You know how the fridge begins to look as your approach grocery shopping day? There are bits of this, bits of that, but not one single thing that jumps out at you from which to make a meal. For me, the day before grocery shopping I often have just a little of several types of fresh produce and a bunch of tiny containers of leftovers.
I've been doing our grocery shopping on Fridays or Saturdays this past year. I skipped a regular grocery shopping last weekend, as I was buying foods for our tea on Sunday. So, it'e essentially been two weeks since I did a real grocery shopping trip. When I opened the produce drawer in the fridge this morning I saw 2 carrots, a bunch of celery tops with leaves, 4 aging mushrooms, half an onion, and lots of garlic. I also had Brussel sprout greens from the garden I could use and small amounts of several types of frozen vegetables.
With the above, I decided to make a stir fry. I suppose I could have made a soup or a casserole. But stir fry sounded good to me today.
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| it doesn't look like anything special, but it was tasty |
I think it was a good call because my family all said it was delicious, which is funny because all I did was combine the fresh veggies with ground beef, a cup of frozen peas, some powdered ginger, soy sauce, and a pinch of sugar. I tasted it at the end of cooking and thought it tasted good, so I didn't change anything. Perhaps the cool spring weather gave us all terrific appetites tonight, or perhaps it really did taste great. Anyway, I'd say this stir fry is one of my recent successes in use-it-up cooking.
So what has been one of your more successful meals using the odds and ends the day before you do your grocery shopping? Do you have a go-to type of meal that you like to make for those days?
I'll be doing the week's grocery shopping in the morning. I like the challenge of making do. But I can say with certainty that we'll enjoy having all of our favorites once again.
I don't have a use-it-up meal, per se. I do try to look through my whole fridge for leftover bits and bobs several days per week, and use that as meal inspiration. My husband is good at keeping track of leftovers and will sometimes remind me that something needs to be eaten (or frozen). I'm better than he is at noticing veggies or fruit that are getting on their last legs, so I guess together, we make a good pair. In answer to your question, I'd probably say that soup is my go-to for using up food.
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteIt does sound like you and your husband work well together.
Soup is a great use-it-up meal.
I tend to make soup, stir fry or cottage pie with bits and bobs. I often cook to have 2 meals..eat one that evening then skip a day and serve it the next. I keep a mason jar in the freezer for dabs of veg...when full I know its time for vegetable soup. I used to do that with bits of cookies and sweets and use that to top a crisp. But its just my husband and myself and don't do that one much anymore.
ReplyDeleteI so look forward to your ideas about food use. Thank you!
Hi friend,
DeleteI hadn't thought of cottage (or shepherd's) pie for using up odd bits. Thank you for mentioning that!
I like your idea of a stir fry as a cohesive way to make a meal. I have often made "bowl" meals. They seem to be popular now and are a tasty way to bring random foods together. We like a hamburger or cheeseburger bowl. I take lettuce, veggies like tomatoes, carrots, avocado, etc, olives, cheese, pickles, and top with a ranch/ketchup combo, with ground beef or hamburger patty. Also - bibimbap - a Korean dish is yummy. Rice with leftover veggies and a fried egg on top. The sauce is the yolk of the egg and sprinkled with some type of hot sauce. I'm a wimp, so I go easy on the hot sauce. Meat could be added, too. I have used ground beef.
ReplyDeleteHi Ruthie,
DeleteYour hamburger bowls sound yummy. I've never heard of bibimbap before. I looked up a photo just now, and that looks tasty and colorful. I may give that a try. Thanks for your suggestions.
First is quiche-I saute any leftover veggies and meat I have, and pick chard to fill the bottom of the pan, and then add bits of cheese to the eggs, and decorate the top with parsley, paprika and maybe a flower made out of parsley stem and tomato. Seems fancy, not leftover. The second is pizza- I also saute veggies and any leftover tidbits and spread on a crust that has pesto or olive oil or a homemade smear of pizza sauce and layer on what I have. A favorite is sauteed red onion and chicken coated with BBQ sauce and at the end, cilantro.
ReplyDeleteHi friend,
DeleteI hadn't thought to use leftovers in quiche. That's a great idea! (And your's sounds lovely.) Pizza with leftovers also sound interesting. I think using up leftovers on pizza would get us out of the pepperoni rut. Thank you for your suggestions!
I will make quesadillas. I had a bit of chicken leftover the other night. I added onions, peppers and cheese. That bulked it up and then we had salsa, avocado, lettuce and sour cream as add-ons. I added some leftover sautéed squash, black beans and strawberries for sides. Used up quite a few items and quesadillas-whatever type-are one of my husband’s favorites.
ReplyDeleteHi Lynn,
DeleteOh, those sound delicious! And I know my family would love those. I will keep quesadillas in mind with our next batch of odds and ends. Thank you!
It's almost exactly like what Lily does at our home. It is usually soup or fried rice. I got to looking in my fridge and saw leftover brown rice so supper was indeed fried rice. We had no protein so I quick look in the freezer showed individually wrapped strip steak so I pulled one out. Along, with a carrot that needed to be used and a sprouting onion became our dinner last night. I had everything else (soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, eggs, etc). Today is vegetable beef barley soup with pantry/freezer items. Made a huge batch. Perhaps I will need to freeze some for later.
ReplyDeleteAlice
Hi Alice,
DeleteFried rice is a great way to disguise the randomness of some odds and ends. Your recent beef fried rice sounds delicious, and so does your beef and barley soup!
Thanks for sharing your suggestions!