August 31, 2009
Yesterday was our first casualty from the pantry. I went to use up some of the oyster crackers in the soup last night and I noticed they were exceptionally stale. Not just tasting a little stale, but completely inedible with a potent odor. I had to discard them.
On that note, I have heard feedback from a lot of people about donating the extra food I may have around the house to a local food bank. This is a fantastic idea and one I support. However, it is important to note there are specific guidelines that need to be followed for individual food donations. Specifically, food banks typically do not want:
perishable items
rusty or unlabeled cans
noncommercial or homemade canned or packaged items
alcoholic beverages, mixes, or soda
open or partially used items
In our case, we had a lot of perishable (fresh and frozen) foods as well as many open packages. Rather than have those items we are not able to donate go to waste, we are choosing to use them in a creative way. And, just for the record, we donate food via local programs (9 Cares Colorado Shares, US Postal Service Food Drive, and the Boy Scouts of America) on a regular basis and will continue to do so. I would strongly encourage others to do the same.
For tonight's meal, I will be making cod with an orange glaze. I will make the glaze out of some marmalade I have in the refrigerator. I don't have a recipe, so this will be more of an experiment than anything. I will try to post the recipe and response from the family a bit later after I have the chance to put the ingredients together.
If you have an interesting way to use ingredients, please post some comments and share your ideas. I'd love to hear how others are able to cook with what they have on hand.
Just finished dinner. I used 1/4 cup orange marmalade with 1/8 cup dijon mustard and 1/8 cup water. It was delicious!
I would love to see a before and after picture of your pantry when this is all over.
ReplyDeleteI will post both! Thanks for the request.
ReplyDeleteIn my home, I'm known as the freezer queen lol, I freeze all leftovers, breads, flours, etc.
ReplyDeleteFor stale snacks (if you catch them before the become too stale), just scatter them (crackers, pretzels, bread sticks etc)on a cokkie sheet and bake them for 10 mins at an oven preheated to 300 degrees, and they will become crisp again.
I recently tried a recipe that used a couple odd items I had been "storing" in my pantry. If you have these items you may want to try this one out. My family thought it was great! Check it out on....http://workingmommyjuggler.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete