What's in your fridge? 23.6.15

I am currently at that annoying stage in fridge time, where you are starting to run out of things to use for making meals, but you are leaving for a holiday lasting several days in just a week's time so you don't really want to stock up on things which will then go bad.

And I have discovered I can't even get my mum to use up some of the things.

So this is the state of my fridge now. And yes, those red cartons are all 1/2 litre cream cartons. Two of which are decidedly sour. I really should use them tomorrow for cooking leftover bulgur and assorted seeds and let my chickens snack on that. At least, they love it when I use buttermilk or old yoghurt, so I'm counting on this working.

There's some leftover pizza in there, which will do nicely for tomorrow's supper. Which reminds me - lunch tomorrow is going to be tricky as I'll be out of the house.

The large bottle in the bottom of the door is elderflower cordial - from two years ago. Mum has refused to make any this year, because nobody drinks it. That's mostly because I can't remember I have any. This should make a difference, having it next to the milk.

That strange purpley/fuschia thing in the door is not for me - that's a snack for Ramses. I only give him 1/3-1/2 of the soft food sachets at a time, and store the rest in the fridge. Then I give him the remainder and pour hot water over it to warm it up as treats. I can't afford giving him a whole sachet at a time - it is a bit much for one helping, and once it has been in his dish for some hours, he refuses to eat it up.

I honestly have no idea what I'm eating this week. Partly because of the random items in there, partly because my brain is already seriously in travel jitter mode, and getting the last things done before leaving, and so therefore cooking is ... erratic.

Danish strawberries have hit the shops now though, and mum is very fond of buying and bringing me some, so I am getting a good bit of my nourishment that way. And I am not eating them all with sugar and cream - I am eating them nude, so to speak. All of which isn't having much effect on my fridge.

What's in your fridge? 9 June

I guess it is confession time. I am not doing too well. There have been a number of issues I have had to deal with, and that means other things get dropped. And my diet has been among the casualties. Admitted, it could be worse. I'm not resorting to frozen pizzas or take-away, and I have been getting care packages from my mum.

Still, my fridge is not exactly neat.

I am getting a bit worried about the state of some of the veg. Especially as I will be off for the weekend. I am rather worried that the contents of both the saucepan and the large bowl are only fit for the rubbish bin. As is the leftover on the plate.

However, the amount of food I have had to bin because it had died, or in some cases, become even more alive, has gone down. Almost dramatically. The focus on flashing my fridge every fortnight is proving to be beneficial.

I am also getting into decreasing the number of jars. Now, this isn't an exercise in making the contents of the fridge be as small as possible. Especially as I actually have a rather large fridge. The exercise is to only have things I actually use. One part of this means identifying what are must-haves, items without which I cannot exist. Or at least will cause discomfort.

I think my number one item has to be milk. Without milk, there will be no drinking of coffee. Without coffee, there will be no brain activity. (OK, so I can drink coffee without milk or cream, but then I need ridiculous amounts of sugar.)

Currently orange juice is probably a solid second. I am once more in the habit of a glass every morning. This is no longer just because I like it. It is because iron gets taken up by the body easier with vitamin c, and as I am taking those darn supplements, I may as well do my best at getting the most out of them. This means a slightly convoluted morning routine, because coffee hampers the intake of iron. So I try to get up around seven, and then take my iron and juice, and then wait for the 30 or so minutes to pass before I can start preparing coffee and breakfast. When I oversleep, things get complicated.


I think my various liquid stocks are my third must-haves. Even though it has been a while since I used them. But they are so good and handy for making so many dishes. Instant flavour, in case whatever it is I'm preparing turns out to be bland. Mind you, I did realize how much more expensive they are compared to the cubes, so I have started to buy those instead. Not all flavours are available in cube form though.

I think I could pretty much survive for weeks without the other items in my fridge, but these three would mean disaster before long. What do you consider to be your must-haves in the fridge?

What's in your fridge? 12th May

What does your fridge look like? Is it overflowing with stuff, much of it very possibly beginning to show signs of intelligent life?

I seem to swing from that scenario over to the one where the fridge is almost as bare as Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard.

Today, my fridge looks like this:

It's sort of medium stuffed today.

If we start with the door I have cheese and butter at the top. I bought two types of goat's cheese Friday and have been munching my way through them. The next shelf is the chutney shelf. Yes. Those are six different chutnies in there. Then there's the shelf with yeast, tomato concentrate and open sachets of kitty food. Then there's the mayo, bbq-type sauces and maple syrup and truffle balsamic cream. It is much less crowded than it used to be, and the mayo is a newcomer, because my collection of bbq-type sauces has all but vanished. I think I used to have four or five. The bottom is milk - and to be honest, I'm not quite sure what the others are. I guess this is a cue for me to check them out and possibly get rid of them.

Then there's the fridge proper. I strive to keep all my veg and possible fruit in the drawers down at the bottom. It's not quite working at the moment, because several of the drawers are awaiting washing, because there were things in them which, well, new lifeforms were being created in there. But those are the things from last week's veggie box which still haven't been eaten yet.

The top shelf is my "ingredients" shelf. This is where I keep my bottles of ready-made stock, various jars and bottles of Asian ingredients, olives, sun-dried toms in oil, creams and spreads currently open, and similar goodies of a long-life nature. They are the items I use when making stews or more fancy food.

And in between those I have bacon, chicken meat from making chicken stock this weekend, more milk, feta cheese for a couple of things I hope to make this week, cherry syrup - store-bought and some I made myself, a jar of home-made cherry jam, an open bottle of weird beer which has been there since I don't know when, pasteurized egg yolks and egg whites, ready-made pie dough and filo pastry.

I have plans of using the filo with part of the feta and some spinach from my freezer to make small parcels, possibly including some minced lamb. The rest I want to try to use as a filling in regular home-made white bread. Using part or all of the chicken and some of the veg to make a curry would give me cause to use some of the chutney. The pie dough is destined for a quiche Lorraine, along with the bacon chunks. The bacon rashers will be breakfast one day with an egg or two from my pantry.

This more or less sums up the state of my fridge today. Tune in after a fortnight to see if I have managed to toss the old beer and wash the veg drawers. And possibly discovered what the bottles in the door contain.