Empty the Storecupboard Challenge: Week 11
It’s Week 11 of the Empty the Storecupboard Challenge, and we’re still ploughing through all the stored food that needs using up. Significant progress has now been made (check the original challenge list), but there’s some way to go…
This week we’ve had macaroni cheese with squashes, summer vegetable pasta, and a paprika casserole with cous cous to keep us very well fed. The kitchen garden here is being nicely productive now and we had fresh ingredients for adding to all the meals.
The macaroni cheese (picture above) used up the last two portions of macaroni box meals, and it had a yellow patty pan squash and a green courgette added to it freshly picked from the garden, plus a sprinkle of cheddar. The super-fresh veggies had a delicious flavour, miles better than anything that’s sat around for ages on a supermarket shelf. There was enough for a leftovers lunch the next day too.
The summer vegetable pasta (below right) used up some more of the dried penne, plus fresh peas and baby turnips from the garden, and broccoli and carrots lurking at the bottom of the vegetable drawer. Simple but delicious.
Finally, the paprika casserole (above left) used up the last of the paprika sauce and the ordinary cous cous. It had a home grown yellow courgette added to it, plus onions, veggie sausages and tomato puree. Not the prettiest dish ever made, but perfect comfort food.
This week’s three meals
The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse, so we’ll be having some warming dinners:
1. Baked stuffed marrow. A handy way to use up the last box of garlic and onion stuffing, plus a courgette that turned into a marrow overnight because somebody forgot to pick it.
2. Prawn coconut curry. This should get rid of some more coconut milk powder and Kashmiri curry paste. Just add economy prawns, spinach and onions.
3. Turkey bolognese pasta. Time to put that turkey flavour soya mince to use, along with some more stored pasta. Will need tinned tomatoes, herbs, and maybe some red wine to make it into a meal. Is it OK to admit I’m slightly scared of the turkey mince? That’s probably why it’s been sat around for so long at the back of a shelf.
If we keep going at this rate I’m hoping that we’ll have cleared the shelves by some time in September, so we’re definitely into the home stretch.
Over to you
What are you using up from your stores at the moment? Let me know!
Or tweet me your meal pics with the #EmptyTheSC hashtag so I can see what you’ve been making.
Oo – I’m currently trying to empty the store cupboard too. We’re hoping to sell our house, so it’s a bid to de-clutter so we don’t have to take much with us and also to try to keep our budget down as we know there will be some big bills coming up with surveys etc.
This week I made a bean chilli – using up cans of chickpeas, kidney beans, borlotti beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes. I’ve just taken a portion out of the freezer but I’m hoping it will taste delicious.
Hi Jodie – thank for commenting and good luck with your own Storecupboard Challenge. That bean chilli sounds really tasty!
I am having a serious attack on the pantry next month, I’m changing my usual approach and not doing a plan. I have 5 different types of pasta – they’ve got to go!
Hello Thrift Deluxe – thanks for stopping by. It’s not like you to go without a menu plan, is there any special reason for that? Good luck with busking it and let us know how you get on with using up all of that pasta mountain.
August is looking like a bit of an up in the air month, with work and the weather so not planning might help with flexibility. Or I might collapse in a big heap due to having to think about it too much. Will let you know how I get on with all that pasta.