Larder challenge: a week without shopping

This week Mr VV has been over in Blighty visiting his folks. So, I decided that it would be an opportune time to see if I could go a whole week without shopping. Obviously, I checked that there was a reasonably full wine box in the fridge first. But, apart from that, my self-imposed rules were simple. The only shopping allowed was dog and cat supplies. Everything else would have to come from the fridge, the freezer or the store cupboard. Objective: to use as much stuff as possible that had just been hanging around, tail-end-of-bags, beans that seemed a good idea at the time, and unidentified frozen objects. Could I survive seven days without shopping?

Day 1: Breakfast is always the same in the VV household, muesli, flax meal and banana with oat milk; nothing new there. My go-to lunch is soup, and I make a batch that lasts about four days, generally to the same recipe. But, today when I looked in the fridge I didn’t have all the ingredients necessary for my signature green soup. Hmm … I did have a box of chopped-up butternut squash left over from a curry. Cue roast garlic and butternut squash soup, with a chopped up potato and a dollop of soya cream. I made enough for three generous bowls. Rather than bread, I decided to use up some accidentally vegan seedy crackers that had come from Lidl. My main evening meal was simple, use up the remains of the previous evening’s spag bol that was in the fridge. Dessert was the last vegan Magnum ☹

Day 2: I always forget to pre-soak the muesli when I’m on my own, so today it was crunchy muesli, which I quite liked, and I started using up some almond milk that had been bought in error (Mr VV prefers oat milk in his coffee). I saved my bananas for a mid-afternoon smoothie snack, using up some frozen blueberries and the rest of the almond milk. Inspiration for dinner came from a little pot of tomato puree which was left over from making the spag bol. I made one of my all-time favourites Lentil dhal and rice. The balance of spices in this recipe are just perfect, and if cooking for one there’s enough for another meal. It’s basically a store cupboard meal as the only fresh or frozen ingredient you need is garlic.

Day 3: Breakfast was the usual, plus a few thawed blueberries from the freezer. I was in two minds as to whether to have butternut soup again, or make the last portion into supper, but in the end the soup won. For my main meal I reheated the leftover dhal and rice and added a huge portion of broccoli that I’d roasted in the airfryer. Just massaging in a little olive oil and salt before cooking really brings out the flavours, and there’s enough for another day, too.

Day 4: Nothing new on the breakfast front, though I did start a new bottle of Innocent smoothie. I do wish we could get smoothies like in the UK; they seem to be so watery here. Still, made a change from orange juice. For lunch it was time to brew up another vat of soup. I didn’t have all the ingredients for my signature green soup, but there were two leeks, garlic and loads of potatoes, so I made a big pot of leek and potato soup, one of my favourites. There was enough for five days, so this will keep me going until Mr VV returns. In the evening, I boiled up some white haricots that I’d soaked overnight. The store cupboard is full of odds and ends of dried beans and I plan to use them all up. I sautéed some red pepper, mushrooms, garlic and the left-over broccoli with some beans and half a cup of cooked quinoa. Added some smoked paprika and cumin and cooked a great one-pot meal.

Day 5: No change on the breakfast front or lunch. One tub of leek and potato soup down, with a hunk of bread and a banana. Plenty of bread in the freezer as I buy our favourite seeded brown loaf from Intermarche and cut into three. For my evening meal it was time to do something imaginative with the beans. One dried cupful makes about three cups, so enough for three or four days. Tonight I fixed on pasta, so sautéed a few mushrooms and garlic, stirred in the beans and cooked pasta and mixed with half a jar of Sacla red pesto (vegan) from the store cupboard. Topped off with an avocado that had been waiting to ripen for about a week – caught it in time!

Day 6: Repeat performance for breakfast and lunch. The challenge for my evening meal was to use up the rest of the beans. Fortunately there was still three-quarters of the red pepper left and some manky looking mushrooms, plus a sweet potato lurking in the bottom drawer. I microwaved the sweet potato for four minutes, then popped it into the airfryer for another twenty; perfect. Using up all the leftover veg and beans, plus half a tin of sweetcorn and some spices, I made a Mexican melange to serve up with the sweet potato.

Day 7: Final day of my store cupboard challenge and I’m please to say that I haven’t needed to go shopping all week. Breakfast was the usual, and there were still three tubs of leek and potato soup left, so those meals covered. The main meal was a bit more of a challenge as fridge stocks were running low. I had half a jar of red pesto and half a tin of sweetcorn, and that was about it. Time to turn to the store cupboard and freezer. It might have been a strange mix, but it tasted good: pasta served with sweetcorn, frozen peas, frozen green beans, red pesto sauce and some cooked adzuki beans that I’d soaked overnight. It was great. And so, I did not have to resort to using either of the chickpea curry portions that were in the freezer, so they will be a good meal for us after my airport run. Might even pop into Leclerc to get some more Magnums.