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 2 of the Pantry Challenge, our first day back to real life after the holiday break.
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!
Bryan and the college kids were all back to work today. The high schooler is still on vacation. I got my hair done, did errands, and took a nice afternoon nap.
What We Ate
Here’s how we ate on Day 2 of the Pantry Challenge:
Breakfast – I had a repeat of yesterday, except I swapped a pear for the cuties. I have no idea what anyone else had.
Lunch – Bryan had a freezer burrito. The college kids packed lunches. Those at home had leftovers.
Dinner – Thursday is our regular date night, so Bryan and I headed out while three kids fended for themselves while two others went to a friend’s house.
How did the day go for you?
Heather M
Day 2 for us started at my in-laws on Long Island and ended with us home in the DC area. The house is a mess from the holidays with the kids and boyfriend here and then us all going straight to NY. I am exhausted from it all and am mostly taking today to rest (I have had some health issues since October and have very little energy right now… both end- and colon- oscopies happening next week to see why I’m not absorbing any nutrients since my last blood draw in June, plus a suddenly messed up thyroid that won’t be treated just yet, for various reasons, mainly waiting for an ultrasound and blood work again in late February). We have piles of junk here from the holidays, plenty of fruit, but not a lot of fresh veg. I’m cleaning out the fridge this evening and will have a better idea what we’ll need, though I can’t eat any fresh or cooked produce beginning on Sunday until after the oscopies on Thursday afternoon. Our cupboards are full and our freezer is, too, so I don’t anticipate much grocery spending except on fresh stuff. My goal is to use up what’s still good in the fridge and clear space in the cupboards and freezer (we just have the one attached to our kitchen fridge) because i have zero room in both and would like to save some $$ this month plus use up things that are getting close to expiry.
B: we each had a leftover cannoli from NYE, plus my husband finished the wedge of chocolate cake my sister in law left. One little sweet thing was plenty for me!
L: we got on the road just after 1:30 and stopped at our favorite bagel place so I could have a bacon-egg-cheese bagel for the road. I ate half right away and half a few hours later.
D: home and neither of us too hungry. I ate some chips (remember all the junk, esp with the kids home?) and L had the rest of the turkey pepperoni and some chocolates from his stocking.
Danielle L Zecher
Heather M., good luck with the oscopies. I hope you feel better soon.
Heather M
Thanks so much , Danielle!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, I know you’ll be glad when the “oscopies” are finished. Hope they will provide some answers for you and result in improved health.
Kathy in Denmark
Day 2:
B: Toast and coffee for DH and I. Cereal with milk for DD1 and rye porridge for DD2
L: Snacky plate for the kids. Rye bread with different toppings for DH and I
S: Fruit and leftover holiday goodies
D: Mashed potatoes with vegetarian bolognaise for DH. Rice, breaded fish fillets, rice and sauce béarnaise for the kids. Mashed potatoes and a few Danish meatballs for me
I have been feeling under the weather since the 28th, so cooking has been whatever I could come up with that didn’t require too much effort.
The mashed potatoes were instant, the bolognaise was made from leftover marinara and some veggie mince, the fish fillets and meatballs were from the freezer and the béarnaise was leftover from NYE.
Everyone was fed and we cleared out some leftovers = succes!
Heather M
I hope you’re feeling better soon.
Stephanie M.
Hi Heather. It’s great to hear from you. Thank you so much!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Kathy, that IS success, especially when you aren’t well. Feel better soon.
Stephanie M.
Hi everyone. Good to see some familiar names. Happy new year. I was not going to participate this year but I’ve decided to do the best I can with my pantry challenge. It probably won’t be as good as usual but I’ll do what I can. A couple of weeks ago one night I accidentally stepped on my dog’s plastic tray that his bowl sits in and it slid into the next room with me behind it. My leg swelled up immediately and I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. My leg thankfully was not broken but the bruises that came a few days later were shocking to say the least. I did break my hand though and it’s my writing hand. So I’m in a brace for six weeks which means my husband is doing all of the cooking. He always cooks on the bbq but never inside. So I give him directions on what to do and he does it. I’m keeping meals very simple for him to do though. So any roasts I have in the freezer will have to wait.
B – Paul had cereal. I had overnight oatmeal and peanuts.
L – Paul had crackers and cheese. I had a ham sandwich.
D – Paul had eggs and turkey sausage. I had toast and yogurt.
Tasty
January 2
So good to see so many returning to the Pantry Challenge. Sounds like Paul is having to go thru a learning curve right now, Stephanie. Sorry to read about your fall – these things happen so quickly!
B- hubby had his usual fruit, yogurt and granola, followed by a muffin. I had a banana and some yogurt with a piece of toast and lemon curd.
L – i had the last couple of pieces of bread with some cheese. Hubby grabbed ??? when he came home.
S – it was a CORN (clear out refrigerator night). This gave us some garlic cheese bread while everything else was heated/cooked, stuffed chicken breast, 2xbaked potato casserole and carrots – very little of any, filled out with the end of a pack of frozen peas and a few mini potatoes. A little piece of blue cheese with crackers. We even emptied what was left in the red wine bottle – couldn’t waste it, could we?
Stephanie M.
Hi tasty so good to hear from you!!
Kathy in Denmark
Glad to see your name again, Stephanie!
I’m sorry you got injured – I hope you have a speedy recovery. I’m sure Paul will rise to the challenge re cooking 🙂
Stephanie M.
Hi Kathy. Thank you so much!! Paul is really doing a great job. Works all day, comes home and makes dinner and prepares his lunch for the next day and helps me with whatever I need.
Danielle L Zecher
Hi Stephanie, sorry to hear about your fall. I hope you have a speedy recovery.
Stephanie M.
Hi Danielle. Thank you so much!! It’s so nice to hear from you. Hope all is well with you and your family.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Stephanie! So sorry to hear about your fall and injury. I wound up with a fracture in my dominant hand/wrist a while back and it was hard, so I can empathize with you. Glad Paul has been able to be so helpful. Take good care.
Stephanie M.
Hi Lynn. It’s really nice to hear from you. Hope everything is good with you and your family. Thank you so much!!
Jessica Fisher
Ouch! Get well soon, Stephanie!
Stephanie M.
Hi Jessica. Thank you so much!! I would have felt bad not participating this year so I decided to even though I won’t make as much headway as I usually do. The good news is that my freezer and pantry are not overloaded. I stopped doing that years ago but a challenge to go through what I do have is always fun. Thank you for hosting and for your well wishes.
Karen J
Oh ouch! I can’t imagine the pain. Positive healing thoughts! I’m glad your husband could take over the cooking.
Emily
Day 2
B- I made gf crepes and had them with the last of the Christmas whip cream and strawberries from the freezer, Mandarin on the side.
L- leftover split pea soup, watermelon and a chocolate chip cookie.
D- Sausages baked in the oven, potato pancakes and the last of the baby carrots, the last ice cream bar for dessert.
Snack was some leftover fries from my kids meals at ikea.
ZC
Day 2
B: toast with peanut butter, coffee
L: sandwich with canned sardines—I needed something quick and these required minimal prep
D: beef stew with tomatoes and potatoes. I made this last week and have a few meal’s worth of it frozen.
S: grapes, red (adzuki) bean soup
I start work 1/3 so I also made a grocery run to make sure I don’t run out of food during the week.
Danielle L Zecher
Breakfast: Hubby had leftover eggnog French toast. I had cereal.
Lunch: Hubby had a leftover hotdog, leftover black eyed peas, and a white chocolate raspberry candy bar. I had leftover chili and cornbread.
Dinner: Egg zaatar on naan bread from the freezer and tahini salad. We had to go to Walmart to pick up some pet prescriptions, so we bought a cucumber and a tomato (for the tahini salad) while we were there. So $2.00 in groceries for the month so far.
We also cleaned out the fridge and threw out a few leftovers that were too far gone and some expired eggnog. I’m hoping to avoid that happening again during the Pantry Challenge.
JulieT from MN
B: cinnamon raisin bagel from the freezer for me along with some home canned peaches. Hubby had cheerios and peaches.
L: L/O spaghetti with meat sauce for me. Hubby went to see his mom and they went out to Culver’s.
D: Sloppy joes, using a jar of my home canned sloppy joe sauce and a pound of ground beef, home canned baked beans, and tortilla chips and the last of the taco dip.
Brenda
Last day before everyone goes back to work/school
Breakfast country hash browns and scrambled eggs with toast and honeydew
Lunch quesadillas with refried beans salsa and sour cream
Dinner Szechuan chicken ramen noodles for dinner.
Tea and biscuits for midday snack
Kathryn M
Day 2.
Breakfast – pumpkin bread. OJ
Lunch – Pizza breadsticks with dipping sauce. I made these a few days ago and had some left that I reheated today. The recipe was right on the Jiffy pizza crust box. Basically chopped up pepperoni, mozzarella, and parmesan incorporated into the crust mix and made into breadsticks. I used garlic powder and Italian seasoning that I had already as a substitute for garlic and herb seasoning that the box recipe asked for.
Snacks – chocolate chip cookies, chex mix. Both were left from a road trip before the holidays.
Dinner – crockpot chicken, stuffing, and green beans. I did not have the sour cream that the recipe calls for. I sliced butter to place over the stuffing then just used the chicken broth and cream of chicken soup over the top. It came out just fine. (I always season the chicken well.) This was the last of the downstairs freezer chicken. I had 2 smallish breasts and 2 thighs that went in the pot. I have at least 4 or 5 leftover servings out of that whole pot.
Cindy
Ran a few errands after church this morning, ended up at Costco ugh…. Very disappointed that there were no real meat deals but we needed a couple of smoothie ingredients for the month so we got the Fage yogurt and organic frozen fruit/kale/spinach smoothie mix along with a box of pure protein bars – $31.77.
Breakfast: weekend smoothie
Lunch: fend for yourself, anything in the fridge is fair game – leftover veges and dip and a mandarin for me – hubby had Christmas ham sandwich and ??
Dinner: homemade turkey and egg noodles using stock made from the turkey via the instant pot, the last of the Christmas turkey, vege tray holdovers of carrots and celery along with onions and the egg noodles I made in the afternoon. Hubby ate the last of the Christmas cookies, they are finally gone!
Back to work and reality tomorrow!
Laurie in TX
I needed a little push out of my pity party and your Instagram post did it today (Tuesday). We’ve been in our new house 3 weeks in a new city and a new state. Thankfully I worked on stocking our pantry, fridge and freezer right away. Hubs came down with the crud 10 days ago and I came down with it 5 days ago. As I was reading Instagram a little while ago wallowing in self pity I thought, good grief Laurie, white chicken chili takes minutes in the instant pot and you have all of the ingredients. I’m sure glad I have Jessica and my friends here at Good Cheap Eats to inspire me! Note the new name below is no longer Laurie in CA but Laurie in TX.
Jessica Fisher
Yay! So glad you’re back to party — without the pity. 😉 Hope you feel better soon!
Heather M
I hope you feel better soon!! That’s no fun, especial right after a big move.
Sarah
Sunday morning we ate the remaining sweet rolls and had them with some Greek yogurt and blackberries that I knew needed to be eaten up soon. Lunch was leftover stuffed pepper soup and focaccia bread I made NYE. I went to the grocery store and picked up this week’s groceries, and it was about $50 less than I normally spend on groceries for the 3 of us so I was pretty proud of that. I hope next week’s meal plan will use even more of my pantry, fridge, and freezer items as I didn’t see this challenge until today but have been trying to reduce our grocery bill anyway. Dinner was pizza and leftover cookies from Christmas because grocery shopping is exhausting. 😀
Heather M
Well, Day 2 we were still out of town in NY, but also realized we needed to head home a day early because of a big snowstorm coming. DC has’t had a good snowstorm since 2019. And roads are a mess until later here, things always close, etc. We don’t deal with it as well as further north. And it started as rain(was in the 60s the 2nd!). So, aside from my birthday, I’ll be starting my Challenge on the 3rd. We got home about 1am.
Very happy to see so many familiar names here again and excited to get using things up. Post-holidays things are always a little haywire in the kitchen anyways.
Even though it wasn’t Challenge related, we ate our last fresh NY bagel egg/bacon/cheese sandwiches for brunch (from an awesome local bagel shop) and then our favorite NY pizza for dinner before we headed out. The entire week feature very very few veg or fruit, which is the opposite of how we eat, so very much looking forward to getting a more balanced diet after a solid week of food like that, delicious as it is.
Kathy in Denmark
Day 2:
Brunch: Rolls, rye bread, scrambled eggs, jam and cheese. Coffee and juice
D: Leftover tarteletter for DH and leftovers from NYE for the girls and me
S: Cookies, kransekage
Tarteletter are shells made with puff pastry and typically filled with at white sauce with asparagus and chicken or peas, carrots and ham. Since DH is vegetarian, the filling was a white sauce with asparagus, peas and carrots. I had made it as part of a buffet on the 28th, so it was good to use it up! The girls and I had leftover meat, veg and sauce from NYE and I bought a bag of oven chips to serve with it. There’s still a bit of meat left, which I am not complaining about, since it was SO good and we will enjoy it cold.
Kransekage is a cake made with almonds and marcipan which is served with a glass of champagne at midnight on NYE. It’s very rich and very good 🙂
Heather M
Hello Kathy! So happy to see you here again this year. Love learning about Danish food, too. Sending you best wishes for a wonderful 2022. 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
Hi Heather!
So happy to see you here too.
Those bagels sounded good! I can relate to the lack of vegetables, though. We are definitely in need of getting back to our normal diet.
Hope you and your family have a blessed 2022 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Yes, hello Kathy! Good to hear from you again. Like Heather, I love learning about foods and cooking around the world. My daughter was recently in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa (got back to the US just before travel was halted) In addition to her amazing safari pictures, I was excited when she showed pictures from food and markets there:)
Kathy in Denmark
Hi Lynn!
I actually learned how to make chili beans in my slowcooker from someone in the PC, and I have made it so many times since.
I have visited South Africa a very long time ago. The safari is a wonderful experience. I always gravitate towards local food when I travel. I have promised my croissant-loving girls that we will go to France and have som REAL croissants when all this craziness is over 😀
Sandy
What a successful day in the kitchen Jessica! I didn’t participate in last year’s challenge because we had just finished a home addition and kitchen renovation in late November of 2020. We had been out of our kitchen for 3 1/2 months and were using a makeshift kitchen in our garage. I didn’t have any extra items to use up that much since I had done a pantry challenge in the summer to limit what all had to be packed up. This year though, my pantry is looking fairly cluttered and I had told myself I wouldn’t let it get that way after having it so nicely organized at the beginning of last year, but life happens and here we are again! I just did a freezer cleanout between Christmas and New Year because we had a whole beef butchered and split between us and our 3 married children. I found many things I want to focus on using up and made sure all of them stayed to the top of the freezer so they got taken care of. I have another freezer to go through yet, but will wait a bit til I get through these items. The end of the year found us under the weather, so the first few days we used a lot of leftovers/Christmas snacks and sweets and I really didn’t do too much cooking.
Karen
I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday too. I bought myself a bread machine for Christmas, so I could start making bread for my kiddo and myself rather than buying a $3 loaf every week. My hubby won’t touch homemade bread (no I don’t know what’s wrong with him, LOL). I have several 5-pound bags of flour that I got on sale for $1.79 each a few months ago so I’m using that. I made chocolate chip muffins using up some sour cream that was on the verge. My kiddo and I will take these for snacks this week rather than our usual Nutrigrain bars. I remembered to get meat out to thaw for today so making dinner tonight will be quicker!
B: English muffin sandwiches, fruit
L: Fend for yourself
D: Copycat Taco Bell (crunchwraps and shredded chicken burritos)
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Karen, isn’t the price of bread crazy? My hubby’s favorite (wide pan bread) has gone up from 4.29 to 4.69! I usually keep several loaves in the freezer which I buy when it is half price. My best option has been buying Aldi’s wide pan when I travel to see my mother. It used to be 1.25/loaf. Though if has gone up to 1.45, it’s still a much better deal than even the other half-priced bread. I’ve made several different kinds of breads but haven’t found a good one yet for sandwiches. Like your hubby, mine isn’t wild about homemade bread either–men!
Maureen
Goodness, you got a lot done! I just transferred a couple of fridge items into smaller containers. I don’t usually do that, but the fridge is packed (that’s a recurring issue in our house that I am working on, but it’s always a problem during the holidays). I think it really has helped us see what’s in there better, so definitely worth it.
Our new Sunday schedule has me out of the house for a few hours leading up to a late dinner time, so I made a pork roast in the crockpot. My family doesn’t love that type of meal, but it’s comfort food for me so I make it occasionally. It was tasty with mashed potatoes. I also made loaded potato soup for lunch. So, it was a potato heavy day, but they were going to start to get soft. And I used up an older seasoning packet on the pork, too. Now I have 3 packages of cooked pork to go into the freezer for quick meals on busy nights. Unfortunately, I also tossed a few too-far-gone fruits and vegetables. Not too many, but it still bothers me.
Heather M
Hi Maureen! Good to see you here again! Oh I understand the pain of tossing far gone fruit & veg. Sure hoping I can keep that at bay, but I have yet to check out what everything looks like since we got home late last night. Good luck using up things in the fridge before they turn. It’s such a need after the holidays in our house, too. 🙂
Tasty
Sunday January 2nd
It is so nice to see familiar names from years gone by. I guess we none of us really learn our lessons on buying just what we need. I have to admit to doing the same as Stephanie mentioned and picking up meat that looks nice and is a good price and some of it at least works its way to the bottom of the freezer and gets forgotten.
I did move a few things from the basement up to the kitchen freezer – ice cream, h/m cookies and muffins so altho the kitchen freezer is full,there are some little holes downstairs – I count that as a win. I also brought up a tourtiere for supper.
B – hubby had granola and a muffin, I had rhubarb, yogurt and a muffin.
L – we had the last of the bacon with some brie that needed to be used on buns from the freezer
S – tourtiere (French Canadian meat pie) with salad, Christmas cake with our after dinner coffee.
Heather M
Hi! Thanks for sharing about the tourtiere. I just love learning about dishes from different places. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Tasty! Great to hear from you again. Thanks for your explanation re: the tourtiere. Sounds like a great comfort food. You are already off to a good start, making a little bit of room in one of your freezers!
Jennifer
I too like to spend Sundays getting my kitchen ready for the week. It helps me have a plan and avoid eating out. This week I came up with a loose menu, thawed tortillas to cook up for quesadillas, made a breakfast quick bread and refilled my flour containers.
B – my boys left at 4 am for hog hunting so they took leftover muffins from Saturday for the road. The 3 left at home had various forms of eggs – each cooking their own.
L – Dh and I finished up a random assortment of summer sausages and cheese with triscuits. My daughter ate a late breakfast and then went to work
D – I made a new recipe – a loaf of roasted garlic bread using up 2 heads of garlic that really needed using. It was tasty, though next time I will look for a different recipe. I paired this with chicken sausages and salad. My daughter ate at work.
Kathy
Kathy B Sunday January 2, 2022
B Dan had cheerios and pecans I had a orange and a cheese stick
L we both had leftover chili
D had a little bit of sausage and a little bit of bacon left pared that with pancakes
Have to run to the store to get eggs, milk coffee cream and brown sugar. Stocked my pantry and freezers before Christmas so I am good.
Stephanie M.
Sunday, January 2, 2022
B – Paul had cereal and a banana; I had a yogurt parfait
L – I had about a cup of pasta in the fridge so I fried it in butter till crispy and gave that to Paul along with some appetizers from the freezer from Christmas Eve – pigs in a blanket and crab rangoons. I made a turkey meat loaf in the morning for sandwiches for this week so I had that and a banana
D – Ravioli with sausage and meatballs. The sauce with sausage and meatballs was from one of the freezer bags in the freezer from a meal I made weeks ago. I have one more bag left.
I caught myself in the store today. I went to the grocery store to pick up some basil and I saw some boneless chicken breasts on sale and they looked really nice so I put a package in my cart. As I started to walk away, I quickly got a hold of myself and put them back as I already have some in my freezer. It’s this kind of action that causes me to never reach the bottom of my supply of meat. I made a commitment to myself this year that I would buy what I need when I need it. So I made it out of the store without purchasing anything that I didn’t go there for.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Stephanie! Good to hear from you again. You showed good restraint with the chicken breasts. Like you and Tasty, I’m also guilty of this. With prices going up, it is even harder for me to resist some of the sales, but I’m trying!
Stephanie M.
Hi Lynn. Good to hear from you too!! Hope I can keep showing that kind of restraint!! Lol