Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Pantry Challenge: The End of the End

 OK, there may be a final final final end of the end report if I manage to do a proper inventory.

I had a bauble on Jan 30th.  I had packed some lovely soup for lunch (smoked duck, gingered carrots, garlic cloves, can of tomatoes, dried mushrooms, dried thyme leaves and rosemary saved from my garden, onion granules, and a low sodium bouillon cube along with some cracked pepper and a bit of vinegar because that perks stuff up and I needed to empty the jar...a quart jar with a table spoon of service berry vinegar in it is a waste of tiny space).   Anyway, it was great.  And the thermos SEALED to the point I could not open it.  I couldn't open it with two people trying at the same time (one holds it and one tries to crank the lid...nothing).  I tried banging on it, warming it, etc.  Stuck.   Yesterday I found someone incredibly strong and we got it open.  But on Sunday...no lunch and I was away from home.  I cracked!  Got a coffee and a cookie (bad idea...made me hungrier).  So, a burger and tots as a major treat.  Threw my sodium level above the OK range...dang it!!

Anyway, today is a make up day.  Sunday night I made a rye berry and lentil pilaf with some onion powder, a bouillon cube, various other flavors, lentils and a can of artichoke hearts (thanks Chris!) and it is delicious.   I have a serving of soup left and most of the pilaf.  That and the eggs I had for breakfast will keep me going at least today.  Possibly tomorrow.

ALSO finally got my radish seeds for sprouts going and have nearly 1.5pints of sprouts ready.  Still have tons of seeds.  Sprouting at the office where it is reasonably warm and the temperature is fairly steady worked.  Sprouting at home did not work.  Dang it all.  But now I know.  And I will put those in the soup today, or half of them.  It's a lot.

I should do a follow up on this...like my new favorite recipes.  And how I will change my pantry stock staples (more whole grains please!!).


Anyway: what I know I have left;

3 pints chicken broth (home canned)

2 pints duck meat (seriously)

1 smoked duck carcass that I can't even deal with so it might go to the chickens.  It's frozen in a bag in a tin on the porch so it will be fine for days yet, but I just have SO MUCH food and we had a hell of a time plucking the damn ducks that there are some feathers on the skin...maybe I can peel it and give the hide to the chickens and boil up the bones...that might work.  I do like duck bone broth and the residual smoke flavor comes through.

Gelatin:  this is a great thing to have!  Just this AM I decided to add 2T to my 2 eggs and anti-inflammatory spice mix breakfast (done in a microwave but highly edible).  It boosts protein rather than getting all calories from fat when the veg runs low, and is easier on my guts.  Also my hair and nails are fantastic.  Just mix the dry powder into the dry ingredients, and continue as usual.  I've also used it to beef up the protein in muffins and to compensate for lacking 1 egg (when I didn't want to open a new bag of powdered egg which also works well in baked goods and pancakes).  The texture is different but fine.  The eggs this morning fluffed up in volume to about 3x the usual and yet, still low sodium and lots of protein per calorie.

2+lbs coffee left.  Holiday gifts increased the supply.

Plenty of tea.

Plenty of herbs/spices/salt

Got pepper corns for christmas (Thanks Chris) so plenty of those left.  

A quart of cranberry juice (unsweetened) 

1.5quarts of berries preserved in vinegar

Plenty of vinegar 

Getting 2 eggs per day on average (once in a while 1 or 3) and so that's all fine

About a half a cup of lentils left,

A pint of dry garbanzos 

A half pint of dry peruana beans

A half cup of chicos

Small bag freeze dried corn

Small bag freeze dried blueberries

1-2lbs whole wheat flour

Bit of coconut flour

1 cup almond flour

3/4 quart vital wheat gluten

small bag psyllium husk

1 pint camelina seeds (those are pretty good in a keto-ish skillet bread that you then use for a fried egg sandwich with homemade mustard)

1/2pint gingered carrots...frozen

1/2 hand ginger

TONS of ingredients for the anti-inflammatory spice mix (turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg...sometimes ground ginger)

1 little can of tomato paste

1/2 bag dried mushrooms

2 small bags dried chilis

1 cup dried veggie soup mix

1.5 bags powdered egg

3/4 bag powdered coconut milk

Plenty of stevia

1/2 bottle olive oil

1/4 lb coconut oil

4oz baking cocoa

plenty of leavening (baking soda, baking powder, yeast)

squash seeds (saved from squash...some will go to the chickens because I am not going to get them eaten)

1 qt of beet kvass

1/2 jar olives (thanks Chris!!  Might have some with lunch)

1.5 rolls TP

There are probably other things of note that I am forgetting.

So, tons of calories left, tons of vitamins and protein left.  If I needed to, I could easily go another month and not starve or have any negative health effects. I could run out of fat for frying if I weren't careful.  I am totally out of sugar/honey/maple syrup (well, I have some maple water in the syrup bottle to get the last of the sweetness out) so my sweet tooth would suffer.  




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on a successful challenge!