Pantry Challenge Update #threeriverschallenge

We have made a huge dent in using the odds and ends from our pantry and freezer since my last update. I realized I wanted to incorporate single serving as well as family size freezer meal prep. I am very thankful to have participated in this pantry challenge because it motivated me to get organized. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m just going to do a little every day and it won’t be long before I can be finished with this project.

Italian Wedding Soup
For the meatballs:
1 pound ground Italian Sausage
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs
4 cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
4 tablespoons cream
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
salt and black pepper to taste
For the soup:
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 cup minced onion
1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
12 cups homemade chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta such as ditalini
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed
Directions
For the meatballs, place the ground beef, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, cream, egg, salt, and pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a small scoop, portion out meat into small meatballs; roll. Set aside.
In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook for a minute; add Italian seasoning. Deglaze pan with white wine. Add the chicken stock bring to a boil. Simmer broth for 15 minutes. Add the meatballs and cook through; add pasta and cook until al dente. Stir in the fresh spinach and parsley; cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

These are the Gallon Size freezer molds; Freeze Up

Souper Cubes
https://www.soupercubes.com/

#threeriverschallenge

Well hello friends I wanted to give you a update on the pantry challenge we’re getting ready to go out to the garage where the freezers are that’s what I’ve been working on I want to show you all the hard work starting to pay off hey Cooper the sun is

Shining we got a little bit of snow and we got a little winter advisory there was a little Squall that came through it wasn’t too bad when the sun’s out I don’t care how cold it is I have been working diligently on getting through all of the beef bones

That I had out in the freezer I’ve been making beef stock and freezing it in these two cup super cubes I have also been making a variety of soups and chilies and things of that sort and packaging them in these two Cup single servings and then once they’re frozen I

Pop them out and I put them in a food saver bag and vacuum seal them the the cubes fit into these little casserole dishes so you could either microwave them or you could heat them up in the oven they fit perfectly I really like that I also have these molds that fit a

1gallon Ziploc bag perfectly and the cool thing is is when you fill the mold uh it freezes and the bottom is flat so you can uh put it in the freezer and it St hands up you don’t have to stack them you know Skyhigh and play Jango with

Them and you see how the bottom is flat it is the coolest thing so these are great for family size meal prep I repurposed some bins from my pantry to organize some single servings in the freezers that I have this is going to help our families so much the kids can

Take it to work they can take it to school Ken and I can have it for lunch and and so far I have chili chili with beans I’m going to make some red pork poule black bean soup I did pasta foli my auntie Italian wedding soup that’s a

Great recipe I have some french onion soup some burgundy and beef split pea soup I have a turkey in my other freezer that I want to utilize so I’ll make a turkey pot pie when I get to it but I have beef pot pie and chicken pop pie I

Made some homemade pie crusts and cut it into the size that will fit the mini casserole dishes that the super cubes fit into perfect I have some Christini with Grier cheese for the French onion soups and then I have a little bit of overflow on the next couple of shelves I

Have some corn beef uh three packages of that and here is the Glorious beef stock oh it does my heart good to see all that in this bin I have some steaks and some kebabs all in the size for our family down there are the gallon

Molded uh meal prep packages see how the bottoms are flat they just stand up so perfectly just a brilliant idea and they actually are too deep on a shelf and you can fit 9 to 10 across so that’s 18 to 20 packages just on one Shelf with no wasted space brilliant

Idea I love it on the next shelf I have some Porter House steaks some cube steak I have some marinated TR tip and then I have a standing rib roast that I’m keeping uh for when Ken’s parents come visit us next month I’m going to fix

Them a really nice dinner in the bottom shelf I have shredded beef taquitos and I made some ground beef and cheese and pinadas I have a spot for some uh red pork tamales I want to make those and get those down there I have used up so

Many odds and ends and created all of these wonderful meals I couldn’t be more thrilled this freezer is really coming along I went ahead and I played the bins on the top three shelves I’m going to do the single serving Concept in this freezer as well in the basket I have some ground

Beef and then on the next shelf I have some deli meat that we sliced on that slicer that we bought at the for like 200 bucks off of Facebook Marketplace this meat slicer has been one of our best investments Ever After slicing the meat this this is pastrami we put it on

Parchment paper and layer it we package it in the size for our family a lot of times we find at bargain grocer the big packages of the deli meat you know like they have in the deli container I think they’re 5 lbs for very inexpensive and by bringing them home and slicing them

Ourselves we package them in the size we need for our family we save so much money the Shelf has all the deli meat and some racks of baby uh lamb chops and then on the next shelf we have some beef roow and then down in the bottom we have hot dogs and

Hamburgers we have some more beef stock I have another pot of beef stock I’m cooking I’m I’m telling you I’m I’m getting through those bones and it it’s a really good feeling to get the beef stock completed I have a little bit of carnea sadaa and some oo Buco so this

Freezer if you could see where we started it’s like a miracle I tell you it’s a good feeling can’t wait to get the single serves uh cooked up and ready to go today I made a sausage noi soup and I’m going to get that uh put up

Tomorrow so just little by little you know that is the progress I have made and I’m so thankful because if I hadn’t done this Pantry challenge these freezers would have been a big mess I wish I would have taken pictures before I started the challenge because they

Were packed full of odds and ends just yeah and I’ve come a long way baby and I’m going to keep cooking some stuff that I can get in those single serve um containers because it’s really going to help our family to have some readymade meals both family size and

Single size for sure and then I’ve worked through a a lot of the odds and ends stuff so I’m thrilled at my progress I still have a long ways to go though um I might have to continue this challenge maybe through the end of March to get everything done but it feels good

You guys it feels fantastic I wanted to share with you my aunt’s Italian wedding soup cuz it’s so good we’re starting out by making some meatballs there’s Italian sausage hamburger parsley bread Crump salt and pepper a little Italian seasoning an egg some Parmesan some romano and I’ll put the amounts in the

Description box I added a little bit of cream and I’m just going to get this all mixed up and uh we’re going to make little tiny tiny meatballs I’m using a very small scoop to portion out the meatballs and I’m just going to portion

Out the meat set it on a sheet tray and then go back later and roll the meatballs I find it’s easier to do this like an assembly line method it made a ton of Meatballs nice little small meatballs in the pan we have onion celery carrot salt pepper we’re

Going to sauté this in some olive oil cook the vegetables until the onion is soft and translucent I’m adding some garlic we’re going to cook that for a minute I’m going to deglaze the pan with probably a cup of white wine we’ll scrape the bottom and get all

The Fawn up so much flavor we’ll let the alcohol cook off season with dried Italian seasoning add the chicken stock and bring it to a simmer I like to reinforce the chicken stock with some better than bullion chicken base we’ll just add a good tablespoon to that the

Soup has simmered for 15 minutes now I just slowly add the mini meat balls we’re going to cook them through the soup looks fantastic I added aant cup of a micro pasta cook until Al Dente once the pasta is cooked through add some spinach and it will just Wilt In the

Heat of the soup top with some Parmesan cheese and there you have traditional Italian wedding suit the other thing that I did is I made a graft of the inventory in the freezer and I just listed each shelf what the items were on the shelf

And the quantity when I use it I use a pencil and I can make an x on it and then once we’ve used them I can either cook another batch and freeze them and put them in there or I could just change the label on the acrylic boxes I just

Printed those out on the computer but um this way when I meal plan I can know what I have in the freezer um this is what’s on the Shelf doors and then the other freezer I started to list the items too anyway y’all I am so thrilled to be getting

Organized and getting ready for this uh beef and pork delivery July 1st and getting these freezers organized getting my pantry organized working through all the odds and ends it’s a good feeling anyway until the next video guys I will talk to you Later Oh