I watched Ree today, and she was cleaning out her ice box.
She took items that were heading south, and made food from them...waste not, want not, she said, and that's my motto, too. Sometimes things go bad, and it just can't be helped, but I always hate that.
Here's what she had....some chicken breasts, some fresh herbs that were getting some yellow leaves but were otherwise fine, a couple of lemons, a bit of cream, some milk, etc.
She made a lemon rice pudding from the cream, milk, and lemon zest. She actually replaced 1/2 the water when cooking the rice with milk, and added the eggs, cream, etc. after it was cooked. (I know Paten, I'm reading your mind, lol!)
For the chicken, she made 2 types. 4 breasts with herbs, and 4 with Mexican flavoring I think? She blended the herbs, stems and all, along with garlic and other things, to marinate part of the chicken with.
There was more that I won't mention, but I get ridiculously excited to see a 'fridge start out messy, but then become neat, lol! And, to see recipes made with the bits.
The question is...do you have containers to put items into the ice box with, or do you mostly leave them in the original packaging?
I'd love to have some of the containers that she does, and other people I've seen have, but honestly, I don't. I pretty much leave items in their store packaging in the ice box, unless I'm re-packaging them to freeze, or am putting them in bowls.
I do have modern Tupperware. It's not the clear containers, but when I find it one of these days (it's packed.) I will use it for some things.
One tip that I have for the ice box, is one that I've shared before. For things that you would put in a bowl, including leftover stew, soup, spaghetti sauce, etc. try to use, instead, a saucepan. Or, canning jars.
You can use regular pots, or ones that you no longer cook with because they have lost their handles.
They have a more sturdy, flat base than the average bowl, and come in every size from 1 qt. up.
The canning jars take up less space than bowls, lining up beautifully. I used to make ice box pickles and pickled beets in a bowl, as my mother and grandmother did. Then, one day, I put them in a couple of quart jars instead. They took up far less space, and I needed less of the pickling liquid, so I saved a little on ingredients!
Also, my best tip for using things that would be thrown out, is to use the celery strings when making broth. It's got lots of free flavor, and gets strained anyway.
So, when I clean celery to use it in stir fries and such, and put the ends into my celery freezer bag, I include the strings. (Cut ends off of stalks, break in 1/2 and pull to remove strings, wash, use stalks, freeze stringy sections and ends for making broth at a later time.)
How about your 'fridge, containers, or tips? I was really inspired, but just have this tiny 'fridge, so there's nothing to clean out at this time!
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