Empty the Storecupboard Challenge: Week Two
Time for another quick roundup as part of the current Empty the Storecupboard Challenge for 2017. It still feels like we’ve barely made a dent in the contents of our food cupboard, but we’ve certainly been having plenty of meals out of it and the grocery bills are staying low too.
Our first evening meal was a veggie ragu with pasta, using up some of the penne in the cupboard and some more of the tomato puree. I also used two portions of frozen homemade ragu which contained soya mince, onion, garlic, mushrooms, dried porcini, vegetable stock and lots of herbs, plus a little olive oil and some Gran Padano style cheese (the Basics one from Sainsbury’s, which does a great job at half the price of Parmesan and is suitable for vegetarians too). It was a decent, filling meal. And I forgot to take photos, again.
Meal Two was black bean fajitas. We often have Tex-Mex style food for a speedy supper at the start of the week, and this time around I used up a carton of black beans and a small tin of sweetcorn to make the base of a warm salad. We also added jalapeno sauce and some Greek yogurt instead of the traditional sour cream, and Beau put some leftover chicken in his as well.
The third meal was a hot quinoa salad with peas, beans, lemon and broccoli, with blackened miso-crusted tuna. That sad bit of quinoa has been sat around in the cupboard for months on end, so I guess we’re not a quinoa kind of household really (please, nobody snitch on us to the Blog Police, it was bad enough when I admitted I’d never used chia seeds…). It’s a bit of a pain to cook that stuff if I’m going to be honest, and I’m more likely to reach for low maintenance cous cous when I’m tired or in a hurry. It used up the ancient miso paste as well – win!
After the main meals there were a few extras that used up dried and tinned ingredients, including more helpings of porridge oats, this time with raisins as well as the usual fresh or frozen fruit, plus I snacked on a small handful of pistachios and a few more raisins. I also did another small tin of sweetcorn reheated as a side dish when I made bangers and mash, so that’s another can of that gone.
If you want to see more Storecupboard blog posts you can find them in the Storecupboard Challenge section. Bon appetit!
Do you have a favourite storecupboard recipe that’s thrifty, delicious or extra-healthy? Please share it, it’s great to get some fresh inspiration for the weeks to come.
