Ask Lemmy

I have some leftover burger patties and chicken from a couple days ago so I plan to have some leftovers. But I keep a well stocked freezer and dry pantry too. Right now what I am working on making is chicken pot pie filling, the chicken meat and broth is from a leftover slow long cooked Costco chicken. I make the filling and freeze it, and keep crusts in the fridge most of the time so it's really easy to assemble.

A sandwich possibly tuna, possibly ham and cheese. Grocery day is tomorrow

We just got soup. So probably soup with like spices or something.

And dont you all dare make soup into something like beans or corn or whatever.

Do frozen meals count? If so, pizza. If not, I guess burritos with rice, beans, cheese, grilled onion, avocado, and lemon.

Tonight is leftover night.

Chicken in Red Thai Curry sauce over rice that I made this past weekend.

One of like eight types of pasta with one of like eight types of sauce. Tuna salad, creamed tuna on toast. One of about twelve different types of soup. Beans, rice, stir fry, hot dogs, burritos, turkey with stuffing, pasties, butternut squash bread, pancakes or waffles with honey and homemade raspberry jam, about ten different types of scones, about 17 different types of bread, almond cake with poppyseed and lemon, brownies, hummus, chips with salsa, veggies with green goddess dip, brie on crackers with quince paste, a bunch of different types of eggs, baked Asian pears stuffed with dates, sweet potatoes baked with apples, cinnamon roasted baked potatoes, feta stuffed tomatoes, a bunch of different types of sandwiches, pickled beets, garlic bread (mozzarella, marinara, or both optional), plain or vegetable pizza, vegetable salad with like six different dressings, pasta salad, sweet potato salad, roasted sweet potatoes, and stuffed peppers.

That's the stuff I remember I have the ingredients for without actually getting up and checking stuff, I'm certain I could make more if I went and checked.

Side story: I've always kept a pantry which I'd refill during my weekly grocery shopping, and I'd always put extras in the freezer when I make stuff.

Years ago, I got really depressed and decided that, this one week, I'd eat out of the freezer instead of getting new stuff (the freezer was for like backup meals when I didn't feel like cooking, the pantry was for staples when I did feel like cooking). The following week, I was like, "The food thing went well and I'm still depressed, I'm not gonna shop this week either!"

As I went through stuff, I found partially-forgotten and partially-used items that had been sitting around for a while. And at some point, I decided I was going to eat through u stores instead of buying any new stuff. The challenge began.

In the beginning, it was easy: I had lots of ingredients and could make lots of dishes, and there was a bunch of premade stuff in the freezer, along with a whole stash of various frozen vegetables.

But as time went on, I had to start getting creative, the way our ancestors did. I ran out of flour and made a fairly decent pizza with an oatmeal crust. I made pasta and seasoned it with salad dressing. I started rather liberally substituting in different spices.

After about two months of increasingly odd meals, I hit desperation times. I ran out of vegetables and meats, in almost all their forms. I still had a stash of pasta and rice, some bouillon cubes, and an odd array of various half-used things I had bought either on a whim or to make a single recipe.

That last month was hard. It was all carbs, and I was starting to become malnourished, but I soldiered on, just eating my way through everything.

I still remember that final day, when I opened the freezer and it was empty, the fridge contained a half-dozen bottles with the drugs of condiments in them, and the contents of the pantry consisted of one unopened jar of garlic powder and some salt.

I threw away the condiments, thoroughly cleaned the fridge, and went to the grocery store.

Reader, I had not left my apartment except to get the mail for over three months. The grocery store was bright, and a riot of color and sounds! Having not had fruits or veggies for over a month, the produce section was so seductive! Oranges! Pineapples! Bananas! Apples! I wanted them all, and there was nothing to stop me!

I went up and down every aisle, restocking my pantry of everything from butter and spices, soup bases to beans. I spent something like $600, and it was one of the best shopping experiences of my life.

And then I got home and realized I'd bought the normal account of apples I would've if I'd had a sudden urge for apples. And that would've been okay, if I hadn't also bought the same "urge-satisfying" amount of bananas, and oranges and strawberries and ...

It was a huge effort to get through all the fruit before it went bad, but I did that as well, and I loved it.

Anyway, OP, to answer a question you didn't ask: based on previous experience and the current contents of my house, I'm pretty sure I have enough food for about four months, even if I don't buy anything new. But, yeah, the recipes will get increasingly weird as time progresses, and the last carb-heavy month will be somewhat grim.

Quiche! Flour, butter/crisco, eggs, cheese. If you have those you can make quiche.

Then you can customize it so easily. If you have multiple cheeses you can mix them however you want. And then you can toss in anything from leafy greens to bacon. Healthy or rich it’s so versatile.

I got a cupboard full of basic staple ingredients and a freezer full of meat, veg and leftovers. I think I can last a week, if not two, if I really have to. And that's for a family of three.

I have some hopping John leftovers I have to finish.

Risotto plus some random protein, not sure which but I have options.

Risotto is easy to make and doesn't look like much, but it's hard to say no to pure carbs, butter, and cheese.

Tuesday is tacos, Wednesday will be grilled cheese with tomato soup and Thursday will be spaghetti.

I could prepare meals for the next several weeks with what is on hand, dependent on how many people I'm feeding.

Channa Masala, spiced lentils, felafel, pork belly ramen, chicken yakisoba, pork dumplings, sirloin tip fajitas, Dahl, butternut squash bisque, chicken soup, meatloaf.

Well I just made gumbo, so that

Tacos, probably. I could stretch to other dishes, but tacos are where my mind is.