Eating From the Freezer and Pantry Challenge - Week 1

I've been anticipating this challenge by Stephanie from Keeper of the Home for a week now, so I've already been making a conscious effort to use the obscure contents of my pantry and garden.

For example, the other day I cooked up a huge batch of soup with random ingredients - and it turned out much yummier than any of us expected.

The ingredients went something like this - 1 brown onion; 1 red onion; 2 leeks (1 from the garden and 1 from the supermarket); 4 potatoes; purple, orange and white carrots from my garden, a green cauliflower from my garden; a small zucchini from my garden; a few cherry tomatoes from my garden; basil and parsley from my garden; dried oregano; a few leaves of silverbeet from my garden; 3T tomato paste; 4c chicken stock; 1c beef stock; and 1 tin of organic cannellini beans.

After the soup was cooked, I whizzed it up and stirred through a tub of sour cream that I had bought for 99c the week before.

I cooked up a batch of dinner rolls to go with the soup and we ate it two nights in a row. I also had it for breakfast one morning and have frozen some of it for another dinner.

It felt good to be using up so many ingredients from the garden, fridge, freezer and pantry. And I guess that's the point of this challenge.

I'm going to share menu plan for the week, but you'll see I've already broken the challenge twice by eating out at lunchtime today and yesterday.

I also stopped at the supermarket today and spent NZ$47 on nappies, sunlight soap (to make laundry powder), apples, and four packs of beef mince, which was only NZ$7.99/KG.

Monday

• Breakfast: Sophie and I had Autumn harvest soup, Lily had cereal with raw milk
• Lunch with Paul at McDonald's. I ordered a Grand Angus meal and gave the girls bits of the beef patty. They also ate apple slices, a few chippies and drank water. I ordered a strawberry smoothie for Lily, but they gave her a strawberry milkshake instead and I didn't realise till she'd finished most of it. Oh dear.)
• Snacks: Chocolate smoothie (made with raw cream, kefir, an avocado, a banana, blueberries, boysenberries, strawberries, silverbeet and 2T cocoa powder.)
• Dinner: Autumn harvest soup with dinner rolls

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal with raw milk (inspired by Stephanie's menu plan). I soaked the oats with some wholemeal flour to help break down the phytic acid, and added currants to the mix. Delicious - especially the crunchy bits on top.
• Lunch: Chicken cranberry brie panini and fries from Blue Belle Cafe.
• Snacks: We had packed a lunchbox for a walk to the park today but didn't get through it because of our impromptu lunch stop (which happened because we thought it was starting to rain). Instead, we finished our lunchbox up for afternoon tea. Between Lily, Sophie and I we ate a banana, a homemade muesli bar, a mandarin, homemade dinner rolls with butter and jam, and a piece of homemade gluten-free/fructose-free chocolate brownie.
• Dinner: I fell asleep at 4pm today with both girls and didn't wake up till 8pm. We were all exhausted from two big days of walking around and exploring in the sunshine. Paul heated up a microwave Tikka Masala meal he bought AGES ago and ate that with Lily, who had hers mixed with a little bit of homemade greek yoghurt to calm the spiciness

Wednesday (Raw milk and cream pick-up day)

• Breakfast: Leftover  Baked Oatmeal with raw milk
• Lunch: Panfried Warehou (fish) (from the freezer) and salad
• Snacks: A selection for the girls' lunchbox including: Homemade yoghurt and blueberries, stewed apple, mandarins, homemade gluten-free/fructose-free chocolate brownie, avocado, homemade muesli bars.
• Dinner: Asian Mince on Rice (Lily's favourite dinner - recipe to come this week)
• Prep: Soak dough for banana bread

Thursday

• Breakfast: Leftover  Baked Oatmeal with raw milk
• Lunch: Leftover Asian Mince on Rice
• Snacks: Soaked Banana Bread (trialling a recipe Ang sent me), lamb stock for Sophie
• Dinner: Our lovely friend, Loz, is cooking us dinner and bringing it over for a dinner party at our house. I can't wait!
• Prep: Soak dough for tortillas

Friday

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs
• Lunch: Provided by Playcentre
• Snacks: Soaked Banana Bread and butter, fruit
• Dinner: Stir-fry on rice
• Prep: Defrost black beans and roast beef in fridge

Saturday

• Breakfast: Blender oat pancakes with homemade yoghurt and frozen blueberries
• Lunch: Banana Berry Smoothie
• Snacks: Popcorn, fruit
• Dinner: Black bean and roast beef quesadillas with salad, salsa and sour cream

Sunday (Sophie's Birthday Party - a combined event with three other birthday buddies!)

• Breakfast: Apple baked muesli and raw milk
• Party: Salmon/Chicken sushi, Birthday cake, fruit and marshmallows (plus food that the other birthday families are providing)
• Dinner: Leftover party food?

What are you planning to eat this week? Let me know in the comments below or, if you're a blogger, link up your menu plan over at Keeper of the Home.