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 21 of the Pantry Challenge!
The fam and I just finished an episode of Around the World in 80 Days, so a quick update as it’s late, and I’m about to turn into a pumpkin.
I spent most of the day in the kitchen shooting recipes. It takes much longer to photograph each step than it does to actually make the thing, so it doesn’t really count as a meal prep day.
Though, tomorrow’s breakfast is already made, so there’s that.
What We Ate
Breakfast – Those of us who were home had a combination of yogurt, leftovers, and oatmeal.
Lunch – Again, some leftovers, salads, and yogurt/muesli/berries.
Dinner – Fridays are pizza nights, so I made a double batch of Sourdough Pizza Crust and assembled six pies as well as a batch of Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. I was really thankful I’d frozen buttermilk as we were out of fresh.
How did Day 21 go for you?
Danielle L Zecher
Forgot to say I also ended up doing a fairly large Sam’s Club Instacart order. I was out of Nexium and Sam’s Club has the best price. I’d hoped to go in person, but work was a series of last-minute projects and deadlines getting moved up, so I ended up doing an Instacart order. It seemed kind of pointless to do an Instacart order just for Nexium, so I ended up getting some produce; Romaine lettuce on a good sale, cotton candy grapes (one of my favorites) pomegranate arils (another favorite), and oranges. I also got some salsa, flour tortillas, and Cokes (I take one in my lunch on in-office workdays, and they’re $1.75 each from the vending machine, so MUCH cheaper to bring one from home). Based on what I spent, I feel like I’m forgetting to list something, but I can’t think what.
Danielle L Zecher
Friday started off well but got really hectic by the end of the day. Before things got crazy, I started a loaf of strawberry banana bread in the bread machine. There was one very sad-looking banana hanging around, we have a big bag of strawberries in the freezer, and lots of bread flour to use up. So the strawberry banana bread seemed perfect.
Breakfast: I had grits and a scrambled egg. Hubby skipped.
Lunch: Hubby had leftover chicken and stuffing casserole. I skipped.
Dinner: Neither one of us finished with work until after 7:30 (we’re supposed to get off at 4:00). I didn’t feel like cooking, so hubby picked up food from a local burger place on the way home. A Carolina burger and a milkshake are the perfect end to an insane day.
Heather M
So both of us didn’t want to cook Friday! ? Also, i totally get the Costco order. I’m staying out until sometime in February, and luckily can, But dang, hearing about romaine at a lower price….. And yes, so much better to buy the coke this way. It saves so much over a vending machine or other place!
Danielle L Zecher
It sounds like Friday was just one of those days for a lot of people. The romaine was less than $4.00 for a six pack, and it’s actually very nice looking romaine instead of the sad wilted ones I’ve seen lately. I couldn’t pass that up.
Molly
I don’t always comment, but yesterday I finished off a bunch of things that had been hanging around: frozen broccoli, potato chips, and yogurt – all of them weren’t as good as the usual brands I buy, so I won’t get them again, but I used them up in Grandma Jean’s broccoli casserole to try and make those components as tasty as possible. Today I ate that with chicken for lunch, and it was tasty.
I also made a coconut-lemon franken-cake yesterday, mostly for fun, and I didn’t want to buy anything to make it, so I did LOTS of substitutions and it still turned out yummy!
I’m really enjoying reading along with what everybody is having for meals.
Jennifer
Well hubby and 21 yo headed to DC 6 hours away. They took leftover pizza for their lunch.
B – oatmeal for hubby and I, muffins for 21 yo and cereal for daughter at home
L – I had a lunch meat roll up, peppers, yogurt
D – I was the only one home as my daughter had a pasta dinner for gymnastics, son went out. I ate leftover pizza and more peppers. Hubby stopped at Subway on the way home from DC.
My oldest went to the grocery store and picked up milk and yogurt at no cost to me. That will help us get through the month for sure.
Kathy in Denmark
Thank you for all the comments on my post yesterday. Sometimes we need someone else to point out the obvious lol
Day 21:
B: The usual for all
L: DH eats at work, packed lunch for the girls, LO minestrone for me
D: Pizza on flatbreads
S: Hot cocoa after school. The very last of the Christmas cookies and HM Christmas candy for movie night
Pizza is always a winner in our house and I love how quickly it comes together with the flatbreads. We used up some odds and ends as well, so a good day 🙂
Jen in Ohio
Forgot to ask – anyone have suggestions to use up instant oatmeal packets? Lol, aside from oatmeal that is.
We have a bunch, I think brown sugar/cinnamon type flavors. I tried a muffin recipe with them a while back, but it came out pretty dry. Muffins would be good though, the kids usually eat those quickly.
Jessica Fisher
How about waffles: https://goodcheapeats.com/oatmeal-waffles/
Jen in Ohio
Ooh that’s a good idea, thanks!
Kathy in Denmark
I use cooked oatmeal in bread dough all the time, but it’s usually plain… I would still use oatmeal with some sort of flavour if it isn’t too sweet though. Maybe you could make the instant oatmeal or add extra liquid to your muffin batter. That should make it less dry.
Jen in Ohio
I was thinking some kind of sweet bread, like banana bread might be good. That’s a good idea to try making up the oatmeal first, so it’s less dry. Thanks!
Maureen
I had leftovers from the freezer for lunches on Thursday and Friday. And we’ve finished up a couple of open bags of chips from the pantry. I pulled a variety of cooked meat from the freezer for dinner Thursday night. We finished off the chicken and ground beef on tacos, nachos, and quesadillas (everyone did their own thing). We didn’t eat the shredded pork, so I’ll turn that into pork sliders for dinner Saturday night…paired with hotdogs for the girls and a smattering of open bags of fries, onion rings, tater tots from the freezer. Friday night was Kung Pao chicken, rice, and veggies…we had everything on hand. And the cupcakes are almost gone, so I think my youngest will likely bake something this weekend. With my son home this week, he’s been plowing through some snacks from the pantry, so once he finishes up all of the “good” stuff I’m not going to restock it until we eat up some of the older options.
Heather M
Sounds like you’re getting through all those open packages in the pantry! Yay!!! Love how you’ve used up so many things the past few days— options for Mexican, etc.
Jen in Ohio
Day 21:
B: leftover Panda Express for me, apple for DF
L: my parents were over, helping with the basement, so I pulled out a bunch of things. Mini crabcakes from the freezer, shrimp, l/o ham, l/o cajun pasta, salad, fresh fruit and l/o baked curry fruit, Boursin cheese & crackers
D: DS is back from school camp and exhausted but happy, pizza night, we just did takeout
We’ve now got lots in the fridge, but I think that’s probably good for easy meals over the weekend. DF is doing basement demo, and I’ve got to work on props for my son’s school play. (I signed up to be on prop team, not really knowing what it entailed lol!)
Julie T
B-Cornflakes with bananas. Coffee for me, OJ for hubby
L-I had L/O chili Mac and pickled asparagus which I brought to work. I am retired but casual so they call me once in a while to help out. Hubby was home he had a skin on wiener and potato chips
S-Long day at work! We went out for pizza and a beer. There will be L/O for hubby’s lunch tomorrow.
Well everything is prepped for the pheasant stir fry and it will have to be cooked and eaten tonight. I cut up one side of the breast for the stir fry and the other was pounded out and put in a ziplock bag with marinade for eggrolls. We will have the eggrolls Sunday with soup. One thing I do is when I see coleslaw bags in the clearance area I buy them and throw them in the freezer. Then I take them out, thaw, and then squeeze out the liquid. You can add to soup, casserole, or use in a stir fry or in eggrolls.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Julie, did someone in your family hunt the pheasant? That’s one kind of fowl I’ve not eaten. I did see a pheasant walking down my road one day, to my astonishment! I never thought to freeze bagged cole slaw. That’s a good idea!
Julie T
Yep. Hubby takes 2-3 trips to South Dakota each year to hunt pheasants. It is a white meat similar to chicken, so I just replace chicken with pheasant in recipes. We just had some pheasant brats made at the local meat shop as well. He enjoys it and we have meat.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/21/22
B: coffee DH?
L: Used last of the beef from the freezer plus LO peppers and onions to make DH another cheesesteak sandwich (and a ½ of one for me). We ate some chili from the freezer. (I thought I was defrosting minestrone soup. Need to work on better labeling of food items!)
D: lemon pepper chicken, LO cauliflower mixed with rice, Asian salad
Making chicken broth in the crock pot. I think we’ve finished all of the soups from the freezer. Want to make some minestrone, but I am missing a few of the ingredients so will need to pick them up if I can’t come up with substitutions.
tasty
Friday January 21st
B – Hubby had his usual, I had yogurt and a slice of toast and marmalade
L – Creamy chicken vegetable soup from the freezer
S – Pulled pork on a bun with salad. Pork & buns came from the freezer.
Took one small container of l/o ham to make pea & ham soup – now I have 3 bigger containers of soup to go back into the freezer- no wonder it takes a while to make progress!!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Tasty, yes, this is exactly right!
Stephanie M.
January 21
B – paul had toast and yogurt parfait. I had yogurt parfait.
L – paul had the last of the General Tso from the freezer leftover from last months Chinese take out and he had the leftover rice that I made yesterday. I had a hard boiled egg sandwich and a banana.
D – grilled chicken, rice, and broccoli.
Heather M
January 21 didn’t quite go as planned, but I’m not complaining. We hadn’t had takeout or the like (except the lone auntie anne’s pretzel) since my birthday jan 6. I had a long phone call late in the day which left me annoyed and needing to talk, and at the same time my husband who patiently talked/listened was pining for BBQ. So we ordered takeout from a yummy place up the street. No clean-up, the only takeout we’ll have all month (except Jan 6 and prior) and probably into February, so I’ll take it and I did and enjoyed it.
B: pear bread
L: he had a side salad, a small piece of sourdough garlic toast, and a chicken sausage from the freezer; I had egg salad on sourdough toast, carrots, cucumber, and celery with the last of that pesky spinach dip.
D: BBQ takeout!
Kathy in Denmark
Sometimes takeout is the best option. I’m glad you could have an at home datenight with your hubby after a stressfull day.
Danielle L Zecher
I hope today is better.
Lily R.
I’m sorry you had a bad day and hope the BBQ/talking with hubby made things a bit better!