Re: 3 Positive Things Part 5
Ya know what, GaryQ, in regards to food... David & I had similar issues with food that went bad.
We now find if we try the following, there is usually less waste.
- As Daniel, FMN, Gooblax stated, for sure: canned veggies, frozen veggies, as well as dried goods. I find that frozen corn or beans seem to be the yummiest frozen food: they don’t seem to heat up limp or soggy.
Dried legumes, lintels, chickpeas,
and beans are all complete proteins if you happen to be out of meat.
- If you have tomatoes, those freeze best when you boil the heck out of them for no more than a minute,
and then drop them into ice water. That’s blanching. It lets you peel off the skin easily: then you can chuck them in the freezer until you need them to make Chile, spaghetti sauce, etc.
- Whenever you do make something, make a lot more so you can freeze them. For example: chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes. Get a family sized pile of drumsticks on sale, Shake n Bake them (in more than one flavour if you like) then freeze the rest in portions sizes. Usually David and I make portion sizes for 2. Depends on how hungry a person is. 3 small drumsticks or two large ones? We put all the portions into sandwich bags, then put all the sandwich bags into a big freezer bag with the date on them.
I’ll boil a whole bag of potatoes, mash them, then divide them into portions in sandwich bags, then put all the sandwich bags into a freezer bag. BOOM
Do the same with pork chops, turkey, rice, corn, etc. Usually I get 3 lbs of hamburger and divide it up into three 1 lb portion sizes. Good for nachos, Chile, spaghetti sauces, Hamburger Helper. Or Tuna Helper.
- I have two words for you: Salad Kits. If one kit is too gigantic for one person to eat, only use up half the ingredients and finish up the rest the next day. You can throw cold meats like chicken or pork onto a salad, or heat the meat up: whatever works for your energy level. All the ingredients are in the bag/container of salad: all you have to do is empty them onto the salad. David and I usually do this in the bag/container the salad comes in, so no extra dishes to clean up.
- Some stores make awesome fresh subs. Cheaper than getting them at Mr. Sub or other such place. They’re so big, David and I cut them into pieces and eat some the next day.
- Superstore, Safeway, Extra Foods, and other grocery stores sell ready made meals in their deli or refrigerated section. I’ve seen cabbage rolls with pirogies and ham. You just microwave them (they come in microwave-safe containers). You can also get the equivalent of ordering Chinese food: either one package with rice, an eggroll and maybe ginger beef or sweet and sour chicken balls... Costs way less than ordering Chinese! And you can eat out of their containers.
- Frozen pizza! Fish & Chips! Kraft Dinner! Ya can’t always cook fancy. Eat some comfort food.
- seasoning or gravy packets. You don’t have to measure out the powdered ingredients for Sloppy Joes, Chicken Fajitas, Nachos etc... You can just add water to the packets of gravy powder. Or get the canned gravies. Potatoes come in a box, too! lol Just add water.
- if your energy is ever super-low, have a stash of paper plates and plastic utensils handy. You can recycle the paper plates! No dishes to do!
- BBQ: tinfoil for dishes/pots/pans.
- Try recipes where you just throw the meat and vegetables into one pot and roast them all.
- Have snack foods handy. If time gets away from you, they’re handy and they might be just enough to eat. Cheese sticks, for example. Single servings of yogurt. Trail mixes of nuts, seeds, and raisins. Cereal and cereal bars. Bread/English Muffins/Bagels with cream cheese or other spreads.
You’ve probably done all these, but just in case!!!
Sent from my Hollycopter using SlappaSquawk
Ya know what, GaryQ, in regards to food... David & I had similar issues with food that went bad.
We now find if we try the following, there is usually less waste.
- As Daniel, FMN, Gooblax stated, for sure: canned veggies, frozen veggies, as well as dried goods. I find that frozen corn or beans seem to be the yummiest frozen food: they don’t seem to heat up limp or soggy.
Dried legumes, lintels, chickpeas,
and beans are all complete proteins if you happen to be out of meat.
- If you have tomatoes, those freeze best when you boil the heck out of them for no more than a minute,
and then drop them into ice water. That’s blanching. It lets you peel off the skin easily: then you can chuck them in the freezer until you need them to make Chile, spaghetti sauce, etc.
- Whenever you do make something, make a lot more so you can freeze them. For example: chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes. Get a family sized pile of drumsticks on sale, Shake n Bake them (in more than one flavour if you like) then freeze the rest in portions sizes. Usually David and I make portion sizes for 2. Depends on how hungry a person is. 3 small drumsticks or two large ones? We put all the portions into sandwich bags, then put all the sandwich bags into a big freezer bag with the date on them.
I’ll boil a whole bag of potatoes, mash them, then divide them into portions in sandwich bags, then put all the sandwich bags into a freezer bag. BOOM
Do the same with pork chops, turkey, rice, corn, etc. Usually I get 3 lbs of hamburger and divide it up into three 1 lb portion sizes. Good for nachos, Chile, spaghetti sauces, Hamburger Helper. Or Tuna Helper.
- I have two words for you: Salad Kits. If one kit is too gigantic for one person to eat, only use up half the ingredients and finish up the rest the next day. You can throw cold meats like chicken or pork onto a salad, or heat the meat up: whatever works for your energy level. All the ingredients are in the bag/container of salad: all you have to do is empty them onto the salad. David and I usually do this in the bag/container the salad comes in, so no extra dishes to clean up.
- Some stores make awesome fresh subs. Cheaper than getting them at Mr. Sub or other such place. They’re so big, David and I cut them into pieces and eat some the next day.
- Superstore, Safeway, Extra Foods, and other grocery stores sell ready made meals in their deli or refrigerated section. I’ve seen cabbage rolls with pirogies and ham. You just microwave them (they come in microwave-safe containers). You can also get the equivalent of ordering Chinese food: either one package with rice, an eggroll and maybe ginger beef or sweet and sour chicken balls... Costs way less than ordering Chinese! And you can eat out of their containers.
- Frozen pizza! Fish & Chips! Kraft Dinner! Ya can’t always cook fancy. Eat some comfort food.
- seasoning or gravy packets. You don’t have to measure out the powdered ingredients for Sloppy Joes, Chicken Fajitas, Nachos etc... You can just add water to the packets of gravy powder. Or get the canned gravies. Potatoes come in a box, too! lol Just add water.
- if your energy is ever super-low, have a stash of paper plates and plastic utensils handy. You can recycle the paper plates! No dishes to do!
- BBQ: tinfoil for dishes/pots/pans.
- Try recipes where you just throw the meat and vegetables into one pot and roast them all.
- Have snack foods handy. If time gets away from you, they’re handy and they might be just enough to eat. Cheese sticks, for example. Single servings of yogurt. Trail mixes of nuts, seeds, and raisins. Cereal and cereal bars. Bread/English Muffins/Bagels with cream cheese or other spreads.
You’ve probably done all these, but just in case!!!
Sent from my Hollycopter using SlappaSquawk
Would work better for burritos but haven't tried (yet).
