Frugal Fridge Hacks

Every day I usually get up with the idea of what we will have for dinner. Sometimes I'm blank and search for inspiration on pinterest. Today however, 4:30pm came round and I hadn't even defrosted any meat for dinner. What was I to do? I looked in the freezer and took out two chicken leg quarters. I put those in the microwave to thaw, seasoned them and stuck them in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes. I then started organizing hubby and I's bedroom and next thing I knew it was after 5:30. The meat was just about ready when I went downstairs, but "what are we going to eat this with" I thought? I stared into my fridge in hopes that somehow the answer would come to me. As I looked in I realized there were quite a few forgotten things in there that needed some saving.

I had two way over ripe mangos and two avocados, about 10 jalapeño peppers that were way past their prime (some which were not even salvageable at this point), a yellow pepper that was not looking it's best and 4 home made corn tortillas from last Friday's dinner. The light bulb went on. Chicken tacos, yellow rice, mango salsa, guacamole, and I was pickling whatever jalapeños I could save. I wasn't about to let our money and food go to waste. By this time I didn't have much time to work with, it was 10 minutes away from 6pm and hubby was coming home at 7pm for dinner. He only has a half hour to come home, eat, and go back to work so I knew I had to move fast. I quickly began to put everything together. I threw rice in the rice cooker with seasoning set it and began working on the other items. I started with the guacamole. Next I worked on the Mango salsa and left the pickling jalapeños for last in case I didn't have enough time before I had to have dinner on the table. But thanks to the help of my food processor, I even had time to spare. And dinner was delish.

FYI - kiddo's aren't huge fans of tacos so they only had the rice and chicken. 

I got the avocados about a week ago on sale at Aldi's for 29 cents. Mangos at Kroger's over 2 1/2 weeks ago when they were on sale and I had two digital coupons which brought my costs down to .70 per mango. The jalapeños and yellow pepper came from my favorite section at Kroger, the produce clearance section. There were 3 peppers in a mesh bag for $1. There were about 15 or more jalapeños in the mesh bag when I purchased them for $1.

Here's what I did. 

Mango Salsa

What you'll need:

- 2 mangos 

- 1/3 large or 1/2 of a small onion (yellow or red)

- 1 small to medium pepper (red, green, yellow, it's up to you)

- a handful of fresh cilantro leaves

-1/4 jalapeño (more if you like the heat, less if you don't you can also choose to leave the seeds in or not) 

- 2 tsp lime or lemon juice

- salt to taste

Steps: 

1. Peel and pit your mangos. If you're using the food processor just cut big pieces and put them in your processor. Otherwise dice to small chunks in a large bowl.
2. Cut up a third of your onion and place in processor or mince and add to bowl. 
3. Cut your pepper remove seeds and again throw it in the processor or dice and add to bowl. 
4. Place handful of cilantro in processor or dice and add to bowl.
5. Place your desired amount of jalapeño into the processor or mince and add to bowl.
6. Lastly add your lime or lemon juice and salt. 
7. Turn food processor on pulse various times until all ingredients are combined. Or stir in bowl  until well combined. 

Flavors are best after letting it sit for at least fifteen minutes in the fridge but if you can wait an hour even better. This recipe should serve 5-6 people.

Guacamole

What you'll need:

- 2 ripe avocados
- 1/3 large or 1/2 of a small onion (yellow or red)
- 1 roma or plum tomato, seeds and pulp removed.
- 1/2 garlic clove, minced
- a handful of cilantro
- 1/2 - 1 Tbsp of lime or lemon juice
- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Peel and pit your avocados. If you're using the food processor just cut big pieces and put them in your processor. Otherwise scoop into a  large bowl.
2. Cut up a third of your onion and place in processor or mince and add to bowl. 
3. Place your tomatoes inside the processor or dice and add to bowl.
4. Place your minced garlic into processor or bowl.
5. Add your cilantro, lime or lemon juice and salt. 
6. Pulse in the processor a few times to combine all the ingredients. The texture depends on your liking, for creamier pulse longer, for chunkier, pulse less.  Or mash using a fork and combine all ingredients well.

This recipe should make about 4 servings.

Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeños

What you'll need:

- 5-6 jalapeños, Sliced (or diced in processor)
- 2/3 cup vinegar
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 tsp kosher or pickling salt
- 1/2 tbsp sugar* (optional)

Steps:

1. Combine the vinegar, water,  salt, and sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil.
2. Add your jalapeno's to a clean and sterilized pint jar. 
3. Pour the liquid from the pot into jar using a funnel to prevent spillage. 
4. Let jar cool down to room temperature before placing in the fridge. 

Wait at least 3 days before using. 

* Sugar will take away some of the heat. 

This was all quick to make and yummy. Best of all it prevented any waste or further spoilage of foods I had forgotten in the fridge. Too often we all shove things in our fridge, and forget about them, by the time you clean out your fridge they become trash. Let's make it a habit to do a weekly look at our fridges for anything we can cook up or should freeze or consume quickly.

How do you prevent food waste?