more of my share, including a brisket that I'll make on the Big Green Egg. The beef is from these people: http://www.stemplecreek.com/ and I highly recommend it.

Lunch today will be sandwich or other left overs, for dinner I took a pack of chicken breasts from the freezer.

And finally a couple pictures:

The giant avocado:

The steak pre-fire

And dinner

just missing the tiny potatoes that I almost forgot to serve, here in their pot:

later tossed with some butter.

Everything turned out great. I feel I've hardly made a dent into my food storage though. Aside of fresh veg or salad and fruit I think I could go for a long time w/o shopping. I guess the more storage options you add to your house, extra shelf, extra freezer, (extra book or CD shelf...) the more you tend to hoard in there. An extended power outage sure would have me eat lots of meat or buy a generator...

[teagal]

The first time this challenge was presented, it made really look at what I had. I realized that I buy way too many canned goods and that it takes a looong time to use them up! Also, I'm terrible about getting the ingredients for a recipe I just have to try and then not end up making it but am stuck with ingredients I don't use on a normal basis. I need to be more aware of this with the holidays here.

[JTravel]

I'm not really in this time, though I could do a month at least since I have REALLY restocked since participating last time. At least what I have should be fresher.

But a couple of good things today,,,,,a rack of ribs from bottom of the freezer, I'd bought 2 of them, short dated at Aldi a while ago. Needs a boost of sauce so opened a bottle of barbeque sauce. When we've eaten those two things will be gone.

From the pantry ( a deep dark cupboard down beside the sink) I cleaned out a bag of oatmeal ( I bag it and freeze it for long-term storage), a small amount of rolled wheat, and a package with a cup of wheat germ. Used the last 2 cups of grated coconut from the fridge. Tasted to be sure they were OK, them made a double batch of Ina Garten's Homemade Granola Bars. Grandkids loved them when I made them before. Older outdoor activity loving son should enjoy them too. SO....stocking stuffers. Used up an old jar of honey from the co-op and "European Style" almonds from freezer. Now I can buy fresh honey and start on a new bag of oatmeal. The rest of the almonds will become Pille's candied almonds.

I'll store the bars in containers in freezer till Christmas....but I'm eating the broken edges.

[Fat Guy]

Yesterday we made the Thomas Keller fried chicken. I took lots of photographs and then left my camera behind in Connecticut. It may take a couple of days to sort that situation out. Once I have the unit back, I'll continue with the fried-chicken report.

Now I guess I have to borrow my mother's camera today.

[ambra]

Last night I defrosted a package of sausage to make Salsicce e Fagioli and I ruined the entire dish. Because after only a couple of months in the freezer....the sausages were freezer burnt and no amount of cooking covered up that foul, FOUL taste. I realized it's time to defrost and clean out the entire freezer. So I'd like to join.

I have one stipulation. I have an 11 month old son who is weaning and eats only homemade baby food. I will be buying fresh things for him. He doesn't eat frozen meats yet, and the only frozen vegetable I make for him is peas. I usually buy and make his food and freeze what I don't use within a couple of days. But it just so happens at the moment, I only have 5 meals worth of minestrone for him in the freezer. I do not use many frozen items (and NO canned) for him because I like to freeze the extra stuff. He also has a ton of food intolerances (beans, tomatoes, fish for example) and seems to be quite picky. He hasn't even been introduced to everything.

So that's that. I would like to join, but I am not willing to change the way I wean my 11 month old....

Am I accepted?

If so, today, I defrosted two packs of sliced chicken breast (about 700 grams worth.) I am making a recipe for Orange Tarragon Chicken I found on someone's blog. I live in Tuscany, and have been craving non-Tuscan flavors so I have been scoping the internet for non-Italian recipes! I am serving it over Basmati Rice. No vegetables because I didn't have time. My 11.5 month old learned how to climb furniture.....as if already walking wasn't enough!!!! My son is having salt and acid free risotto with peas and parmigiano reggiano.