The Great Use It Up Challenge 2012

As briefly mentioned in the last post I have started on my usual January using stuff up mission.  ;o)  For the uninitiated (not that I think there are crowds of you scratching your heads over this!), the challenge amounts to trying to use up what I have in the pantry, freezer and fridge without shopping for anything other than essentials.  My definition of essentials is milk, butter, cheese, fruit and veg to start with.  As I progress through the month this list grows obviously.  Reasons for doing this?  Well....

• Money.  I was in the lovely position of being able to clear my massive overdraft and credit card debt in October 2011 but I'm by no means out of the financial woods skipping through the meadow yet!  I have to stick with my budget now!  My current weekly food budget is £60.  For the duration of the challenge I am planning on putting the difference between what I spend and my usual budget into our savings account.
• Pantry spring clean.  I will be conducting a major spring clean of my pantry and the less I have to take out and put back for that process the better!
• Cooking from scratch.  I love cooking from scratch but I sometimes slip into bad habits and the back end of last year fell into that category.  I want to get back to cooking more from scratch and trying new recipes and having to use up what I have always makes me cook more creatively.  :o)
• Blogging.  Any excuse to share what may or may not be interesting to anyone other than me!  Lol
• The feel good factor.  There's nothing like knowing I'm being thrifty and creative.  :o)

So, just what do I have to use up?  Brace yourself, it's a pretty long list!

Pantry

(Anything in blue has been bought since the challenge started.)
Ackee, tinned

Apricots, tinned

Arrowroot

Beer, 1 small bottle

Black eye beans, dried

Baked beans x 2 x1

Banana chutney

Beluga lentils, dried

Black beans, dried

Black beans, tinned

Black treacle

Bread flour

Bread flour

Breadsticks

Brown linseeds

Butter beans, dried

Cake decorations, too many to list

Cannelleni beans, dried

Cannelloni

Caster sugar

Cereal

Champagne

Chestnut puree x 3 x2

Chocolate cake covering, 1 1/2 bars

Chopped tomatoes, tinned

Chopped tomatoes with basil, carton

Cider vinegar

Cocktail cherries

Cocktail onions

Cocoa powder

Cornflour

Cous cous

Crab apple jelly x 4

Crackers, variety of opened packets of crackers

Cream crackers

Creamed coconut, sachet x 3

Crisps, variety of individual bags

Crunchy peanut butter

Crystallised ginger

Currants

Dark brown sugar

Dates x 2

Demerara sugar

Easy cook long grain rice

Evaporated milk large x 2 x 1

Evaporated milk, small

Extra virgin olive oil

Gelatine

Glace cherries

Golden syrup

Gram flour

Green split peas, dried

Grenadine

Hazelnuts, unshelled

Herbs and spices, too numerous to list

Honey

Hot chocolate

Icing, ready made coloured

Icing sugar

Instant coffee

Japanese rice crackers

Jelly x 3 x 2 x1

Kirsch

Large cous cous

Light brown sugar

Long grain rice

Macaroni

Malt extract

Malt vinegar

Marmalade vodka

Marmalade x 2

Marzipan

Meringue nests

Mincemeat

Mixed bean salad

Mixed nuts

Mixed seeds

Nakd bars x 4 x3

Nori

Oatbran x 2

Oats

Olives with anchovy stuffing

One cup teabags

Onions

Onions
OO pasta flour

Part baked rolls

Pasta reindeers

Pasta twists x 3 x 2 x1

Pearl barley

Piccalilli

Pineapple

Pistachios

Plain flour

Plain noodles

Plum chutney

Plum tomatoes

Polenta, ready made x 2

Porcini mushrooms, dried

Port

Potatoes

Potatoes

Pringles, 1/2 tube

Pudding rice

Pumpkin

Red kidney beans, dried

Red kidney beans, tinned

Red lentils

Redcurrant chutney x 3

Rhubarb chutney x 4

Rice pudding, tinned

Roasted savoury seed mix

Self raising flour

Self raising flour
Semolina?

Seri kaya, tinned

Sesame halva x 2

Sesame oil

Sesame seeds

Sloe vodka

Stock cubes

Soy sauce

Suet

Sugar cubes

Sultanas

Sweet potatoes

Teabags

Tinned ham

Tomato ketchup

Tuc

Tuna x 3

Walnuts

Wheatgerm

Whole chestnuts x 3 x2

Wholegrain spelt flour

Wine, home made

Xanthan gum

Yellow split peas, dried
 
Freezer
 
(Items in blue have been made and added to the freezer since the challenge started)

Baguette

Baked beans x 3 x 2 

Bananas, 2

Beef mince

Black beans, cooked

Blackcurrants

Breadcrumbs

Carob truffle mix

Cheese sauce

Cherry ice cream

Chicken giblets

Chicken legs, cooked

Chicken legs, raw

Chicken liver pate

Chicken livers

Chicken stock x 3 x2

Chocolate ice cream

Cooked chicken wings

Filo pastry, 2 packs

Fishfingers 2 x 10 1 x 10

Flat bread

Gingerbread stuffing

Gooseberries

Leeks

Lentil loaf, 2 slices x 2

Lemon juice?

Liver cake (dogs!)

Mincemeat brownie

Mini mince pies

Muffins

Muffins, 2 x 4 1 x 4

Naan, 2 x 2

Paneer

Peas

Potato cakes, 6

Puff pastry

Redcurrants x 3

Seeded loaf

Shortcrust pastry, tiny bit!

Sloes

Soya beans

Spinach

Three cheese strata, 3 small portions

Tomato sauce

Treacle ginger cake

Vanilla ice cream

Veg curry

Veg soup

Veg stew

Vegetarian sausage and bean casserole x 2 x1

White wine, 2 small pots

Whole trout x 2

I made these lists earlier this week so have excluded some items already.  I will score through items as I use them.  I have been using up stuff from the fridge too but I didn't make a list until today....

Fridge

(Items in blue have been made or bought since the challenge began)

Apple juice

Aubergine

Balsamic vinegar

Barbecue sauce

Beetroot, fresh

Boar pate

Brown sauce

Butter icing

Butter, salted

Butter, unsalted

Butternut squash
Caramelised onion chutney

Carrots

Carrots

Celeriac

Celery

Cheddar

Cheese – smallish lumps of Camembert, Brie, Cheddar, Gruyere, Cheddar with apple cider chutney, Mozzarella, Cheddar with caramelised onion and Drunken Goat,

Cherry jam

Chocolate squirty cream

Cottage cheese x 2

Cream, double

Cream, extra thick with Cherry Marnier

Cream, single

Croissant dough

Cucumber

Dill pickles

Dried onions

Feta cheese

Greek yoghurt


Ham

Hoisin sauce

Lemons, 3

Mango chutney

Margarine

Marmalade

Mayonnaise

Milk

Milk

Mint syrup

Mixed leaf salad pack

Mushrooms

Orange

Parsnips

Parsnips

Pickled beetroot

Pickled onions

Pickled red cabbage

Raspberry jam

Red onion relish

Redcurrant chutney

Redcurrant jelly

Redcurrant vinegar

Rhubarb relish

Root ginger

Salad cream

Soy sauce

Spring onion

Sun dried tomato pesto

Sun dried tomatoes in oil

Swede

Sweet tomato and chilli chutney

Tomatoes
 
So, barring a few odd things I may have missed and stuff lurking elsewhere other than in the pantry, freezer and fridge, there you have it!  Quite interesting reading, well for me anyway!  I seem to have a chutney fetish!  Lol  So, down to business, I will be endeavouring to use as much of what I have with minimal spending, watch this space for updates!  If you've made it this far.... bloody well done you!  Lol