Food Ideas - West Jordan,UT

Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 2/3 cups frozen vegetables, thawed
1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup (I use low sodium)
1 cup Bisquick reduced-fat baking mix (regular Bisquick will work too)
1/2 cup nonfat milk or 1/2 cup milk
1 egg

I think we've all been there. I don't have any recipe ideas since I'm not a good cook but I think there are some websites that you can list ingredients you have and it will pull recipes for you. But here is my advice to you. When i was in my 20's I bought a condo and lived on my own. There was a time for about 6 weeks that I only had gas money...drive to and from work...and that was IT!! I ate every single thing in the pantry and lost about 20 pounds! But I learned that I would keep my pantry full of food that was easy to heat up and eat if I got in a bind again. My ex husband was always saying, why do you buy so much chili and soups, Top Ramen, corn, etc? And I would always say that you never know when you need to eat what you have. So good luck and remember that good times are coming again!

Add the pasta noodles with the crushed tomatoes, the canned tuna and a veggie and that's one meal.

Make some pancakes with the bisquick and sausage and have breakfast for dinner.

Save the ramen noodles and the PB (do u have bread) for lunch.

Scrounge the couch and car for change and buy a couple loaves of bread and have PB sammies and soup for one meal.

Add the chicken broth and the canned chicken and some other veggie and that's another meal.

Use the juice and the frozen fruits for smoothies for breakfast.

It might not all be the best meals you've ever made...BUT..you gotta do what you gotta do woman!

You can go to Bettycrocker.com and then to recipes. It allows you to type in 3 ingredients (which you can choose from your above list) and then a couple recipe pops up.

Good luck!

That was me a few weeks ago. Not fun :-(
One piece of advice...try not to combine too many things into one meal so you can spread your food over two weeks.

For example: One night have buttered noodles and green beans, but not buttered noodles, green beans AND canned chicken because the canned chicken can be another dinner the next night.

I do hope you can get some bread, though, because you can make the canned tuna or chicken into a sandwich, or eat toast with butter.

Good luck. It is not fun to make anything when the pantry isn't stocked.

I can think of some ideas.
Pasta + Chicken broth + Canned Chicken = Chicken noodle soup (if your canned one is expired)
Rice + tomato sauce (just a little bit of it) + Sausage = Sausage and Rice
Rice + Cream of Chicken + Canned Chicken = Chicken bake
Pasta + Sausage + Mushrooms = Spaghetti
Pasta + Tuna + Cream of Chicken + Green beans = Tuna noodle Casserole
Bisquick (make batter for pancakes) + Apples Sauce = Sweetend Pancakes
Bisquick (make batter for pancakes) + Peanut butter = No breab Peanut butter sandwhich
Ramen noodles (cooked then pan fried in some oil) = Well I just like them that way.
Artichoke hearts + Cream of mushroom soup = Cream of Artichoke soup
Artichoke hearts + bisquick (made into batter) = Artichoke fritter
Corn + bisquick (made into batter) = Corn Fritter
Pineapple + crushed ice + sugar (if you have it) = refreshing treat
Sausage + apple juice (if thats one of your juices) = Sweet sausage (you can serve it over rice or next to noodles)
If you have salt and pepper, definately use those for seasoning. Also powdered garlic makes a great seasoning for things as well. If you have any spare change the dollar store has some good stuff, even fresh produce.
If you have any questions feel free to message me. I've definately been there, and I have had to get creative before. Good Luck!!!
ADDED: I wasn't sure if the frozen sausage you mentioned was italian sausage, or breakfast sausage. If its breakfast sausage, then don't do what I mentioned above, it would taste yucky. If its the breakfast kind you could make pancakes with bisquick then roll up a sausage in them, its yummy.

A lot of folks have come up with good recipe ideas. I have a few ideas on how to increase your food supply. Right now apples, pears, and grapes are ripe, and in my neighborhood, I've seen many folks let them go to waste. Go around your neighborhood, and if you see a yard with fallen fruit, ask if you may pick some. The worst that can happen is that they'll give you a funny look and say no. Also look on Craigslist and KSL.com - I've seen ads there from folks who just want someone to come and pick the fruit, squash, whatever they've got a surplus of. And don't be embarrassed to post and ask if anyone has surplus produce to give away.

Don't be too concerned about the expired soup unless it is really, really, really old. Unless the can is bulging or leaking or there are other overt signs of spoilage, your soup should be just fine. The expiration date for canned goods means that the flavor might have been a little better prior to the expiration date but not that the food is not useable. This is info from a home economist who taught about food storage at BYU Education Week, and corresponds with my experience.

You might want to work out a menu for the next two or three weeks so that you can make your food stretch for the time allotted.

Hi R.,

I think we've all been there at least once in our lives. Here are some ideas I've had:

You can put a can of chicken, a can of corn, a can of crushed tomatoes, a can (the used tomato can) of water, and a can (the used tomato can again) of rice in a pan. Stir all ingredients together, cover and cook until your rice is done. Then if you have tortillas, you can serve it in there, or just eat it in a bowl. If you've got some cheese, you can sprinkle some on. We have that quite often in the fall. It is really easy & quick.

You could also make your own chicken noodle soup by using some canned chicken, chicken broth, noodles, canned beans, and canned corn. If you wanted it a bit creamy, you could either make a roux with flour and a bit of butter or by adding a bit of the cream of chicken soup. You could also make it with rice instead of noodles. Serve it with some bisquick biscuits.

My mom always used to make Tuna Casserole with noodles, tuna, some mushrooms, and cream of mushroom soup. (I don't like mushrooms, so I use cream of chicken or cream of celery). It is really easy. Cook your noodles, mix the soup and tuna. If it is too thick, add a bit of water. Mix everything together and put it in a casserole dish. Bake until it is heated through.

If your sausage is regular (not breakfast or link) you could make porcupine meatballs. (I usually use ground beef, but sausage would be yummy too.) Mix the sausage with rice. Roll into balls, and simmer in tomato juice until cooked through.

I agree with what Geneva said about asking some of your neighbors for some fruits/veggies. We've got TONS of apples and grapes, OODLES of peppers and tomatoes. If someone asked me if they could have some, I'd say absolutely. I'd rather have someone use them, than have them rot in my garden because I couldn't eat them fast enough.

Also, unless the can is bulging or rusty (like someone else posted), it should be fine. I had some tomato soup yesterday for lunch that had an exp date of January 2010. It was just fine.

Good luck and be creative. Things will work out, and you'll look back on this adventure and hopefully have some good memories!

Shellie

PS. Send me a message if you'd like to come and get some of my veggies and fruit. (I'm in Layton.)

take the cream soup and mix with pasta or rice and veggies. You could make several different variations and come up with a couple of different casseroles.

Make the bisquick biscuits, fry the sausage, and add a can of cream soup. For a variation of biscuits and gravy or if you have milk and flour you can make your own gravy to add to the biscuits and sausage.

Use the tomatoes and sauce to make spaghetti sauce for pasta, use whatever seasonings you have to add a little more flavor.

I also make a pasta dish where you cook the noodles, then simmer them with a can of chicken broth, you can add ham, chicken or veggies to this mixture. If you have fresh veggies then you would saute them first before adding the noodles and broth if canned I would add them all at once. Cook until the sauce is reduced at least 10 minutes. I usually add parmesan cheese but I'm sure you could omit the cheese.

Make a chicken casserole (or tuna) with your canned meat, pasta and creamed soup (Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom). Cook the noodles then add the meat, seasonings (salt and pepper if nothing else), stir in a can of soup and add a little milk (if you have that-or use chicken broth) to make it a smooth consistency. Then bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

You can also make chicken and rice. Pre-cook the rice, add chicken and and Cream of Chicken soup. Thin a little with milk or chicken broth to make creamy then back for 30 mintues at 350.

Good luck. You can do it.

I have a few ideas. I only get paid once a month so I KNOW what you are going through!! I love to make soups and casseroles when we get low on food. A few that I saw right away were tuna casserole (tuna, pasta, veggies, cream of mushroom) and chicken (chicken, rice, cream of soup, mushrooms, veggies). I start with a broth (tomato, chicken, beef) and add rice or pasta, veggies, meat and seasoning for flavor. If you have buillion you could add that to the water and make your own. I often just start with plain water and add my own spices (garlic, salt, pepper, sage, oregano, basil, cumin) in whatever combination tastes good. You could make a biscuit and gravy with the bisquick and sausage. The bisquick box should have a recipe for them and for the gravy I brown the sausage (i assume its ground) and add some flour, just enough to coat it. Then add some milk (you didn't say if you had any) and cook until it gets thick. You could also use the cream of mushroom soup to make a gravy just dont add the full water as you would for a soup. I would also make a pizza with chicken, artichokes and mushrooms. You didn't mention cheese, but you could make it without. For the crust I take 2 cups of warm water and add a package of yeast with 2TBS of sugar. Let that sit to activate the yeast then add 1 tsp of salt and flour to make a dough. When you can handle the dough, spread on a pizza pan for the crust and top as you wish. You could do olive oil, ranch dressing, the tomato sauce and add your own spices, or whatever you think tastes good. This crust recipe also makes good rolls or soft pretzles. You can play with the sugar/salt combination depending on how sweet you like it. You could add just about any spice to it to vary the flavor. For a twist on the applesauce you could add cinnamon and sugar to sweeten. My kids won't drink fruit juice so I have nothing for you with them. I love pancakes with peanut butter and syrup! It may not sound so great, but it IS and it adds protein to the meal. I hope this helps a little! Good luck!

I love this website. You can go to allrecipes.com. Up at the top above the search bar, click on ingredients. You can put a list of incredients in there that you would like to use in a recipe. It could be helpful and give you some great ideas. And I wouldn't worry too much about expiration dates. They have to put early ones on the cans just to make sure they cover themselves. If the can is not rusting, bulging, and if it smells okay, you are good to go. :)

Someone already mentioned the food pantry, but I would also recommend going to whatever county building in your area where you can apply for financial assistance with groceries. Even if you are not eligible, you should be able to receive a free "commodities bag" which will include either a frozen/canned meat or bag of beans (I've made black eyed pea soup many times - add sausage, yum!) and other shelf-stable items. You can do this once per month.

Campbell's soup website is very good for the use of condensed soup. Take the rice, canned chicken, cream of mushroom soup and green beans mix it together and bake it. Not sure how many you have but it should be one-two dinners or a few lunches.

Also, food network's website is great to put in an ingredient and see what recipes come up using that ingredient.

Who says you can't have pancakes for dinner.

If you go to the website allrecipes.com and do an advanced search you can plug in the ingredients you have and it will spit out recipes with those ingredients!! I have used this function many times!

I have been there, ick, it makes for some creative meals. You can throw the chicken, mushrooms, cream of chicken/mushroom and/or corn in with the pasta. You could also pore the mixture over bisquick biscuits, kind of a cheater pot pie. You could also put the sausage and tomatoes with the rice. Corn and rice together are good too. I'm not as familiar with tuna ( not a huge fan) but what about putting the tuna with cream of mushroom and pasta? With the juices if you need a sweet pick me up try freezing and then in a blender put some more ice in and make a slushy. Good luck and best of wishes.

Check out thriftyfun.com for lots of good suggestions. I know it's not food related, but the homemade laundry detergent is something I've been doing for years, and it sure helps save money for other things, like food!

I totally second the idea about scanning Craigslist for apples, etc... You can even put an ad on "Seeking unwanted fruit"--it's free and many people are delighted to have you pick their apples. Another idea--freecycle. Put a posting on your local Freecycle. Place an ad on Craigslist offering to trade something (i don't know what your talents are, but cleaning, sewing, computer repair, car detailing, etc...)for farm fresh eggs, veggies or meat. You'll get better quality food and not have an outlay of cash. Right about now you can also get some closeout seeds from a garden center--I know, I know it's the wrong season, but trust me, with a little work you can have a salad patch right inside the house if your weather ain't great, and it doesn't take a long time to grow.

Best wishes and blessings

If you have bread or can make it, my sons really like grilled PB sandwiches! Also do you have a local food pantry? Maybe they can help...or your local churches will have resources. Good Luck!

Hi, I appreciate your honesty and desire to use what you have. Here's an idea:
Chicken, bisquick, veggies and cream soups can be used to make a very yummy chicken and dumplings dish. If you have some butter, do a quick saute of whatever veggies you have (no tomatoes or broccoli). Then add in your canned chicken. Then add your cream soups and some chicken broth or water. The "stew" should be thicker than soup, but thinner than gravy. Then follow the recipe on your bisquick box for biscuits, but the consistency should be a little wetter than rolled biscuit dough . Once mixed, place spoonfulls of this on top of the stew and cover with a lid tightly. Let simmer for 12-15 minutes. Serve. Yum and this makes great leftovers.
Blessings and Good luck,
K. at www.thepracticalcook.com
P.S. There are some great gov't programs to get fresh food like milk, cheese, fruit, veggies, etc. I think it's the WIC program. You might try it.