Looking back at this blog, I noticed that I made the same vow each year. With little success owing to the aforementioned food bargains throwing themselves at my feet. This time, I meant business. I lowered my food budget to $20 a week. That will force you to use what you have.
Here's what's been on the menu, from the fancy to the more mundane.
--shrimp with tasso and mushrooms on cheese and jalapeno grits (not as hard as it sounds)
--STEAK with baked potatoes
--roast chicken cooked a la Zuni Cafe (with the trademark bread salad)
--pumpkin and sausage pasta sauce
--African peanut soup
--chicken stew on couscous
And other stuff I can't recall at the moment....
Some freebie leftovers came my way. From a bit of the ubiquitous spinach dip (pot luck party leftover), I made a frittata, using eggs that a colleague gave us. A double freebie!
Then, with some freebie chips, I made taco soup. Except for the chips, everything was a freezer clean out item.
Part of the trauma of Hurricane Katrina (for those of us a bit out of the city and its flooding who were spared the brunt of the tragedy) was caused by the pain of throwing out tons of food in our electricity-less weeks. We were gifted with so much salmon and steak that we couldn't consume it or give it away. Everyone around here starts cleaning out the freezer at the beginning of summer, just in case the electricity goes out again.
Bon appetit!
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3 comments:
Yum, nom, nom, nom, well, it certainly doesn't seem like there was much sacrifice in de-cluttering the freezer! But, of course there wouldn't be, because you are a wise and smart shopper. :)
Throwing away all that food after Katrina makes me cringe. Such waste, but nature will have her way...
Since you live in the area, have you heard of this:
http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/
I just happened to stumble upon her (I think it was a Ted talk), but she's in your neck of the woods.
I think I may have to abandon my 'schedule' for proteins to help chip away at our freezer stock. I'm undecided about that as it would mean eating a lot more red meat than I prefer to. Serves me right for buying, eh? One of the weird things I encountered soon after moving to Britain was that people insure the contents of their freezer. Don't know how common this is, but I thought it was hilarious. I'm big on 'self-insuring' as much as I can and I can't imagine paying premiums to protect my frozen 'investment'. Might make slightly more sense in hurricane land, but I still can't imagine taking out insurance for such a thing.
@GamKau--I feel like we're been eating restaurant food! Usually, we eat more simply. More beans and rice. Thanks for the link--Ihad never heard of that.
@Shelley--We don't eat much meat, which is why it tends to linger in the freezer. Actually, we got a little money for the ruined contents of our freezer after Katrina. It was part of our homeowner's coverage.
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