ozgirl

Its day before shopping day and I was clearing out the fridge ready for the
big shop and realised I had almost no salad veggies left and no protein. I
had a few bits and pieces in the vegetable line and considered what I could
have for lunch today.

So I gathered the bits and pieces together (carrot, onion, garlic, limp
celery, a zucchini and a bit of fresh basil). I sautéed the onion and garlic
in olive oil and in a saucepan put the onion/garlic, the veggies chopped up,
a can of diced tomatoes, some bottled V8 veggie juice and a can of 4 bean
mix.

It has been simmering for about an hour and the smell alone is superb, the
test taste was similar to minestrone. Will be even better when I add a bit
of dry parmesan and FGBP! Can't wait. Looks like it might be my dinner as
well as I can only see sausages left in the freezer so the kids will get
that - the soup is not the kind they like.

julie bove

That's the best kind of soup! Angela doesn't really like it either but she
will eat it.

I am not looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner. Leftover pasta. I
used to eat a lot of it and liked it. I don't know if it's just that the
gluten free stuff tastes so much different or what. Or maybe because I
can't have real cheese. I just don't want to eat it any more. Alas, it is
one of Angela's favorite meals. I used a jarred sauce so there were 6
servings. I guess when my husband isn't here I will have to start making my
own sauce and in a small quantity so I can make less pasta.

I have to start being careful what I buy at Costco. I bought a 2 pack of
cooked chicken breast strips and a 3 pack of sliced turkey. Angela ate none
of the chicken before it expired. I don't like it. And only one sandwich
from the turkey. There are times when she grabs handfuls of meat, but this
wasn't one of them. And I didn't eat any sandwiches. So it all got thrown
out.

I have used all of the meat in the fridge except for some pre-cooked bacon,
bologna and the new turkey I bought.

Now the big thing is to clean out the freezer. There's another package of
pre-cooked chicken breast in there that I stuck in there rather than throw
it out. I can't stand the stuff. For some reason they put sugar in it and
when I eat it, that's all I taste. There's half a gluten free pizza. Can't
get Angela to eat the other half. There's the giant package of uncooked
chicken breasts. Some cooked hamburger, a few boxes of chicken nuggets and
fish sticks and I'm not sure what all else. Angela keeps wanting ice cream
but there is no room for it.

ozgirl

I gave away my chest freezer when I moved interstate so only have a small
fridge and freezer. Anything that comes in a container or packet I take out
then I divide what I took out into meal sizes. If I had a pizza in a box I
would toss the box and cut the pizza into serving sizes and freeze it. I
freeze just about everything I buy in the meat line as soon as I get home
from the shops. I don't buy in bulk anymore like when I had 4 kids at home
and a deep freeze but doing it the way I do it now works for me. If I get 6
chops I put 3 in a freezer bag and 3 in another. That way there is no
waste.

I can rarely fit ice cream in the fridge. I have my bread frozen because I
don't eat it quickly enough, I have a large bag of walnuts in there pluse
the flattened out meat in their portions. I don't need boxes or packages
anymore to know how to cook something but I mostly have just meat in there
and on the odd occasion something that came boxed that the kids like.

julie bove

I think she likes the concept of pizza. I mean it's always being advertised
on TV and such. And people talk about eating it. But when it comes right
down to it, I don't think she really likes it. I hated the stuff as a kid.
My parents used to complain that when we went out for pizza, they had to get
my food from McDonalds. So to me, pizza must have been really vile because
I hated the food at McDonalds, except for the fries. I did like those, but
could never get as much of them as I wanted. If I did get them, they were
rationed. We would get one portion (I think they came in one size in those
days) and split it four ways.

Only after I began to venture out and was able to try different kinds of
pizza did I realize that I didn't necessarily hate it, although I still
don't really like it. My parents only ever got sausage and black olives in
those days. I can't stand greasy sausage and I don't like olives on a
pizza. I actually don't like any vegetables or meat or anything other than
cheese on a pizza. Unless it is a Taco pizza and I don't think that's
really Italian.

So perhaps she will never eat that other half of the pizza.

As for the meat, I generally don't like dealing with it once it has been
frozen. I always forget to take it out to defrost. I have tried to defrost
it in the microwave but that never seems to work very well. The ground beef
is okay once frozen, so long as I cook it ahead of time. Really only shaves
a few minutes off of the cooking time though. Now I did like those
pre-cooked patties I bought, but I haven't seen them since.

I really must stop buying the big packs of meat though. Neither of us is a
big meat eater. I should probably just make vegan/vegetarian meals at home
and save the meat for when we dine out.

I go through nuts like crazy. I get them at the health food store. They
keep them in their freezer there, packaging them only as needed. They are
always fresh and the price is good. As for bread, I don't buy it often any
more. Not for me anyway. I did try it in the freezer but don't like what
the freezer does to it. It's okay for toast, but then I rarely eat toast.

Angela's bread comes hermetically sealed. I can get it in 2 slice packages.
I wish they would do regular bread that way. Would be perfect for me! The
whole loaves which I also buy are usually good for a year or two after I get
them. The slices are good for a few months at least. I keep them in a
thick plastic lidded bin in the garage.

evelyn

When I shop at Sam's club, (we don't have a costco here) I always repackage
any meat into portions I can use. I also do that with other things I buy
there too.

We have a big upright freezer in the basement, and a small freezer in my
kitchen side by side fridge. One shelf in the kitchen freezer is only for
bread. We like to keep several kinds on hand. If I didn't freeze it, it
would almost always go bad very quickly. We just don't eat a lot of bread.

I have nearly stopped buying meat at Sam's club because they sell Perdue
chickens which I always thought were pretty decent. Now I get fresh
natural chickens from a local store and the taste is so fantastic it is like
eating a whole different bird. I will NEVER buy perdue chicken again.

Their chopped meat is really disgusting, even if you buy the 90 percent
lean. It always has so many pieces of gristle and little bits of bone in
it, and the meat itself is tough and tasteless, even though it is ground.
So I might buy a pot roast or some steaks there, as those are usually OK,
but not much else.

When I buy beef from the local natural place, it is also like a whole
different animal. The flavor is incredible and I have never once found any
gristle or bone bits.

The one kind of meat I do buy at Sam's is the ground turkey. I buy huge
packages of it because that is the one kind of meat I feed my dogs that
doesn't give them any digestive upsets. I cook it up with a little water
in a gigantic pot and then freeze it in big plastic containers. One
container usually lasts us almost a week since each dog gets about a half a
cup of cooked ground turkey in with their kibble.

I started making meatballs with the ground turkey, for us. Believe it or
not, I like the ground turkey meatballs better than the ones I used to make
with ground beef! It makes a wonderful mellow tomato sauce too! I
haven't made turkey chili yet, but I am going to try.

--

Evelyn

"Even as a mother protects with her life her only child, So with a boundless
heart let one cherish all living beings." --Sutta Nipata 1.8

stormmmee

wonderful, i love creating and i really love when it stopss waste and tastes
good, Lee

--
Have a great day

stormmmee

there is just the two of us not counting the cats. i cook portion and
freeze almost everything... DH does most of the daily cooking but when it
comes to bulk cooking and the slow cooker i do that, also i portion and
freeze all of the raw meat, once cooked DH portions it out by weight and i
freeze it... i do WW and our work schedule that haveing easy items that are
healthy is very important... i have a med sized chest freezer and one on top
the frig... i just can't abide waste... i keep a list on the frig of what is
in the big freezer, little freezer and both are on the computer so i can
read/edit them. I feel it is bad for me emotionally to waste food which we
worked so hard to earn the money for, and i also think food budget is one of
the few places you can save money these days... and since my diet requires
some speciality foods i find saving where i can allows me to buy these items
without impacting the budget. and having portions ready made also helps cut
down on over eating, if i have to back to the freezer for another portion i
might think twice about it.

Lee

--
Have a great day

stormmmee

defrosting in the micro is best for us when done at about 15 percent power.
we often bulk cook meat then package, right now we are working on turkey
rolls DH made from a huge turkey, we will eat it until one or the both of us
get bored, then we will package and freeze, then when its time for turkey i
will take out two portions, and some dressing i have pre portioned and bake
in the oven... i will also put in a frozen veg and heat it up, so majic our
own tv dinners in about a half hour, which gives time for setting the table,
mmaking the coffee and slicing the bread. Lee

--
Have a great day

stormmmee

ground turkey is excellent for dogs, when my GS would have a bout of what
the vet called "inbred belly" i would mix ground lamb ground turkey and
brown rice for her, a few days on that and she was as good as new. Lee

--
Have a great day

evelyn

Yes, my two dogs are GS dogs as well.
Barley is also excellent for them, like the brown rice.
They do have sensitive stomachs.
Beef gives them very bad gas and horsemeat will give a dog severe diarrhea.

--

Evelyn

"Even as a mother protects with her life her only child, So with a boundless
heart let one cherish all living beings." --Sutta Nipata 1.8