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    Home » Pantry Challenge

    Pantry Challenge 2021 – Day 22

    Published: Jan 22, 2021 · Modified: Jan 22, 2021 by Jessica Fisher

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    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.
    unbaked pizzas on screens on table this …
    Clearly, the meal plan I made last week didn’t completely come to fruition…

    After decades of Friday night pizza, we recently switched to Friday afternoon pizza. It’s been a really interesting switch in our weekly rhythm.

    Turns out we stuff ourselves at lunchtime so that when dinner rolls around, a light dinner, late dinner, or no dinner has been sufficient. I’ve planned BFD (Breakfast for Dinner) as the default plan which means it’s really easy and can morph into FFY (Fend for Yourself) if needed.

    It doesn’t yet have the same festive feel as Friday NIGHT pizza, but it’s nice to get the mess out of the way. And to do my carbo loading a little earlier in the day.

    Other than feeding my starter and making pizzas, I did a quick fix breakfast.

    There were only three eggs left — for four people — so I added a healthy portion of egg whites. I started keeping a carton hand during early lockdown 2020 when eggs were hard to find here in SD County. It’s been a great habit for stretching whole eggs, like now.

    I sliced a clearance loaf of artisan bread and toasted it, scrambled eggs, cooked half a bag of frozen hash browns, and frizzled some ham. No one was starving — and one kid was at work — so it was more than enough.

    Anticipating the weekend meals, I dug around in the freezer and pulled proteins to thaw: ground beef/buns for burgers, ribs, fish, and two whole chickens. We’ll grill what can be grilled, cook the ribs in the slow cooker, and roast the chickens. That should give us enough meat for the weekend and into the start of the week’s lunches.

    Bryan is running out of Chicken Fajita Burritos so I’ll run to ALDI tomorrow for those ingredients as well as eggs and whatever we need to round out our last 8 days of the challenge.

    Our meals for Day 22:

    Breakfast: the usual – oats, smoothies, eggs/toast, yogurt

    Lunch: The Easiest Grilled Pizza You Can Make

    Dinner: Breakfast for Dinner

    How was your day?

    « Pantry Challenge 2021 – Day 21
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    Comments

    1. Pat

      January 25, 2021 at 9:57 am

      I’m behind in posting as well. Where did the weekend go?
      Day 22
      Breakfast and lunch were the usual.
      Dinner was clean out the fridge. Everyone got enough to eat and their are still things for tomorrow–is that a win or a loss? I’m going with win because I don’t have to cook!!

      Reply
    2. Heather M

      January 24, 2021 at 7:15 am

      Aren’t we lucky to have the Hawaii connection1 🙂

      Reply
      • Heather M

        January 24, 2021 at 7:17 am

        This was supposed to be attached to another comment but my computer messed up. Oh well.

        Reply
    3. KMM

      January 23, 2021 at 8:34 pm

      Breakfast: yogurt
      Lunch: Chili cheese baked potato
      Dinner” beef pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and onion.

      I made two containers of each of lunch and dinner for work lunches next week (Sun_Wed). I

      Reply
    4. Jennifer

      January 23, 2021 at 1:11 pm

      Looking back to the 22nd, almost through with the 23rd.

      B – leftover muffins, grapefruit, yogurt
      L – I took tomato soup, cheese and cucumbers, dh took leftovers, someone made pierogies at home and it looks like someone had a hot pocket
      D – I had a $20 Chipotle gift card. total for 3 people was $5.35

      23rd
      B – homemade pumpkin scones, yogurt
      L – dd had leftover chipotle, the rest had mac n cheese, cucumbers, orange, banana
      D – I am making breaded chicken tenders, roasting the remaining butternut squash I cut last week and I will find another veggie

      We went shopping today to fill in for the week and get produce. We have 2 of the same grocery near us in opposite directions. the one farther away typically has better sales for some reason. This week there weren’t a lot of sales I was interested in so we went to the closer one. I noticed that even their regular prices are higher on just about everything. I will go to the one farther away from now on. It’s only an extra 5 minutes.

      I pulled turkey legs from the freezer (I froze them separately at Thanksgiving) to make a large crockpot of broth. I will use it in potato soup later this week.

      Reply
      • Alice E

        January 24, 2021 at 6:33 am

        I had to smile. I drive past the store close to me and go to the one another ten or fifteen minutes away because all the prices are a bit lower. It is also smaller and less hassle for me to find what I want and check out. They are the same store with the same sales, but the non-sale items are higher at the larger store, so unless they carry something the smaller store doesn’t I go to the smaller store where I am known. I think those five and ten cent differences add up over time and I have other things such as volunteering, and the library close to the smaller store as well.

        Reply
    5. Lynn from NC Outer Banks

      January 23, 2021 at 11:47 am

      Jessica, whoever eats that pizza with all those jalapenos on it must not have any taste buds left! It makes my mouth burn just looking at it!

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        January 23, 2021 at 11:48 am

        Haha! That’s my husband’s. He likes extra crust (why it’s cut in half) and abundant jalapeños.

        Reply
    6. Heather M

      January 23, 2021 at 11:40 am

      1/22: Another good Challenge day in our house. spent some time looking through recipe clippings for inspiration, adding to a small pile for future meal ideas. Very often I use a recipe as a base and then change it up. I keep a clipboard with a list of ideas written down, based on what we have in the house, and with clippings of more ideas.

      B: L took a mini Kind bar and a mandarin w/some cherries; I skipped

      L: L took another turkey/tomato/lettuce on whole wheat(glad he had one change-up on Thursday, lol-but this turkey needs to go, so…), some pistachios, and popcorn; I finished off the leftover quinoa tuna salad(it also has celery, red onion, garbanzos, seasonings, red wine vinegar, olive oil- my own creation) and some salt and pepper rice crackers(lots of random GF things left from when daughter was home)

      D: hit it out of the park, if I do say so. Blackened Mahi Mahi street tacos w/homemade spicy avocado lime crema, red cabbage, the spicy pickled radishes(!!), and cilantro. Oh these were so good! I always just throw together a sauce of some kind for fish tacos and this one worked out so well I’m writing down what I did, even though I didn’t measure a thing. It was delicious. We also had a side of sauteed zucchini and mushrooms. Used up the zucchini and more of the big package of mushrooms I’m working through. Good thing they last a little while. We ate a few chocolate covered macadamia nuts for dessert- my brother and family included a big bag of these in our Christmas package from them. They live in Hawaii and try to send us a little Hawaii sometimes, We all love them!

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        January 23, 2021 at 3:08 pm

        Not sure how you could stick with just a few of those nuts. We ate bags of them when we went!

        Reply
        • Heather M

          January 24, 2021 at 7:14 am

          The only way I stayed with a few is because I was pretty full from dinner. The bag is rapidly disappearing. 🙂

      • Lily R.

        January 23, 2021 at 4:39 pm

        I have an aunt in Hawaii and I have been savoring the nuts and coffee from my Christmas package as well! I’m glad you were a fan of the radishes too. So good!

        Reply
      • Pat

        January 25, 2021 at 9:51 am

        Heather M if you still have mushrooms to use you can saute them in a little butter or oil and freeze them for later. I do it all the time.

        Reply
    7. Lynn from NC Outer Banks

      January 23, 2021 at 10:40 am

      Oh dear, I have been MIA for too long. Many days to catch up on with posting and reading what all I missed. Anyway, I’ve continued to plug along. Doing okay, so far.

      1/18/21
      B: oatmeal with blueberries from freezer
      L: Made another soup from freezer ingredients and leftover vegetables and canned veggies from the pantry. It turned out to be quite tasty. Had that along with cheese on a tortilla. (trying to stretch the sandwich bread). Hubby had a sandwich with meat, cheese and lettuce from the garden plus the soup.
      D: LO turkey loaf, baked sweet potatoes, cauliflower with cheese and fruit

      1/19/21
      B: blueberry pancakes (berries from freezer), coffee
      L: more leftovers
      D: last of the turkey loaf, LO cauliflower, Asian salad

      1/20/21
      B: toast, coffee
      L: popcorn (forgot my lunch for work)
      D: spaghetti, tossed salad
      S: mini snickers

      1/21/21
      B: breakfast casserole
      L: HM pimento cheese sandwich
      D: LO spaghetti, raw veggies, fruit

      1/22/21
      B: breakfast casserole
      L: pimento cheese sandwich
      D: shrimp (freezer) creole, cauliflower mixed with rice, tossed salad, orange slices
      S: chocolate covered almonds

      Reply
    8. Laura

      January 23, 2021 at 10:22 am

      I made a crockpot lentil and barley soup the other night. We’ve been eating it for lunches now. I had bought 2 cans of clams so last night we had linguine with clam sauce with garlic bread made from the last 2 hamburger buns. I think I’m doing pretty good using up pantry ingredients. I think I’ll be able to stay under $200.

      Reply
    9. Sarah

      January 23, 2021 at 7:42 am

      B: coffee + mini Brie
      L: assorted leftovers – I had yogurt and BF had the last of the meatloaf. I was glad because it was not my best version and I was sick of it. BF is like “I’ve eaten MREs for nine months at a time, I can tackle the meatloaf!” Bless him.
      D: leftover garlic butter chicken and GF pasta.
      S: the last of the GF cookie dough in the freezer. My friend was selling GF and regular cookies over the holiday and she agreed to sell me the dough since I didn’t want to be faced with dozens of cookies at once. It was a great choice (and less work for her!)

      We also had mint hot cocoa from one of those work gift baskets with weird “gourmet” snacks. It was way too intense for me so thankfully it was free.

      Reply
    10. tasty

      January 23, 2021 at 7:41 am

      Sounds like everyone is doing well this far into the challenge.

      We actually changed up breakfast just a little for once – toast and jam and I added a banana to mine as well. Lunch was a very uninspired chicken fingers but it was quick and easy. Supper – well, the turkey breast I had defrosting in the fridge didn`t defrost in time so yet again, we opted for some soup from the freezer – hamburger this time along with some more of the herb bread , also courtesy of the freezer. I finished up with some cheese and an apple while hubby had ice cream. The little freezer over the fridge has some space in it – most unusual! I do have at least 2 more suppers in there that just need defrosting and some sides cooked plus I have enough stuff to make another one or 2 meals from this little freezer – surprising just how much it holds. The pantry challenge is a good excuse to use everything up as much as I can but we are also awaiting the delivery of a new fridge so want as little as possible that has to be emptied out. I`m happy with how it`s going so far.

      Reply
      • Heather M

        January 23, 2021 at 11:20 am

        A new fridge will be so wonderful! And definitely keep up with the emptying and using up everything! You will love having less to move- it can be an ordeal, putting it all in coolers, etc. We chose to toss older condiments, etc as well as eat up as much as we possibly could before our new one came(this was 3-4 years ago), It was pretty great having just a little to put in. So much less work and also it looked so pretty for the brief while it wasn’t filled up. 🙂

        Reply
        • Sandi

          January 24, 2021 at 5:54 pm

          Seriously, it was that long ago? I remember you talking about it. Egads, where did all that time go?

      • Lily R.

        January 23, 2021 at 4:42 pm

        A new fridge! Do people say congratulations for something like that? LOL I’d be pretty excited too and the pantry challenge is perfectly timed for it!

        Reply
        • Tasty

          January 23, 2021 at 5:17 pm

          We ordered the fridge, along with washer and dryer, stove and dishwasher the day after Labour Day. The last 2 are the only ones we have received so far – I’m so glad nothing was actually causing problems. All our appliances were getting old and we decided to change them before there were any issues!

        • Alice E

          January 24, 2021 at 6:34 am

          What a good idea to change ahead of trouble. I ordered a new washer and dryer on Wednesday and am supposed to get it delivered next Wednesday. Unfortunately my old washer is making noise my son says is the bearings. So I’m waiting for the new one to do laundry and doing a better job of going through clothes than food in the pantry. I suppose I could do another load of laundry with the old one, but decided that I didn’t really need to and it would be better not to risk trouble. (grin)

        • tasty

          January 25, 2021 at 9:10 am

          I`m all in favour of avoiding trouble if I can!

    11. Maureen

      January 23, 2021 at 6:23 am

      The girls had leftovers for lunch. My son made homemade mac-n-cheese (after we had all eaten) – I asked him to only make what he would eat, but there are now leftovers that he won’t touch. I prepped a big bowl of fruit before lunch and DD13 finished it before bed…we all snacked on it all day, so it was perfect. DD10 made cupcakes from a mix I found while rearranging a small section of pantry. And, I had planned on a family favorite for dinner (pork loin), but found shrimp in the freezer that needed to be used. So, I pulled a lone chicken breast, too, and cooked them up with pasta. It was a pantry meal in my eyes, but the family was really happy. Saving the pork for another day. In order to be able to make it to the end of February with this, I’ve decided to try to keep things really simple unless I’m feeling inspired for a day.

      Reply
      • Heather M

        January 23, 2021 at 11:14 am

        Love how your day re food turned out for you. Using things up, even if unplanned/unexpected(like the cupcakes and changing dinner plans), must feel good. And keeping another item for the near future, yay! I realized when looking in the fridge last night that instead of making the dinner I planned for Sunday that I’ll hold off until Monday and use up some leftovers that will work well for dinner. It’s especially fun when what you changed dinner to is winner for your family! Yay!

        Reply
    12. Lily R.

      January 22, 2021 at 9:29 pm

      Day 22
      Breakfast: Hubby was feeling like arepas and they are quick and easy to make so I indulged him.
      Lunch: leftover tuna noodle casserole with fruit salads.
      Dinner: We made shish kebabs, tahdig, lots of grilled vegetables and zhoug sauce. I love the trader joes version of this sauce and decided to try my hand at it since I had everything. Spicy and delicious!
      Snacks were more Bakewell tart with tea.
      Looking forward to spending time in the kitchen this weekend organizing, and meal prepping for the week ahead. It always feels good when things are ready to go!

      Reply
      • Heather M

        January 23, 2021 at 11:09 am

        when my daughter was home we picked up Cava a few times- she loves it and they definitely don’t have it where she lives(we live where it originated and have been to the original sit-down restaurant it grew from). I decided to try the Zhoug for the first time and we all LOVED it- I had her and my husband try it and we were all in love. Then we saw that TJs carries a version. I’m so glad to hear it’s yummy!! Yay!!

        Reply
        • Lily R.

          January 23, 2021 at 1:34 pm

          We have been enjoying Zhoug for awhile and are glad it’s getting more popular. I put it on everything! Also a big fan of Argentinian chimichurri and Peruvian aji verde.

        • Heather M

          January 24, 2021 at 7:12 am

          Yes! Those are both delicious too!

      • Sandi

        January 24, 2021 at 5:52 pm

        I don’t think there’s been a single day you’ve posted that I’ve actually known what every item was. I had to look up multiple things from this one. At least I’m learning new things from the challenge (even if I don’t make the foods myself). I might actually pick up that sauce next time I go to TJ’s.

        Reply
        • Lily R.

          January 24, 2021 at 8:36 pm

          Hi Sandi, we just love a variety of foods from around the world! Most are very cheap to make and I like to experiment in the kitchen. I’m happy to introduce you to new foods! Try the sauce it’s great with chips, on seafood, mixed into rice, etc etc. So good!

    13. Sandi

      January 22, 2021 at 7:33 pm

      B: cereal
      L: l/o chicken, fruit
      D: pizza from freezer
      Dessert: brownies a la mode (the oven was already on so why not?)

      I’ve also pulled a few things from the freezer to thaw for weekend cooking. I just haven’t quite solidified exactly what I’m going to do with them.

      Some people I used to work with had a completely different meaning for BFD. I was a little shocked when someone posted that is what they had. It wasn’t until I saw it used as a leftover that it dawned on me what the intended meaning was and it had nothing do with with being a “big deal”!

      Reply
      • Sarah

        January 23, 2021 at 7:31 am

        I giggled so much, it scared the cat ? BFD

        Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        January 23, 2021 at 3:09 pm

        Glad we’re keeping you on your toes. I think Pat started it, and I liked it. Breakfast for dinner. Nothing wrong with that. 😉

        Reply
      • Pat

        January 25, 2021 at 9:44 am

        Sandi–I’m glad it made you chuckle.
        BFD has always been my acronym for breakfast for dinner.
        I do use it for it’s original meaning as well. Comes in handy sometimes.

        Reply

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