Inspired by our recent Great Pantry Cleanout, I’m proud to say that tonight’s meal would have been right at home in our great experiment!  Indeed, the entire dinner only required some fresh vegetables from the store over the weekend to make it complete.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with freezing unused items – for instance, last week I froze some leftover canned artichokes as well as half a block of tofu.  Along those same lines, after our most recent taco night I also decided to try freezing our leftover taco shells, which always seem to go stale in the cabinet and then find their way to the garbage can.  That’s an incredible waste of food over the long run, and I knew we could do better.

So tonight, as the rice (seasoned with a packet of Goya seasoning) finished cooking and the pinto beans (seasoned with some adobo powder) bubbled on the stove, I pulled four shells out of the freezer bag and heated them up at 325 for about seven minutes.  Once the time had elapsed, the moment of truth arrived: Would they taste stale?  Freezer-burned?  Otherwise “off”?

No!  They tasted just like taco shells should!  Fresh, crispy, and corny.  :)  So we stuffed them to the brim with pinto beans, lettuce, tomato, sliced black olives, diced onion, and some Daiya pepperjack shreds, spooned some rice on the side, and chowed down!

So, score one for the freezer, and score another for the ongoing installments of the Pantry Cleanout Project.  I can easily see the a Cleanout Meal making an appearance in our menu plan at least once a week – and now that I know of yet another item that’s easily freezable, I’ll be even more prepared going forward.  Saving money, avoiding waste, and eating well – it’s hard to go wrong!

:)