Mixing together whatever was in the cupboard

[Big Frank]

I got one of these Knorr One Skillet meals for free a few weeks ago. I chose the Southwestern Chicken Brown Rice and Quinoa variety. https://www.knorr.com/us/en/products/one-skillet-meals.html

There's not much to it other than brown rice and red quinoa with plenty of salt and various spices. Yesterday I decided I would make something with it today. You're supposed to add chicken, bell peppers, and corn. I didn't have any vegetables at all and didn't want to go and buy them just for this. I figured I would just use some pre-cooked breaded chicken chunks from the freezer, then came up with another idea. I had 2 cans of chicken that I bought when I had coupons for each of them, and decided to use those instead. They were 5 ounce cans so it fell short of the pound of chicken it was supposed to have.

Today I looked in the cupboard to see if there was anything else I could add to it so I wouldn't have to take any meat out of the freezer and thaw it out. There was a can of jalapeno Spam in there that I also got on sale, so I decided to use that and both cans of chicken. The Spam was 12 ounces, so with that added to the 10 ounces of chicken I'd have plenty of meat. So I had a plan.

I stirred together the grain mixture, 2 cups of water, and about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a pot and cranked the heat all the way up. While I was waiting for it to boil I added the chicken, cubed the Spam and added it too. When it started to boil I turned the heat down until there was only a small flame, put a lid on the pot and set the timer for 22 minutes. But I forgot to push the button to start the timer. After I realized that I set it for 18 minutes and let it simmer, stirring occasionally. When it was done cooking I stirred it again and let it sit covered for a few minutes.

It absorbed all the water and the rice and quinoa came out nice and tender. I'm eating it right now and it tastes okay other than being too salty. It has over 2,500 milligrams of salt plus whatever was in the 2 cans of chicken. The chicken pretty much disintegrated and everything had a nice creamy texture. The Spam almost melted in my mouth after cooking that long. The jalapenos in the Spam go well with the chipotle in the grain mixture. I'll probably finish it all today and have something else tomorrow. Every ingredient was on sale or free, otherwise I wouldn't have them.

I have a Knorr Selects package that was also free. I chose the White Cheddar Broccoli Rice. All I have to do is put it in a pot with water, milk, and oil, and boil it. I'll most likely eat it without adding any meat or more cheese. That canned chicken might have been good in it but it's all gone. https://www.knorr.com/us/en/products/selects.html

[Rastus]

The two places below I've gotten free samples from so I don't mind posting them.

https://www.wisefoodstorage.com/

https://secure.food4patriots.com/checkout/freefood/index.php?CID=60&AFID=1095&click_id=102404174a1929dbdbed2a256c573d&offer_id=60&aff_sub=1451-AD02-HL02-DS02&aff_sub2=oebofa11_967_5767213&aff_sub4=&aff_sub5=&t4p=123  These guys can be a bit of a pain....but free nonetheless.

I like the jalepeno spam by the way.  I might have dropped the chicken in about 8-10 minutes from finishing cooking and the spam about 5 minutes...I like chunks.  I'll have to try it.  It sounds like good cold weather food.

[Big Frank]

The Spam held together but was really soft. I wouldn't actually recommend that combination I had but I've had worse combinations that still weren't bad. A can or 2 of unsalted vegetables would have made it better but I only have baked beans. That doesn't sound good with the rest of the stuff. I have a bunch of cheese in the fridge and may put some on the leftovers when I microwave it. Cheese makes so many things better.

I have a lot of canned soup, jerky, and different flavors of almonds and pistachios in the cupboard. I bought it all on sale to snack on but it would be good to have in an emergency too. RiteAid has deluxe mixed nuts with no peanuts, buy one get one free, so I may buy some more. Sometimes they have pistachios on sale for less than half price. I like the sweet chili and the salt & pepper flavors the best. I don't need to buy any more snacks this year but will anyway when the price is right.

I have a package of that survival food from food4patriots too. I think it's 3 each of 4 different things. After 25 years the vitamin content may be less but the food should still be good if you believe them. I've been tempted to taste it but haven't yet. Some of them might be good mixed with other things in the cupboard too.

[Big Frank]

I had the leftovers of that concoction in a bowl in the fridge until I was ready to have some more. I was trying to get rid of some mozzarella string cheese before I open a package of another cheese, so I broke 3 sticks of it if half and put it on top. I microwaved it for a few minutes and chopped and stirred the half-melted cheese with a fork. I microwaved and stirred it again and everything was glued together in one big sticky cheesy mass. The cheese held everything together so well that when I was done there was nothing in the bowl but an oily residue. No grain or anything was left. I used the rest of that cheese on some potato skins I just had.