Tuesday, July 1, 2014

My cupboards are out of control

I have some meat I need to use in the fridge.  Decided to make some chili, using a recipe from a cookbook I'm supposed to be reviewing.

But I cannot find diced tomatoes.  Because my cupboards are a complete mess, and I have way too stinkin' much of some things.

Like canned pumpkin.  I have to find a good way of using pumpkin.

So my 8 and 10 year olds are completely emptying out the cans, and we will be sorting and reorganizing.  And I am going to start making a list of things I have to use every single week.

Starting with at least one can of pumpkin.

And probably a can of sweet potatoes.

And I'm betting a can of corn.

And a can of either sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk.

Two-three hours later, and we have sorted and inventoried cans.  We threw away two cans, which I think is pretty impressive considering how bad things were.

I started a donation box too, but it has a single can of peas in it.  I detest canned peas.  I know people at pantry like it, so I don't feel like a horrid person for giving away what I hate.  I just have no idea how it got in my house.  Dale must have picked it up.  Gotta have a talk with him. 


So... my excess ingredients, now that we've sorted cans.
  • Sweetened condensed milk
  • Corn (mostly whole corn, some creamed)
  • Sliced potatoes
  • Pumpkin (various sorts -- pumpkin pie filling, 100% pumpkin, etc.)
  • Black Eyed Peas
Of those five items, I have a grand total of 91 cans.  HOW is that even possible?


So, adding sliced carrots and apricot preserves into the mix, I'm thinking I need to start making a point of using at least five cans of these seven items every week.

Any ideas for me?

I'm going to be using some cream-style corn in some cornbread for dinner tonight.  I'm thinking these pumpkin pie bars sound like they'd be worth trying.

But I need more ideas!!





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is probably not too helpful, but I've been using some extra sweetened condensed milk to make ice cream for our family. I've been putting a can in with a half-gallon milk (sometimes chocolate) and a small tub of cool whip. Then, I cut up fruit or candy and put it in there and run it in my ice cream maker, and my children think I'm the most wonderful Mom ever :-)

Debra said...

Oh, that sounds wonderful...

Eisley Jacobs said...

WOW. 91 cans of five things? LOL. And I thought my 5 cans of coconut milk was boarding on extreme ;)

I have no other extremes in there. Two boxes of tomatoes and two jars of red peppers.

However, if you are up for good spiced muffins. One box of spice cake, 1 can of pumpkin (small one), and the eggs it calls for on the box. Bake as directed. You have delicious pumpkin spice muffins muffins!

You could also do your holiday baking with all that pumpkin. Muffins, scones, pies. Seal well and freeze for 4.5 months and your are one step ahead!

Debra said...

Eisley -- the baking ahead thing is a great idea!

And yeah, those 5 things are totally crazy. We live way out in the boonies, plus there are seven of us (including three teen boys), so for things we use regularly, I think 5-10 cans is "normal" and for things I don't use much, 1-4 cans is plenty.

But 23 cans of corn? Oy.

And what I found in inventorying all of the cans is that for MOST stuff we are right in the 4-10 cans range. I'm comfortable there.

(Of course, diced tomatoes -- I'd be okay with 20 cans of those. And I had one. Past tense. Looking for diced tomatoes is what started this project.)

The out of control stuff, though, makes it so I can't find anything.

Oh, and I have 2 cans of coconut milk. :)