On a weekly basis, I try to make use of everything I have without buying any extras. It has been hard since I started Atkins since almost everything required one missing ingredient that I DIDN'T have! I made two small trips to Weis (grrr hate hate hate that store) last week and ended up spending an extra $40 in groceries. That is not good :( Big mistake...and it was made worse by taking my daughter who begged for candy and cookies and oh look ma, i need this for my lunch. I do shopping alone...period.
What I strive to do is make a list of what I have available to use....all my freezer items, fridge items and canned goods. As you can see, I don't keep stockpiles of food in my house. I hope to use everything up quickly. I like things that look slightly sparse. Too much food is not good..if you fridge is so packed that you can't fit one more thing into it..or you have containers of take out everywhere...OR you can't even place a small tupperware container somewhere..anywhere in there...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!! SOMETHING HAS TO BE ROTTING IN THERE and that's not kosher for the rest of your food. Pinching pennies and conserving are all good but let's be realistic. I get on my mom all the time when I visit her. Here are some random things I have found recently in her fridge (sorry ma!) ~
a half eaten sandwich kylie had 3 weeks ago when she came to visit
a small dixie cup of 3 sips of juice leftover from a week ago, no lid
one green bean cooked in a ziploc baggie
cups of chipotle guacamole, brown in color
I mean WHO does that?? My mother is the cleanest person I know..you could eat off her toilet, lick her spotless sink and here in the deepest darkest depths of her fridge are the scariest things that no one should keep around. I do not find mold in there but she doesn't think that microwaving something 18 times again and again and again has any affect on the safety of the food. I mean, just let it go.....don't save mcdonalds french fries for next week..they taste like ass 20 mins after they cool down...we all know that!
This is my freezer and as you can see, there's lots of room in there. We have some Popsicles, corn, mini pizzas for kylie, meat and such. Not too much going on and lots of potential. Also take note of the meat box in there..the white thing..that holds about 8 chicken breasts...from the time my mother bought frozen meat off the back of a truck that came to the door..yes, this is true...and embarrassing..$300 worth of meat..she doesn't even like meat that much. So alas, I stole this from her. A lot of my stuff is from Aldi's and as I mentioned before, I am quite pleased with their off brand items. We also have some bags of hot wings which sadly are breaded. I plan on using all this meat by next weekend, cooking the corn on the cob for dinner tonight, making my SO eat this breaded crap so I won't feel obligated to and the cheesecake..well i have a hot date with that tonight, sans the crust of course.
Now the door of the freezer..really sparse. However I am going to use all this! Pepperoni for extra on the mini pizza's and a snack for me..moving that down to thaw out. The frozen meals are for SO's lunches and there are frozen mini pancakes for Kylie. I have been putting off using these as I don't have any syrup but she will have to do without. I have honey..maybe she will eat honey on them. Hell, why not? With a small pat of butter, they will rock. Also PBJ sandwiches for her lunches..great cuz I am plum out of peanut butter..cuz i ate all that last week. Me and my sneaky low carb tricks!
Moving along to the inside of the fridge....
In here we have...left over pasta that SO refuses to eat again...tortellini is my fave and if I can't have it, someone else will. Sometimes I stare at it..and dream..wishing my diet allowed even one small taste. Notice the beer and take note.this is not mine. Apparently it's for someone Jeremy is working on a bike for...long story...the short story is that shit is moving out ASAP as it's taking up too much space. The one lone beer was mine..but only for making bratwurst with last week. No need for it now. We don't drink beer. There's my leftover Mahi-Mahi and broccoli that is my lunch for today. Also we have some leftover potatoes that will go into a breakfast meal along with eggs and the bacon. I have been using the bacon for some things though but I don't like the maple taste of it. I used it in my low-carb mock cauliflower and my massive cheeseburger. It also has some mad insane shelf life so I feel no pressure here. The ham is going to made into something shortly..that's on the list for this week. I am thinking of doing a breakfast for dinner thing...omelets with ham and cheese, potatoes (not for me)..something like that. I am pretty confident I can clear most of this out. And of course, tea..our fave. I use my Mr. Coffee tea maker almost every other day making this lipton concoction. I use Splenda..even when I wasn't dieting. We have adjusted to the taste and prefer it over regular sugar now. I use Splenda for everything. I also try to drink a lot of water which I usually keep at room temp cuz I am lame. I also have some chicken boobies thawing out for this week as well. I will see how many meals I can get out of those. The ONE thing I am clueless on is this small container on the far upper left that I got from Aldi's last week. It's processed pasteurized cheese spread...Parmesan prosciutto. Sounded interesting and fancy..even better with crackers. However, I am a little disappointed. It's very strange inside...weird texture. So I will be seeing what I can do with this without using crackers since that would set me back two weeks of low-carbing. I will make SO some tonight as a snack on crackers and see what he thinks. I would hate to toss it.
The side door is kind of uneventful as side doors go but probably more loaded. I am running dangerously low on butter so I have to watch how I use that. I love cream cheese which is why you see so much over there..plus it's a staple in a lot of LC (low-carb) dishes so I stocked up. Do not mix cream cheese and chicken..I learned this the hard way from recipezaar. I made something in my crockpot one time that was mixture of cream cheese and chicken..to this day, I want to vomit thinking of it. We all felt so bad about it that we stomached eating it but no one went for seconds. I ended up tossing it. I have also tried stuffing chicken with cream cheese..again, a no go. I like my cream cheese just like i like my men..cold, salty and stiff. When ya start breaking it down and warming it up..it just ruins it for me. Now cheesecake is an exception to EVERY rule..I don't care who you are...that's tasty!!!
I have a wide assortment of bottles..half this shit, I don't even know what it is so I will be doing a full inventory of these and seeing what I can do with them. If it's something I can't eat and they won't eat, I am tossing it. Easy as that! It will be an adventure to see what's left down here and what I can do with it.
Now it's starting to feel like the Dame Edna show LOL! If you haven't seen Dame Edna, watch her here and don't tell me I didn't warn ya! Dame Enda rocks my world :)
My cupboards are a little hectic, more than I would like them to be. Lots of soup...not sure why I am hanging onto this. If I can't use it by this weekend, I will donate it. I love soup personally but low carb just won't have it. Kylie won't eat soup not even chicken noodle..what a strange child. I also have tons of little packets..for things that I "think" I might need...of course when was the last time I roasted a WHOLE chicken..I mean, honestly, I can go to Martin's and get a cooked one hot and ready for less than $7. So I do have some housekeeping to do here. I also have lots of pasta packets which Jeremy enjoys. I also have spaghetti, another old favorite of mine. Hmm..this cupboard needs to be cut in half..so let's see if I can do that this week as well. I will do some googling on soup and what I can make with it. Also, some other ideas of using pasta. Of course, notice..the lack of food for me to eat in here. I can't think of one thing in here I am allowed to have. Wait..I was wrong..Splenda.
Argh!!! Look at all this bread! This is ludicrous! Who needs this much bread? I clearly overdid it last week. Since I have nothing else to use with the rolls right now, I think I will freeze them. The bread will have to be used for ghetto garlic bread this week or toast or I will make heart eggs..you ever made those? Use a cookie cutter and make a heart in the toast, then fry an egg inside of the heart. Very fun and cute. I will do that...as soon as I find my cookie cutters. You can use any kind of cookie cutter you want really or just make a hole in them. This cupboard has more irrelevant things in it..some low carb barbecue sauce I have never used, more canned goods, etc. Need to google some of these things as well to see how I can use them. And to the right is all of my cupcake goodies..sprinkles, cake icing and more. Just in case Kylie's school needs baked goods..or because I am a cupcake suckah!
I also have coffee samples..which I get as freebies. I keep these around and put a little in the bottom of my trash bags..it's my own odor protector. Makes the kitchen smell like yummy coffee. Once in a blue moon, I will make something that has coffee as an ingredient but mostly, these are a housekeeping thing. I drink coffee but not much and I don't brew at home..never liked it as much as I love restaurant coffee..never quite as good.
This cupboard needs no explanation..simply put..it's junk...all of it.
So what I do now..is GOOGLE. I google recipes on everything I can find until I find one that I have all the ingredients for. I try to use up everything I can..and if I can't, I pass it on or toss it. It will liberate you and you will learn new things..new dishes, new tastes. See what you can find in your fridge or cupboard? What is expired that you can toss out? What kind of room can you make? What recipes can you use this week? It also helps to make a weekly menu plan so you stay on task.
1 comment:
Love This! Inspired me to venture into my cupboards tonight and clean, clean, clean.
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