Our grand experiment has begun: One week of eating only the food we already have in our freezer, fridge and pantry.
We started off by making a full inventory of our larder -- all the forgotten pastas, misbegotten pre-made sauces, and truly random ingredients lurking in our cupboard. You can read the whole list after the jump.
For our inaugural cleanout meal Sunday night, we eased ourselves in with a pretty tame dinner. We defrosted some braised short ribs and pearl onions, left over from when we made those Short Rib Pot Pies back in October. We added a little tomato paste, some red wine and some Salsa Lizano to make it a little more saucy, and we threw in some frozen peas to liven it up. We served it over some whole wheat spaghetti noodles.
Day 1 Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta with Short Rib Ragu
Cupboard Items Used: Frozen leftover short rib filling, frozen peas, spaghetti
Degree of Difficulty: 2 out of 10
Verdict: Delicious! Rich and savory and meaty, this was an excellent way to kick off our Cupboard Cleanout.
Read the full list of all the random stuff we'll be trying to figure out how to use this week, after the jump!
We've got some thoughts about how we might connect and incorporate some of these different items -- our kitchen may or may not currently look like the shed in A Beautiful Mind -- but we'd love to hear any ideas you might have.
PANTRY
Rice -- wild, brown, basmati
3 cans of black beans
Chipotles in adobo
Garbanzo beans
Green beans
Cream of mushroom soup
Lots and lots of canned tomatoes
Bulgar
Lentils
Orzo
Couscous
Chia seed
Wheat germ
Spaghetti
Fusilli
Beef stock
1 bag of dried apples
Grits (loooooots of grits)
Tahini dressing
Cicerce
Loads of dried beans
Anchovies
A mustard based dip
Lots of pickled things: green beans, okra, cherry tomatoes, squash pickles
Almonds
Panko
Olive oil balsamic dressing
Herb olive oil
Apple butter
Fig preserves
Jello pudding
Quick oats
Walnuts
Bonito flakes
White chocolate bar
Salsa
Golden raisins
1 jar Morello cherries
2 cans red tart cherries
Miracle rice
Clams
Mastic
Watermelon rind
Chow chow
Hot pepper relish
Maple cube
Sunchoke relish
Pepitas
bread and butter pickles
Peanuts
Coconut
Pimientos
Rice wine
Pistachios
Steel cut oats
Crystal Light
Tea
A citrus spice appetizer spread
Macadamia nuts
Arame seaweed
FRIDGE
Miso
Chicken thighs
Salami
Pork end roast
Collards
Eggs
Tofu
Carrots
Lemon
Broccoli
Yellow pepper
Thyme
Dill
Tarragon
FREEZER
2 chicken thighs
Blueberries
Summer squash
Sweet potatoes
Chicken stock
Cauliflower soup
Corn
Pot pie filling
A frozen vegetable mix
Breakfast sausage
Tomato sauces
Ground turkey
Okra
Green peas
