Over the holidays, I got very relaxed. Shopping for groceries was more of a hobby than a necessity. Whatever looked good was placed in the shopping cart. Needless to say, our grocery budget blew up.
How was I going to break this old habit which was reborn during the holiday season? The answer seemed obvious. I needed to crack down on our spending and use what we have already stockpiled. So, I am joining the Good Cheap Eats Pantry Challenge.
Jessica says that a Pantry Challenge “…is NOT a total abstinence of grocery shopping.” Instead, you are trying to make the most with what you have, using the ingredients you have been avoiding, and expanding your creativity. Since I have a freezer full of meat and vegetables and a nice stockpile of baking staples, I figure this is perfect timing for us. I will still need to pick up a couple of items from time to time to finish up a recipe and we just do not live without a steady flow of fresh produce, but I am going to try to keep my grocery shopping to a minimum.
How about you? Would you like to join the Pantry Challenge?
Sounds good to me! I have spent too much of my grocery budget on Christmas, so this will help me out. I’ve already started a little. It probably won’t take me all month to use up what I have since I have a large family and not much stocked up, but it will be a good challenge. Good luck!
Thanks, Dee. I hope it works out well for you. I am excited about it, especially since my freezer is in need of a defrost! it has not bee defrosted since Hurricane Katrina. {blush}
I have more food than I thought. So far I have been able to make 1. Lasagna, 2. Spaghetti, 3.Chicken, cabbage w/ smoked sausage & mashed potatoes, 4. Tacos, 5. Potato soup w/ broccoli and smoked turkey, 6. Plum sauced pork, rice, carrots and ranch dip, and 7. Beef and cheese Quesadillas (there were more meals, but I didn’t write them down). The hardest part of the Pantry Challenge was making a list of ALL the food, for me it was 9 pages long! I still have lots of food. Most of my meat that is left is 2 whole turkeys, 2 whole chickens and 2 whole ducks (I will need 2 chickens or ducks to feed my large family at one time, so this is only about 4 – 6 meals if I did use them all). I don’t want to thaw and cook them just yet, so I may go shopping soon. I’m thinking of defrosting the chest freezer since my 3 yr old turned it off a couple of times and now there is ice built up on the bottom and on some of the food. But my large upright is about empty, so I can use it to store the food. How has your Pantry Challenge been going?
HA! You could open a grocery store, Dee. It’s going well here. The hardest thing for me is breaking the urge to jump and run to the store for little things. Like, we are out of bread but I have plenty of stuff to MAKE bread. Guess what I will be doing in the morning? 😉
count me in….I will probably only have to buy things like dairy and produce every week…but I have tons of stuff in the freezer and pantry…..here goes
Best of luck, Vicki! We can do this. 🙂