When I first woke this morning I kept seeing the shadow of a busy chipmunk, though I could never find the actual animal. I think our local groundhog is probably going to be seeing his/her shadow. It doesn't look like life is going to change much for a while anyway, so neither 6 more weeks of winter nor an early spring will alter what I do, which is stay away from everyone as much as possible. Sigh!
Once I decided to join in the pantry challenge this month. I realized it was going to take more effort than I usually put into meal planning and it will take some serious follow through on my part. Not my strong suit! I put on my ski gloves and scarf to begin sifting through the freezer to see what is available right now for meal possibilities. It was not a fun job to do on such a cold day (Yes, it was even cold here today, but I realize my cold is like springtime to some of you)
I was surprised to find my vegetable drawer was very much on the light side. I honestly thought I had several bags of frozen broccoli, a bag or two of California mixed veggies, and a bag each of collards and spinach. I had absolutely zero of each. What I do have is enough single servings of caulimash to last each meal for about a week and a half (if I wanted to have it every night), I have ziplock bag after bag of spaghetti squash, green beans, and bell pepper strips. There are only two bags of frozen cauliflower rice, a couple with frozen asparagus spears, a bag of artichoke hearts, a bag of strange mushrooms (T.J. impulse purchase), a few packs of okra and that is about it.
I have a couple of prepared foods from larger batch cooking, so chili, spaghetti sauce, and goulash are ready for a thaw and a quick meal. I also have a bag of T.J.'s fried rice if I need a super fast no thawing necessary meal.
I found 4 loaves of the ultra low carb Aldi bread. I may eat 4 slices of it a week and that is if we have a sandwich meal. At that rate I will still have a couple of loaves left in June. Butter? Yeah ! I over bought when it was on sale and have 21 pounds of it in the freezer, along with cheese. I have 14 (total ) 8 ounce packs of New York Sharp, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, and Mozzarella.
There are multi packs of chicken, turkey, and veggie broth I made and froze, along with packs of sausage, both cooked and smoked.
I have a lot of frozen berries, as well as frozen peaches and apple slices. I might make TheHub a couple of pies. (I found 2 frozen pie crusts) They are pretty easy for me to resist because I do not like the consistency of cooked fruits.
I still have to inventory the kitchen and laundry room refrigerator freezers. Neither of them have any long term storage foods, but maybe___ just maybe I will find a bag of broccoli or some other vegetable. Fingers crossed!
So, excluding this week these are some main dish possibilities I see:
1. Spaghetti and meat sauce (I might be out of spaghetti noodles)
2. Chicken coq au vin
3. Philly cheesesteak casserole
4. Taco salad
5. fake-a roni and cheese
6. Vegetable or veggie beef soup
7. BBQ chicken sandwiches
7. Hamburgers
8. Grilled steak (I have one T-bone and we usually split a steak)
9. Chili
10. Chicken and broccoli casserole
11. Smoked sausage/veggie sauté
12. Keto waffles, sausage and eggs
13. Grilled lamb chops
14. Crab cakes
15. "Fried" chicken, keto style
16. Veggie meal (no idea what yet)
17. Keto pizza
18. Picadillo, possibly as a keto empanada
19. Veggie quiche
20, Chicken soup
21. Keto cottage pie
22. Pulled pork sandwiches
23. Faux bean soup
24. Orange ginger chicken breasts
25. Chicken stir fry
26. Meat loaf
27. Cheese sandwiches
There are more ideas than I need but it gives me a starting point. I honestly imagine I will use about half of them and then change things drastically as I use up various foods from the freezer, fridges, and pantry. It will be kind of fun to try anyway.
I just realized when I did a quick count of what I was going to be able to use, I might have to add another month to the challenge.
We did a freezer inventory/challenge in January and used up a lot of items. It's good to do that as then you know what you have on hand and can avoid any food waste. I cannot believe it is already groundhog Day. Time is flying, but like you I want this avoiding people to be behind us. Hopefully soon.
ReplyDeleteMy freezer is just very overstocked and I need to use it to get ready for the next round of good buys!
DeleteTime is going by so fast, but the days are so incredibly long and lonely.
Well, if you get snowed in (I know, snowballs chance in hell) you certainly have enough food! lol
ReplyDeleteHahaha yes I have enough food and I think the last time we were snowed in for any amount of time (over 3 days) was in '93!
Delete21 pounds of butter! You must have found a really good price. That much would last us for years.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great price and it will last a long, long time. Until I put it all together in the same spot I did not realize how much I had overbought.
DeleteI really need to do a freezer inventory. I suspect that I will be shocked at some of what I find. And thanks for the reminder. I do have some frozen asparagus spears, and they would be great in a frittata.
ReplyDeleteThe inventory was a little shocking both on what I had available and what I did not have.
DeleteI make meal plans but, then I change my mind almost 80% of the time.
ReplyDeleteSticking to a pan is going to be very hard for me, and I doubt very much I will stick to it firmly, but at least I have a direction.
DeleteThat's wonderful that you have enough items on hand to come up with practically a month's worth of meals! I did a mini freezer inventory at the end of last month, but, should do a full inventory, soon.
ReplyDeleteI do have so much, and did a pantry inventory which almost doubles the amount of available food I have on hand. One of my notes to self is to buy no more salsa or green chilis for quite a while.
DeleteYou have plenty, you've totally got this challenge! Can't wait to hear how week one goes :)
ReplyDeleteI do have a lot to choose from. I think the hard times are going to be when I have days that I have many things to do (i.e. going to the lake to do things), then getting home late and having to start thinking about dinner. I do have crockpots and if I think about it in advance I could have something ready, but honestly I am not generally the forward thinking.
DeleteDiscovering the inventory I have vs what I thought I had is always really eye opening, once I get into the freezer. Glad to hear you have a ton of options for the month+ ahead!
ReplyDeleteIt is eye opening. I truly thought I had a boatload of frozen vegetables and was surprised at how few were in the freezer.
DeleteYou have so much, but isn't it crazy what you think you have and what you really have?
ReplyDeleteIt was more than a little surprising!
DeleteI am not going to count or list anything since I cannot get stuff out of the freezer! But, I can see three turkeys, three turkey breasts and a dozen packs of ground beef and eight package of ground pork. I have cheese, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, onions, apples and more frozen. There will be no lack of food around here. I have frozen bananas, blueberries, and strawberries. There is canned tuna, salmon, chicken, and beef. There is a lot of food, I promise.
ReplyDeleteFood storage can creep up on you, that's for sure.
DeleteI am intrigued with the Philly Cheese Steak casserole-or hot dish as we would say in Minnesota. You have a ton to work with. I too am much leaner on veg than I thought. I need to toss the big bag of peas as they smell funny so I think got freezer burned.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wholesomeyum.com/philly-cheesesteak-casserole-recipe/
DeleteThis is the link to the hot dish.
I just sort of use it as just a suggestion, and since buying provolone is not in my budget I will most likely use Monterey Jack.
You have a well stocked freezer! Before COVID, I had never used frozen spinach. But I got some in the early days when fresh produce was sometimes scarce -- kind of a "just in case" thing. Turns out I really like it for cooking -- in some ways more than fresh. Haven't used frozen collards -- I should give those a try.
ReplyDeleteFrozen collards are not great tasting is you just wanted plain collards, but the are great added to other ingredients. I make a black eyed pea soup with frozen collards that is fantastic.
DeleteYour style of shopping and storing food is totally different from mine! I only have one refrigerator with a pretty small freezer compartment, which is about 1/3 dedicated to home-baked breads. Since the pandemic caused panic buying last spring, I’ve kept a lot more canned goods on hand, but I use fresh vegetables a lot. So it’s interesting to read about how you do it.
ReplyDeletebe safe.... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I think the reason I had so few vegetables is because we use fresh produce almost exclusively. The packs of frozen vegetables are from our summer garden, with a couple of exceptions. I do tend to stock up on meat, chicken and seafood bargains though and the butter was a serious miscalculation.
DeleteI am amazed by all the food in this house for one person. If the electricity doesn't go out it should last me several months. If the electricity does go out, I could probably feed the entire neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteIf the power is out for any length of time I will have to have a neighborhood smorgasbord, but I might have to invite multi neighborhoods!
Delete