Out freezer needs defrosting so we are trying to empty it by avoiding buying frozen food, and eating what's already in there. Unfortunately some of the food has been there rather a long time. For 3 days this week, I found myself some fairly out of date things.

• Tuesday: The first out of date food of the week actually came from the fridge. We recently bought some falafel but the pack had got pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about. It was a week past its sell-by but it smelt ok. I cooked it anyway and it tasted fine.

• Wednesday: We have had a bag of salmon steaks in the freezer for ages and they had started to look a bit 'freezer burnt'. I decided to make a salmon paella so I put the steaks in a pan of cold water and slowly brought them to a simmer. After leaving them to cool, I removed the skin and cut off the dry or discoloured bits. The texture wasn't great - it was a bit chewy compared to decent fresh salmon.

• Thursday: When I took the pack of bean burgers out of the freezer, I thought it felt a bit light. I didn't bother checking the weight but I took 2 out and put them in the oven. After the recommended cooking time, I took them out and put them on a plate. They had gone all dry and crunchy and were really awful. They were only 3 months out of date. There were still 2 more in the pack so I tried to rescue them by pouring a couple of spoons of stock over them, wrapping them in foil and cooking them in the oven. They were a bit better but I still had to cut away some crunchy bits.

Friday: Got home from work fairly late. Couldn't be bothered cooking. Bought take-away instead.