This month, we’re shopping our kitchen in order to use up what we have so we can save money and clear kitchen clutter.
Here we go with Day 11 of the Pantry Challenge!
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Blast from the past: a year ago today I was in the midst of perfecting this.
What We Ate
Breakfast: I baked Cranberry Muffins that I had frozen at Christmas. Also made eggs.
Lunch: I reshot Moo Shu Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pulled Chicken Sandwiches so that was lunch.
Dinner: Date night for me and Bryan. Kids ate leftovers from lunch since I made so much.
How did Day 11 go for you? We’re ⅓ done!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jan 11
B: coffee, mini blueberry muffins from freezer
L: soup and a piece of toast DH: LO spaghetti, soup
D: Chicken cordon bleu casserole with ham and chicken from the freezer, green beans with bacon, baked potato, mixed fruit
S: nuts, sale Christmas candy
S: nuts, mandarin
Stephanie M.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
B – I had overnight oatmeal and peanuts.
L – Paul had leftover general Tso chicken from the freezer from our last Chinese cheat meal and some rice. I had a tomato sandwich and a hard boiled egg.
D – pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and salad.
Christine
Emptying freezer here. Used a frozen banana bread for kids for breakfast. All that is left is cereal and toast. No one makes eggs before school. I have supplies to make more for next week.
Also had pancakes that I made Sunday that they ate for a few days.
Used up lasagna noodles and sauce in a lasagna that has been eaten twice and taken for lunch once.
Our overall stock is low, but I am keeping our spending down (hopefully) for the month. Definitely stretching things and shopping less, but I need to get some basics tonight.
Tasty
Wednesday January 11th
B – fruit, yogurt and granola, + a muffin
L – Chicken fingers (freezer)
S – l/o chicken heated with gravy, potato/cabbage casserole
l/o apple pie with ice cream
Kathy in Denmark
Day 11
B: The usual
L: The same thing as day 10 🙂
D: Spaghetti with marinara and Parmesan
S: Bananas, toast and the last of the cake for the kids
Kimberly
B- cereal or yogurt parfaits
L- hubby ate his LO pizza from Monday, one kiddo packed sandwich and yogurt lunch to school, other was home sick so I made chicken salad: it used up extra chicken cooked last night and finished off a jar of HM pickles (only 2 more jars to go, lol) and the last of a bag of pecans in freezer. We ate it with a variety of crackers left from Thx and Cmas so that made some pantry space.
D- hubby was hungry at 430p so made himself a sandwich and chips, one kiddo ate chicken salad and crackers, the other had chickfilA at youth group, I snacked on salad with a cucumber that needed eating and a banana. We also made lots of tea and honey today for sore throats
Kathryn M
Last travel day. I made it home for a late dinner.
B-This hotel had really good breakfast burritos. I ate one and ate a bowl of cereal. Juice and a hot cocoa.
Snack – 3 oz trail mix (from my dollar general stash)
L- sorta a late lunch cause I wasn’t hungry till 2pm. I got cheesy breadsticks at a Godfathers attached to a truckstop. Finished the soda that was in my car.
Dinner – I ate the leftover part of the hamburger patty that I didn’t finish yesterday. The bun and fixings didn’t survive the cooler as the ice melted and made it soggy. Also ate some M&Ms. Not a very good meal, but I was tired after driving in wind and fighting rush hour in a nearby town. I am home now and will do better tomorrow…..
At least all the food is gone that I bought during the trip…. The only thing that I stuck in the fridge was a bottled water. I will drink that tomorrow to get rid of it.
Kathy in Denmark
Kudos for eating the leftover hamburger patty! I think you did great, mealwise, on your trip! I imagine it will be nice to cook in your own kitchen again 🙂
Heather M
You did so much better than I’d ever do on a roadtrip! I’m so impressed. You more than stuck with the spirit of the Challenge. Amazing!
Pat
Today was chemo day and fend for yourself day in the kitchen!
I did fix myself 2pieces of peanut butter toast before chemo. I ate pretzels and a clementine at chemo. I had a stuffed baked potato for dinner. The guys finished off the crock pot spaghetti and garlic bread
Laurie in TX
B – I had apple strudel, almonds, milk and coffee. Hubs had cereal and a granola bar
L – I had a snack plate with string cheese, turkey slice, carrots and tangerine. Hubs had a turkey sandwich and chips
D – we went out and had Tex Mex with hubs cousins
Kathryn M
Breakfast: cereal yet again
Lunch: I made a mexican bowl with spanish rice, beans, and a little scrap of beef. Seasoned it with some enchilada sauce and topped it with sour cream and black olives.
I am so tired of the rice that I stuck the rest in the freezer. I know I am not gaining on pantry challenge if things go back in the freezer! A few items have come out of there though in the last few days.
Dinner chicken nuggets, carrot and celery stick with ranch, and pears. My adult son came over so I just threw that meal together kind of last minute. We did finish off the brownies too so I can bake something else now.
By the way, I have been watching a bunch of youtube pantry challenge videos the last couple of days. Some of them have some good ideas for recipes that I might try later.
Lily R.
Today was a very busy workday so I’m glad that I had a lot of things prepped and ready to go!
B: Pullah with Plugra butter and oatmilk lattes
L: Shrimp vindaloo with naan. Came together very quickly as shrimp takes minutes to cook at high heat.
D: Hubby picked up some porgy at our fish market. He’s going to grill it and we will have it with Zhoug sauce I made a few days ago and rice pilaf.
All in all a pretty simple and delicious day!
Heather M
January 11:
Jessica, I hope your son feels better! We know so many people who have been sick, and not just with covid. It seems like there are plenty of other bugs out there, some of them fairly yucky. Hopefully he fares well, whatever it ends up being. That said, I don’t feel well either, though it’s not covid. I did very little on Tuesday, but I did manage to make a little food for my husband and it felt very Challenge-worthy. I didn’t have much of an appetite. Oh well.
B: we both skipped
L: L had a toasted turkey and pepperjack sandwich, using the last of the turkey, and i assume snacked on random things. I had a wedge of laughing cow and some crackers
D: I made a mexican rice and bean dish, using up all sorts of things-the leftover rice from chinese takeout, the limp bell pepper from before the holidays and some of the tomatoes I’d tossed in the fridge before we left town (yay! both not wasted), leftover cilantro/green onions/jalapeno from the salmon bowls, half an onion from the fridge, then a small can of tomato sauce, a can of pinto beans, and various seasonings. It was delicious, though I only tasted to see if it was seasoned correctly. I wasn’t really hungry and opted for a small bowl of peppermint ice cream left over from christmas.
I am feeling better today, and am eating more normally, so no need to worry. 🙂
Kathy from Ohio
January 11,2022
Kathy from Ohio
I had a protein shake he had a English muffin with PB
L we both had ground meat sandwich and a smartie
D bbq ribs, leftover scalloped potatoes and peas.
Wanted to organize the freezer in the garage but the high here was only 22 so maybe tomorrow suppose to be in the 40’s, will work on the one in the kitchen.
JulieT
B: one egg omelets using frozen sliced green peppers, onion, zucchini mixture from the freezer.
L: frozen enchiladas from the freezer
D: quart of home canned French onion soup topped with the last of the home made rolls. Had one roll left and cut into 4 slabs and toasted in the toaster oven and then melted cheese on them and slid into the hot soup. Also made small salads to go with.
Jen in Ohio
I hope your son is feeling better soon! It’s so hard with the overlap in symptoms with just a cold or other respiratory ailment.
B: breakfast sandwich and raspberries for DS, I had something but can’t remember what lol
L: kids ate at school (either packed or school lunch), we had leftovers (combos of chicken, lobster ravioli, barley pilaf, plus carrot sticks and fruit)
D: tacos (pre-cooked and seasoned meat from the freezer), Mexican rice, refried beans, salad
I had our weekly grocery pickup this morning. It was pretty close to normal for us, because this is our “on” weekend with my stepkids, so they’ll be with us 5 out of the next 7 days. They’re a bit more limited with what they’ll eat, so I’ve decided it’s just easier to stick pretty close to the meals I know they like when they’re here, while still working on using things up. Plus, with 3 tweens/teens in the house, we do go through a lot of food lol.
Not sure if this is the best strategy or not, I still feel like we’ve got so much food here. I am starting to look at our pantry space and give myself some parameters for future shopping though, based on space and how quickly we go through things. For example, 2 extra boxes of cereal is the most I should have on hand. Only one big multi-pack box of chips from Costco gong forward. That sort of thing.
Sandi
B – he had cereal, I had coffee
S – he had something, I don’t know what
L – he had pizza at work, I had a peanut bar
D – southwestern tex-mex salad with black beans and I baked some breaded chicken tenders to chop and put on top
S – we split the last slice of some leftover cake
Tastys
B – grapefruit, pineapple, yogurt and granola for hubby, rhubarb, yogurt and a muffin for me.
L – toasted cheese sandwiches
S – roast pork with cauliflower cheese and apple sauce. I will make pulled pork for a couple of other meals with the leftovers.
Danielle L Zecher
I hope it’s not COVID. It’s so frustrating that the symptoms can be similar to so many other things.
Breakfast: I had a Starbucks latte. Hubby had McDonald’s.
Lunch: Leftover Garlic Noodles with Beef & Spinach.
Dinner: I spent some time cleaning out and organizing the fridge. I chopped and froze some bell peppers that were a little too wilted to enjoy raw, but will be fine in something like stir fry or tacos. I also chopped and froze some green onions that were in the same shape. Unfortunately, I also threw away a few things I didn’t get to in time. During the fridge clean out, I realized we still had a lot of opened cheeses, dips, hummus, etc. from NYE, so we had a snacky dinner last night.
I also realized that we have A LOT of opened condiments/sauces in the fridge; things like teriyaki sauce, bbq sauce, cocktail sauce, etc.; things that have a long shelf life, but are supposed to be refrigerated after opening. They’re all still in date, but I don’t even remember opening some of them, so they’ve been in there for a while. There’s no visible mold or anything, but I’m wondering if they’re still okay to use. What does everyone else do?
Sandi
If they look/smell/taste ok, I use them. Some items seem to last for ages. I just get annoyed at how much space they take up so there’s no room for actual food!
Danielle L Zecher
Thanks for the advice! They do take up so much space!!! One and a half of the door shelves are filled with different (not counting regularly used ones like mayo and ketchup) condiments.
Linda B
I would definitely use them. I found that keeping all the condiments in one bin helps me keep them wrangled so they aren’t forgotten. That said, I did a big fridge clean yesterday and found three open bottles of BBQ sauce. That’s what happens when things get stuck back where they don’t belong. ? Hubby suggested I combine them all into one bottle, but they are very different so I hesitate.
Danielle L Zecher
Thanks for the use them vote! I’ve done a lot better about keeping them all together, but not so good about actually using them up. On the plus side, I didn’t find any stray condiment bottles outside of their designated shelves. On the negative side, they’re taking up one and a half shelves in the door, which seems excessive for two people. I wouldn’t mix the BBQ sauce, but we’re both pretty picky about which ones we’ll each eat.
Heather M
I use condiments forever and have never had a problem. If they start having mold on the top of the jar/mouth of it, that’s when I call it. Or we finish it, lol. If they’ve been open for a really long time(a really long time) and past their date, I’ll toss it, too. But that’s pretty rare, since we do eventually use them up. Idk, there are probably safer ways to deal with it, but they mostly seem to last a really long time.
Also, I feel your pain having to toss things. I hate it and have tried so hard the past few years to do better. Even still, post holidays and vacation, I had to toss some things. It was painful, especially since it took many days to finally replenish any fresh produce.
Danielle L Zecher
Thanks for the condiment info! All of mine are in-date, so that seems promising.
It is SO frustrating when you have to throw something out only to go buy it fresh a day or two later. I have to go to the grocery store today for a few things. They’re calling for snow for us this weekend which means the grocery stores will be full of people and not so full of groceries. We panic!
Jennifer
Hopefully your son feels better!
My 21 yr old is spending spring semester in DC with her college. It is intern housing – dorm like with hopefully a small kitchen. We have been told the group eats out pretty much every meal all semester!!! Ouch! Well this child has a dairy allergy and her internship is virtual so I wanted her to have options so I went shopping at Wal-mart (cheaper allergy friendly foods). I now have a huge tub of dairy free soups and ramen bowls that she can heat in the microwave along with quick oats, PB, fruit cups, crackers,etc. Hoping this helps her save money and gives options if the group goes somewhere she can’t eat. In the meantime I topped off some of what I needed and spent around $50 on us. I am at $100 for the month so far.
B – assortment of oatmeal, muffins, cinnamon toast
L – I took leftover swedish meatballs that I labeled with my name on Saturday along with mini peppers leftover from New Years that I found buried in the fridge and tomatoes bought at Wal-mart. Yum! Hubby took soup, fruit and almonds I think.
D – My son was complaining about all the bags of hot dog buns with just 1 or 2 buns in them in the fridge (4 packs to be exact). I had a leftover pack of hot dogs from summer grilling season and in 24 degree temps hubby grilled them up. I also diced and cooked up half of a large butternut squash from our garden. The other half is diced and ready to cook later this week. And I made homemade fries for the kids that refuse to eat squash. I used up all the random squished and somewhat hard buns, yay!
Came home to find daughter had made brownies so we had that for snack after school.
Heather M
How awesome your child is here in DC interning! It’s such a fun place to be a young adult! I moved here right upon college graduation and never left. I think your strategy for food for her makes so much sense. Especially if she’s doing her internship virtually, she can make herself easy lunches and only buy dinner out with the others. There is a ton of good food here, cheap, medium, expensive. And all kinds. She should be able to find lots of food while avoiding dairy, especially if she loves all types of ethnic food. I’m excited for her!
Stephanie M.
January 11
B – Paul had toast and a yogurt parfait. I had overnight oatmeal and peanuts.
L – Paul had the last two turkey burgers from the freezer on English muffins, French fries, and two clementines. I made a pot of weight watchers vegetable soup. I had some chicken leftover from the package of cooked chicken I picked up at the deli the other day to have in my salad so I added some of that to my soup. I also had two clementines.
D – Paul had the last of the leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes and green beans. I had a little sauerkraut in the fridge from last week so I had a pork chop with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.
Freezer looking good. What I’ve been doing every night is staging my fridge for the next day with everything we will eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Watching those items leave the fridge one by one is quite motivating. I’m able to do this because my fridge is otherwise empty except for the usual juice, milk, condiments, etc. but no leftovers or containers. When I have leftovers, we eat them the next day rather than cooking more.
Kathy in Denmark
I hope your son feels better soon and that it is something else than you-know-what!
Day 11:
B: the ususal for us all
L: DH worked from home because I needed the car for an errand with DD1. I made us all rye with assorted toppings and some cut up veggies on the side. DD2 had a packed lunch at school
D: HM pizza
S: last of the cake I didn’t freeze and some Christmas candy. We managed to empty a container, so that is something
Maureen
Everyone was finally where they were supposed to be yesterday…hubby was back in the office after an extended quarantine (his work has very strict guidelines), college classes started for my son, and the girls were in school (although they went Monday, too). So, I had leftovers for lunch. I made a regular dinner of pork loin, wild rice, salad, and potatoes. I thought I had made extra of everything, but there’s only a little rice and cucumber left. I guess that’s what happens when we all have time to eat and have been fending for ourselves for days. I finally took 10 minutes to dig through the fridge, freezers, and overflow pantry. I only went a couple of layers deep, but now I have a good list to work from of what’s available and what I am targeting. That gives me enough to work with for at least a week. It was nice to see all the white space in the freezers. That’s a testament to me really curbing the shopping, so I need to be disciplined on Thursday when I go.