Empty the Storecupboard Challenge: Week One
A few days ago I announced the start of a brand new Empty the Storecupboard Challenge for 2017 (rules and stock list exercise here), and now it’s time to see how the first week has been going. Here’s a quick roundup – please let me know if you’re making your own storecupboard meals too!
The first dinner was falafel with cous cous salad, using up all the falafel mix, some of the cous cous and a tin of the mandarin oranges. It was very tasty, to the point that we wolfed it down and forgot to take pictures. Oops.
Our second and third evening meals were homemade veggie curries, a tarka dall and a saag paneer. I used up all the yellow split peas for the tarka dall, starting it off with a paste of onion, ginger and garlic, then cooking it all up in the slow cooker with dried herbs and spices, plenty of water, and some bay leaves from the garden. The saag paneer was made with Indian cheese from the supermarket, frozen spinach, thickly sliced onions and the jar of coconut curry paste – quick, easy and very tasty.
The curries were served with some of the brown Basmati rice, and all the papads in the cupboard. There was enough for some to eat reheated the next day, and I also had enough dall left over to freeze four portions for another time. Sorry, forgot to take pictures again (we were hungry).
The fourth main course storecupboard dinner was a homemade pizza, using some of the longlife tomato puree in the sauce for the topping. The pizza base was homemade from dough stored in the freezer. We topped it with black olives, mushrooms, sliced veggie sausage, herbs and cheese, then served it up with a side salad.
There were extras too. We’ve managed to use up some of the oats in porridge on colder mornings, and had peaches and mandarin segments in desserts. A kind person gave us a bundle of forced rhubarb from their allotment, so I made use of the custard powder, adding milk and coconut to make a filling dessert. Finally, we had one portion of tinned sweetcorn in a side salad to go with homemade potato wedges and veggie burgers.
I think we did pretty well having four storecupboard meals instead of the minimum three, plus we’ve managed to have lots of fruit and vegetables so it’s been good and healthy. Let’s hope I can come up with a menu to match it this week, and remember to take a few more pictures this time around.
Are you making any Storecupboard Challenge food of your own? Remember to tag it with #EmptyTheSC so I can see your recipes – mine will be on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as we go along.
If you’d like to see all the posts for this 2017 Storecupboard Challenge, they’re listed in the Storecupboard archive.
