It’s Friday Guys – time for No Waste Tastes Great
Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge
Top Shelf – Spreads and Cheddar – in date
Top Middle Shelf – 1/2 bag of salad, 1/2 cucumber, aubergine (eggplant), broccoli and an onion.
Bottom Middle Shelf – Grapes, blue Stilton and Wensleydale with cranberries
Bottom Shelf – A serving of slow-cooked broccoli and Stilton soup
This soup will be featuring in the freebie e-book I’m currently putting together. If you’d like a copy just drop a comment or e-mail me.
So what’s the No Waste Tastes Great plan today?
Well being as the aim is to have no waste it would appear we are going to be eating quite a bit of salad. I’m not a salad fan, hence I very rarely buy it. When I do buy it I always have some leftover. Tonight for dinner I will make the Kid’s home-made pizza and salad. Any remaining cucumber and salad will be used up over the weekend as part of lunches.
Friday Night at Chez Wright used to be Date Night. It’s recently become Curry Night. The aubergine (eggplant), onion and broccoli are going to be the main ingredients in this evening’s experiment. I have a slow-cooked coconut based curry planned, which I’ll serve with rice and flatbread. I have no idea how this will work out . But hey that’s the fun bit. I’ll post the photos and maybe the recipe (if edible) on Facebook later today.
The grapes and cheeses will be eaten with crackers as a snack tonight, and over the weekend. I personally won’t be eating the Stilton. There are 2 things I’ve never been able to eat – blue cheese and dark chocolate. However bizarrely I like the broccoli and Stilton soup. Bizarre! I’ll actually be having the bowl that’s sitting in the fridge for lunch. Second-Born (who is home for lunch today) will be having boiled egg and soldiers. The other egg we will use to make a few fairy cakes as our afternoon activity.
How many people can this almost empty fridge feed? Well 1 adult and 1 child for lunch. It can also feed 3 children (play-date later) and 2 adults for dinner. I am having to add a few store-cupboard ingredients to achieve this, but we are talking the basics, flour etc…
You can do an awful lot with seemingly little.
How’s your Fridge looking this Friday? Anything to declare? Or is it nice and bare? Please share…
No Waste Tastes Great is bought to you (as always) with thanks to The Frugal Girl for the original inspiration.
My son, who’s not a fan of salads either, has started using spicy barbeque sauce as his dressing and he likes them now. I guess a little creativity can go a long way.
Or a little ‘masking’ 😉 – I tip balsamic vinegar all over my salad to eat it. Vinegar works every time for me. As a child I wouldn’t eat my Mom’s Sunday roasts, until she started pouring mint sauce on it. I still cover my roasts in mint sauce to this day!
My son, who’s not a fan of salads either, has started using spicy barbeque sauce as his dressing and he likes them now. I guess a little creativity can go a long way.
Or a little ‘masking’ 😉 – I tip balsamic vinegar all over my salad to eat it. Vinegar works every time for me. As a child I wouldn’t eat my Mom’s Sunday roasts, until she started pouring mint sauce on it. I still cover my roasts in mint sauce to this day!
Funny, I looked at the subject in my feed and clicked through expecting to see a much emptier fridge. It’s nearly full for a Friday by Jo standards. 😉
I have an extra day to use up my food this week as it’s market day on Sunday, so I’ll shop then instead of Saturday. Can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, they finally approved a monthly farmer’s market in our “village” last year. Price wise isn’t much of a saving over supermarkets, but it’s nice to buy from the farmers/traders directly. And so far, the quality has been excellent.
So back to my fridge… I think the only thing I don’t have a plan for is half a small swede, but think I’ll just chop it up along with the other veg going into a shepherd’s pie tomorrow. It’s using leftover slow roasted lamb that’s stashed in the freezer and leftover mash from the other day. Will be good! Oh, and there’s a small tub of leftover tinned pineapple, but it’ll be no problem getting DH to just eat this as a snack.
We did lose a small chunk of cheese to mould earlier this week though. Since DH and I are both avoiding dairy, it’s only flatmate who will eat it. And he didn’t. But otherwise he’s behaving.
Agree, by my standards rather packed! The farmers market sounds great – good luck with your shop there. I have a planned post about our local farm… I’m keen to see whether I can do a full shop there economically.
That pie sounds good!
There seems to be progress on the waste front with the flatmate…let’s hope the good habits that they are picking up stay with them in the future!
Funny, I looked at the subject in my feed and clicked through expecting to see a much emptier fridge. It’s nearly full for a Friday by Jo standards. 😉
I have an extra day to use up my food this week as it’s market day on Sunday, so I’ll shop then instead of Saturday. Can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, they finally approved a monthly farmer’s market in our “village” last year. Price wise isn’t much of a saving over supermarkets, but it’s nice to buy from the farmers/traders directly. And so far, the quality has been excellent.
So back to my fridge… I think the only thing I don’t have a plan for is half a small swede, but think I’ll just chop it up along with the other veg going into a shepherd’s pie tomorrow. It’s using leftover slow roasted lamb that’s stashed in the freezer and leftover mash from the other day. Will be good! Oh, and there’s a small tub of leftover tinned pineapple, but it’ll be no problem getting DH to just eat this as a snack.
We did lose a small chunk of cheese to mould earlier this week though. Since DH and I are both avoiding dairy, it’s only flatmate who will eat it. And he didn’t. But otherwise he’s behaving.
Agree, by my standards rather packed! The farmers market sounds great – good luck with your shop there. I have a planned post about our local farm… I’m keen to see whether I can do a full shop there economically.
That pie sounds good!
There seems to be progress on the waste front with the flatmate…let’s hope the good habits that they are picking up stay with them in the future!
…..so I run a tight ship around my house & try very hard to plan meals so that any excess wil be used in the next meal or at least frozen (or is appropriate to give to our pets). Anyways I stumbled across your blog from where I don’t recall, but since I’ve been catching up on your previous posts – the post series about your fridge have intrigued me the most.
I don’t have the typical US fridge ( or pantry either) in which it’s crammed slam full of condiments & mystery items in tinfoil, excessive canned goods or lots of half-used bottles of drinks. I buy just what we need for the following week & we limit the number of condiments to those we really do use. I love me a barren fridge.
My extended family & friends get such a kick out of our simplistic pantry/fridge – but you – you have me in awe with your minimal fridge/ pantry! Nice job indeed!
My fridge/pantry Achilles Heel is hurricane season.It’s expected/wise to stock up on living essentials at the start of hurricane season – which for us runs June thru late November. Essentials being flashlights, batteries, cash on hand, fuel for generator, potable water, pet food, and of course food that’s canned or doesn’t require refrigeration. All of this with the expectation that if we take a hurricane hit & lose power & sustain community damage that cuts us off from stores, medical, etc – that we can survive on our hurricane stockpile.
But man oh man, I’m not a big fan of hoarding food or even stockpiling for hurricane season. drives me nuts to have cans of food staring at me in my otherwise minimalist (by choice) pantry.
Cracks me up that most folks get wound tight at the possible threat of hurricanes while I’m more wound about having to buy/stock all those canned foods.I swear every season that I’m gonna wait until an emminent hurricane threat is looming on us – but then I’d have to fight the crazies & crowds at the grocery stores & that seems a worse idea.
Got any suggestions for trying to reason with hurricane season?
Love the term ‘barren fridge’ – will have to use!
I also hate to see stockpiled food, but because I live in the UK we don’t really have the potential weather situations that would cause me to be unable to get groceries. Because I live where food can be obtained 24/7 there is no need to keep stocks in. Even when it snows in the UK, it doesn’t stop play, I can easily walk to the local shop (and the weather is never so bad they won’t have deliveries). The only issue could be bread and milk, but I can make my own bread (as I keep flour in) and the one thing I try to have some back up stock of is long-life milk. On another blog I was described as irresponsible due to my lack of food stocks!
If hurricanes were an issue I’d go for stocking things that in their basic state are much smaller than when cooked, and also things that have a long shelf life. Like dried beans and rice that kind of thing.
If anyone out there has some suggestions please feel free to chip in… I’ve only ever once been on the tail end of a hurricane briefly (when in Mexico 1998) so can’t really talk from experience…
Funny you would get accused of being irresponsible for not stockpiling foods. One man’s emergency reserve can be anothers hoarding problem. Plus, aside from my hurricane risk, I really don’t want to stockpile foods in case of some old Cold War nuke attack risk, alien/terrestrial invasion or the end of the Mayan calendar debacle. If any of those should occur – I doubt having 40 extra cans of Spaghetti-O’s stored in my pantry would ensure my survival. LOL
Doomsday worries aside, the worse to expect around my parts (not including hurricanes) would be the occasional 1-2 hour power outage from someone running into a power pole. Again, not enough reason to reason to stockpile excess foods. Unless, zombies…..
You know – I hadn’t thought about Zombies! …now you come to mention it… I’m wondering whether the local co-op has those spaghetti hoops in? 😉
…..so I run a tight ship around my house & try very hard to plan meals so that any excess wil be used in the next meal or at least frozen (or is appropriate to give to our pets). Anyways I stumbled across your blog from where I don’t recall, but since I’ve been catching up on your previous posts – the post series about your fridge have intrigued me the most.
I don’t have the typical US fridge ( or pantry either) in which it’s crammed slam full of condiments & mystery items in tinfoil, excessive canned goods or lots of half-used bottles of drinks. I buy just what we need for the following week & we limit the number of condiments to those we really do use. I love me a barren fridge.
My extended family & friends get such a kick out of our simplistic pantry/fridge – but you – you have me in awe with your minimal fridge/ pantry! Nice job indeed!
My fridge/pantry Achilles Heel is hurricane season.It’s expected/wise to stock up on living essentials at the start of hurricane season – which for us runs June thru late November. Essentials being flashlights, batteries, cash on hand, fuel for generator, potable water, pet food, and of course food that’s canned or doesn’t require refrigeration. All of this with the expectation that if we take a hurricane hit & lose power & sustain community damage that cuts us off from stores, medical, etc – that we can survive on our hurricane stockpile.
But man oh man, I’m not a big fan of hoarding food or even stockpiling for hurricane season. drives me nuts to have cans of food staring at me in my otherwise minimalist (by choice) pantry.
Cracks me up that most folks get wound tight at the possible threat of hurricanes while I’m more wound about having to buy/stock all those canned foods.I swear every season that I’m gonna wait until an emminent hurricane threat is looming on us – but then I’d have to fight the crazies & crowds at the grocery stores & that seems a worse idea.
Got any suggestions for trying to reason with hurricane season?
Love the term ‘barren fridge’ – will have to use!
I also hate to see stockpiled food, but because I live in the UK we don’t really have the potential weather situations that would cause me to be unable to get groceries. Because I live where food can be obtained 24/7 there is no need to keep stocks in. Even when it snows in the UK, it doesn’t stop play, I can easily walk to the local shop (and the weather is never so bad they won’t have deliveries). The only issue could be bread and milk, but I can make my own bread (as I keep flour in) and the one thing I try to have some back up stock of is long-life milk. On another blog I was described as irresponsible due to my lack of food stocks!
If hurricanes were an issue I’d go for stocking things that in their basic state are much smaller than when cooked, and also things that have a long shelf life. Like dried beans and rice that kind of thing.
If anyone out there has some suggestions please feel free to chip in… I’ve only ever once been on the tail end of a hurricane briefly (when in Mexico 1998) so can’t really talk from experience…
Funny you would get accused of being irresponsible for not stockpiling foods. One man’s emergency reserve can be anothers hoarding problem. Plus, aside from my hurricane risk, I really don’t want to stockpile foods in case of some old Cold War nuke attack risk, alien/terrestrial invasion or the end of the Mayan calendar debacle. If any of those should occur – I doubt having 40 extra cans of Spaghetti-O’s stored in my pantry would ensure my survival. LOL
Doomsday worries aside, the worse to expect around my parts (not including hurricanes) would be the occasional 1-2 hour power outage from someone running into a power pole. Again, not enough reason to reason to stockpile excess foods. Unless, zombies…..
You know – I hadn’t thought about Zombies! …now you come to mention it… I’m wondering whether the local co-op has those spaghetti hoops in? 😉
No food waste here, Yea! 🙂 Yes, it is amazing how many you can feed on very little when you’re creative! Great job, Jo! 🙂
I wouldn’t stock in dried beans for a hurricane because the electric would probably be out. Possibly canned beans and canned veggies/fruit and maybe boxed milk? You would only need about a week’s worth, I’d imagine? Maybe one case of stuff that could fit under your bed (and out of sight)? Just a thought!
Gosh Cheeryshirley I never thought about electricity once duh! Can you tell I’m from the UK or what? Well done on no waste!
No food waste here, Yea! 🙂 Yes, it is amazing how many you can feed on very little when you’re creative! Great job, Jo! 🙂
I wouldn’t stock in dried beans for a hurricane because the electric would probably be out. Possibly canned beans and canned veggies/fruit and maybe boxed milk? You would only need about a week’s worth, I’d imagine? Maybe one case of stuff that could fit under your bed (and out of sight)? Just a thought!
Gosh Cheeryshirley I never thought about electricity once duh! Can you tell I’m from the UK or what? Well done on no waste!
I completly ran down my fridge and cupboards this week, so much so i could not pull a packed lunch together for my littleees this morning, what a feeling of satisfaction i had 🙂
Whilst on my voluntry work at the hospital last week, broccoli and stilton soup was on the menu, it came up in powder form and we had to hot water to it, it was making me gag, and nothing ever turns my stomach, but that did!! Bet your tastes a whole lot better!!
Sharron x
Oh my – that hospital soup doesn’t do it for me at all! Mine was pretty good even if I do say so myself 😉
I can relate to that sense of satisfaction!
I completly ran down my fridge and cupboards this week, so much so i could not pull a packed lunch together for my littleees this morning, what a feeling of satisfaction i had 🙂
Whilst on my voluntry work at the hospital last week, broccoli and stilton soup was on the menu, it came up in powder form and we had to hot water to it, it was making me gag, and nothing ever turns my stomach, but that did!! Bet your tastes a whole lot better!!
Sharron x
Oh my – that hospital soup doesn’t do it for me at all! Mine was pretty good even if I do say so myself 😉
I can relate to that sense of satisfaction!
It’s cyclones and floods down my way. I deal with the issue by putting the stockpile on the separate shelf from our regular pantry items and in a box – at the very bottom, so I can’t see it. It contains 2 large tins of fruit – pears and peaches. 5 tins of various veg, 2 tins of baked beans, a container of rice, bag of pasta, a bag of dried chickpeas, jerky, bottled water, powdered milk, 2 hand cranking torches / phone chargers, a radio and an compact alcohol stove. Of course I have flour so I could make a damper bread type food and we always have dried fruit, lentils and beans in the house for our regular diet. This set up is a compromise – hubby would happily stock the house to the gills and I would be totally stressed. I can do one box though. I just try not to think about it. We have successfully used dried beans in the last flood disaster, when we had no electricity for 5 days. We simply soaked the beans overnight in cold water then boiled them on the alcohol stove for around an hour which gave us enough for a few meals.
Thanks for this Amy – interesting stuff! It seems even when stockpiling,you can keep it simple. That’d be my take on it also. It’s never going to happen here, but we have a small gas stove (presume similar thing – camping stove?) and the Hubby insists on keeping it for emergencies! What that’d be I’m not sure? 😉
I like the idea of keeping the hurricane food stockpile away from my regular pantry – I swear it’s the visual clutter that irks me the most. We end up buying a lot of military type MRE’s (meals ready to eat), canned goods & protein bars. Still – just hate having it all around. But with living near the coast comes both perks and perils.
Protein bars…good idea! I use those as impromptu meals when out and about to resist eating fast food! That’s normally the biggest emergency around here!
It’s cyclones and floods down my way. I deal with the issue by putting the stockpile on the separate shelf from our regular pantry items and in a box – at the very bottom, so I can’t see it. It contains 2 large tins of fruit – pears and peaches. 5 tins of various veg, 2 tins of baked beans, a container of rice, bag of pasta, a bag of dried chickpeas, jerky, bottled water, powdered milk, 2 hand cranking torches / phone chargers, a radio and an compact alcohol stove. Of course I have flour so I could make a damper bread type food and we always have dried fruit, lentils and beans in the house for our regular diet. This set up is a compromise – hubby would happily stock the house to the gills and I would be totally stressed. I can do one box though. I just try not to think about it. We have successfully used dried beans in the last flood disaster, when we had no electricity for 5 days. We simply soaked the beans overnight in cold water then boiled them on the alcohol stove for around an hour which gave us enough for a few meals.
Thanks for this Amy – interesting stuff! It seems even when stockpiling,you can keep it simple. That’d be my take on it also. It’s never going to happen here, but we have a small gas stove (presume similar thing – camping stove?) and the Hubby insists on keeping it for emergencies! What that’d be I’m not sure? 😉
I like the idea of keeping the hurricane food stockpile away from my regular pantry – I swear it’s the visual clutter that irks me the most. We end up buying a lot of military type MRE’s (meals ready to eat), canned goods & protein bars. Still – just hate having it all around. But with living near the coast comes both perks and perils.
Protein bars…good idea! I use those as impromptu meals when out and about to resist eating fast food! That’s normally the biggest emergency around here!
I do love salad but have a jaw issue that allows me to eat it only occasionally. So our greens were often going to waste as well. I wish they could be boiled up into a nice soup but even though technically it could be done, it gives me the blechs to think about it 🙂
I am getting much better at using up what is in the fridge before buying more, and that is a direct result of your blog, Jo. Getting the message slightly differently every week, and seeing what you make with your leftovers, is gradually getting ingrained in my head – thank you.
Boiling salad – yep with you on that – no thanks! I (many many many naive years ago) tried the cabbage soup diet for a day or two. Oh my! I added cajun spices to make it bearable, and to this day struggle to eat anything with cajun on it now. So glad the posts are a help..that’s the point! Thank you for saying! It brightens my day 🙂
Oh egads – the cabbage soup diet. How something could be so offensive to all 5 senses.
LOL Jane and Jo!
Although … I must admit to being one of those odd people who like cabbage. Maybe because I don’t prepare it very often … but when I do, I enjoy it. My mother used it fairly regularly in beef stews, and she would always give me some raw cabbage wedges along with raw turnip pieces, so I have a fondness for both – but again, the raw veggies are hard on my jaw, so I mostly cook them now.
Maybe I should be on a cabbage soup diet. Hmm. Better me than you two? hee hee
It was grim!
I do love salad but have a jaw issue that allows me to eat it only occasionally. So our greens were often going to waste as well. I wish they could be boiled up into a nice soup but even though technically it could be done, it gives me the blechs to think about it 🙂
I am getting much better at using up what is in the fridge before buying more, and that is a direct result of your blog, Jo. Getting the message slightly differently every week, and seeing what you make with your leftovers, is gradually getting ingrained in my head – thank you.
Boiling salad – yep with you on that – no thanks! I (many many many naive years ago) tried the cabbage soup diet for a day or two. Oh my! I added cajun spices to make it bearable, and to this day struggle to eat anything with cajun on it now. So glad the posts are a help..that’s the point! Thank you for saying! It brightens my day 🙂
Oh egads – the cabbage soup diet. How something could be so offensive to all 5 senses.
LOL Jane and Jo!
Although … I must admit to being one of those odd people who like cabbage. Maybe because I don’t prepare it very often … but when I do, I enjoy it. My mother used it fairly regularly in beef stews, and she would always give me some raw cabbage wedges along with raw turnip pieces, so I have a fondness for both – but again, the raw veggies are hard on my jaw, so I mostly cook them now.
Maybe I should be on a cabbage soup diet. Hmm. Better me than you two? hee hee
It was grim!