Clear out the Cupboards Challenge!

Times are tough, we need to stop spending money unnecessarily so I came up with an idea today that I know Joe will hate but I’m going to do anyway!

So, I looked in the cupboards today and despite them brimming with random of bits and pieces, my initial reaction was that there was clearly nothing instantly visible for dinner and I’d better head down to the shops to buy a few bits. STOP. Not this week Alice! No, instead of continuously buying food, I’m going to use up everything in the cupboards until they are virtually empty and only then will I allow myself to go food shopping. The only exception to this being milk and fruit as we go through a lot of that so it isn’t technically wasted or replaceable with something else.

Now, this isn’t going to be pretty and I’m sure Joe is going to complain about some of the questionable combinations I present each evening but frankly, tough.

I can already see Elsa’s eyes roll before I type this but…there are millions of starving people around the world (*cough cough* meat and dairy industry *cough cough*) and we, as a Western society certainly do not help this situation. I know me not buying food for a few days isn’t going to make a difference in the world but morally, I will feel better about us having harboured all these fantastically viable foods that I’ve previously deemed un-dinner worthy, especially if I at least make an attempt to eat them.

So what’s on the menu tonight? LASAGNE.

I thought I had a bag of veggie mince in the freezer but it turned out to only be about a quarter full. Was my initial day of scrimping going to turn into a disaster? NO. Ta da, I found a bag of red lentils and quinoa (southern snob food) that I bought ages ago and stuffed at the back behind the “real food” (crisps and bags of pasta).

This stuff cooks up to a great bolognaise sauce. I fried up some onion and garlic, threw in a load of carrots and chopped up kale and then added the measly amount of leftover mince plus a load of quinoa and lentils. I poured in some stock and a carton of passata and voila, we’re half way there.

Pre-passata and stock mixture.

Making the white sauce is easy and we had a whole packet of lasagne sheets in the cupboard so amazingly, despite buying nothing today (ok, just a carton of soya milk and a few apples) I’ve made a yummy lasagne for the whole family to have at least two helpings plus a bit left over for Jude’s packed lunch.

Everyone loved it so I’m really happy.

Mondays money spent on food – £1.39 for the carton of milk and apples (about £1.50)

What did you have for dinner tonight?