Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Using it up.

Last week or so I did an inventory of my freezer and vowed to use what I have before buying anything else. I've done pretty good so far! I also wanted to use what was on my pantry shelf. And so far, I've done pretty good with that, too! I did go buy one more can of kidney beans for the chili I made Sunday night to make sure we had enough dinner...my nephew unexpectedly spent one more night with us and I didn't want to run out of food! But other than that, I've been emptying the shelves. I'm not used to seeing available space in my freezer. It's usually packed to the gills. And admittedly, I don't always know what it's filled with. So this has been a good exercise for me...
On the menu tonight? Frozen raviolis with Ragu sauce (the 25 cent deal I got a few weeks ago!), caesar salad and garlic bread. Last night we had homemade clam chowder. I use the best recipe...it's so yummy and so easy and so quick! Not to mention frugal since I got the cans of clams at the 99 cent store a while back. 99 cents! That is a bargain for a can of Snow's clams. And I only bought them because they were brand name...I only buy brand names at the discount stores. I made the mistake of buying a can or two of chili sauce at the 99 cent store a year or so ago...some off brand I'd never heard of but I was trying to get over my self and my brand name snootiness...so I bought two cans. They sat on the pantry shelf for quite a while...I never could work up the nerve to open them up and use them. Then one night we're watching the news (actually, my husband was watching and I was sort of kind of listening from the kitchen as usual) and I hear about a chili sauce recall. I peek around the corner just in time to see a picture of the can and the brand name. I ran out to my "pantry" (a shelf in the garage) and would you believe it was the exact same? Yes...they were recalled because they were giving people food poisoning! Thank goodness I never fed it to my family!
I learned a valuable lesson that night...always buy known brands at the discount stores and always check the dates. Always.
Anyway...yeah, clam chowder...brand name...use it up...I get so distracted sometimes!
I figure the meal cost approximately $5 for the four of us, plus there's enough for me to have it for lunch today. There's actually enough for my husband to have some as well but he's not big on leftovers. I made him a nice turkey sandwich instead...because I'm a nice wife. Usually. Most of the time...for the most part.

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