Eating Up The Cupboards

I decided that I needed to defrost the freezer and sort out its contents. I have set myself the thrifty challenge of producing as many meals as I can from foodstuffs I have already, without buying anything. This habit is generally known in the family as 'eating up the cupboards' and can result in some extraordinary combinations and menus. Bob is wonderfully tolerant - although sometimes his 'Grace Before Meals' can be quite...inventive!

I ended up with 2 fish pies, a large pizza and 2 moussakas. Here are some of the meals, cooling for the freezer. All the veg I had left after that went into a large cauldron of soup - [Una Stubbs refers to this as "Fridge Scrape"] which I then decanted into four smaller 2-portion containers.  

The strange bi-coloured tops on the moussakas are because I do not eat cheese- so only Bob's side gets cheddar topping!

 

The fish pies contain a mixture of oddments from the freezer - smoked haddock, coley fillets and prawns, in a white sauce with some frozen peas - and the topping is ordinary mash with a dash of mustard for flavour. I put the potatoes through my ricer, which always gives a lovely fluffy effect.

 

I also found three frozen bananas lurking at the back of the freezer, along with a bag of breadcrumbs. I liquidised the bananas with the breadcrumbs and two egg yolks, and half a cup of milk. Then I put that in a dish and baked at 180'C for 15minutes. I beat up the two egg whites with sugar until stiff.

I then topped the banana mix with the meringue, and put the whole thing back in the hot oven. I switched the oven off immediately and left the pudding undisturbed till tea time. With a scoop of ice cream, it made a lovely dessert.

It was a very satisfying afternoon, and particularly good to stand over the hob, stirring away at the soups and sauces and chatting on the phone - first to my good blog-friend Lynn and then to darling daughter Steph. Aren't cordless phones wonderful?!