Woohoo! We are nearing the end of the Pantry Challenge. What have you accomplished? I tallied up our spending for the month, and unless the sick child convinces me he really needs Gatorade — he’s feeling much better, so we think it’s just a cold — our spending is just over $500 for the month.
$511 to be exact, about $89 less than I hoped for. Yay!
Seeing as the Pantry still looks pretty full and the fridge/freezers are not bereft, I’m thinking we’re doing pretty well. Now, considering there was a lot of stockpiling going on thanks to the pandemic, I’m not sure how solid my data is at the moment.
That said, I’ll looking forward to auditing my grocery spending next month and see if we can tweak some things. Watch for details tonight on our next grocery savings challenge! We’re gonna do some grocery budget makeovers.
For those of you continuing with the challenge, carry on! We have a dedicated channel in the GCE Club forum for the PC, so if you decide to join, know that there are folks to cheer you on!
Our meals for Day 30:
Breakfast: The usual, oats, smoothies, protein shakes, eggs. I skipped.
Brunch: I had my leftover pizza topped with a couple fried eggs.
Lunch: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Dinner: Potstickers, Yakisoba, Cauliflower Fried Rice
How did you second to the last day go?
Kathy in Denmark
Day 30:
Brunch: Pancakes, bread, scrambled eggs, juice and coffee
S: Hot cocoa with whipped cream. Chokolate biscuits
D: Potatoes, veggies, gravy, medister, beef patty, fish fingers and veggie schnitzel
I made some pancakes to go along with breakfast and the kids where thrilled. We went for a long walk to a playground and had hot cocoa and biscuits there (brought from home). It was a cold day and the cocoa made a good time even better 🙂
lisa s
Well, I doubled what I’d spent for the month in one day at Sam’s. I ended up at $730 for the month, but that was still under budget by $70. And $20+ of that was donated and $20 for clothing so maybe $690 is more accurate. We did appetizers from the freezer for dinner that we had picked up on sale for the football game next weekend. We have plenty to split it into two days. Next month, I’m aiming for $600 instead of $800.
Pat
Day 30 was a change of plans day. My oldest son and DIL had us over for a birthday dinner for my husband’s birthday last week. It was complete with singing by the grandkids(9,5 &3)-homemade cards and brownies! Those kids make my heart melt. Oh-dinner was grilled steak, twice baked potatoes and broccoli, plus salads.
I want to tell you all thank you! It’s been a great month reading all your comments and the fabulous meals you all make. I will miss this and see you all next year!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
What a great way to celebrate your husband’s birthday!
Sarah
B: leftover Girl Scout cookies + milk (my friends daughter sells them and they have a GF flavor)
L: yogurt parfait
D: jalapeño popper chicken dip + chips
S: bubble tea
We went grocery shopping before the big snow and it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. We spent around $200 but stocking up on staples like olive oil and some baking supplies so it was to be expected.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I appreciate everyone’s encouragement re: the baking. My no- knead bread turned out well, so I was pleased. DH and I enjoyed slices of it warm with butter and jelly as a snack today. I made it in my grandmother’s cast iron Dutch oven that is over 100 years old, so I got all the “good feels” making it today. Some great nostalgia and a connection with her from a time long gone by. I think I will continue my bread baking efforts and once I have more confidence, I’ll branch out a bit. Thanks again for all the votes of confidence. Maybe by next January I will have lots to report on my progress!
Susan Clark
Clark Family January 2021 Pantry Challenge Update
Profile: 2 adults, one retired one working at home remote.
Cooking Profile: 2 adults, 3 meals per day, 95% cooking from scratch.
Monthly Grocery Total PC January 2021: $426.03 yayayayayay!
Monthly Grocery Total For 2020: $1000.00 plus per month
Explication: In 2019 we decided to relocate to be close to our daughter and her family. Actually the 2 grandsons were the primary motivation. We have always lived in areas where hurricanes and winter ice storms knocked out power for sometimes weeks. So we have been prepared with a well stocked pantry to feed neighbors and family. When we moved in 2019 we eat our pantry. After 2 moves in 2020 we are finally settled but still into areas with hurricanes and winter ice storms plus major power outages. So our over $1000.00 per month sounds outrageous, it’s because we were gradually stocked our pantry…..which serves our family and neighbors. We have always had gas stoves so we can cook for people who depend on electric stoves.
Blessings to all.
Thanks Jessica for your inspiration.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Susan. Greetings from a fellow North Carolinian! Congrats on your successful pantry challenge! Saving 60% is certainly great! My son also lives in Durham.
Here in the Outer Banks we are quite familiar with the hurricanes and ice storms you noted (and nor’easters and flooding and salt on power lines as well). When we redid our kitchen we intentionally installed a dual fuel stove (gas cook top, electric stove) so that we too would have gas for cooking in emergency situations. It has served us well. After quite a rash of power outages one year (including one when a boat dragging its anchor disrupted power on our island for almost 12 hours 🙁 we installed an automatic generator to help put our minds at ease. That has been helpful, but we continue to enjoy the gas cook top. Looking out for your friends and family and being able to provide for them in such situations can be a huge blessing to them. And how wonderful that you are now near your grandchildren. Great for them, and you!
Susan Clark
Thanks Lynn!
Susan Clark
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for your encouragement. We are so glad to be back in NC.
Spend a great deal of my younger years sailing around the Out Banks.
Blessings
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/30/21
Today was a day of leftovers. Thankfully my DH doesn’t mind, at least for a day or two!
B: I had LO chocolate crescent, coffee-DH: scrambled egg sandwich
L: Last of the enchiladas, LO chowder
D: more chowder, LO shrimp and grits, LO veggies, orange slices
S: tea, boiled egg
I was inspired by the talk of bread baking so I’ve got no-knead bread rising and we’ll see how it goes. Know I’m not up to tackling bagels if Jessica says they are challenging for her!
Another positive result of the pantry challenge is once again having so many of my containers empty! I freeze a lot of portions in glass, so was really running low on those for refrigerator storage and the freezer. Glad to have many to choose from again.
Tasty
Lynn, don’t be put off by someone else’s experience. I have made bagels a couple .of times,a few years ago. Haven’t done them recently but couldn’t really say why. That could be a project for February. I have never made English muffins and they too are on my list of ” wannabees”. My son made them for breakfast one time when we spent the weekend with them and they were really good.
Lily R.
Tasty, once you try the English muffins you’ll be surprised at how easy they are to make!
Tasty
I’m not wary of making them – mote a case of haven’t made the effort.
Jessica Fisher
Oh please don’t take my reluctance to share my recipe as an indication that they’re difficult to make! They are easy, though there’s a fair amount of waiting involved.
I’ve been tweaking what I do, using a sourdough starter, and want to get more practice at it before I write a post about it. When I post a recipe, it needs to work for everyone, no matter their skill level, and that’s why I want to try it a few more ways.
Lily R.
Lynn, great job using up those leftovers. I bet it felt great to have all those empty bowls out of the fridge and freezer! I want to hear how your no knead bread turned out. As for bagels, don’t be discouraged! You don’t have to make sourdough ones, plain ones are easy and delicious. You can also top them any way you’d like- sesame, everything seasoning, etc. There are lots of great tutorials on you tube!
Jennifer
Saturday we decided to go to an indoor farmer’s market because we literally had nothing else to do. It was a 30 minute drive but something different. I needed syrup mainly and knew I wouldn’t have another Saturday to get there for at least a month. I ended up getting maple syrup, apples, eggs, and some fresh bread. Dh bought a large chocolate chip cookie.
B – I skipped, dh had oatmeal, ds had a muffin, other ds had a bagel, not sure about dd
L – a big fundraiser around here is to sell pepperoni rolls. I had bought some over Christmas and they came Friday. So we had that for lunch along with fruit.
S – starbucks after our hike
D – I made big salads to go with the fresh bread. Dh topped his with leftover taco meat
Heather M
Saturday was a really productive day around here. It was my husband’s first day off since January 4, as he has been slammed with work since then. We were able to get a few things done that are either easier with 2 people or actually require 2 of us. And it feels great going into February with theses things done. The house feels so much better now. I still managed to feed us well, and very Challenge-centric too.
Breakfast: L skipped as he finally got a good night’s sleep and slept in; I had cheese and crackers (so many crackers floating around still)
Lunch: in between our busy happenings, a late lunch- heated up the leftover sloppy joes and we ate them open faced on the homemade buns, which aren’t big and it was easier this way; fresh fruit salad
Dinner: red lentil mulligatawny soup (using mostly pantry items, except onion) topped with a fresh apple-celery salsa; big side salad – perfect for a later dinner after a fairly hearty lunch.
I’ll be tallying my spending Sunday, after I’m sure of what I used from Thursday’s big shopping to include the first week of February. Pretty sure it’ll be close to $200, though the fresh herbs I bought for Friday’s meal might have pushed me over a bit. We’ll see.
And also, woke up this morning to snow! Snow falling! It’s been two years since the DC area got more than an inch of snow, mostly only traces or worse, cold rain. The weather has been weird here. I’m loving today, looking out the window as I type this at snow all over trees! It’s so pretty! Hope everyone is having a good last day of January and the Challenge!
Lily R.
I know what you mean about getting those house projects done. Every January we deep clean, declutter and organize our home. It feels so good!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jealous of your snow! We had a “snow day” on Thursday, but it was a big disappointment. Tiny flakes (that were blowing sideways from our wind) that fell for about an hour and a half and didn’t stick at all. Was hoping for more than that! Enjoy!
tasty
Fruit yogurt and English muffin for me while hubby found some currant biscuits in the little freezer for breakfast. I had some taco shells left from earlier in the , month so we used them up at lunch time. I had one piece of sole left in the freezer which I like so I had fish tacos (after a fashion) and hubby used up a little bit of chilli also from the freezer. This also used up the little salad that was left in the bag so definitely, lunch was a big win for the PC. Supper was too really. There were 2 whole peppers left in the fridge that needed to be used, there was also some salsa left in the jar (not as much as I thought tho) so I pulled half pound of ground beef from the freezer and made stuffed peppers with carrots from the freezer and fresh cauliflower and broccoli.
I`m sorry to say that I will be bowing out after the next update. I really enjoy the pantry challenge every year – (the peer pressure is great!, miss the summer one these days) but at this stage of life, while I know that what Jessica has to say is good solid advice, I am probably not going to change my ways too much. However I do look forward to seeing many, if not all, of you back next January. I personally will carry on working away at what is in the freezers and pantry. I already see quite a difference in the pantry and the freezers were doing well until I bought 36 chicken breasts the other day – but I had no difficulty finding space for them!!! However, the list of what we `need` on the fridge is growing every day. I promised myself that I would not replenish the pantry until the PC was over and I haven`t and have no intention of rushing out first thing tomorrow to do so. Thank you everyone!
Heather M
Tasty, it’s been so good seeing you here this month! I definitely look forward to seeing you again next year. I hope you have a good 2021!!
Tasty
Thanks Heather.
Lily R.
I agree with you about continuing the challenge on my own. We will keep chipping away here. I hope you enjoy the rest of your year!
Tasty
You too Lily! You definitely have a varied menu and I look forward to learning more next January.
Alice E
I’m looking forward to the next challenge and seeing you then. I, too, won’t be participating in the club. At 72 I’m a bit set in my ways and have special dietary needs due to health. But, I do enjoy the challenge and all the ideas I get from everyone’s input. I will be continuing the effort to use up extra pantry items in the weeks and months ahead.
Maureen
Everyone except DS had leftovers for lunch…it’s pretty monumental for hubby to forage in the fridge for lunch. He grilled steak for dinner, but I was careful about the size of the sides, so very little leftovers generated. This week’s schedule is a little strange…I have a couple of appointments and the kids have no school on Wednesday (teacher work day). So, I’m going to work up a list of options for snacks and lunches to keep focused on the pantry and freezer for February. It’s so nice to open the freezers and see space!
Heather M
It’s great that you’re making a list of options for the coming week! Seeing more and more space emerge in your freezer and pantry will feel so good!
Carol B.
I had a mish mosh of food.
B : usual ( wasa, hummus and yogurt.)
Lunch: salad, herring.vegetable stew with.squash and sweetpotato.
Supper: l.o. Enchilada, salad and more vegetable stew.
Snack: pear, triscuits, one slice cheddar.
Sandi
1/29
B: quesadillas – I had a few forkfuls of chicken & green chilies filling from lunch the other day so I scrambled some eggs to include which stretched it to 2 servings.
L: PBJ sandwiches
D: Cajun ham bean soup (with onions, celery, carrots, peppers, and tomatoes added) – we had it for dinner and there is one more meal in the fridge. The rest went into the freezer.
1/30
B: cereal
L: turkey, potatoes – I’m so pleased with myself for actually baking the second turkey I bought at Thanksgiving. I have bought two on previous years and the second one ALWAYS ends up hanging out in the freezer until the following year. Not this time!
D: we wanted something kind of light but we both felt like turkey again so we had cold sliced turkey with some brie cheese and carrot sticks
Any ideas for using a jar of chestnuts besides making a stuffing? I googled it and found some recipes although a lot of them are for desserts. My freezer rummaging has determined we already have entirely too many sweets so I’m not intentionally creating more at the moment. I’d rather try something recommended rather than just randomly picking an unknown recipe.
Lily R.
For the chestnuts, you can slice them and toast them to top salads, roast them with green beans or brussel sprouts, puree them and add to oatmeal, mashed potatoes, etc. They also go really well in stews. Hope this helps!
Lily R.
Day 30
Breakfast: I was a taste tester for my cousin again. This time she tried Turkish breakfast items. Gozleme and katmer. She is getting better and better!
Lunch: the rest of the jollof rice with harissa chicken.
Dinner: I spent some time cooking for a friend that just had a baby. She is drowning in casseroles from visitors and requested something more exotic to eat. I made pancit, chicken adobo and lumpia for her house and mine for dinner. Sachertorte for dessert. German desserts are so underrated.
My freezers and pantry definitely have dents in them but we can keep going for awhile.
Heather M
Wow dinner for both you and your friend sounds delicious! Love a good chicken adobo and lumpia. And so fun, being the taste tester for such interesting food. Yay!
Lily R.
Thanks, Heather. I’ll be a taste tester anytime!