One of the things I love about the Pantry Challenge is that it motivates me to cook and bake to freeze. It’s a little “two steps forward one step back” since the freezer doesn’t empty super quickly, but the time savings is awesome.
Today I pulled from the freezer:
- Protein Cranberry Bread
- Slow Cooker Carnitas
- chicken legs – to thaw for lunch later this week
- chopped bell peppers
In exchange, I added a double batch of Chicken Fajita Burritos – Bryan has one almost every day for his lunch, so this makes things super easy to have those tucked away for later.
Our meals for Day 5
Breakfast – This is recently become a suit-yourself kind of meal. With so many different preferences, it’s just easier this way.
Bryan had his Coaches Oats as did one of the girls. One child had Nutella toast (and was informed that it was not a nutritious breakfast); another had a smoothie. Two ate at Chick-fil-a because they work there.
I reheated some leftover potatoes from Sunday and scrambled some eggs. Along with some random shredded cheese, sour cream, scallions, and hot sauce, it was super yummy.
Second breakfast – I reheated all the leftover potatoes and the kids and Bryan ended up eating them between breakfast and lunch.
Lunch – Bryan had his burrito. One girl made a quesadilla; another had soup, salad, and bread. The “chicken nuggie miners” ate at work. FishBoy16 had a ham sandwich.
I made a big salad alongside an open faced sandwich of rye sourdough, laughing cow cheese, EBB seasoning, and ham.
Dinner – Making versatile meals for both omnivores and vegans requires a few moving parts sometimes. Tonight was a burrito bar, so I baked rice, reheated the Carnitas at the same time, and roasted Taco-flower (roast cauliflower that I season with taco seasoning and top with cheese. I also chopped veggies, heated a few cans of beans, and shredded cheese. Everyone could make whatever he wanted: some made burritos while others made rice bowls.
Leftovers – Tomorrow I plan to deal with leftovers, as we’ve got pasta/squash/sauce leftover from last night as well as beans/rice/cauliflower from tonight. Plus, the turkey drippings from Sunday and the broth from the chicken I cooked for Bryan’s I imagine some will get eaten as lunches. I’m thinking of using the stock and broth in soup or chili.
Jennifer
I made a menu for the week on Sunday and promptly cooked something different each night as I realized it didn’t make sense with my dairy allergy/vegetarian daughter home from college still. So I am holding off on some things for next week. Here is what we ate for the first part of the week.
Breakfasts have been oatmeal, cinnamon bread with butter, cereal and fruit/yogurt
Lunch – kids cook their own and I have no idea what they ate (virtual school), I have taken salads or leftovers, dh has taken leftovers
Dinners – we had hamburgers/black bean burgers, broccoli and roasted potatoes Monday, Tuesday was chicken apple sausages and cous cous (using up a random can of broth someone gave us) for most and dd had a made up veggie/fried cous cous concoction I came up with since she can’t/won’t eat the sausages. Also a cut up celery and a pepper. Wednesday (today) we had the leftover burgers along with hotdogs that had come in our CSA this summer that we never ate and I wasn’t looking forward to. I had a burger. Also diced/roasted sweet potatoes and a sliced pepper.
julie
breakfasts – leftover baked oatmeal, oatmeal, toast
lunch – left overs – most of the kids wanted pasta
dinner – tamale pie from the freezer
snacks – apples and apple dip (cream cheese, brown sugar, splash of vanilla)
During the evening we made butter with a pint of whipping cream I had leftover from Christmas. That was fun, although I know it’s more expensive than regular butter. I wanted the kids to see how butter is made.
Now I see the grocery ads and will probably get eggs, cereal and bananas tomorrow bc they are on a really good sale. I had wanted to wait a couple more weeks before shopping but .48 /dozen eggs is really too good to pass up.
Sarah
I have a fond memories of my mom making butter, too! Definitely worth it.
Lily R.
Thank you for the reminder about tamale pie…I have not made that in forever!!
Also, what a nice project of making butter with the kids. I remember doing this when I was younger and thought it was so cool.
Cindy
I made butter once, I was 13 and trying to be helpful on Thanksgiving morning by whipping the whip cream for pumpkin pie ?
KMM
Din’t eat breakfast, so lunch became a brunch breakfast burrito. 3 small leftover sausage patties (diced up), 1 egg, onion, shredded cheese, and salsa. All from the fridge.
Dinner: cooked pork roast repurposed into BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, tator tots.
I had to buy hamburger buns and have some left so I am thawing hamburger for sloppy joe for Thursday (day 7).. Day 6 will be leftover BBQ pork and whatever sides I scrounge out of the fridge.
Heather M
Day 5 I did a quick run to Costco and stuck to my list. My kids are home from college and requested Costco’s stuffed salmon, something we all love but with them gone, I definitely don’t buy it since it’s way too much for the two of us. I was happy to comply, and I’m considering the stuffed salmon part of our takeout budget and not going to count it in my tally of grocery spending this month. I only count actual grocery food(not household items either). We were almost out of rice and had planned to buy the big bag when I went to costco. It’s a good thing because in the evening there was an airpod toilet accident and the last of the tub of stored rice was used to salvage the airpods. Kind of amazing, on the same day. I’m very happy I bought the big bag. It will take at least a full year, but likely more since my husband and I try to eat less white & processed carbs than we used to, since he had a major triglycerides scare and we changed his diet last year, to much success. When using white rice as a side or base for a stirfry, I mix it with cauliflower rice 1/2 and 1/2. Anyhow, at Costco, I bought the big bag of rice, grapes, baby bella mushrooms, bell peppers, celery, and tortilla chips, along with a few household items and the salmon. Total spent on food: $50.74. 17.99 of it was the massive bag of rice. Until this shopping, I hadn’t bought any fresh veg since before christmas and they are sorely needed. I’ll likely be out on Friday buying a little more, since we don’t have any lettuces, etc. Wednesday(today) is my birthday and we just put in our order for a delicious, higher end Italian dinner, we’ll pick up at 6:30pm. My husband decided I deserved it after last year’s birthday being such an awful time it was impossible to celebrate. We are all excited.
Brunch: son had cereal w/almond milk, and later some torilla chips with the last of the bean dip; daughter had a bean burrito; husband had a kind bar, banana bread, and nuts; I had a tuna and avocado sandwich and some leftover holiday treats
Dinner: Stuffed salmon, rice pilaf, steamed green beans(the last fresh ones from christmas, almost done for but used just in time)
Kathy in Denmark
It’s 11pm here in Denmark and I’m off to bed, but I just want to say that we have watched what is happening in DC right now and I am thinking about you.
If memory serves me right your husband works in the news business and you are in DC. I hope you and your family are all right!
Kathy in Denmark
And happy birthday!
Heather M
Thanks 🙂
Heather M
Kathy, when I saw this comment in my email in the middle of the night here, it really meant a lot. Thank you for reaching out. You remembered exactly, I posted on January 7 about it, so you can read a bit of our day. It was scary and angering and pretty horrific. It was extremely stressful. Luckily, though he worked until midnight, my husband wasn’t assigned to cover the events in person. He was busy from home dealing with a whole lot anyways, on the phone, and writing, etc. It was crazy, honestly. But we are and were safe.
Kathy in Denmark
I’m so happy you’re all safe, but I think you need a do over regarding your birthday!
Lily R.
I hope you are having a very Happy Birthday! It’s so hard to stick to the list at Costco, there’s so much good stuff!
Heather M
Thanks, Lily. It was only happy in the morning and then it seriously devolved. You can read about it in my post on January 7. And re Costco, I don’t know how I got out of there sticking to my list. I didn’t want to browse, wanted to be home doing other things, so that helped. 🙂
Sarah
Yesterday felt like an eternity –
B: coffee w/ cream
L: leftover Korean pork bowl
D: nachos made with leftover odds and ends (cheese, salsa, canned beans, tortilla chips); yogurt bowl (strawberry yogurt, fresh strawberries, toasted coconut, chopped walnuts)
S: decaf coffee w/ cream; pb butterscotch cocoa krispie treats; clementines
I had a bit of a schedule change so I had yoga after work instead of before. I felt snacky rather than wanting a full meal so I cleaned a few things out of the fridge by making nachos. We’re actually doing really well with leftovers. I did freeze the leftover beef soup so it’ll be perfect for a rainy day (giving back to the freezer after taking)
Heather M
those rice krispie treats sound amazing!!
Sarah
If you google “peanut butterscotch bites” the recipe is on the Rice Krispies website. I double the recipe and spread it on a nonstick foil lined baking sheet and freeze.
Heather M
Thank you!!
Cindy
B: his usual of cereal, oj and coffee – I had avocado toast, kiwi and tea
L: lo green bean casserole, broccoli/cucumbers/dill dip & a mandarin orange – hubby made scrambled eggs
D: Trader Joe’s mandarin orange chicken (1/2 bag from the freezer) jasmine rice and steamed broccoli – this was night #2 of a fallback plan, I worked late and he was helping our daughter with an errand and did not get home in a timely manner. We’ll try again tomorrow.
Lily R.
Even though you had a “fallback” dinner I’d still consider it a win. You didn’t have to order takeout and still ate from what you had! Guess who has a bag of that orange chicken in the freezer for nights like those lol.
Cindy
Hi Lily
Takeout in Minnesota is always sketchy in winter – no matter how they package it and how warm your car is; you end up reheating most things. And, you can’t get much simpler than orange chicken and instant pot rice as you probably know since you have some on reserve as well.
Alice E
B – Oats with cheese and over easy eggs, hot tea
L – Turned the last of the chicken and pasta into soup and had spinach salad with the last of the grape tomatoes and some l/o cauliflower
D – meatloaf sandwich, pumpkin cake from freezer with pineapple sherbet
snacked on grapes during the day
I am impressed with everyone’s creativity. I do try to deal with either freezing leftovers or getting them eaten up. Since I live alone, it can take some juggling. I don’t have much saved in the freezer at the moment, so that will change as I cook up some of the proteins. This time, I am going to work more on using up pantry items. We shall see how successful that is.
I’ll start cooking more soon, my pantry and freezer are very full, so I can pick and choose. However, I need to use up some of the rice and dried beans from my pantry stash. Since it is supposed to be rainy, wet and cold with maybe even snow tomorrow night it seems like a good time to maybe start cooking up a pot of beans. We shall see. I made a quick run to the store for milk and eggs today and went by Natural Foods to pick up some vital wheat gluten to experiment when I make bread in the next few months. I succumbed to a pack of low-fat turkey bacon. We shall see if I like it. Since I have to keep my fats down really low, I haven’t had bacon in ages and will have to limit it, but decided to try. I figure maybe since I haven’t had it in so long, my taste buds won’t be too picky.
Harriet
Breakfast here is always fend for yourself. Hubs eats at 5, before work. Son takes his with him. I eat around 9.
The men pack their lunches also, so it’s always leftovers or a sandwich. I eat soup or salad. Certainly never go out bc I have the grandsons aged 2 and 9onths.
We had pancakes last night with left over Christmas ham. Cut up oranges and apples to have with it.
Karen J
Day 5
Breakfast-leftover quiche for me and yogurt with granola for the husband
Lunch-spinach salad with chicken
Dinner-Costco salmon burgers (love those!) with buns and sweet potato fries
I tried a new recipe for sweet potato fries as I wanted them to be crisp. It said cut into 1/4 inch strips, coat with corn starch then olive oil, cook at 425. Still not the result I was looking for so will keep searching.
Carol B.
Yesterday:
Hubby had his regular breakfast and lunch.
I had regular breakfast. Lunch I made a vegetable/ ramen recipe from ” Budget Bytes” that used up the rest of a package of cabbage slaw in the frig, and some carrots and mushrooms, also in frig.
Supper was a one pot meal we like that used up the rice from Saturday’s takeout, some sausages from last groc.shopping, more mushrooms, and a summer squash that was languishing in the veggie drawer. We also finished a very sad last bit of kale served as a side with a little bit of salad dressing.
Maureen
We mostly stuck to leftovers for lunch. There’s still a bit in the fridge to eat up. Dinner was homemade Chinese food with intentional leftovers for lunches, so now I just need to be careful about creating too many other leftovers. I had a quick errand to run, so I popped into the store for a handful of things – happy to report I only purchased what I had planned. I really want to clear out some smaller bits from the freezer, but keep procrastinating.
Sandi
B – almond butter on toast for me, cereal for him
L – chicken patties with kale and veggie fried rice (all from freezer)
S – cottage cheese
D – veggie nachos
The nachos were a little odd, basically like a stone soup without the liquid, since I tossed on lots of little bits of leftovers. I put on lentils, veggie fried rice, l/o from burrito bowls, to use it up. Topped with cheese, salsa, a touch of queso dip from the freezer, and plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, they were delicious and cleaned stuff out. It wasn’t what I had planned to have, but after a 14-hour work day, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything!
Julie Smith
Day 5 here:
Breakfast: DIY
Lunch: ramen for one kid, Mac and cheese for the others (plus their friends, since they got to have a rate play date!) frozen pizza for me. Def not the healthiest lunch, lol.
Dinner: used the GCE cookbook pot roast recipe as a template for instant pot roast. Yum! Also had honey glazed carrots and mashed potatoes, which used up all the potatoes and most of the carrots we had.
Making a quick grocery run today (day 6)
For a couple of fridge staples plus some “braces off!” treats for our teen who gets hers off tomorrow. I may also some some quick breakfasts prepped, as virtual/homeschool starts back up
Tomorrow and I’ll need something to entice the kids to wake up on time ?
Kathy in Denmark
Day 5:
B: DH had oats and milk, girls and I had toasted WW rolls with jam. Milk for the kids, coffee for mum 🙂
L: DH ate at work. Kids and I had rye bread with the last of the mackeral in tomato sauce and I also had a piece of rye with hard boiled egg and tomato. We all had more cut up veggies.
D: Beef patty/vegetetarian schnitzel/fish fingers, rice, green beans and sweetcorn, sauce béarnaise.
S: Veggies, grapes, Christmas goodies
I had some sauce béarnaise leftover in the fridge, which needed to go! So I made up one more small packet (Knorr) and added the leftover sauce to it, and it was the perfect amount. DD1 and I had the beef patties (ground beef from freezer), DH had the vegetarian schnitzel and DD2 had the fish fingers after tasting a small piece of beef. She is really picky, so I insist she tastes the protein we have before she gets her fish fingers. It used to be absolutely impossible to get her to taste anything she didn’t want to, so I consider this progress. I want to make sure she has some kind of protein when we have a “meat and potatoes/rice” sort of meal. I buy the fish fingers that are made of actual pieces of fish, and I like them myself 😉
I baked some rolls with a partial packet of yeast, so we have fresh bread for the coming days. We usually use fresh yeast in Denmark.
I harvested all of my silverbeet/chard from the garden because we are due for a hard freeze. I plan on turning it into quiche in the next few days.
Heather M
I love fish fingers as well! I’ve eaten them my whole life and they just are yummy, so why stop just because we are grown up? I’ll also use them in a pinch for fish tacos. Also, a chard quiche will be delicious!! I didn’t respond to an earlier post of yours detailing your past year and wanted to. What a wild ride it’s been for you and your family. It’s understandable, unfortunately, that your husband lost his job earlier in the year, given the industry he worked in. I imagine that initially it was incredibly stressful for you both. And I am SO HAPPY that he was able to find new work that he enjoys even more. That is a really amazing amazing thing, especially this year. So happy everything has worked out for the better for him, you, and your family. 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
Thank you Heather – we feel very fortunate to have such a positive outcome from a stressful situation, especially since many others have not been so lucky!
Lily R.
Another fish finger/stick fan here!
Cindy
I second that!
Kathy in Denmark
It’s oddly satisfying to know there are other adults out there who like fish fingers LOL
Kim
Today was back to school for kiddos. I realized I did not prepare for going back to in-person school and had to scrounge a bit for snack to send with them. They got sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and candy from Christmas. I think I have ingredients in pantry to make homemade granola bars for them, just need to make the time!
B- cereal or oatmeal
L- I worked overnight so slept through this, hubby had more leftovers
D- sheet pan shrimp with andouille sauasage, corn, potatoes then roasted asparagus and pineapple on side- all ingredients from fridge/freezer, yay!
Marci
Its day 5 and it was a little rough. I said “leftovers for dinner” and we had none. I underestimated the amount of food we are eating. So instead it was breakfast for dinner- but man was I tempted to make a Jack in the Box run….
B= english muffin & turkey bacon
L= taco salad for me, ramen for the kids (they LOVE ramen)
D= breakfast for dinner – eggs & sausage.
We need a store run for veggies
Pat
I almost didn’t cook today because of all the leftovers we have in the fridge. I had already pulled everything from the freezer so I went ahead and made the enchilada sauce and fixed the dinner that was planned for today. After our planned takeout tomorrow the rest of the week will be repurposed leftovers . We have chicken, chili, and Mexican rice, ham and grilled cheese sandwiches. I will probably freeze the rice. The rest came out of the freezer so it needs to be eaten.
Day 5
Breakfast/Lunch was my toast. My son had 2 breakfast burritos and my husband took random things he could eat that didn’t need heating-their kitchen area is not available.
Dinner was enchilada stacks with homemade sauce and Mexican rice and cuties. Thanks for the recipes Jessica!
Lily R.
Day 5
Breakfast: I had maple streusel bread and hubby had fried eggs and bacon on a roll. I’m really loving making all of our own breads.
Lunch: We both had beyond burgers with all the fixings. Since trying these a few months ago we no longer eat .eat burgers. They are so good!
Dinner: The last of the fried rice with grilled branzino and shaved brussel sprouts.
Snacks were grapefruit and mango today.
I hear you on sometimes putting back more than you took out of the freezer. But it’s all such a blessing to have and we get to enjoy those goodies later on!
Tomorrow I am going to meal prep a bit to make cooking easier for the next couple of days.
Lily R.
That should say we no longer eat meat burgers!
Heather M
Maple Streusel Bread. YUM!!
Lily R.
Thanks, Heather! It really is yummy.
Jodi
We all had our usual breakfast. School started back so youngest actually ate in morning instead of at noon!
I had chicken that needed to be cooked so I decided to try butter chicken in my IP. I don’t love Indian food but this intrigued me. And it was so good I literally drank the sauce! I’ll eat the rest for lunch tomorrow.
At-home boys ate whatever frozen stuff they wanted.
Dinner was taco bowls. Used an avocado that was turning and some sour cream I forgot we had.
We have a LOT of pantry items and odd bits i need to find uses for over the next few weeks but I am looking forward to it. We usually spend $800 a month in groceries for 3 adults, a teen and a 10yo -all dudes but me. I hope to cut that some this month to make up for some holiday excess.
Tasty
Another successful day here.
Hubby had the last of his grapefruit and pineapple combo with yogurt and a muffin. Apple, cheese, yogurt and a muffin for me.
Lunch was ham and cheese sandwiches for both of us. (Ham l/o from new year).
Supper was turkey pot pies. The turkey was from just before Christmas and I used lots of odds and ends of veggies. Pastry was from the freezer too.
Still haven’t been near the stores this year but that will end very soon as we have no fresh fruit at all and not much in the way of fresh veggies