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 24 of the Pantry Challenge!
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I have been in the need of rebooting my weekly time budget, so I switched today’s plan to be more kitchen prep than desk work, though I still had plenty of desk work to do….
- I planned out my Rest Day Prep and the weekend’s meals.
- Made a double batch each of Sourdough Bread and sourdough hamburger buns to bake tomorrow when I made the pizza dough for tonight.
- I made Bryan another batch of Freezer Burritos to take to work.
- I prepped different foods items for tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday. I love taking Sundays off!
- I also started prep for Bryan’s birthday next week. I made Roasted Poblano Peppers to freeze so that it’s easier to make Poblano Chile Enchiladas. We’re also having a Slow Cooker Chocolate Cheesecake. Yum!
What We Ate
Breakfast – Any guesses? Yes, the instant oatmeal!
Lunch – We had leftovers from Tuesday that needed eating.
Dinner – Pizza night! Every week, like clockwork, I make a double batch of Sourdough Pizza Crust. Most of the pizzas are some version of Supreme Pizza, but I always make the GOAT, Goat Cheese Pizza – which now is in high demand. More of my family eat it on a regular basis that I may end up making two every week.
I also made a big Caesar Salad and an extra for the weekend.
How did Day 24 go for you?
DIINAUS
Well done folks on all those great accomplishments. Life here being summer school holidays has been relaxed and crazy at the same time. Have still been following pantry challenge just limited time to contribute with all the back to school chaos ( my baby’s first year) , the decision to move 3 rooms in the house around ( office to lounge, give daughter office room as bed room, make storage area new lounge room) . So much for my quick weekend task…3 weeks on I’m still sorting ( will be good o ce done but what was i thinking). Has to be done today. School starts Tuesday.
Some pantry challenge sucess:
Made French onion chicken using up ?, onions, and a huge zucchini.
Making mango chutey with foraged mangos, discovering huge purple sweet potato in the garden. The lovely leaves have taken over the garden with our humid weather so I’ve been using them as our green veg.i didn’t realise that they were actually growing tubers as well as they were buried so deep.
Kids have been making up lots of rice bowls for lunch using up lots of random ingredients.
Have found some awesome mark downs top quality minced beef in perfect portions. 4.89/500g Any thing under $10/kg, $5/lb is a steal here.
Chicken breast for $8/kg ( normally $16/kg. Spent about $150 ( above rounded out with a 5kgbag of spuds to mix things up from rice and 5kg bag carrots -only veg here under $2/kg coming in at 1.69/kg.
Ran out of instant coffee so having to “suffer” through using up all the real coffee beans that we have been gifted over the year.
Once kids back to school and weather cools I will start the reorganisation of the freezers. It’s just not worth trying to do it in the peak of summer humidity .
Wi try post more regularly. Think I will still be going well into Feb.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Diinaus! SO good to hear from you again. Sounds like lots going on in your life these days.
Foraged mangos-what an amazing option. I’ve had one on my counter-non foraged;) waiting for it to soften. Half priced meats are great to find any time. My area doesn’t tend to have many markdowns so I’m always envious of Jessica’s hauls like her recent Ralph’s one. Your original prices are pretty eye popping, so I’m glad you found some bargains.
If my math is correct (and it may not be) it looks like your carrots are the equivalent of .77# US. If so, that is good for here. I used to be able to get carrots for .50#, but now they’re typically .99#.
Chuckling at using the whole coffee beans. I’m resisting opening a box of my favorite Earl Grey tea until I use up some of the already opened, less favored teas. Willpower!
Always great to hear how things are going “down under”!
Heather M
Hello Diinaus! So good to hear from you! Glad things are going well, even if it’s been quite busy. How fun to discover the growing purple sweet pototatos! Really awesome. Hope the transition to a new school year goes well this week. 🙂
Heather M
Been quiet the past few days because I woke early thursday with a crohns flare. Not what I needed or wanted. Anyways. The past several days, breakfast skipped on all:
Jan 22: grocery shopped as we were out of tons of fresh items and other needs. Spent $65.75 at 2 stores, making the most of sales. at $152 for the month. L: L took a salad w/ground turkey, almonds, clementines; C took leftover stirfry from tues and a Kind bar; I had the leftover pumpkin pancakes. D: made a yummy salmon chowder using up things from the fridge, freezer, and 2 cans of salmon, bought baguette to have with it, plus a side salad.
Jan 23: I was in no good pain all day and only ate 4 small hawaiian rolls, and then a few saltines with laughing cow at dinner time. L: L took a salad with the rest of the ground turkey, almonds, a clementine; C took a rice stirfry (costco single serve) with a chicken sausage, some leftover baguette, and a Kind bar. D: I was not in the cooking mood at all but still did, albeit very basic. Luckily had a jar of thai yellow curry in the cupboard. Stuck chicken breasts in the IP. Cooked rice in the rice cooker. added most of the chicken and rest of the frozen mixed veg from the freezer to the sauce and they had dinner with little effort on my part.
Jan 24: worst of the pain over thankfully but I need to be careful eating for a few more days (meaning no fiber, mellow everything, what I call the white diet). Also a day i hadn’t planned on. We are going to a thing midday sunday and are providing fruit (found out after shopping 22nd). Went to Aldi, walked around the car and discovered a huge nail in a tire. Turned around and left to Costco Tire immediately. Was there for 4 1/2 hours waiting. Knowing I would not be up for anything else afterwards, i ended up inside buying fruit there, plus a rotiserrie chicken and their baguettes. Spent a bit more than I would have at Aldi but we also are set for sunday AND for the next long while for fruit (I had bought mandarins and apples before, which will keep longer while we eat what I got at costco first). Spent $10 on the chicken and baguette, and $37 on fruit, with roughly half that going to Sunday. Busted my wanting to keep under $200 for the month, but it won’t be terrible AND i wasn’t planning on the flare and feeling terrible. it’s fine. L: L took a salad with the leftover chicken I’d set aside, almonds, mandarin; C took the leftover curry dinner w/rice and a Kind bar. I had saltines with laughing cow. D: I had also brought C home a chicken bake from the food court(his request) so he had that plus baguette; L finished the salmon chowder and had a rotiserrie chicken leg plus its wings; I had baguette and saltines.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, I was a bit worried when you didn’t post 🙁 I’m so sorry you’ve had a flare-and a flat tire on top of that. I hope the upcoming week will be better. Life happens. You did well to get the food tasks even completed and still did it in a prudent manner, so a win for sure. Feel better quickly!
Heather M
Thanks, Lynn. Plugging along and doing what has to be done, resting otherwise. Slowly feeling better. 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
Sorry about the flare up 🙁
You did amazingly well considering you were not your usual self! Lucky you caught the nail quickly, so you could have it repaired while getting the shopping done.
Feel better soon!
Heather M
Thanks so much, Kathy. Sometimes I think I’m really not doing well, and then I look back at what I did while not feeling well at all, and I need to be nicer to myself. I hope you’ve had a good weekend. 🙂
Maureen
I hope you are feeling better. I’m impressed with all that you accomplished while not feeling well.
Stephanie M
Friday, January 24, 2025
B – Paul had a whole wheat bagel with the last of the open cream cheese. I also had three small apples left in the fridge so I sliced them, fried them in butter and added cinnamon. Once they were in a serving bowl, I topped them with some whipped cream. So Paul had those too. I had a yogurt parfait.
L – Paul had the last of the roast chicken on whole wheat and some chips. I had a salad with the last of the grilled chicken from the fridge and the last of the black beans.
D – we had leftover lentil soup. I still have enough for a few more meals but I have not yet learned how to make a small amount of soup so the rest goes in the freezer and I’ll have some of it next week when Paul goes back to California on a uneventful flight I hope.
Heather M
Ok those apples sound amazing! Great way to eat fruit in colder weather. The leftover lentil soup will really be great while Paul is gone again. Solid planning, if you ask me. 🙂
Stephanie M
Hi heather. Hope you feel completely better very soon. Sorry you had to have this flare up.
Tasty
I really don’t think it’s possible to make enough soup just for 2, Stephanie
Stephanie M
Hi tasty. Neither do I. It’s never happened and I don’t think it ever will. lol.
Maureen
Thursday, I had eggs and toast for brunch. The girls had the last of the homemade pizza for “early” dinner after school and I stole a couple slices. Three of us had loaded potato soup and homemade bread for dinner. The other had quesadillas after rehearsal, I think.
Friday, I had leftover soup for brunch. The oldest had lunch after school (1/2 day) at baking club where they had a brownie baking competition. The youngest scrounged successfully. The oldest and I had a quick dinner out on the way to a show. The youngest ate at home with DH, although I think they had different things. I’ve been pointing out and thawing different things for my youngest, so there’s always been a couple of choices for her to heat up or cook.
We’ve had more social engagements and meetings this month that coincided with meals than usual, too. I will definitely be going into February. I think I’m also due to revamp my shopping routines. I did that almost 4 years ago when our oldest went to college. My middle will be gone this fall, so I might get a jump on simpler shopping. I don’t think I need to stock as much, since I’m out and about often enough to easily pop into a grocery store 2x/week.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/24/25
Jessica, that “to do” list made me tired and overwhelmed just watching on IG and reading it! But I’m glad you highlighted the Goat cheese pizza. I’ve got goat cheese in (where else?) the freezer and I had sun dried tomatoes in the pantry, if they’re still there. Now if i just had your sour dough crust, I’d be set! I may plan on that in a few days with a lowly plain crust. It looks and sounds so good.
B: I had a boiled egg and toast. DH had sausage from the freezer and toast.
L: made DH a meatball sandwich with meatballs from the freezer, the last hot dog bun in the freezer and cheese. He also had soup. I ate the last little piece of LO chicken and added soup.
D: thanks to Erin’s inspiration, I fixed spanakopita-with one substitution. I didn’t have any phyllo so I made do with part of an out of date can of crescent rolls. I rolled it thinly. I had feta and spinach and other needed ingredients. It tasted so good, though it would have been even better with phyllo. I then made another Greek salad which continues to hit the spot for both of us. I’ve been out of lettuce for quite some time now, but these other options have been good. We also had the leftover ramen salad. It wasn’t in keeping with the Mediterranean theme, but I wanted to keep eating it down. Lastly we had some of the cherries I’d bought at that good price. Since it was a meatless meal, I wasn’t sure if it would be enough for DH, but he was full and thought it all tasty too.
With the remaining rolls from the can, I rolled them out thinly too. I used some ham bits (still working on ham, Tasty!) from the freezer, a bit of broccoli from the depths of the freezer, some of the frozen mushrooms and onions. I made a sauce with Dijon mustard and mayo. I folded the dough over the filling. It was kind of like a calzone I guess when all was said and done. I baked it and we’ll have it sometime in the next couple of days.
Also made ham broth from several ham bones in the freezer. Using all kinds of veggies from the freezer and the pantry, made another pot of ham bone soup. Jessica, after you brought the Souper Cubes to our attention, I got a set for Christmas which I really like. Some went in those in the freezer.
We’ve still got lots of snow this morning. It’s so peaceful looking at it.
We’re in the short rows now with the challenge!
Heather M
Love your creativity with dinner and beyond here! Truly working within the challenge and having great outcomes! And, you kept quite busy in the kitchen. Impressive. I’m also on IG and try to post my dinners (and other minor triumphs) in stories, if you’re interested. heatherabm. Anyways, I hope you have a great weekend. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Thanks, I’ll look for you!
Allie from Ontario
T had hockey and as it is warming up these days (only -11 C yesterday) a friend & I have been doing the walk into our dam in the afternoons (we live on a river that is fed by a series of interconnecting lakes that originate in Algonquin Park). It takes roughly an hour in & out…people rave about the walk & the sight of the water coming over the dam it in the summer but honestly, that pales to how spectacular it is on a snowy, sunny day in January.
What we ate on Jan 24
Brunch – as planned, we each had a chunk of steak from the previous night. T sliced his up with the 2 leftover potato chunks and added chopped tomato & I sliced mine over romaine with the last of the blue cheese dressing.
Dinner – I made quesadillas with black beans (a can from the pantry with the rest going into the freezer), the meat from a mystery sausage from the freezer (maybe a very mild Italian? The sharpie on the bag was illegible), various diced hot peppers from the freezer, a smooth red salsa from the canning cupboard, chopped grape tomatoes from the freezer, a mix of cheeses & 2 large (“use me now”) flour tortillas. For dipping, I mixed up the last of the sour cream, chopped roasted jalapenos from the freezer and the end of a jar of home canned tomatillo salsa.verde. We also had a little salad on the side. They were very good and a big win for the pantry challenge especially as there is not a speck leftover 🙂
Happy & safe travels to all who are heading to warmer places over the next week !
Maureen
That sounds like a phenomenal day – both challenge related and the walk!
Heather M
Allie, you must live in the most beautiful place! That walk sounds glorious! And, those quesadillas also sound glorious! I’m starting to miss flavorful food…Maybe by monday I can be more adventurous again, just when you have to be careful post endodontist. Enjoy your weekend 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
What a great PC meal, that sounded so good while using up bits. Your walk sounds lovely. Chuckling at warming up and “only -11C”!
Allie from Ontario
Lynn!
I might have been smiling at bit on your behalf when I typed that 🙂 Since we both retired, every piece of “work worthy” clothing is gone…and has been replaced by all things outdoors….fleecy pants & upper layers for winter and shorts, dry fit shirts & cropped pants for the warmer seasons. We both do have 1 outfit suitable for both summer weddings & celebrations of life AND a different 1 for the same events for winter. It was very freeing to donate bags of stuff we were not going to wear again!
DIINAUS
Things have been topsy tuvy with back to school+ then heading away for work only to return home the 24th due to the looming cyclone that hit north qld Australia . Not sure when last posted .Before going Brought easy school food like bread and Crackers and stocked up on pasta,noodels and cornchips& watermelon so hubby could put easy meals on the table. Purposely used up all soft veg before I went away in an egg bake and veg chilli.
L:Id grabed an apple, avocado and nut bars for the flights home.
D:Got home to find family had not finished the egg bake so pared that with some mince and made a savoury mince rice noodels mash up for dinner yesterday and served it over cornchips as “anything ” nacho bowls. Its one of my go to meals that no matter what i put in it no one complains
. No idea what everyone else did when I was away. Mash up Was tasty and used up odds and ends so that was a win that that was not wasted. The Veg chilli I found hiding in the bottom of the fridge Was too old to be repourposed so that was dinner for the chooks again… trying really hard to not let good food get wasted… note to self freeze things in meal portions before travelling for work…least the chooks still laying and manure should help garden efforts.
Today was b: grated carrot and scrambled eggs.dh coffee
L: snacks Christmas cake,carrots sticks, Crackers.
D: another noodel savoury mince smash-up with pumpkin, onion, carrots
S: kids had chocchip cookies and fresh popcorn
Karen J
Breakfast-mcmuffins made at home
Late Lunch-smoked turkey/cheese sandwich
Snack-apple cake
I hosted ten women for Book Club. It’s customary to serve a dessert, decaf and tea (not a wine book club like my last one!) A friend had given me apples so I didn’t have to buy anything for making an apple cake. I did have to pick up some decaf coffee as we don’t ever drink that. Before buying I asked two friends if I could borrow some, but decaf doesn’t live at their homes either. So I went and bought those single serve instant ones. While at the store I found out that Peet’s coffee-fully caffeinated- was on sale for $6.99 (regular 14.99) if you bought two so I added that. That’s about the best price I’ve seen around here. Including the coffee I am still under $25 for the month. We are out of lots of basics so will have to pony up for at least eggs.
Jessica Fisher
The price of coffee has been crazy!! I remember when a Peets sale was $3.99/bag. Oy! Glad you got some while you could.
Karen J
My husband has been a good sport during pantry challenge but said the store brand coffee that had been languishing in the pantry just wasn’t cutting it. Peets is a treat but I would never pay $14.99!
Jessica Fisher
Peets helps mine get to work on many a day. He was a good sport and tried the store brand but decided Peets was worth the extra. We get the big bags of beans from Costco so it pencils out pretty well.
Kathryn M
Worked graveyard the night before so I had “breakfast” a 3 pm. Scrambled egg, bacon, toast. I finished the last of some key lime jelly I brought back from Florida in Sept.
My other meal ” dinner” was a fast food stop on the way home from errands. I was craving a hamburger and this was the first eating out I had done this month, so Freddys for a burger and onion rings was it.
Allie from Ontario
Jan 24
Brunch – I had zucchini cheddar soup from the freezer and a piece of toast. T has (as expected) a ham sandwich 🙂
Dinner – T wanted fish (not really my thing) so he grabbed a piece of haddock from the freezer (we have a “fish guy” and buy it by the box) and so I thawed a single serving container of stuffed shells. I made a romaine & red onion salad for both of us and emptied a bottle of Kraft Italian dressing (that T had purchased when I was away for a while) by dressing it up with yogurt, parmesan, balsamic, herbs & honey. That was a fridge jar win!
We are having people here for a dinner party tomorrow night and my plan includes lots of things that are already here. I will have to shop for a few things today BUT we got hit by heavy freezing rain last night and every set of steps/decks/walkways outside of all our doors is glare ice right now. Thankfully we keep buckets of sand at every door (live and learn!) but we are not going anywhere today for a while.
Heather M
Oh wow ice is the worst for sure. I hope your dinner party goes beautifully 🙂
Danielle Zecher
01/24/24:
Breakfast: Egg and cheese bagels with hot tea (for me) and homemade iced coffee (for Nick).
Lunch: I had leftover casserole from Monday night. Nick ended up working through lunch.
Dinner: We both worked late and ended up going out for Mexican food.
Tasty
January 24
B: hubby had granola, I had granola with yogurt and mixed berries.
L: tuna sandwiches
S: l/o pork from the night before, potato cakes and fried eggs.
Definitely not wasting anything and white space in the freezers just keeps showing up.
Lots of meat to keep going into February altho the choice is a bit more limited, but not impossible.. I’m even working thru the frozen veggies I have as back up. My stock of homemade ready meals is also dwindling – I don’t seem to have done a lot of cooking from scratch this month which is unusual but we’ve been fairly well fed and no complaints!
Heather M
Jan 24: I which I had my physical today and my iron is dropping again (thanks diagnosed—Feb 2023-way late for my age- Crohn’s disease), so more labs to see how bad, and need to send them to my IBD docs so they can hopefully get me approved for more iron infusions, sigh. Otherwise:
B: L skipped; I had a piece of toast with blackberry jam
L: L took a repeat of Tuesday except his fruit was blackberries and the last kiwi; I had a tuna sandwich, apple slices, and some chips
D: made what we were going to have last night, sheet pan dinner- jalapeño chicken sausages, roasted seasoned up broccoli and cauliflower, and roasted garlic potatoes. Last two potatoes, last of the huge cauliflower I bought for NYE crudités. Sausage and broccoli from the freezer.
The broccoli I blanched froze in September when we had to go out of town last minute. I’ve referred to that several times this month. My wonderful dad had a massive brain hemorrhage one afternoon in September and we flew out the next morning(I’m originally from San Diego). He initially survived it, but went into a deep coma and was soon on a ventilator. My brother and sister who live in Hawaii also flew in the njght we had arrived. My kids came on the Friday night. We were all with him when he passed away that Saturday. It really shook us all, as he was at this point super healthy and was supposed to have had a shoulder replacement surgery that following week, approved on by all his docs. I ended up staying with mom a full month. And we were all back in November when we had a celebration of life for him the weekend before thanksgiving. That day was the first day all my parents grandkids had been together ever. Anyways, 2023 was far from what I expected, on a lot of levels. Hoping for a much better 2024. 🙂
Tasty
Heather, I’m so sorry to read about your Dad. We’re never prepared for our parents to leave us. Glad you were able to spend the time with your mom – I’m sure she appreciated it. Asfor your health, I hope youare able to keep your illness under control. Take care of yourself.
Danielle Zecher
I’m so sorry about your dad. I hope 2024 is a much kinder, happier year for you. And I hope you get your iron levels up soon.
Krista
Why is it so hard to remember what we had for breakfast…. I’ll have to think a minute lol
B scrambled egg with cheese, bacon and cottage cheese
L Yogurt with frozen fruit, Perogies with the last of the mushrooms, sour cream and spices
D chili tater tot casserole, pizza
S chips, cake (from a cake mix and can frosting i had in pantry)
I FINALLY finished my large 3 freezer organizing project, that feels so good. Only took 4 days 🙂
Heather M
Yay for finishing the freezer project!! And remembering breakfast. Lol 😉
Krista
Thanks!
Jennifer
I too think I will be continuing this into February – at least for the meats. I definitely plan to only buy what we need or what is on deep discount for the immediate future. We have had changes in who lives at home over the past year and things are definitely sitting that never sat before. And I kept buying stuff not realizing it wasn’t getting eaten. This semi-empty nesting is weird.
B – homemade chocolate chip bread made last night with dinner, blackberries
L – I look leftover quesadilla, cucumbers, grapefruit and a yogurt drink, dh took leftovers and fruit, but I don’t know what they were
D – I made a large taco ring and used up 2 things of crescent rolls bought at Costco in November, along with a pack of ground beef. We have a good bit of leftovers too, I added fresh pepper and cucumber with it