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!
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I ran over to Ralphs this morning to be inspired for clearance proteins. It was slim pickings but I found the good chicken breast marked down to $2.99/lb. It had today’s date. I bought 8 pounds.
Then I wondered what to make with it since it was best to cook it today. A chat with Mr25 landed on Slop Bowls, per his request. Yes, that’s what the cool kids call rice bowls nowadays.
I made a big pot of Instant Pot Shredded Chicken as well as rice and beans and pickled onions so everyone could make their own bowl meal.
What We Ate
Breakfast – I fried a couple eggs and made breakfast sandwiches with ham and swiss.
Lunch – I had cottage cheese and blueberries. The others at home fended for themselves.
Dinner – Rice Bowls, aka Slop Bowls, according to my kids.
How did Day 21 go for you?
Heather M
Reporting 2 days- it’s been quite busy this week, which is good since after Saturday evening I won’t want to leave the house for a few weeks lol(between the storm and it not going above freezing for the foreseeable future and that’s not normal in the DC area). I’ll talk tomorrow about our food situation and today’s (22nd) food shopping(not exactly challenge worthy but still a bit of its spirit).
Jan 20:
Brunch: C took a frozen meal, kiwi/mandarin, and. Kind bar; L took a salad with grilled chicken(had an unopened package from Costco in December specifically for this week), mandarins, and almonds; I had a tuna sandwich and Sun chips
Dinner: pan grilled salmon(freezer), green beans(freezer, found a buried bag of baby potatoes from November and salvaged what I could (sigh; had it a solid few months and forgot amidst the crazy of holiday season) to make toasted garlic potato bites.
Jan 21:
Brunch: i went to a meeting for a. volunteer thing im involved in (after getting fasting labs drawn 3 1/2 hours later than they were supposed to be since the tech called in sick…..), luckily they had lunch of mini Jimmy John’s sandwiches and an Asian salad. I had a small veggie sandwich and some salad. Came home and ate another tuna sandwich. C took some yakisoba noodles/veg cooked from the freezer with some of that grilled chicken, Kind bar, kiwi; L took a salad with leftover salmon, mandarins, almonds.
Dinner: made a little pot of pinto beans (hunting through my cupboards for what canned beans we have still; I have never done an inventory) with 2 cans of them, a can of diced chilis, sauteed green bell pepper, onion, and a bunch of seasonings including garlic, cumin, etc, served over half and half rice, pan grilled chicken sausage. (The beans were delicious!)
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Sounds like a yummy beans &rice dinner. I made my pintos from dried. The only problem was the bags had 2# instead of the usual one. I soaked them all but knew it would take forever for us to eat 2 pounds. So I stuck the extra soaked pound in the freezer 🙁 . I’m not sure how they will fare since I didn’t blanch them or anything. Maybe when I use them in chili they will be okay. I’ve used them in the burritos, but plan to make a dinner of them too.
Karen J
January 20th
Breakfast-egg muffin made at home-I love my breakfast sandwich maker. We use it at least twice a week, usually more.
Lunch-leftover corn chowder
Dinner-prior to Christmas a friend had smoked a brisket and shared it with us. After our initial yummy meal with it, I froze the rest. That was dinner last night with buns and potato salad. Plus we still have some left.
We leave Saturday on a week’s vacation to sunny (hopefully, or at least warmer than here) Las Vegas and Palm Springs. I am trying to finish all the leftovers, so that’s the goal for the next two days. Although tonight I am making tacos for the family for our granddaughter’s 9th birthday., at her request. So then we will tackle the rest of the leftovers or I will just send them home with the kids. I am NOT putting anything back in the freezer.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Good motivation Karen! And the brisket sounds delicious.
Kathy in Denmark
I haven’t posted in five days – it has been busy here! I have read all the entrys from all of you, and I think there are some very delicious meals being made.
Since we usually have the same things for breakfast and lunch, I will just report the dinners we have had.
Day 17: Tarteletter, which are puff pastry shells filled with a white stew of chicken and white asparagus. I also had a vegetarian version with asparagus, carrots and peas. Both came from the freezer.
Day 18: Lasagna with bread and cabbage salad. This was the rest of the lasagne I made previously as well as the last of the foccacia.
I had a prep day and made bread, beef stew in the multicooker, frikadeller (Danish meatballs), fruit salad for chiapudding and chopped veg. for lunchboxes.
Day 19: LO tarteletter and rolls with whatever anyone wanted. DH and I were in a grocery store while DD1 had singing lessons and they had marked down their bakery rolls. We picked some up, which was good, as there wasn’t quite enough tarteletter for everyone to get full.
Day 20:
Breaded fish fillets, boiled potatoes, carrots and broccoli. Hollandaise sauce from a box (Knorr). DD2 had a friend over after school and I had to get them fed early because DD2 has Kendo. Her friend also wanted to try Kendo, so she tagged along. This meal was very well received by all 🙂
Day 21: Tortillas with refried beans (HM from freezer), salsa, avocado and salad fixings.
We have tried ordering a mixed box of avocados and oranges directly from the grower in Spain. They include instructions on how to ripen and store the avocados and oranges, so they last as long as possible. This night the first avocado was ripe, and it was SO good! I don’t think I have ever had an avocado this perfectly ripe before. We will eat some and I will also chop and freeze some. We are currently contemplating buying another box before the season is over.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Ripening avocados is a challenge. That’s great that you had a successful process. Any hints?
I had to look up Kendo!
Kathy in Denmark
Basically the instructions said to ripen at room temperature (20 C) in the box, untill the avocados were almost ripe. Then you transfer them to a fridge at ideally 7C and then they last up to two weeks. Our fridge is 5C, but I put them on a higher shelf, as most fridges are warmer in the top. They included pictures, which was helpful.
I am keeping a close eye on the rest and checking if they are ready. I have sometimes had avocados feel soft at the stem and then be rock hard in another part 🙁
The avocado we ate didn’t feel very soft, but it was perfectly ripe all the way trough.
I guess having avocados picked directly in the box and delivered to your door in five days also helps!
Heather M
How fantastic to order avocado and oranges directly from Spain! I’m so glad the avocados are ripening well so far!
Kathy in Denmark
It’s such a blessing! They are from a family farm where they grow everything organically and ship directly to the customers. I ordered Sunday and the box was delivered the following Friday. You can only order whatever is in season, which I really love.
It’s not even that expensive, especially regarding the avocados, which are eyewateringly expensive here in Denmark. If the rest ripen up well, I will probably order another box, so I can freeze some more.
Allie from Ontario
Jessica….I keep meaning to say that I absolutely love your mug…so fun!
And Karen J…that cheese corn chowder sounds right up our alley – yum.
What we ate on Jan 21
Brunch: We happily spilt the leftover pizza chicken
Dinner: I made a house favourite 1 bowl dinner…glazed meatballs with stir fried veg & noodles. I thawed a lb of a grd beef/pork mixture and used 1/2 for the meatballs. For the veg it was sweet peppers, red onions & broccoli florets and the glaze is an ever changing mix which always starts with soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, minced garlic + a spoonful of mustard (this time a “honey horesradish” grainy mustard). The bulk is then made up of whatever jam/jelly I have open (last night a combo of red pepper jelly, garlic/onion jam & a good shot of candied jalapeno brine. The recipe I use for candied jalapeno purposely makes more of the spicy syrup than will be needed so there is some to can separately once the actual pepper jars are full (same headspace/processing time). I use it in lots of dishes for a good hit of sweet with heat).
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I had used some of the jalapeños I had canned last night too. But I’ve never thought to use the brine. Thanks for the tip.
Stephanie M
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
B – I had cereal, fruit and nuts. Paul had a slide of banana bread from the freezer, yogurt with nuts and mixed fruit.
L – Paul had the final leftovers of Italian sausage soup and a dinner roll. Only two more dinner rolls left in the freezer.
D – grilled chicken thighs and I made a tray of roasted potatoes, carrots, broccoli, onions and tomatoes. Enough for tomorrow.
With winter storm fern on its way, we are in preparation mode. Snow storms down here in Virginia and the way they are dealt with are very different from where we used to live in New Jersey. In New Jersey, we always heard the plow trucks all night clearing off all of the roads so that by morning people could go to work and businesses were open. Down here they are not equipped for that since I guess there is not as much snow so it’s as quiet as a church at night – no snow plows and everything is closed. We talked to someone the other day who told us that a few years ago they had no power for a week and they were snowed in for two weeks. That’s unheard of in the northeast at least when we lived there which was all of our lives. So in preparation for this thank God we kept our generator so Paul bought a lot of gas so we can hook up what we need in the house. Outside of food, the most important thing is heat as I’m sure we all remember what happened to those poor people in Texas several years ago when they lost power, the heat went off and then the pipes burst and many homes got flooded. We have a houseful of food lol. (That’s why we’re on the challenge). Before we moved down here we sold our snow blower thinking we would not see much snow anymore. I love snow. Paul hates it. He would be happy if he never saw it again. But I have been dubbed the snow queen because we’ve seen several times with snow so I’m getting the blame. Lol. I told Paul I think we should buy a new snow blower so he doesn’t have to shovel. He didn’t think it was necessary but after hearing just how much were in for he went to Lowe’s and they were out of them. Called several other Lowe’s and Home Depot all out. He found one on Facebook marketplace labeled like new so he’s going to get it on Thursday morning.
So we are ready for whatever comes.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Stephanie, oh yes the South’s response to snow is QUITE different from the north!! 🙂 It truly is paralyzing around here. As Tasty pointed out, no snow tires or chains here. We don’t even have clothes for cold weather. We are wimps for sure and even an inch or so becomes “Snowmaggedon”. Our northern neighbors can stop laughing at us now! They are calling for 2 feet of snow where my son lives. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen 2 feet of snow before-15” yes, but not 24”. We shall see! We have a whole house generator for hurricanes, so we are ready in case we need it. And, like you, we still have PLENTY of food!
Stephanie M
Well I’m sure this is out of the norm for the southern states and even in New Jersey we do not ordinarily get that amount of snow either. So now we wait and do the best we can. Stay safe and warm!!!
Heather M
Best wishes south of us, Stephanie. We will have to text during it all to compare notes!
Stephanie M
Best wishes to you too Heather! I’ll be in touch. We’ll compare pictures.
Karen J
Stay warm and safe all of you in the upcoming massive storm path!
Stephanie M
Thank you Karen. We’ll be inside all weekend binge watching something and staying cozy.
Maureen
I had leftovers for lunch. Dinner was french onion chicken over egg noodles. I saved a recipe recently for it that looked good, but when I found a large serving of french onion soup in the freezer I decided to just dump it in a crockpot with chicken for the afternoon. The soup alone wasn’t enough for two, so the recipe served as inspiration for a super simple meal. I also made a side salad. I’ll have to try the actual recipe some time when I pick up Gruyere, but for now there’s one less container in the freezer. I also cooked up some chorizo from the freezer. I had grabbed it one day when it looked good and it’s lived in my freezer since then.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Sounds like a great freezer meal there using the soup!
Heather from Sacramento
B- coffee, Greek yogurt, peaches and HM granola. I finished a jar of peaches. I am obsessed with the granola recipe.
L- finished off the rest of the cooked tri tip and had a salad with spring greens, cheddar cheese and walnuts. I made a HM dressing with some flavored balsamic vinegar.
D- I made one of my favorite recipes to take to work for lunch and it tonight for dinner. I roast cherry tomatoes with basil, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper. I then mix it with cooked hamburger and brown rice. I froze 14lbs of cherry tomatoes from this years garden.
S- cheese and crackers
Allie from Ontario
Hi Heather! I containers of roasted cherry/grape tomatoes in the freezer along with a big bag of whole ones. I have never actually roasted the frozen whole guys…what temp/timing do you use?? I would love to try it.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’m with Allie. I have a bag of whole grape tomatoes in my freezer that I’m not quite sure what to do with. I guess you roast from frozen?
Heather from Sacramento
I defrost the cherry tomatoes in the refrigerator and then drain. I use a smaller casserole dish as I only roast 1-2 pounds at a time. I baked at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. I think next year I’m going to try cutting the tomatoes in half before freezing. I might try roasting first and then freezing next year. Good idea!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/21/26
B: avocado toast and coffee for both
L: soup for both, DH added a ham sandwich
D: used the last 3 tortillas to make burritos (meal #11/20). Used container of cooked beef with peppers and onions from the freezer. I added pinto beans I’d cooked to the filling, along with cheese and some of the LO rice. We had the last of the out of date guacamole (!) from the freezer, salsa, Greek yogurt and hm candied jalapeños as toppings. We ate LO citrus slaw from last night. I had made a vinaigrette for it last night, but it was lacking. I found a packet of dressing from take out that worked well with the slaw ingredients. I added baked onions (a recipe I hadn’t made in decades) as another side.
S: we each had another cheesecake bite from the freezer. We are down to one, that we will probably split. They have been great for a mini dessert.
Three weeks down in the challenge. It’s going fast!
Heather from Sacramento
I am going to have to make some cheesecake bites for the freezer. It sounds yummy!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I purchased these 1/2 price at our Publix. The brand is Juniors and it has chocolate, strawberry and plain. They are delicious. They’re about the size of a mini muffin and could certainly be made at home. They are perfect for portion control! I will say, though that Jessica’s crock pot chocolate cheesecake is THE best!
Kathryn M
Breakfast – caffeine fix
Lunch – sloppy joe and the rest of the cooked onion rings
Dinner – Nachoes. Got rid of some more of the refried beans. I added shredded cheese, salsa, green onion that I bought today, and a mini cup of guacamole. Also added just a few pickled jalapenos – I have a small jar in the fridge that I made during pickle making season….
Snack – made a single ham&cheese slider. in the afternoon. I was hungry after coming back from an appointment but didn’t want to do dinner too early.
I stopped in to walmart and bought some salad produce and a couple other items ($15). I am going to make a salad for work lunch on Thursday. I am also thawing some soup from the freezer for either Wed dinner or to take to work Thursday.
Maureen
We had homemade pizza (extra dough from Sunday) for lunch. I had dinner plans with friends, but made homemade mac and cheese for everyone to eat with hotdogs (freezer) and salad. The girls snacked a bit on odds and ends. I told them I’m not replacing favorites until we’ve made some space in the freezer and pantry, so I’m not worried about keeping track.
Heather M
Maureen, I am doing very much the same with our “snack cupboard”, where granola bars, chips, crackers, nuts, my latest favorite yogis, all the random things like that reside. It feels like it’s been so out of control and things getting buried until they go stale, etc. I’m not buying much of anything for it until it’s mostly cleared out. I did break down today and bought 1 smallish bag of chex mix on sale for our son, but that’s it. We need to get through all this random stuff first. I know that bag won’t last him very long, so he’ll be back hunting down random crackers and such, lol.