On Friday I will be making a trip to Cash & Carry (a wholesaler that primarily serves small restaurants, but will also sell to the public) to pick up a large amount of produce, cheese, and sliced meats. I will need all of the fridge space I can spare, both for the purchase and for the trays that I prepare with all of this food. In addition, I will have water and blackberry lemonade to chill. I have a garage fridge, too. I am moving everything I can, which won't be needed for Sunday, into that fridge. Unfortunately/fortunately, I did my senior shopping on Tuesday, so that fridge is already quite full. My back-up is a picnic cooler which could hold items like condiments, which would free up a bit of extra space in the fridges.
Earlier this week I began cleaning out the fridge by using up all of the odds and ends of leftovers and almost-empty jars of various items. Wednesday's dinner did a great job of using these bits.
I made an odds and ends soup, using leftover bean soup, leftover, previously frozen canned tomatoes, and some diced tofu. I added chili powder and a bit of salt. The soup was quite tasty and just enough to serve all of us without any leftovers to go back into the fridge. I also made a very good jello and fruit salad, using the sweet leftovers of cranberry cream cheese spread, blackberry lemonade, red currant jelly, and the last bits from 2 jars of applesauce. I combined all of this with some dissolved, plain gelatin, and a spoonful of sugar. Once set, I scooped into individual dishes, and topped with sliced bananas. I thought it was very tasty, and a great way to prevent food-waste. Bonus -- one lucky family member got the scrapings of the practically empty peanut butter jar on their buttered bread, which accompanied this soup and jello salad supper.
Today's lunch found a lingering, single hot dog and bun. As of now, there is someone's small bowl of canned tomatoes, a single slice of salami, a slice of cinnamon swirl toast, and 2 halves of peeled, raw carrots. I'll be asking to whom those items belong this evening. (Plus there's my daughter's punch -- she buys this herself.) Otherwise, I think my fridge is ready to be filled!
Thursday, June 7, 2018
6 comments:
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I secretly like it when my fridge is empty like that for some weird reason. LOL I hope your party is terrific, Lili. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, Belinda. I think I also like that feeling of not being crowded in by stuff, whether it's food or other things. Plus, I really like the challenge of trying to create a dinner from very little.
DeleteHave a great day, Belinda!
Me too! Both the empty fridge and the dinner challenge!
DeleteDuring a particularly stressful evening earlier this week, I yanked soup out of our freezer It opened up freezer space, gave me back a large container for future use (already full of watermelon) and allowed me to provide a homemade meal with very little effort. Oh, the joy.
That jello sounds good. We don't eat Jello very often, but maybe I should buy a package of gelatin or two to have on hand when we have some extra fruit. Actually, now that I think about it, we don't have extra fruit, so I would have to snag it early. Good luck with the open house. Sounds like things are continuing to fall into place.
ReplyDeleteAn empty fridge is like a clean slate.
ReplyDeleteI only like an empty fridge for the simple fact that I can clean it! But then I like to fill it just a bit because we pretty much all pack lunches and need things to pack.
ReplyDeleteI do have a flavored cream cheese that no one wants so maybe I'll make a creamy jello from that. I never thought of that even though I know you can use cream cheese in jello.
So, how does the fridge look today? Monday morning presumably after the party? Did you have any goodies for leftover use this week? That would be a bonus.
Alice