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Is it time to clean out the fridge?
In Episode 124 we are recording from Singapore where we are staying for seven weeks. Before we left for our big trip we had to clean out the fridge. We didn’t want to leave any nasty surprises for our house sitters (or for us when we got home!) So what better way than to use the Thermomix to help us get on our way.
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In this episode we talk how we clean out the fridge before a trip. However, you can use these techniques at any time. Whether you’re going on holidays or you need to save money for a week or two or if you just want to reclaim some fridge and freezer space.
So here’s how we did it:
Step 1 – Inventory Check (to be done 1-2 weeks before departure)
What have you got in the fridge and freezer? What can you use? Plan out the meals that you have remaining before you depart. Plan to skip your last routine shopping trip and make do with what you have in the fridge.
Don’t be afraid to use up those freezer meals. You will replace these with more meals (probably during the fridge clean out / cook up process!) and if you don’t replenish them before you go, no worries! Just allow yourself to extend your holiday by an extra day or night and go out for dinner or order in when you get home.
Step 2 – Use Your Resources
If you are a 4 Blades Magazine subscriber there is some additional search functionality on the iPhone. Simply go to the phone’s search (not the internet search – simply swipe down on any screen or keep swiping right until the search bar appears) then start typing some of the ingredients you’ve got. Recipes from the mag will start to appear in your search results.
You can also check out the Master Index. On a computer simply hit Cmd+F (Ctrl+F for PC) to bring up the page search function and start searching. This will show results with the main ingredient in the title (which it often is). If you’re on your mobile device you can download the PDF and use the search function inside your device’s PDF reader.
For even more recipes you can check out the Thermomix Recipe Community. There you can use the ingredients search engine and start looking for new recipes.
*Pro Tip* Filter the results by rating to make sure you only get the best that the Recipe Community has to offer.
Step 3 – Fridge Clean Out Cook Up
Find some easy recipes that will use up what you’ve already got (but won’t stress you out) and add them to your meal plan.
Here are three things we did:
Recipe 1 – Spanish Potato Omelette or Tortilla de Patatas (from Feisty Tapas)
This is delicious, cheap and a little bit different. It was also featured in The Celebrations Issue of The 4 Blades Magazine. We had heaps of eggs and potatoes to go through so this recipe was perfect. What’s even better is that he recipe can be doubled. Having tried this in Madrid we think this Tortilla de Patatas pays brilliant homage to the real deal. It has a bit of an interesting cooking technique which involved flipping the tortilla onto a plate and sliding it back onto the pan. This leads to a neat end product, however when dealing with a hot pan it’s pretty tricky. So take care or simply cut it up to make it easier to flip with an egg flip.
Recipe 2 – Go-To Stew (The Dinners Issue of The 4 Blades Magazine)
Making yet another appearance in the podcast Bec’s Go-To Stew is a Winston family favourite. As this recipe is so flexible and forgiving it is a perfect Thermomix recipe to use up those veggies when you clean out the fridge.
Recipe 3 – Odds and Ends Stock Paste (from The Make Your Own Bonus Issue of The 4 Blades Magazine)
With everything else in the veggie crisper we made stock paste. We also find that the recipe from the book that came with your Thermomix is also great. Stock keeps quite well in the fridge due to the salt. That being said, you can always freeze stock to use later. Ice cube trays are great as they can be portioned into tablespoon sized cubes. This recipe is available to all magazine subscribers, along with a host of other useful ‘Make Your Own’ recipes.
Do you have any Fridge Cleaning Tips? Leave us a note in the comments below!
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