Finishing the Fridge ... and What Did I Throw Away?

 

Literally half an hour ago I finished sorting out the fridge.  It didn't take me that long because, as you can see, there wasn't that much in there.  

But just before I set to I enjoyed a breakfast of sautéed garlicky tomatoes on toast.  I had eaten the other half of the punnet last night in a noodle dish and they really were on their last legs.  I had to throw one mouldy one away and wash the others carefully.

So to answer the question in the title of this post, there were two things that ended up being thrown away, one mouldy cherry tomato and some lemon curd ... and that didn't even go in the bin.  It was just the dregs of a jar of vegan lemon curd that should have been used up months ago and wasn't.  I put some hot water in the jar and it dissolved away to nothing, so the lemon curdy water slid down the plughole and the jar went into the recycling.  

Now usually I would keep jars for reuse but this was one of those annoying multi-cornered ones that are almost impossible to get the last of anything out of ... so off it went.

Then with a reasonably full tummy I set to, emptied the fridge shelves, wiped them all down and while they were drying I took the photo at the top of the post.  I had to balance carefully on my little set of steps to get it, because the downside to a kitchen that has less than three foot of floor space is that you can't step back to get a good photo on your only worktop.  😄

Truly minimal!!

After I had put everything back on the shelves I emptied the door pockets and this is what I found there.  A two minute wipe down and then I put everything back organised just slightly differently.

On the top shelf the large plastic box holds the dairy-free butters, cream, crème fraiche, vegan hotdogs and Quorn ham ... along with two little Floras that must have come from previous visits to Booths for a toasted teacake.  There are also half a dozen eggs and my two tubes of purees, one garlic and one tomato.

The middle shelf has a tin of grapefruit segments in juice, ready for a nice chilled breakfast whenever I am in the mood for fruit first thing.  There is also two thirds of a dairy-free birthday cake, as it was my little brothers birthday yesterday, gulp ... my 'little' brother is now 59 so we met up at Mum's taking him a cake bought from Asda on our way.  Of course I wasn't going to sit and watch everyone else eat cake and abstain myself, so I spent £7 of my money on a cake for me. 😀

It's got a good date on it, so I will just have a slice of it here and there until it's all gone.

The bottom shelf is all things that are in use or that need using first, so the opened Naturli spread, my ready shredded mix for coleslaw to go with tonight's meal, half a block of Violife Feta-style cheese, a third of a jar of slightly watered down pesto and a box of out of date Pains au Chocolate leftover from Christmas.

I put the things that we take to Mum's when we visit ... the jellies and the cans ... into the top compartment of the door as they are only used every now and then.  For instance it's Alan that has one of the cans of orange each visit so that's a three week supply that I have left.

The jam and sauces, along with the picked beetroot and onions have joined the lemon and blackcurrant that I use in my morning hot water drink, back on the middle shelf and the sparkling water, milk and squirty cream are back on their usual one too.

So that's the fridge done, all neat, clean and tidy and everything except the ready-to-bake Jus-Rol Pains au Chocolates in date.  I had hoped to pop these into the freezer in pairs but it says you can't freeze them.  Although, I might try with two of them when I get them out to use, and we will just have two each.  I used to be able to eat three in one sitting ... but not any more!!

Sue xx

Moving On from the Freezer Into a Slightly Less Chilly Place

 

Breakfast yesterday was the last of the Warburtons Thin Bagels from the fridge ... these are really tasty by the way ... and have been delicious with butter, jam and as I had them here with peanut butter.

It made for a tasty little start to the day while I planned my next move.

The night before I had made some coleslaw with half of the remaining Iceberg lettuce, a grated carrot and some finely sliced red onion.  I used up two of the sachets of mayonnaise that I had in my sachet stash bowl ... and there was enough of everything to be able to do an action replay the next day.

It made me realise that now was the time to check all the other 'fresh' foods that I had in the fridge and use them up over the coming week.

As you can see, post-Christmas the fridge is a much emptier place ... well apart from the cheese drawer.  😁

The vegetables are all in pretty good shape, the SMEG fridge keeps fruits and vegetables really well, and of course my use of Stayfresh bags helps too.

The unopened celery, the red cabbage and the tomatoes were bought just before Christmas and the onions, carrots and other half-used bunch of celery a couple of weeks earlier.

Everything was checked over and apart from a couple of the outer leaves of the red cabbage and the bottom of it's core ... which were put into the compost bin ... everything was absolutely fine.  The drawer was washed out, dried and a clean tea towel put into the bottom and then refilled with the veggies.

The cheese and fruit drawer.

Basically with this one, I just emptied it all out washed and dried the drawer, put all the cheeses etc back in in use it up date order.  I replaced the apple and ate the Mandarin oranges, sharing a couple of segments with Mavis who absolutely loves all things tangerin-y.

Then I started to flag, so I made myself some lunch before I put the last of the mashed potatoes into the freezer as mentioned on the last post, keeping just enough out for a small Bangers and Mash lunch.

And of course Bangers and Mash needs Bisto gravy.

Two Linda McCartney Red Onion and Rosemary sausages, mash and gravy.

Then I decided to stop tidying the fridge out and write this post instead.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Sue xx