Empty the Storecupboard Challenge 2016: Week 5
This year’s Empty the Storecupboard Challenge is now into Week 5. If you want to see exactly how much food is left, or you’re wondering what the rules are, you can have a quick look at the original stocktake post.
I’ve been carrying on with making about three meals per week, steadily using up all our surplus food stocks. The first dish made was a big pan of refried beans (picture above), using up half of the dried borlotti beans and the remaining fajita spices. It also needed onions, bay leaves, vegetable stock, garlic and tomato puree adding to it to complete the dish.
We had half of the refried beans with flour tortillas, cheese, salad and jalapeno sauce, after the frying up bit where I added more garlic and a little olive oil. Perfect comfort food. There was a lot left over, so that’s gone into the freezer for future quick meals. It might even end up being used as part of the Empty the Freezer Challenge in April, who knows?
We also had a hearty pudding on Sunday evening, using up the mini Christmas pudding (see above). That had custard and candied orange peel added to it to turn it into a very tasty dish.
Some more of the weird flax and cinnamon powder has been eaten too, 10g in some porridge with pears and raisins, and 20g in a breakfast smoothie with banana, frozen berries and milk.
The last storecupboard dish for the week was a stir fry (picture above) that used up the last two sheets of egg noodles and two portions of curry sauce. It had some spring onions, sprouting broccoli, red pepper and tuna strips added to turn it into a tasty dinner.
As you can see from the photo above, we’re making real progress with using up our extra food stores. It’s not quite at the halfway mark yet though, there’s some work still left to do.
Next week I’m planning on making a curry to use up some more rice, doing a quick cous cous dish, and finding something useful to do with the rice crumbs like maybe making crispy croquettes.
Are you using up your older food stores too? Let me know what you’re cooking from your storecupboard!
You’re doing well!
We’re having a big push this week. Today I made some falafel and harissa paste to use up some oil and spices. Next is houmous to use up a bottle of tahini sauce we’ve had for months, and I’m getting rid of the last of the maftoul in an orzotto tomorrow. Black bean burgers at the weekend to use some spices and to get rid of the last of a bottle of salsa. Finally we’re going to make lots of dough to stop us nipping to the shop for bread.
Hi thrift deluxe, that sounds like an amazing menu! Good luck with using up the rest of the stocks.