The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

[WetBanana]

So we're short on cash until Saturday...and I am still forced (by myself mind you) to eat on plan. How can I do that if I can't go shopping you ask? (by the way - when I say short on cash, I mean there is NOTHING until Saturday, fortunately we have gas in our cars and my kids will not go hungry - that's all that REALLY matters)

Well - I'm fortunate enough to have purchased a lot of mismatched vegetables in the past two weeks that were ready to get tossed if I didn't use them. I probably would have too if we would have had the money.

For some reason though, instead of going hungry when we are down to such little food, I get creative!

Last night I made an interesting bean sprout concoction, consisting of butter, pork drippings, diced onion, chopped celery, bean sprouts, and PUMPKIN. I say this in capital letters because I have only ever used it in sweet dishes, yet I kept reading about you people using it in your everyday meals. I ended up just sauteeing everything up and it was PHENOMENAL! (sorry about my spelling).

Tonight with the pumpkin I had leftover, I decided to make Pumpkin SOUP! It was DELICIOUS!! OMG, seriously amazing. Chicken stock, pumpkin, celery, onion, sea salt & black peppercorns (ground up of course), ground beef, and whipping cream. My husband had seconds it was so delicious!

So now we're totally out of food, lol - I DO have leftovers though in the freezer...hope that gets us til Saturday!!

Again - my kids are well fed, lots of food for them, just my husband and I that will "suffer" lol. Just in case somebody was worried about them.

Question: The whipping cream I used is out of code - so I couldn't get much out of the container that hadn't congealed...what can I do now with that congealed mess of whipping cream? I'd like to try my hand at something new, but unsure what! Suggestions welcome )

[atkinsgal08]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

Has the whipping cream gone bad?

[WetBanana]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

I don't think so - no mold, no bad smell, I used the liquid left in it, so now I have this big glob of it in the cardboard container.

[thefemalegreenday]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

Hahaha thats so awesome =] thumbs up for getting creative!

[ziggy]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

good for sticking to the diet even when cash is tight

in the past when i was not on the diet and cash was tight i ate mostly just spagetti and some tomato sauce and it was killing me i ballooned up too 330 pounds my highest and had horrible diarrea everyday IBS-D

looking back at it now if i knew what i knew now back then i would have ate healthier choices even with next to no money i still could have afforded to eat chicken eggs and non organic beef fat - free if you ask the butcher for it which would have been a world better

and i even lived near a forest at that time which i could have easily found food a million times more healthy for me rather than white flour spagetti

btw once i did finally start to eat healthy atkins it took my body 6 months to heal my stomach intestines from IBS-D

[Elizellen]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

It sounds as if the cream is the consistency of clotted cream so as long as it doesn't smell 'off' it should be fine to use in any recipes.
If you heat it up gently or use a fork to break it down it should get a bit runnier so you can mix it with eggs and grated cheese to make a great crustless quiche.
You could add any leftover cooked meat/veg to it too.

[not2late]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

Pumpkin soup is terrific! It's one of the great comfort foods I have in my recipe files. If you have fresh pumpkin (the kind you have to peel and seed and cut into cubes), try cooking them like homefries (there's a thread in the side dishes forum with a link to the recipe)----without a doubt yummy with a side of fried eggs!

[PolarBearKing]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

Awesome thread, thanks for being honest and sharing your challenges. I've been there and it really can be depressing, but the way you're handling it is incredible. My hat is off to you.

I keep a spare change jar that I dip into when things are tight. I usually can scrounge up a few bucks and find what ever is on sale and make it work, usually ground beef or chicken thighs.

Keep up the good work!

[WetBanana]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

Thanks ) I made MOUSSE! Turns out the whipping cream was just frozen from being in my Mom's fridge, so I let it thaw out, then whipped it up with some cocoa powder and a bit of splenda. DELIC! Of course I didn't eat much of it, but my husband sure appreciated it!

We dipped into our spare change for my husband to get to and from work for two days, lol.

Fortunately my paycheque tomorrow and my husbands on Thursday will finally put us up to date with everything and we'll finally be able to start paying our debts off. We shouldn't have to worry about money after that. PHEW! First order of business is to save up a grand for our emergency fund.

Gotta love that Dave Ramsey...good ideas for digging out and building wealth. Too bad he doesn't have versions for Canadians and our different banking practices.

[2big4mysize]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

while you are saving up for your emeergency fund find out what day your local store marks down the unsold meats and stock up on that day. I love getting the stuff for 1/2 the price and filling my freezer. then when the store is selling chicken for $3.99 a pound I'm eating $2 or less a pound chicken and saving money.

[WetBanana]

Re: The Great Refrigerator Clean-Up - Everything except the Kitchen Sink

Tuesdays I stock up the best I can - unfortunately I have an apartment sized refrigerator and no deep freezer. One day we'll be moved though!! Can't wait to have a REAL freezer !!