Not spring and almost summer- Pantry & Freezer challenge

[Blonde Granny]

We haven't done one of these in awhile, so it's about time. We all have great intentions when shopping for pantry and freezer items, but how often do those good intentions pay off. What's hiding in those tiny spaces and how long has it been there? Can you even tell what it is anymore?

Since I've already been doing this, I'm making progress. Today I removed from the freezer:

3 chicken breasts that I'm cooking for dinner tonight.

[chiver78]

nothing in either of my freezers has been there longer than Feb, since that's when I moved into my new place. however, meal planning has been interesting to say the least, between my work hours being all over the map and trying to plan to include my roommate in those meal plans. he is rarely home for dinner at the same time I am, and our tastes don't actually overlap very much. so, I'm giving up on trying to include him in my meal plans, and now I want to work on the freezer for me!

tonight, I'm not removing anything from the freezer, but last night I removed:

- (1) snack bag portion of shredded rotisserie chicken. I mixed it into a batch of pasta w/a brown butter and sage sauce. there is at least one more meal's worth of leftovers from this.

[Iggy aka IG]

Thank you for starting the thread, BG!

As far as not being able to tell what it is, freezer tape and a big Sharpie helps. 

Our freezer floweth over.  This week:

Sunday:  Used up about 1/2 can diced tomatoes from March and a bit of chile en adobo along with a pound of ground beef.
Monday:  Had 4-5 fried chicken legs from last month.  There are two left.  Used up a bag of okra.
Tonight:  Will use up 1/2 bag frozen corn and serve with 1/2 the flounder.
Wednesday:  Leftover chicken eggplant from several months ago.
Thursday:  A pound of ground turkey
Friday: n/a
Saturday:  n/a
Sunday:  3 BOGO boneless pork chops bought last month

There is some buffalo chicken dip, bean something or other soup, and some old bananas I need to utilize.

The pantry, OTOH, isn't too bad.  Other than common items, there is a can of pumpkin, evaporated/condensed? milk, and nacho dip (free) we need to use.

[Blonde Granny]

Yesterday I tossed out what little was left of a bottle of BBQ sauce (no I don't make my own). Opened a new one from the pantry. Will not need to replace the new one until next year.

[Happy prose]

I had frozen bbq beef in my freezer, so Sunday we had sandwiches with corn on the cob. There's lots of frozen vegetables I have to get rid of too.

[billisonboard]

Panty in freezer challenge?

[ken a.k.a OMK]

I thought the EE freezer contained bodies? Ops wrong board.

[Tennesseer]

Jun 9, 2015 16:48:34 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Panty in freezer challenge?

Edible.

[chiver78]

Jun 9, 2015 14:54:15 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Thank you for starting the thread, BG!

As far as not being able to tell what it is, freezer tape and a big Sharpie helps. 

yes!! nothing goes into my freezer w/o a label. I love the freezer bags with the outer coating that is more conducive to being written on, too. I have a box of sharpies in a kitchen drawer, and it sees a lot of use.

sent from my electronic distraction

[marvholly]

I'm in. Actually I have been working on this for 4-6 weeks. Eating habits have changed - again. Need to make space for when some items go on sale in Aug.  Also, I am VERY heavy on pasta.

Tue I cleaned out my fridge.  Tossed about 1/2 bag of fresh (?) crranberries.  No clue how long been there.

Today I will take out at least full 1 meal I made several weeks ago.  Of course, as soon as I use stuff up I will probably make/add other cooked meals.

[marvholly]

I REALLY need to free up freezer space. My big fruit/veg market has chicken leg quarters for 0.19/lb this week. GOT to wonder if that might not be a misprint but if not need to go for it. I think the last time I saw chicken that cheap was right after I got married in late 1969.

Pulled a container of groung meat + black beans for dinner last night. Grabbing some already cooked chicken for tonight.,

[Blonde Granny]

I must be making some progress with the pantry as I've noticed that there are quite a few empty storage containers. The beef country ribs were delicious last night. Will see what else I can find in the freezer for tonight.

[Iggy aka IG]

In addition to my plans listed above, from the freezer:

Emptied out two more smaller containers which contained one serving each homemade low carb cheesecake. 

There are some overripe bananas which I'll make banana bread out of this weekend.  Maybe.  If I have time, LOL.

Pantry:

Used a can of green beans earlier this week, and a can of chicken this morning for today and tomorrow's lunch.

This is fun. 

[Blonde Granny]

I tossed a freezer container full of frozen green beans from the garden. Picked them last year and I don't believe we ever ate any of them. I have about 10 packages of Birds Eye veggies in the freezer that were on sale 10/$10.

Time to go look for a freezer package for dinner tonight.

[ohmomto2boys]

I have actually been working on this.  I need to stop spending $100 at the grocery store every week and pay more attention to what we already have.

I pick our kids up at noon from camp and it would be so easy to just swing thru a drive-thru to pick up lunch on the way home.  Nope - I am not doing that this summer.  We will eat what we have at home which can be frozen pizza, pb&j, burgers on the grill, etc. along with fresh fruit and veggies. 

Also, we are eating all dinners in too.  It is time to clean out the pantry and freezer and use up what we have.  I just need to keep up with the fresh fruit and veggies to go along with the meals.  I have decided to make more of an effort to get to farm markets this summer instead of picking up everything at the grocery store or Sams Club. 

[Blonde Granny]

I actually did get my pantry organized yesterday and I can see what's in it!!! yea me.

[ohmomto2boys]

We are doing a good job of eating what we have at home.    I did take kids to visit grandma & grandpa yesterday and she made us a pizza for lunch.  Kids are having friends overnight Friday and the only thing I need to buy is a pack of hotdogs and buns (already have meat for burgers and hamburger buns).  I will add a pasta salad (pasta from pantry) and veggies in frig.  I will also make a batch of chocolate chip cookies - have all the ingredients.   Lunch today is cheesy quesadillas and dinner is grilled chicken (from freezer) and potatoes.  I am only replacing fresh veggies, fruits and dairy in the frig.  Hopefully we can continue to clean out pantry and freezer for another couple weeks.