Julie
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Do you ever have a fridge/freezer/cupboard purge?Once a week roughly, I have a fridge purge and several times a year, a freezer purge.
This involves finding everything that wants using up and making a meal of it to avoid waste. Given the amount of wasted food in some modern households, I thought it would be fun to start a thread for this....sort of what did you make with what today?
I do it cause I'm hard up and tight fisted, but it gets your brain working.
We could also use the thread as a way of asking other friends what they think we could do with our perishable odds and ends, so I'm making it into a sticky so it's always handy and, of course, green 
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andybebbington
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tonight we had a ham shank with cauliflower cheese made with frozen cauli reduced to clear milk and the last bit of cheese and some salad that would be to passed it tomorrow
we are always having a freezer purge they are full between pork, lamb mutton chickens and whatevers reduced when we go shopping
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Diana
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can we add cupboard purge to that list too please - I keep trying, but get halfway through and then start buying again!
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Ina
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Best way not to let stuff build up - switch off fridge and freezer, and just buy what you need... OK, that's a bit difficult in summer (although a pot-in-pot cooler can keep milk fresh long enough), and even more difficult if you want to store large quantities od meat. But I've not had the fridge on since I moved into the caravan (and never had it on during winter before either). Result? Very little waste!
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IainC
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| Ina wrote: | | Best way not to let stuff build up - switch off fridge and freezer, and just buy what you need... OK, that's a bit difficult in summer (although a pot-in-pot cooler can keep milk fresh long enough), and even more difficult if you want to store large quantities od meat. But I've not had the fridge on since I moved into the caravan (and never had it on during winter before either). Result? Very little waste! |
But how would you keep the beer cold?
Our fridge regularly gets emptied... when my sister was over she said it looked fairly full (compared to hers anyway) but between the four of us it rarely ever looks that full to me 
We do try and eat our way thru' the freezer stuff as well without just topping it up all the time.
I think it's fairly rare for us to actually throw away anything that's just gone out of date, we do sometimes have leftovers that the kids haven't eaten, etc though.
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Ina
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| IainC wrote: |
But how would you keep the beer cold?
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Same as milk! 
Trust Iain to get his priorities right... 
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IainC
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| Ina wrote: |
Same as milk!
Trust Iain to get his priorities right... |
I don't use milk (very occasional bowl of cereal or odd cup of tea). 
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Julie
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That's a good idea Diana. I don't know how to edit the title of a thred though so can you do it please?
Switching off the fridge and freezer is not a very green idea if you have a 25 mile round trip to the shops every couple of days instead.
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Diana
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Tis done (edit your original post and you can access the title too).
I agree with the mileage thing - not just the distance either. We both work from home and until recently didn't have reason to go anywhere near shops when they were open on a regular basis, so we tended to shop once a month.
We're not hermits anymore though.
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Ina
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| Julie wrote: |
Switching off the fridge and freezer is not a very green idea if you have a 25 mile round trip to the shops every couple of days instead. |
My milk keeps a week without a fridge - the same as with! So no extra miles involved.
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Julie
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It keeps for about two weeks past the sell by date inside a fridge. We find that apples, pears, grapes, salad, peppers and mushrooms keep long enough to buy in quantity too.
If you have to go out regularly, that's fine, but it doesn't suit everyone.
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Smooth Hound
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its alot cheaper buying lagger packets 2 for 1 and that with a freezer,
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nina
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Today,lurking in the fridge,I found half a jar of red pesto and a carton of cream cheese(just out of date)I mixed the two together in a pan,heated it up and served it over hot pasta.
In the pantry I found two sad looking leeks and three potatoes left in a bag.I peeled and roughly chopped them,added two chopped onions and put it all in a pan with chicken stock(or stock cubes and water)to cover.Simmer until tender,liquidise,season and serve.You can stir some cream through but tastes good as it is. Quick and easy soup.
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Julie
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I have some cold lamb, left over new potatoes, peas, neeps and carrots.
It just has to be a cornish pasty doesn't it
Good job it's just for me though, there isn't enough for two.
Why isn't there ever left over cream cake? Is there such a thing?
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Maria
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| Quote: | Today,lurking in the fridge,I found half a jar of red pesto and a carton of cream cheese(just out of date)I mixed the two together in a pan,heated it up and served it over hot pasta.
In the pantry I found two sad looking leeks and three potatoes left in a bag.I peeled and roughly chopped them,added two chopped onions and put it all in a pan with chicken stock(or stock cubes and water)to cover.Simmer until tender,liquidise,season and serve.You can stir some cream through but tastes good as it is. Quick and easy soup.
_________________
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It sounds like that programme (is it still on?) Ready steady Cook. But sooooo much more realistic for what's really in the cupboard.
This thread is wonderful.  and now i know what to do with the cream cheese left over in my fridge - along with the bit of pesto pasta thats in there.
We often do a mixed supper - where everyone has something different from the leftovers in the fridge/freezer/cupboard. The only trouble is, everyone wants to put their fork in someone elses meal.
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Julie
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My pasty was huge It should have fed two people - I was wrong.
I made some rough puff pastry which was a mistake, as I couldn't leave it alone and ate too much......
Result ; left overs 
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nina
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Nipped out the tops of overwintered sage and got a good handful.Found 3 crusts of stale bread,the last egg in the box and 1 small onion.Chopped sage and onion(Small)Fried gently in a little butter or oil until soft.Removed from heat Made crumbs with the bread.Added to the pan.Beat egg.Added to pan.Mixed well adding enough milk to make a firmish mixture.Seasoned to taste.Bake in ovenproof dish or stuff a chicken or piece of pork.Forgot to mention I've just made sage and onion stuffing!!!!!
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nina
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Today we(Andy and I)found 5lb of frozen blackberries-wild and 1lb of frozen golden raspberries-wild.Bought some apples and pears in ASDA last week and both were tasteless so added them to the berries with sugar and Andy made a batch of jam.Smells amazing.
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Julie
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And don't you find that jam made from wild rasps sets much better too?
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nina
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| Julie wrote: | | And don't you find that jam made from wild rasps sets much better too? |
This batch of jam is amazing-probably one of the best we've made.Pity there is only 8 jars.OH will make short work of it.
Andy made a loaf from Julie's recipe and that was very good too.Took photos but Andy will have to post them.
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Forget-me-Not
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PurgeFab thread!
We regularly add different pestos to cheeses, a great way t use up either. I tend to create jacket potato fillings out of things. This last week's one was 4 carrots, a salad onion and some leek, some cabbage, (all from garden) picked but then not used immediately but stuck in fridge instead  with some mayonnaise, salt and pepper if required and a squizz of lemon oil. All chucked in the blender raw as coleslaw.
Beth
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