Consider this :)

In the freezer section of the market, they sell bags of onions, celery, green pepper etc to add to soups and dishes.

Create your own. I keep peppers, onions, peppers, celery, tomatoes and whatever else I can think of cut up and stored in freezer bags. This way if you need say a 1/3 cup of onion, you just go to "your stash".

My reason for doing this is I like to buy in season and local, this way I always have it available.

Look for tubes of tomato paste! Mine come from Italy, I only use a Tablespoon at a time of paste so they are all I ever buy. (Anchoy paste comes in tubes as well and is great for hyping up flavor in a sauce if you aren't a real anchovy lover.)

Get a pottery mushroom keeper! A package of fresh mushrooms lasts for weeks in mine and they never get slimey. If they dry up a little, they are still perfectly good to use. I used to waste sooooo many mushrooms.

I keep that part of an onion or bell pepper in a zip bag right up in the front row in the refrigerator so I can always see it - not down in the bottom of the vegetable bin.

Much of the time I plan my meals based on what needs to used up. For example: My lunch today was some leftover egg salad (lunch over the weekend) and some crackers (opened several days ago).

If I make a salad and we don't eat it all, I plan a meal the day or two that will compliment the salad.

I also have chopped veggies in the freezer. I live 5 miles from the nearest store and 20 miles from my usual store. I don't run to the store for anything.

I freeze milk, keep powdered creamer on hand for when I run out of half & half for coffee, etc. Sort of a backup system.

I only wish I could find tomato paste in a tube.....

I have, however, opened a can of paste, used a tablespoon and frozen the rest in One tablespoon sized pats for use later.

I make roasted garlic and puree it with a little olive oil and freeze.

Some of it is just planning and then spending some time on the prep work. For me, it's pretty easy to toss extra "stuff" into the freezer.

Deanna

One thing I do is decide what's not critical to my taste. Is that Tbsp of fresh parsley really going to matter? Nope, not to me. For herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme, I'll pick up a package of poultry mix rather than just the specific herb, and then will use what's left to make Sol's Lemon Garlic Chicken later in the week. For small amounts of broth I'll use chicken/beef/vegetable/whatever base. (Half strength at best cuz it's SALTY!) Tomato paste I freeze, squeezed flat in a ziplock bag so it's easy to cut off a piece when needed. I don't eat many mushrooms, so when I need them I'll shop at the store where they're loose rather than packaged, and get just as much as I need. Leftover carrots and celery I'll cut up as crudite and leave them in a bowl, visible in the fridge. I'll tend to snack on them if they're already prepped.

That's all in theory. In reality it's a sin how much I throw out!

Hi Sue! I never seem to have trouble using up an onion since I put them in almost everything. Sometimes if it's vegetables, I'll just add more than what the recipe calls for, but mince or shred them pretty fine. I've never had a recipe turn out badly by using too many veggies, and I like a lot of flavor anyway.

There are other things I don't always use up however. My ''system'' usually involves doubling the recipe, so I can freeze the whole shebang once it's made. I know myself too well to know I would lose bits/pieces of things in my freezer. I never seem to lose a dish that is already made however! For instance, I found a pumpkin cake recipe I'd like to make cupcakes with so instead of using the one cup of pumpkin puree the recipe calls for, I'm doubling the recipe to use it all up. I'll frost half, and put the others in the freezer for later. If I'm cooking or baking anyway, it doesn't take that much longer to double the amount. I really like ''banking'' the results of my energy and time in the freezer for the times I don't have any!

Wow, after a couple years of reading this forum, I'm still learning a lot! Sounds like many of you have mastered the mechanics of running a kitchen efficiently (all the stuff my Mom tried to teach me when I wasn't paying attention).

Several of you have mentioned prepping extra chopped veggies (and other ingredients) and freezing them for later use (Claire, I love the concept of "banking"!); I'm going to start doing that. (Another reason I'm not a great cook is that I don't usually plan meals in advance, and I don't start dinner until I'm already starving, so I always look for shortcuts; so from now on, I'll go to the "bank" and POOF what I need.)

Granjan, I didn't know tomato paste came in a tube. I'll try to find some (and if I can't, I'll try Fenworth's method of freezing it in blobs).

Teresa, the mushroom keeper sounds like a great idea, too (they don't seem to last much more than a week in the fridge).

Claire, I do make double or triple quantities of main dishes, like casseroles, meatloaf, and lasagna, and store them in the freezer. But I've never paid much attention to prepping ingredients in advance.

Deanna, I normally shop only once a week; I hardly ever make an emergency run to the store. But I think that's part of the reason I avoid using up what I have on hand: I want to make it last by not actually using it (silly, I know).

I think that, after I stock up on veggies next week, I'll spend an afternoon prepping and freezing my "stash"! It will be my "nest egg."

Thanks for the great ideas! Keep 'em coming!

(And doesn't ANYbody else have these self-imposed mental roadblocks?)

Sue

I do, but they have nothing to do with the kitchen...
(just so you don't feel all alone)

Thanks, Terri! Glad I have some company! :-)

Sue

Tomato and anchovy paste in a tube is the best thing since sliced bread. And I need to look for one of those mushroom keepers.

I think my mental roadblock these days is cooking, period. It just seems like a huge bother for one person. Fortunately, I don't mind eating the same thing a couple days in a row, becuase I have a HUGE mental block about freezing things. For whatever reason, the freezer is no man's land to me. Even if I get something IN it, I never seem to get around to taking it OUT to eat.

I grew up in a household where there was always an onion "working". Rarely was there a dish without some onion...tuna salad, egg salad, omelette, gravy, salad dressing, cooked rice, mashed potatoes....and the list goes on.
My mother kept an onion cut from the stem end, partially peeled, and she cut cross hatches in it and sliced that for instant cut up onion. Then that onion got wrapped and was the "working onion"...I still do that.
And I have a "working pepper" and have been known to have a "working carrot"...but mostly I just eat the leftovers.
I also freeze the ends of a can of tomato paste, the tag end of a bottle of wine, a little broth gets frozen in ice cube trays. Fresh herbs mostly came from my garden...or a windowsill pot.
Mushrooms often get slimy in my house though....need to look at one of those crockery jars.....
Linda C

Whenever I open a can of tomato paste and only use part of it, I scoop out tablespoons of the remainder, put them on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer until solid. Then I pop them off the sheet and store in a ziploc freezer bag. The next time a recipe calls for a Tbs. of tomato paste, I just take out a blob.

I save clementine and apple peels in a bag in the freezer. In winter, I put a handful in a saucepan, add a few cloves, allspice berries, 1/2 a cinnamon stick and water to cover and simmer them for a natural air freshener.

Linda, from now on, my vegetable crisper will hold a "working onion" and a "working green pepper," too! I use onions a lot, but almost always a whole one. My Mom once told me that every Jewish recipe begins, "Take an onion ..." (hopefully, that's excluding desserts!).

Funny thing about analogies, like "banking" and "working onion": they actually help me see things in a new way. Hopefully, these concepts will free me from my old pattern.

Beanthere, I have days like that, too, but reading this forum is a good antidote for the "why bother" syndrome.

Ruthanna, your spice air freshener sounds great! Maybe I'll try it (but with navel oranges).

Last night, I rearranged my freezer contents and set aside a bin for all those little bits and dabs and ice cubes of ingredients, so I can find them easily. (My supermarket has started selling ground beef in 3-pound portions packaged in deep cryovac containers; after a thorough washing, the containers can be recycled as storage bins for the freezer. Very handy!)

Sue

My grandmother taught me to leave the skin on an onion that I was only going to use part of; then cut-off as much as you need from the top, not the root. Put the cut-side-down into a glass bowl and put in the refrigerator. You can slice off rounds as needed. Don't cover with anything... the onion will stay usable for quite awhile.

Peppers will last for a few days once they've been cut; chopping and freezing for future reference is a good idea.

When you first buy mushrooms you need to tear open the plastic that usually covers the box they're in, then refrigerate. I've read that you should put them in a paper bag, but I've found that is no better than just tearing off the plastic wrap; I guess they need to "breath".

I also measure out the left-over tomato paste and freeze.

When I don't need a whole can of something like tomato sauce, I transfer the excess to a non-metal container and freeze the rest for future reference.

I always put a sheet of paper towel in the bag of vegetables, lettuces, etc. The towel absorbs excess moisture then gives it back when needed.

Something Good: Trader Joes has already prepared things: basil, garlic, etc. in tiny quantites in the freezer section. The packs are made up of about a dozen 1" cells filled with the herb, so all you need to do is pop out the needed amount.... and keep the rest frozen.

Ruthanna: I like the idea how you use the wasted peels of fruit. I usually run the citrus peels thru' the garbage disposer to clean it, but sometimes I have more than needed for that chore.

OK, I need to add those frozen herbs to my TJ list. I don't think to go down those aisles because of the distance involved getting home, but I'll make a special effort for those!

They have these wonderful little bitty plastic storage tubs that are perfect for when I've chopped too much onion or whatever. Then when I make my salad for my lunch, I've already got chopped veggies to throw into the salad.

As for herbs, I just go out to the garden and harvest what I need when I need it. Many herbs are easy to grow in the ground or in pots for those that don't have room for a garden. For herbs like basil, though, I harvest as much as I can before we have our first freeze, clean it up, and puree it with some olive oil. I pour it into ice cube trays to freeze, then place the frozen basil into plastic freezer bags. I had so much last winter, I couldn't use it up before summer came along and I had more basil growing.

I love the idea of freezing tomato paste. The tubes cost so much more than the cans, so freezing tomato paste is an economical solution.

As for hang-ups, this forum has helped me get over my biggest one. I wouldn't use cookbooks or recipes because I'd discover that there'd always be some part of the recipe I didn't have on hand. Well, duh! go to the store. Plan ahead. Think, woman! (That was me talking to myself). Thanks to this forum, I figured out that food doesn't have to be boring, using the same ingredients all the time, doing the same-o, same-o day in and day out. Now I actually read recipes, write shopping lists, and plan ahead so I can make something I've never made before. I don't do it all the time, but I don't let the lack of ingredients stop me from trying something. That was my breakthrough.

Sally

I have the tomato paste in a tube but most times I just cut up several sun dried tomatoes instead and I think the dried tomatoes taste much better too.

I have been wanting to try the mushroom keeper as I seem to forget about the 'srooms and end up throwing them out. So no matter what the recipe calls for I just use all I have at that time...LOL!

Michelle

Sally, your hang-up sounds a lot like mine. Planning is the key! Years ago, I used to plan a week's menus in advance; that stopped when I had small kids and a hectic schedule. It was easier to wing it. Then, there were years of stress and late hours at work. Making dinner became a matter of sustenance and survival; variety and experimentation was a pretty low priority. Since retiring, I've again become interested in cooking, but I feel like I'm still a rookie in the kitchen. One suggestion, in addition to planning: as you read the forum, copy and paste recipes that sound good to you, and file them in folders. Then, when you're ready to plan, you don't have to start rummaging through cookbooks, too; you can just make your shopping list. (I'm talking to myself here, too!)

Sue

When I couldn't find a mushroom keeper, I started using a new clay flower pot. Works great!

Oh, believe me, Sue, I do have a notebook full of recipes from this forum and other sources. In fact, I had to go out and buy a bigger one. It helps to have a 3 hole hole punch. My sister had a recipe printed out, and put in in a plastic sleeve. Now that was thinking. Mine are still just paper, and some of them have gotten pretty messy by now.

Sally