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 14 of the Pantry Challenge!
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you budget recipes and money-saving tips every week!
It’s always a trip to read last year’s Pantry Challenge entry before I replace it with this year’s. A year ago we were at Disneyland!
Today we are home, but that’s okay. Plenty of fun things to do and yummy things to eat, albeit not at Disneyland.
I browsed this cookbook last night, puzzling out the true meaning of one dish dinner. Theoretically, I think it’s supposed to be a complete meal cooked in one vessel (casserole dish, pot, sheet pan).
Many of the pasta recipes in the book have you cook the pasta in the sauce or in water until the water evaporates and then you add other stuff. Interesting concept that I’m hoping to try out.
I’m looking at the book for techniques more than recipes as most of them are vegetarian, which I don’t have an issue with, but we are all protein-loaders around here.
What We Ate
Breakfast – I had instant oatmeal first thing, followed by cuties and coffee.
Lunch – The girl and I made salads. As we do.
Dinner – Last night I pulled 4 pounds of ground beef from the freezer. I cooked it all up to make a big vat of meat sauce to serve over noodles.
How did Day 14 go for you?
Maureen
I had leftovers for an early lunch. Then, hubby ended up with a work dinner so DD convinced me to pick up takeout on the way home from errands after school. It had started snowing and the roads were getting pretty slick, so we grabbed it and headed home. Dance ended up being cancelled because of the roads, so we were home all night. We ended up having fruit for a snack later in the evening since dinner was so early. I’ve done well to really limit shopping and am keeping an eye on the leftovers, so while we could be a bit more focused, I’m fairly happy with our progress.
Diinaus
Hi all. Well done everyone on this pantry challenge.
I’ve been pantry challenging since Christmas but life was busy so no time to read or post.
Didn’t have time to inventory but know that I have lots of things to work through. Hubby often complained that I store too much rubbish in my freezers( bones, fruit and veg scraps) . I have too many jars of jam that are sitting collecting dust. My freezers need a good defrost as well.
So my mission has been to reverse meal plan:
1) turn bones into bone broth . To use in soup or rice.
2) Veggi scraps have been dehydrated to turn into veg stock powders.
3) fruit scraps has been stewed and food milled into fruit sauce.
4) have been grinding split peas to add to gf flour in baking to increase nutrients.
5) I’ve been adding jam instead of sugar to anything that requires it. Ie marmalade into eg corned beef., strawberry jam into fruit cake. Marmalade into choc-chip cookies to make jaffa style ones.
6) cracker crumbs have become gf flour substitutes.
7) jars of passata,mince and ground up cabbage and cauliflower leaves/stems have become pasta sauce for the freezer.
8) when I don’t know what to make for dinner stew /soup is made from random pieces of leftovers in the freezers. Last night Was lo pasta, lo slurry, lo rice,split peas, bacon,onion, and a bag of minced greens.
9) as I find old pk of meat I create something to use it up and try make double batch to freeze.
I’m slowly begining to see white space. This stresses me out some what but it’s also good to be a better steward of resources
Lynn frim NC Outer Banks
Hi Diinaus! So good to hear from you 🙂 Sounds like you are doing great, especially in using your “rubbish”. Lol. I do the same and my husband often questions me as well! Your substitutions sound like a great way to use up some things that like to hang around.
I’ve got white space too in my freezers. It is different to limit the purchasing during the challenge for sure. But I realize how much food I really still have! Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Diinaus
thanks Lynn for your words of encouragement. 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
Nice to hear from you again, Diinaus!
I think you sound very focused and with a clear plan for the challenge. I don’t like too much white space either, but I have also realized that I sometimes stock too much. Finding the right balance takes time and trial and error 🙂
Diinaus
So true on trial and error.
Planed and focused not so much lol. It’s what’s on top and work my way down lok
Heather M
Hi Diinaus!!! Suva. Great report on what you’ve been doing in the kitchen. You’re very resourceful. I need to try using marmalade/jellies/jams in place of sugar like you have been/ we have so many jars and they take forever to get used up. Thanks for some great ideas! Glad you’re here!
Heather M
Meant to say such a great report….
Diinaus
Thanks Heather for your words of encouragement.
It was a bit weird feeling using these things that way but it made the cooking process faster and changed up the flavour profile a bit. Just be mindful of needing more dry ingredients for baking if you do.
Heather from Sacramento
B- coffee, Greek yogurt with HM granola. I also added peaches this time. I need to use those peaches up!
L- tortellini soup from the freezer
D- I gave in and treated myself to Sushi and a beer. Not sure what made me give in more haha.
Kathryn M
B – 1 cranberry scone and 1 pumpkin muffin
L – grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon added, zuchinni pickle spears, a couple of regular dill pickle chips
D- Chili con carne topped with cheese and diced onion. Crackers on the side.
S – peanuts (finished of the container), Halo orange
Karen J
January 14th
Breakfast- oatmeal with dried mandarins and almonds
Lunch-toast with some leftover chicken and a slice of cheese, orange
Dinner-beans and rice (from the freezer)
Snack-cookies, of course They are 9/10 gone-finally
I walked on a new trail with two girlfriends and got all my steps in by 10 am 🙂 Afterwards I went to our bread outlet and bought bagels, English muffins and one loaf of bread from the dollar wall. It was senior day so I had an additional discount and paid $2.70 for all three. That puts my grocery total to $4.69. I used the last of the milk so made up some powdered Nido to use in my coffee.
Stephanie M
Hi Karen. I’m on the same mission as you getting rid of the cookies!! I put a few out everyday for Paul but he’s been in California all week. I try my best to stay away from them and only have a few now and then. Last night after I went to bed I was watching tv in the bedroom and all I could think about was having a few cookies. I tried to ignore it but they got the best of me so I got up and went out to the freezer in the garage and grabbed a few went back to bed and ate them!!!
Karen J
I totally understand. Darn cookies. It’s only after Christmas that we have such a glut of them.
Heather M
Ok that bread price is crazy good! Wow!
Allie from Ontario
It was a quiet day here where I kinda pushed snow around outside (with, I must admit, very little enthusiasm) and did a lot of little house jobs while T was at hockey. We are now under another snowfall warning, with the white stuff expected to keep coming down all day today.
What we ate on Jan 15
Brunch: I had a bowl of steel cut oats topped with chopped pecans + some “maple apple butter” that I canned in the fall. After I came in from outside, I snacked on far too many of the jalapeno cheddar shortbreads that I made earlier in the week. T had a cottage roll sandwich and some yogurt before he left for hockey.
Dinner: I pulled out a 2 serving frozen container of turkey soup that we ate with some cheesy toasts + veggie sticks dipped in the last of the dressing I made the night before.
There has been very little shopping here this far….mainly milk for our coffee & my smoothies + the occasional fresh tomato for sandwiches and the small cottage roll T brought home and will happily pick away at all week.
Karen J
Allie, oatmeal for breakfast and turkey soup for dinner sounds perfect on a snowy winter day!
Tàsty
I hope you haven’t had as much snow as wehz e seen today Al,ie. It really hasn’t stopped all day and is likely to continue until bedtime.. Winter in Canada, eh!
Heather M
Oh wow maple apple butter sounds just delicious!!! Yum!!
Tasty
Jan 14
B – hubby had his usual. I had fruit and yogurt and some bread (neighbour’s recipe that is so good) with some blueberry jam the ladies and I made on Tuesday (we make and sell preserves of various kinds to raise money for our local hospital).
L – hubby had more fruit and I had a salad and used the very last of the turkey we had a few days ago.
S – roast pork (the pork loin I bought on Monday) potatoes,stuffing, gravy and apple sauce from the pantry, carrots from the freezer and Brussels sprouts from the fridge.. This was so good and does have lots of leftovers but it was all planned out.
Hubby sliced enough pork for one more dinner with gravy, stuffing and who knows what veggies and the rest of the meat he shredded for pulled pork – at least 2 meals. Mashed potatoes will be used for 2x baked casserole and bubble and squeak. Extra carrots will be frozen in small containers – I love carrots, hubby not so much!
I consider this a win – lots of cooking today but lots of food ready to use. The older I get, the more I appreciate this.
Kathy in Denmark
I have been a little busy thelast few days, so haven’t posted. I HAVE been recording what we eat, so here we go with the meals from the last 5 days.
Day 10:
Brunch before going to return gifts: Scrambled eggs, bread, coffee.
S: Almonds and chocolate in the car on the way home.
D: Burgers and HM chips (fries). Buns, bean burgers and pulled pork from the freezer.
Day 11:
Brunch: Scrambled eggs, bread, coffee.
L: everyone skipped
D: LO vegetarian curry with brown rice.
I baked sausage rolls for lunch boxes, DH made granola and I soaked dried peas.
Day 12:
B: Rye porridge for DD2, Yoghurt with HM granola for DH, chia pudding for DD1 and me.
L: Packed lunch for the kids, DH had the last of the curry.I made a salad with tuna, rice and veggies.
D: Rye bread with different toppings, ie. warm fish fillets and fried eggs. I also set out veggies and some lettuce leaves.
We bought a Ninja multi cooker in the black friday sales and I have been wanting to try it out, but felt like I needed a little more mental bandwidth than I had during december. However, I finally tried it out when I pressure cooked the soaked peas, and I have to say it was so easy to use. I plan on trying Jessica’s recipe for black beans soon and then I will try something new regularly. I am hoping this appliance will help us out while we have our kitchen redone.
Day 13:
B: Rye porridge for DD2, chia pudding for DD1, oats and milk for DH. I had a bit of yoghurt with fruit followed by avocado toast on sourdough. Also coffee, which I usually don’t write but always have 🙂
L: Packed lunch for the kids, DH gets lunch at work, rye bread with toppings for me
D: Pasta and tomato sauce packed with veggies and some of the pea protein I’m trying to use up
S: Yoghurt and fruit after choir practice for me.
Day 14:
B: Rye porridge for DD2, oats and milk for DH, Chia pudding for DD1 and me
L: Packed lunch for the kids, DH gets lunch at work, rye bread with toppings for me
D: Durum with falafel, roasted Ingrid peas (like chickpeas) and vegetarian kebab. Also hummus, creme fraiche dressing and a lot of salad fixings.
The falafel was store bought. The vegetarian kebab was made with pea protein pieces I soaked in veggie broth and then tossed with spices and oil. Baked it in the oven along with the falafel and other peas. The hummus was made the day before.
I thought I had some dressing in the cupboard, but I didn’t, so I made my own which turned out well.
I used flour tortillas in stead of real durum bread, but it was fine. I also used a tandori masala spice blend to flavour the pea protein and the roasted peas, because I want to use it up.
Heather M
Hi Kathy! You’ve done so well this week! And, I hope the Ninja works out and helps you while the kitchen is being redone(how exciting!!). Your dinner on the 14th sounded especially delicious. We love good Mediterranean meals and this sounded yummy!
Stephanie M
Wednesday,January 14, 2026
B – I had cereal fruit and nuts
L – I made two turkey meatloaves this morning. One for now and the other I put in the freezer. I made them for sandwiches. So today I had a meatloaf sandwich on whole wheat toast.
Snack – blackberries and nuts
D – last of the leftover pasta with tuna and spinach.
Friday Paul comes home from California so then I’ll be back to getting more out of the freezer.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/14/26
B: both had coffee and Greek yogurt with add ins. DH added a piece of cheese toast too.
L: last container of soup. I’m trying to stretch our loaf bread so I won’t need to buy any for another day or two and I won’t have to try making it yet. I hope to try the bread making machine as Tasty suggested, maybe next week. So I made some sweet potato biscuits to go with the soup, using my .25# sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving week. They didn’t rise like I expected, but they still tasted good, if somewhat flat.
D: breakfast for dinner (requested meal #6). We had eggs, bacon, more sweet potato biscuits and pineapple.
S: Apple with peanut butter
We are going to see my son and family on Friday. I made some items today to take with me like cookies and mashed potatoes. We will have these items for dinners while there. I will make the rest of the food tomorrow. I prefer to cook in my kitchen and take food with me. That way most of the work is done, so I can visit also while there and not be in the kitchen the whole time. I also know where everything is in my kitchen! Like Jessica’s post, I enjoy cooking, so this is fun to me. By taking meals, it gives them a break from cooking, which although I like to cook-can be a nice change. I also am taking some items from the freezer I have for them, so I should see more white space soon.
We needed some bananas and tea so I spent 3.92 for a total of 52.44 this month.
Karen J
Lynn, I also had the goal of digging out my bread machine this month, then folded and went to the bread outlet. When cleaning out the pantry I did toss a bag of bread flour out that expired in 2022. It maybe would have been okay?
Have a nice visit with your mom and son. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the food you are bringing!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’m envious of your bread outlet. Those were great prices. We used to have one nearby but it has been gone a long time. We will see if I can follow through with the bread machine!
Heather M
Love that you do this- taking precooked food for everyone to enjoy the break while you get to enjoy time together.