Making the most of what you’ve got

Use up your baking supplies!

We are moving on January 2nd - and we will be spending about 4 days out of the house for Christmas holidays with my parents out of town.  With that in mind, Josh and I are determined to eat up what we have around the house and buy as few groceries as possible. 

Yesterday we dropped by Loblaws to pick up a few staples and I couldn’t believe how much food prices have risen.  We have not gone grocery shopping for nearly a month now (just relying on a few mini-trips here or there for one or two items) and I was frankly shocked that prices have gone up within weeks.  A head of romaine lettuce for $2?  Basic brown Wonderbread for $2.79?

So now I have another reason to eat-in - the high cost of food!

Right now the cupboard, fridge and freezer are looking a little sparse.  And by a little, I mean a lot! We don’t have much, but here’s how we are making it last. (I will follow up this post with recipes!)

1. Lentils. The other day I made a tremendous soup using dried lentils, carrots, and canned tomatoes. This made sooo much soup - I had about a million bowls of it and there’s still some in the freezer! 

2. Baking our own bread.  That’s right, we’re giving it another go.  We have all the ingredients so why not? 

3. Roast chicken. I had a chicken in the freezer that I bought on sale for $6.  We roasted it last night, and I can’t believe how much chicken that bird yielded!  

4. Pasta. Remember those Europe’s Best frozen veggies that were on sale for 99¢ after the coupon? We defrosted them in a frying pan and added them to whole wheat pasta, along with olive oil, garlic and some goat cheese.  Deliciously simple!  We still have more of all of the above ingredients so I’ll definitely make this one again.

5. Salmon cakes.  We actually have a ton of HighLiner frozen salmon in our freezer, purchased on sale.  We have some potatoes and green onions and josh is going to make salmon cakes.  I am also going to use what’s left of the salmon, frozen corn, potatoes, cream and milk, to make a salmon chowder.  All I really need is some fresh dill.

6. Everything but the kitchen sink soup. I don’t know what’s going in this soup, but I know that I have beans, lentils, garlic & onions, macaroni, rice, cabbage, carrots, corn, tomato paste, and some frozen chicken bones - and somehow I get the sense that out of those ingredients I could probably figure out a soup to make (any suggestions, btw?)

7. Baked goods.  I have tons of baking supplies and I have a feeling that some muffins or scones will be in order.

8. Hummus. “God bless the chickpea.” It’s just one of those things you can make when your fridge is nearly bare.

9. Broccoli salad.  This morning my Mom sent me a recipe for this and I had to laugh - I had everything I needed to make it except the broccoli - including sunflower seeds, raisins, yogurt and feta cheese.  

10. Tuna casserole - another frugal stand-in when you’re cupboards are getting bare. I do not have mushroom soup but I have a recipe that calls for sour cream and mayo instead, and I have both of these ingredients. 

My shopping list for these meals will include:

1. Fresh herbs - parsley and dill

2. Celery

3. Broccoli

That’s it! (Shall we take bets on if I’ll succeed in coming out of the store with just those three items?)