Time to empty the freezer? This cook challenged herself to make a week of meals with forgotten food

I usually cook a nice meal from scratch every night, even when it’s only my husband and me for dinner. Leftovers, and there are a lot, go into the freezer — where they’re often forgotten, tucked behind ice-cube trays, half-eaten cartons of ice cream, and bags of soup dumplings and frozen peas. There were some odds and ends in the vegetable drawer — cherry tomatoes, carrots and celery on their last legs, some fruit and a cabbage — so I wouldn’t be completely deprived of produce. Another friend put it this way: “You’ve got grit.” DAY 5 The easiest night: ready-made microwaveable Asian-style noodles with veggies, from Costco, to which I added a bit of chicken. DAY 7 Used up the last tortilla, melted the last two pieces of Muenster on it, and topped it off with a warmed-up mix of frozen corn, the last bit of chicken in the house, a half-can of black beans, more cherry tomatoes from a seemingly bottomless container, cumin, salt, lime and, of course, chopped cabbage.