Use up the food you have: Commitment 2009

[MuddyWitch]

Any waste, but particularly food waste, is anathema to us so Hubby makes "orts" at least once a week: ie owt that ought to be eaten up!

Tonight we're having a jacket spuds with the same thing we called bolognaise when it was on the spag last night, tonight the kids are being told its lamb mince relish!

If there's still some left tomorrow (unlikely) it'll be added to, to make soup..

MW

[Rosendula]

Tonight we're having a jacket spuds with the same thing we called bolognaise when it was on the spag last night, tonight the kids are being told its lamb mince relish!

You have to be clever with kids. When my eldest two were little they decided they didn't like eggs so we stopped having them altogether and had scrambled chicken ovum instead And they didn't like cheese and tomato on toast, so I changed its name to 'pizza on toast'. They couldn't get enough of that

[invisiblepiper]

That sounds a great book. Can you remember the author and title? Not a Marguerite Patten is it?

No, it's called 'Practical Cooking ' and it was printed by Collins - Gran's one was called 'Home Management' and even told you how to hire servants!

IP, is your Trench Cake recipe the same as this? And can you post the name of the Wartime Cooking book?

Yes - except for the Imperial measurments of course! - I think I will post a few of my Mum's recipes - perhaps in a different thread - does Andy not have a recipe bit somewhere?

What's trench cake, IP. Sounds intriguing - would like the recipe, as long as it's not related to trench foot
What's trench cake, IP. Sounds intriguing - would like the recipe, as long as it's not related to trench foot

Heehee - not related to trench foot!

Just realised that the book has recipes for meat products too - Calf's head Brawn (potted Heid)
I have always used it for jam recipes and old fashioned cakes.

[hedgewitch]

does Andy not have a recipe bit somewhere?

Sure does - What's In the Pot.
I'll look forward to those recipes.
No food gets wasted in my household. Any leftovers get used the next day or, like a lot of you, gets frozen.
Because the Supermarket is only 5 mins away I go there as and when I need things which does mean I end up going a few times a week but I enjoy the exercise anyway.

[LBR]

IP, thanks!

[Thomzo]

I, too, have a mother who grew up with rationing so I waste almost nothing. I get my veg box once a week. Just occasionally the hens might get a little treat if I haven't managed to use up all the carrots from last week.

Living close to the supermarket is definitely a help. It is much easier to walk than get the car out but that means that you can only buy what you can carry. But then, in this cold weather, I can't be bothered to walk so make do with whatever is in the cupboard. I shall probably not bother doing a food shop until I run out of cat food but that'll restrict what I buy for myself as cat food is quite heavy.

I think laziness is actually an advantage here. Can't be bothered to go shopping so I'll just eat whatever is in the kitchen.

Cheers
Zoe

[Masco&Bongo]

We are doing some serious belt-tightening and budgeting this year, so we can become debt-free, and this week, for the first time in AGES, our weekly shop came in at under £50, and we haven't bought anything extra.

We've been using up what is in the freezer - lots of stuff bought on offers etc; and I want to be able to say that everything that's in there will get eaten, instead of languishing at the back We've had some interesting concoctions, but have enjoyed it so far!

We don't have leftovers - they are tomorrows dinner or next thursday's tea!

[theabsinthefairy]

I have become a little militant about food waste these days - especially as our budget tightens and winter stocks are all that's left in the house.

My personal best last week was a duck I killed before Xmas - I used some of the breast meat in the Xmas dinner (for 10 people), and then froze the rest. Last week when I defrosted it - I scraped the remains of the breast meat off the bones and made a chinese stir fry for 3, then we had the legs in a goulash, I roasted the rest of the bird for the duck fat - and scraped the bones again and made a stew with the last bits of meat and we ate that with fried potatoes (fried in the duck fat) (I kept a jar of the fat to set and have that to give to a friend as a gift). I then took the last scrapings of the goulash and made a soup out of those. So in all that duck fed us over four meals - made a stock from the bones, an extra jar of duck fat - and the dog and cats had some lovely skin scraps, and then the chickens and the barn cats picked the bones completely clean.

My kitchen compost bin is now so empty - the only things that go in there are citrus peelings and even those I have used a couple of times over.

[LBR]

Absinthefairy, good job with the duck. Very impressive.

[Flo]

A trip round the supermarket today bought the grand total of spending over the last month on food and cleaning materials to £30.68p.

I'm going to use up the pulses and beans in the store cupboard, along with the pickles and preserves off the allotment before I even consider a major shop. There looks to be a lot of winter soups and stir fries for one along the way. I'm aiming to bottom the dry stores cupboard (which includes a lot of pickles and preserves from the allotment) and take a good long look at what I eat before I go and do a serious stores shop again.

I very rarely waste but discovered some sweet potatoes that had gone off before I'd eaten them this week - they may be fine in the compost heap but they'd have been better in me at the cost of them. I managed to salvage a little but it shouldn't have happened. It's some time since I've been caught out like that.

[janemiss]

We too havent done an actual shop since the BIG food shop the week before xmas. We are having loads of "use up" meals, eg today hubby had fishfingers with the remnants of a bag of frozen mixed veg, some mash and homemade parsley sauce. daughter had mash, beefburgers with some leftover frozen mince, tinned peas, and grandsons sharing a mega size plastic vat of some soup concoction i made in November thats been lurking at the bottom of the freezer. We've got loads of snacky type foods i bought in "incase" people dropped by, that didnt happen though so now we're faced with these little titbit things for the next 6 months !! I think i may just have to do a "proper" sunday lunch next week or i may have a riot

[Big Al]

I bought a tiny fridge some time ago, to help ensure that I'd always use what I have. Nothing would go bad, nothing would get forgotten. I'm getting there.

(I gave away a giant, fancy refrigerator.)

With a little planning and diligence, I intend to have 2009 be a use-food-wisely year.

Maybe our ancestors' motto: Waste not, want not could be true.

Anyone else on a similar plan?

I haven't read the rest of the topic yet but had to say i'm with you on this one. I try to shop daily or probably 2 days at a time depending on health. This year nowt and I mean ABSOLUTLY NOWT has been thrown out, even the peelings go next door for the rabbits to munch on.

Mind you I will admit on here to putting some rather decrepid looking carrots in a soup the other day but we have never eaten so much yet spent so little.

[Flo]

I discovered the ingredients for a vegan Xmas pudding hiding in the cupboard earlier last week. Knowing that the step daughter was due for a visit I made a third one since start of December and she has gone home today with half of a very generous one. I'm telling you - this looking in the back of the cupboard has shown that there is a long way to go before any serious shopping needs to be done.

It's interesting to see that I've been to the supermarket once since December 19th and that was for a stock up on fresh food. I've bought about four loaves of bread besides this visit and we are now into February.

I'm keeping an eye on the cleaning side and planning to buy in bulk for shampoo and bath foam from the local wholefood co-operative when it meets this month which saves on packaging, space and going to the shop. Same trick with washing up liquid the meeting in 3 months time. Again - saves packaging, saves me going shopping and saves me money.

It's too easy to buy a little extra that you don't need if you have to run down to the shop for something to clean with!