I was thinking the same thing - about how many of the things I wanted to use up and had difficulty getting around to eating fell into one of two categories: those I bought too much of (or duplicates of) and those I bought for just one thing and didn't use it up.
I am hoping to be more selective when trying out new recipes - picking recipes that call for ingredients I typically use. I don't mind trying out a new ingredient, but I will try to avoid buying something that won't get used up in that one recipe without at least a plan for using up the rest of it.
As to buying too much, I have gotten a lot better in the past year about judging how much of certain items I need to have on hand. I still have a lot of items to go through to clear out the excess, but at least I have stopped buying too much of certain things.
Impulse buys will still be an issue - I am a real sucker for limited time only flavors and new specialty items.
Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun!
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HeatherFeather
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Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
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crazyndncook
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Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
Have I learned my lesson. Maybe, maybe not. LOL. Most of what I have to use up are from the garden, or bought in-season. I know I went way over-board this year with my preserving.
But after a few lean years I couldn't help myself, I had 2 years were I got no apricots off my tree. And since everyone I know has a tree or doesn't eat them I had to put them up myself. Never know I might go another couple years without.
Then all the other fruits were awesome buys, $1/lb cherries and 85 cents per pound peaches. Can't stop yourself there.
The past couple weeks Tomato Products have been on sale, so I have been stocking up on them. I use lots and haven't had tomatoes from the garden for 2 years also. They will get used. I plan on chili soon. I had to buy dried beans because there were no canned beans at all on the shelf. But they were cheap, just over $2 for 1 lb. I should end up with 3-4 lbs when they are cooked.
But after a few lean years I couldn't help myself, I had 2 years were I got no apricots off my tree. And since everyone I know has a tree or doesn't eat them I had to put them up myself. Never know I might go another couple years without.
Then all the other fruits were awesome buys, $1/lb cherries and 85 cents per pound peaches. Can't stop yourself there. The past couple weeks Tomato Products have been on sale, so I have been stocking up on them. I use lots and haven't had tomatoes from the garden for 2 years also. They will get used. I plan on chili soon. I had to buy dried beans because there were no canned beans at all on the shelf. But they were cheap, just over $2 for 1 lb. I should end up with 3-4 lbs when they are cooked.
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HeatherFeather
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Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
That sounds wonderful! My citrus trees barely produced anything this year. One of my trees lost a lot of leaves and was just bare. The tree doesn't appear to have any diseases but something happened. My neighbors all have lovely full trees full or oranges. I would love to be able to make some jams and jellies. Hopefully when I have my own house, I can plant a nice herb & veggie/fruit garden.crazyndncook wrote:Have I learned my lesson. Maybe, maybe not. LOL. Most of what I have to use up are from the garden, or bought in-season. I know I went way over-board this year with my preserving.
But after a few lean years I couldn't help myself, I had 2 years were I got no apricots off my tree. And since everyone I know has a tree or doesn't eat them I had to put them up myself. Never know I might go another couple years without.
The past couple weeks Tomato Products have been on sale, so I have been stocking up on them. I use lots and haven't had tomatoes from the garden for 2 years also. They will get used. I plan on chili soon. I had to buy dried beans because there were no canned beans at all on the shelf. But they were cheap, just over $2 for 1 lb. I should end up with 3-4 lbs when they are cooked.
I consider putting up fruit a huge savings - you can enjoy all of that wonderful stuff all year
I used to have a cherry tree and my freezer was packed with cherries, it was great!
Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
lol yeah, I am a real impulse buyer when it comes to a sale where the price is reduced tons or it is BOGO 
. So that will probably be my biggest challenge of all. But after I get everything eaten up I am just going to try and buy as needed and like you choose recipes with ingredients I typically use or if I really want to try a new recipe make sure I have a back-up plan for any leftover items from that recipe.
crazy, I wouldn't be able to resist the sale on the cherries either! You know, buying and stocking up on items you use often I don't feel is a problem at all, at least it is getting used on a regular basis.
So I did good over the last few days - I used some cinnabon cereal as a mix-in with ice cream (so I still have lots of it.) It was delicious though so I will do that again. The original plan was a coating for fried ice cream but it wasn't holding well so I smushed it all together and dug into that ice cream ball lol. In the process of making fried ice cream I used up a little bit of Honey bunches of oats cereal my dad had which he said he didn't want any more - so one less thing sitting there. It was definitely easier making fried ice cream with that one. I used up the cinnamon rolls for breakfast (monkey bread idea), side note: I don't think I'll be buying frozen cinnamon rolls in the future, they didn't bake up exactly as I thought they would. I ended up caramelizing 1 red onion and some canadian bacon in an omelette. I still have lots of the bacon and 1 red onion sitting there. Will use that next onion for the alfredo pizza, yum! That has been my progress and unfortunately I am not sure I will succeed in using any of the other items on my list before month end at this rate but this challenge was really insightful for me, glad you thought of it Heather! Looking forward to Feb's thread and your other idea.
. So that will probably be my biggest challenge of all. But after I get everything eaten up I am just going to try and buy as needed and like you choose recipes with ingredients I typically use or if I really want to try a new recipe make sure I have a back-up plan for any leftover items from that recipe. crazy, I wouldn't be able to resist the sale on the cherries either! You know, buying and stocking up on items you use often I don't feel is a problem at all, at least it is getting used on a regular basis.
So I did good over the last few days - I used some cinnabon cereal as a mix-in with ice cream (so I still have lots of it.) It was delicious though so I will do that again. The original plan was a coating for fried ice cream but it wasn't holding well so I smushed it all together and dug into that ice cream ball lol. In the process of making fried ice cream I used up a little bit of Honey bunches of oats cereal my dad had which he said he didn't want any more - so one less thing sitting there. It was definitely easier making fried ice cream with that one. I used up the cinnamon rolls for breakfast (monkey bread idea), side note: I don't think I'll be buying frozen cinnamon rolls in the future, they didn't bake up exactly as I thought they would. I ended up caramelizing 1 red onion and some canadian bacon in an omelette. I still have lots of the bacon and 1 red onion sitting there. Will use that next onion for the alfredo pizza, yum! That has been my progress and unfortunately I am not sure I will succeed in using any of the other items on my list before month end at this rate but this challenge was really insightful for me, glad you thought of it Heather! Looking forward to Feb's thread and your other idea.
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crazyndncook
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Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
I have 2 beef roasts in the crockpot, they are small little things, barely 3 lbs in total. I will be using a bag of corn on the cob and some buns for our dinner tonight. Should be enough meat for dinner and some leftovers for lunches. My spoiled rotten child wants me to make extras for lunches because we ate most of the lunch meat we had bought for his lunch. I don't ever remember having lunch meat when I was growing up.
Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
So it's the last day of January's challenge so I decided to update my list and see how I did
1. Canadian bacon - used some in omelet (still have some in the package though)
2. Frozen cinnamon rolls - all gone
3. Snack pudding cups - all gone
4. canned crab meat - all gone (no leftovers crab cakes either)
5. Orzo pasta - used none
6. Couscous Pasta - used none
7. Wonton wrappers - used none
8. 4oz of cream cheese - used none
9. Cinnabon cereal - used a bit as an ice cream mix-in
10. Homemade vanilla ice cream - all gone
11. Protein powder - used some at breakfast yesterday - in porridge.
12. Cherry Pie Filling - not using this month after all cause of best by date and container is sealed
13. Frozen individual portions of baked ziti - ate 1 portion
14. Red onions - used one and one left- caramelized for omelet, yum!
15. White Quinoa and quinoa flour - used none.
Right, so I guess I could have done better huh? Well we'll see how I do in February. As I said in a previous post, this has opened my eyes to my eating habits (what items I use all the time and the type of food I cook regularly) as opposed to buying an item to try a recipe and then have the rest sitting there for ages. Will definitely make me think twice in the future. But impulse buying, man, I am having a time with that one!
Thanks Heather for hosting and thinking of this event, looking forward to February's challenge in the hopes I will do much better!
1. Canadian bacon - used some in omelet (still have some in the package though)
2. Frozen cinnamon rolls - all gone
3. Snack pudding cups - all gone
4. canned crab meat - all gone (no leftovers crab cakes either)
5. Orzo pasta - used none
6. Couscous Pasta - used none
7. Wonton wrappers - used none
8. 4oz of cream cheese - used none
9. Cinnabon cereal - used a bit as an ice cream mix-in
10. Homemade vanilla ice cream - all gone
11. Protein powder - used some at breakfast yesterday - in porridge.
12. Cherry Pie Filling - not using this month after all cause of best by date and container is sealed
13. Frozen individual portions of baked ziti - ate 1 portion
14. Red onions - used one and one left- caramelized for omelet, yum!
15. White Quinoa and quinoa flour - used none.
Right, so I guess I could have done better huh? Well we'll see how I do in February. As I said in a previous post, this has opened my eyes to my eating habits (what items I use all the time and the type of food I cook regularly) as opposed to buying an item to try a recipe and then have the rest sitting there for ages. Will definitely make me think twice in the future. But impulse buying, man, I am having a time with that one!
Thanks Heather for hosting and thinking of this event, looking forward to February's challenge in the hopes I will do much better!
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HeatherFeather
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Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
I think everyone did really well. Even if you couldn't use everything on your list, you made a nice dent in it - and I bet you will think twice about some of those items you didn't end up using at all before buying more. I know I will for the items I didn't get to. I certainly will not buy more canned grapefruit, canned peas, and I never need more than 1 bottle of marinade in my pantry at any time.
Some of the other things I didn't use up I will continue to use into next month, especially the nuts I still haven't finished. (Although some are going into cookies and banana bread this week). I can at least freeze those.
Next time you find yourself with a recipe calling for Canadian Bacon, you can always use ham or bacon or even in some cases sausage. Canadian bacon costs more around here, so I usually sub deli ham or cut up some boiled ham into chunks instead unless I get a great deal on the Canadian.
Some of the other things I didn't use up I will continue to use into next month, especially the nuts I still haven't finished. (Although some are going into cookies and banana bread this week). I can at least freeze those.
Next time you find yourself with a recipe calling for Canadian Bacon, you can always use ham or bacon or even in some cases sausage. Canadian bacon costs more around here, so I usually sub deli ham or cut up some boiled ham into chunks instead unless I get a great deal on the Canadian.
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Kchurchill5
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Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
I can't say I used everything, but I made a good dent in everything; and did use all my items.
My biggest suggest is if when trying a new recipe - have a second recipe to use the same ingredients; that way items are no going to waste. And make sure to note them so you know what you have. This includes anything from pasta, to sauce, to condiments, or a specific spice or herb.
When I made my plum pork this past month, I made sure I had another recipe to use some of the sauce. I used it in a completely different BBQ dipping sauce for shrimp.
But buying lg quantities and impulse buying is the biggest problem. It is cheaper to buy more, but then we don't use it. When you come home make a list on your fridge or bulletin board and make a note of what to use. And forget those excuses, I don't have time, or I don't feel like it, I'd rather have pizza. Just make it. You will be shocked at how much you will save.
I did well ... but I will continue to work on what is on hand. But also make sure to treat your self. A night out, a soup and sammy night, but also have fun trying something new one night. And for health reasons try a veggie night, a hearty lentil soup and salad or sandwich night can be just as good, but also healthy.
My biggest suggest is if when trying a new recipe - have a second recipe to use the same ingredients; that way items are no going to waste. And make sure to note them so you know what you have. This includes anything from pasta, to sauce, to condiments, or a specific spice or herb.
When I made my plum pork this past month, I made sure I had another recipe to use some of the sauce. I used it in a completely different BBQ dipping sauce for shrimp.
But buying lg quantities and impulse buying is the biggest problem. It is cheaper to buy more, but then we don't use it. When you come home make a list on your fridge or bulletin board and make a note of what to use. And forget those excuses, I don't have time, or I don't feel like it, I'd rather have pizza. Just make it. You will be shocked at how much you will save.
I did well ... but I will continue to work on what is on hand. But also make sure to treat your self. A night out, a soup and sammy night, but also have fun trying something new one night. And for health reasons try a veggie night, a hearty lentil soup and salad or sandwich night can be just as good, but also healthy.
Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
HF, this really helped me clean out the pantry, fridge and make a dent in the freezer. We're going to continue to eat from the pantry and freeze r until after the move. Milk, eggs and fresh produce are exceptions
I'm not trying new recipes unless I have all of the ingredients on hand. I will purchase ingredients for Super Bowl food when I am trying five new recipes. Now that I look closer at those recipes, I will have to purchase very little and there won't be any leftovers to use.
Even for Super Bowl food I will be using freezer and pantry items. Frozen sponge cake will be the base for the warm fruit dessert. http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/hot-fr ... low-cooker, everything is in the pantry except the sliced pears. Frozen chicken wings will be used for http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/lindas ... ing-dingys, everything else for this recipe is in the fridge or pantry. Frozen shrimp http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/spicy- ... mp-skewers, everything else is in the pantry. Frozen jalapeno peppers for http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/jalapeno-pita-bites, almost everything else is in fridge and pantry. Everything for http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/brocco ... ower-salad is in the pantry/fridge except for the fresh cauliflower and broccoli. My entire Super Bowl shopping list is; 1 can sliced pears, 1 package mini pita pockets, 1 small fresh tomato, fresh cauliflower and fresh broccoli. I don't think that is too bad for five new recipes.
I'm not trying new recipes unless I have all of the ingredients on hand. I will purchase ingredients for Super Bowl food when I am trying five new recipes. Now that I look closer at those recipes, I will have to purchase very little and there won't be any leftovers to use.
Even for Super Bowl food I will be using freezer and pantry items. Frozen sponge cake will be the base for the warm fruit dessert. http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/hot-fr ... low-cooker, everything is in the pantry except the sliced pears. Frozen chicken wings will be used for http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/lindas ... ing-dingys, everything else for this recipe is in the fridge or pantry. Frozen shrimp http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/spicy- ... mp-skewers, everything else is in the pantry. Frozen jalapeno peppers for http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/jalapeno-pita-bites, almost everything else is in fridge and pantry. Everything for http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/brocco ... ower-salad is in the pantry/fridge except for the fresh cauliflower and broccoli. My entire Super Bowl shopping list is; 1 can sliced pears, 1 package mini pita pockets, 1 small fresh tomato, fresh cauliflower and fresh broccoli. I don't think that is too bad for five new recipes.
Re: Budget Stretchers: Use it Or Lose it 2012 - Join the fun
But buying lg quantities and impulse buying is the biggest problem. It is cheaper to buy more, but then we don't use it. I buy bulk for anything which is a regular use item. Something we "might" like I only buy one. I'm not an impulse shopper at all. However, Sweetie IS an impulse shopper. He will buy anything that is "On Sale". Our grocery bill plummeted when I started shopping without him. "Sweetie, I'll do the shopping while you are at work. I know you're too tired for us to go when you get home." He still hasn't figured out why the grocery bill went down or noticed anything missing from the table. 