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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Shelftember Week 2

This began week 2 of Shelftember where I am concentrating on using up a good bit of food storage from the freezer and pantry and only buying produce, milk and bread. I did add a codicil to my plan that if I found something at stock up prices I was going to go ahead and buy it, but would not use it at all during this challenge. I am very glad I did because ThePig has had a great buy on ground chuck and I have purchased about 15 pounds of it, processed it and it now lives in nice flat freezer bags for future use.*

Tuesday: In anticipation of Irma  blowing in and knocking down a few trees which would cause a loss of power, I rearranged the upright freezer so I could transfer everything from the refrigerator freezer in the kitchen to the laundry room. I have a portable generator which supplies enough power to be able to run both, but they are not close enough to each other to actually do it and I will always choose saving the freezer foods. So___Irma came and went with a whimper here, but I was left with a few things I had taken out to thaw as "just in case easy to cook in the dark" meals. Which meant I had to use them. TheHub was not going to be around for dinner so I chose the easiest course of action, and made an Indianish  pork and rice (emphasis on the ish ) This was truly delicious
Used: Sliced roast pork from the freezer, 1/2 onion. can of  diced tomatoes, small handful of baby carrots, 1/2 cauliflower, rice, leftover yogurt, clove garlic, hunk of ginger.

Wednesday: TheHub had to work late again (Same guy in town as the night before but he opted out of the dinner this time. He is in the office by 6:30 nearly every morning and if he has to go to a dinner meeting it means his work day is nearly 14 hours long. Even though he is eating he still has to be in business mode, and 2 14 hour days in a row is more than he likes) He was fried by the time he got home and not terribly hungry and declared he wanted spinach pies from Taboon Noon Since we can do takeout for 10 bucks total and the food is fairly good for us, it was a winner!

Thursday: TheHub was out of the office and came home relatively early for him, but still was not terribly hungry. I had taken a package of sliced turkey from the freezer and made some turkey gravy from one of those cheap packaged gravy mixes. We had open faced turkey sandwiches with gravy on top and a side of sliced tomatoes. Totally uninspired, but fodder nonetheless.
Used: Frozen turkey slices, 4 slices bread, 1 huge tomato, cheap turkey gravy packet

Friday: Friday was my birthday, but we had been to a funeral out of town and both had eaten lunch very late in the afternoon. We had planned a celebration out but were not hungry at a normal dinner time. Instead at about 9:15 we went to Firebirds for a couple of appetizers and drinks then decided we would go to  Highlands, our favorite restaurant in town, in a couple of weeks and celebrate both of our birthdays. We only go there a couple of times a year because you pay dearly for the impeccable service and extraordinary food but it is purposely in our T and E budget every year. Since we do not buy each other birthday gifts this will be our mutual present, and then on TheHubs actual birthday, I will make whatever he wants for dinner along with a speciality cocktail or two.

Saturday: TheHub and Son2 went to the Alabama/Colorado State game so I was alone for dinner. I had some assorted leftovers and ate what could be zapped for a minute. I could be uppity and call it a tapas meal but I am not sure a tablespoon of green beans, a couple of tablespoons of rice, and a half of a cucumber plus about 1/4 cup of leftover Indian counts as tapas. Not great but it used what I had on hand, was quick and I had only one plate and fork to clean up.
Used: Several small containers of leftover assorted items.

Sunday: TheHub decided we were having a birthday meal, so I pulled 6 hamburger patties from the freezer. We had planned on cooking out but the rain had other plans for us. Instead of a burger I cooked them on the stovetop, added a little gravy then served broccoli, saffron rice and rolls. TheHub bought a cake. Whoopee!!!
Used: 6 frozen hamburger patties, frozen container of gravy, 1 pack frozen broccoli, 1 pack yellow rice with additional saffron, frozen rolls

Monday: I had some okra that had to be cooked, I was going to be the only one here  for dinner and nothing sounded good or bad. I had recently read an article about meals in the slave quarters of the American South in the early 1800's. One of the items mentioned was something called okra perloo which I had not only never eaten but had never heard of before, so I did a quick Google search and low and behold I found it several places. It is more like a rice pilaf with okra in it, but it was tasty, quick and easy to eat while I was reading.
Used: Rice, 2 slices bacon*8, bacon fat, okra, onion, frozen diced bell pepper, frozen jalapeno

*Using a vacuum sealer extends the freezer life of meat products greatly. This ground chuck will last many months.
** I cook several pounds of bacon at one time, drain them well, put them on a cookie sheet to freeze, then pack in containers. That way I can easily pull out a slice of 2 as needed. After cooking the bacon I strain the leftover bacon grease and keep it in a pint jar in the freezer. I don't use it often for cooking but when I do the flavor it adds is remarkable.

14 comments:

  1. Everything sounds yummy! Last night I baked chicken breasts I had marinated with teriyaki glaze. Then I cut them up and mixed them in with yellow rice and broccoli. Dinner in one pot, and I had enough left over that my son took some for lunch at work today.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Some was good and some not so great, but in the end we were fed and the sun rises again!

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  2. Look at you, you are like my chickens you eat all the leftovers.

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    1. Usually I have bits and pieces of whatever is left for lunches, but____

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  3. Saturday meal--Like you, I save all the bits and eat a bunch of things. uninspired indeed, but I don't have to have a perfect meal, don't want to cook or waste food. I have friends who would say, "It was only a few green beans, not even a helping, not enough to save." Uppity tapas? Oh well. From now on, I will report I had tapas. I told exbf that is what he was having for lunch one day, either that or pb sandwich.

    One reason I don't like these no buying challenges is I don't put in my own codicil is the rigidity. I will buy if it is a good sale!

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    1. My lunches are always the bits and pieces that are left over. I am running to ThePig as soon as it quits raining to get 1 or 2 more packages of ground chuck while it is on sale I am all about buying at its lowest price. Fingers crossed that chicken is very cheap somewhere this week.

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  4. Well done.
    We have had sickness in the house this week and appetites have been low. Very little eating, even less cooking.

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    1. Bad news about the illness, but no real cooking is a very small upside.

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  5. Have you made a dent in your freezer yet?

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    1. Not a huge dent, but I have been using things from it for a bit before this, so it was nowhere near as filled as it has been. I am buying and restocking ground chuck to last for several months for 2 reasons. The current sale price is my stock up price plus I am actually down to 1 package in the freezer and 2 small packs that are defrosting. I do find I am not using the frozen fruit much at all. I think next year I will limit my fruit buys to what we actually eat fresh with just a few bags for cobblers during the winter. I guess I am rethinking how i stock it so it will be filled only with foods we enjoy on a regular basis.

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  6. Happy birthday! Sorry I am late with my wishes.

    I think you did very well with this week's meals! I like how you list what you used up with each meal. I should try to do that, too. I could barely remember what I ate, last week. But I am keeping better records for this week.

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    1. Thank you for the birthday greeting!
      I don;t record my meal immediately I forget, so I begin the post as soon as I eat the first meal, then every night afterward i do the same thing.

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  7. I can get all uppity so I will say your tapas meal on Saturday, if you ate with a nice cocktail, sounds pretty good to me. We call those girls dinner in our house, though lately our girls dinners have actually involved cooking meals-curry last night and DH ate leftover hot dish from the night before. Well done on using more food stores.

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    1. Maybe I should start calling leftover meals girls dinners. That is a much nicer term than leftovers. Since I was eating alone there was no cocktail, not even a glass of wine.

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