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 28 of the Pantry Challenge!
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What We Ate
Breakfast – I made Zucchini and Sweet Potato Hash to have with eggs.
Lunch – We used up leftovers. Since it’s been very chilly in the house, I turned yesterday’s broccoli into Super Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup. Also toasted the last of the sourdough bread to eat with it.
Dinner – There were English muffins to get eaten, so I made English Muffin Pizzas and a salad.
How was Day 28 for you?
Maureen
My oldest got lunch at school even though it was a 1/2 day. The youngest snacked when she got home. And I had leftovers for brunch. We grabbed a mid afternoon light meal out between appointments with the promise that dinner would be a clean out the fridge affair. I also popped two older bags of microwave popcorn for snacking.
Kathy in Denmark
I feel like this part of the challenge is always hard for me. Maybe it’s because we are back to all the activities for the kids and I am gearing up for DD2’s birthday on the 4th.
Anyway, I haven’t been able to post, but I have written our dinners down, so I could share them 🙂
Day 21: Buddha bowls with LO hummus, Falafel or veggie kebab plus whatever veggies and couscous I had in the fridge.
I love this meal and often have something like it for lunch. DD1 has requested it in her packed lunch as well, and whenever we have the ingredients, I pack it for her 🙂
Day 22: Veggie burgers and chips (fries) from the freezer.
We had the annual PT conference for DD2, so an easy meal was great, and it used up the last 4 HM burgers from the freezer and some hamburger buns which needed to be eaten.
Day 23: Rye bread with toppings. I made HM fish nuggets and DD1 I thought they were good, but DD2 didn’t like them. Sigh. I made nuggets with the fish for her sake, next time I’ll just steam the fish with some veggies.
Day 24: HM nachos. DH and DD1 made dinner, while I rested. I didn’t feel well, so it was good that they could do it. They used the last of the HM chilli beans, so a new batch was made a few days later. We are now set 🙂
Day 25: Spanish tortilla with bread and salad. So good!
Day 26: Veggie lasagne with salad and HM bread. I made two lasagne, only baking one that night. I had some ricotta that needed to go, so I added that to the béchamel sauce. It worked fine, even though the sauce wasn’t quite as smooth as normal.
Day 27: Indian inspired stew with brown rice. I had some LO vegetarian stew in the freezer, which I thawed for DH. I had thawed a pork loin, and I roasted part of it whole and cut up the rest and used in the stew. I also used a tikka masala kit from the freezer and the last bit of tikka masala spice mix from the cupboard. Very good and no one complained about the brown rice, so now I am going to serve more of that!
Day 28: I baked up the other lasagne and served it with mixed salad and bread again. I have choir practise at 7 pm on Tuesdays, so it was nice to have an easy meal.
Breakfast and lunches are about the same as usual, although I am trying to get in the habit of eating chia pudding some times. I actually really like it, it’s healthy and filling and it stretches the quite expensive Greek yoghurt.
Heather M
Hi Kathy, glad to hear you’re still plugging along. I too am having a harder time right now with the challenge, but doing the best I can. Sounds like you are too. Your dinners the past week and even making more chili beans and a double batch of lasagna, that’s so great. I’ve also been making chia pudding with greek yogurt this past year! It’s great, though I haven’t made any yet this month! Probably in February. Hope you’re doing well.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Kathy, you’re still working the challenge tho you haven’t post as frequently. That’s still a win! Your meals sound great and as Heather pointed out, you are already ahead with extra meals and beans.
Kathy in Denmark
Thank you for the encouragement, Heather and Lynn.
I guess I just didn’t feel like it was going too well, but at least we are eating and I am using things up, although my freezer is still quite full! I will use quite a few things from it for DD2’s birthday brunch, ie. bake from frozen croissants, frozen hash browns etc.
Hope you can eat whatever you want again soon, Heather!
Tasty
Day 28
B: hubby had granola and a yogurt, I finished the pears with yogurt and granola.
L: cheese and crackers
S: spaghetti bolognese
Pretty slim pickings here, not that we are short of food, the freezers still offer lots of options but I really would rather not start something new!! Even without trying, the coffee is almost empty. I think there is enough to make a pot after supper tonight (29th) and. one more in the morning before we head out. The plan is to have burgers – open pack – tonight and I had to buy buns. Can’t make just 2 and there is only about 4″ left of a French loaf.
Heather M
Sounds like you’ve done really well getting fridge cleaned out before your travels! That’s awesome. I hope you have a great time in warmer places, Tasty 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Tasty, sounds like you planned it all perfectly with your upcoming trip. Enjoy your time in our neighboring southern state!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/29/25
Oh you Canadians and anyone else with snow, be careful! Just reading about your “adventures “ makes me nervous for you all.
Tasty, you’ve done well to be leaving your empty fridge before your trip.
B: cottage cheese and peaches , tea
L: a Siggi’s protein yogurt pack? It was a freebie and I took it with me. I felt kind of silly drinking/slurping from the pouch at my age, but it was convenient as I consumed it while driving. Added an apple also.
D: got home in time for dinner and to many of the leftovers I’d made for DH before I left. I think we’re good for lunches and a few dinners maybe.
We’re almost to the end!
Tasty
Glad to say Lynn that we are in the very south of Ontario and have just had a dusting of snow. No 3 feet for us, thank goodness. I do feel for those who have had that amount. Lots of strong winds here, but nothing we can’t cope with.
Erin in Ontario
Another storm yesterday – the forecast had said light snow only in the evening, but a full howler kicked in mid morning and didn’t let up until the early hours today. We got about 3 feet of snow all told.
My husband had to drive through the blizzard to pick up our daughter at work in the next town, so he ended up dropping the teenager off with our other son and his family so he could still get to martial arts, but had to sleep at their house. I collected him this morning when dropping our daughter off again.
Anyway, on to food:
Breakfast was whatever anyone made for themselves. We had workers in for a reno, so I didn’t actually see any of what was eaten, and I forgot to eat some myself.
Lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches or veggies and hummus.
Dinner was a beef stew that I had cooking all afternoon. It made the house feel cozy instead of just feeling isolated 🙂 It was eaten with hm baguettes dunked into it and cleared a nice piece of freezer real estate.
Hoping everyone has a great Jan 29th!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
3 FEET! Eyes popping!
Erin in Ontario
Lynn I’m giggling over here! 3 feet is not uncommon in northern Ontario, especially in the boonies like we are with very little windblock between pastures.
That being said, if I had my way it’d be 28C with a light breeze and sunny all year round!
Allie from Ontario
I am a few days behind due to my dental issues (which are not over yet – another 1.5 hour in the chair this am but at least it is at my own dentist). Monday’s drive to the specialist involved the crazy winds/blowing snow that Erin has described…big snow drifts across the highways along the straight, open stretches. I am now waiting to call the office to confirm this am because heavy snow overnight has cancelled all the school busses here.
What we ate on…..
Jan 26
Brunch – we both had the leftover pasta bake.
Dinner – I thawed 2 chicken thighs to make crispy chicken (in the airfryer) for sandwiches using a perpetual jar of crumbs, currently heavy on the cheesy crackers (ie Ritz, cheetos that I buy in little snackpacks at the gas station + any other “ends of cracker boxes” that I grind up). This makes great cumbs for chicken. We topped them with lettuce & the end of a jar of burger sauce T likes. I also finished off the fresh broccoli in an old school broccoli salad.
Jan 27
Brunch – nothing for me due to food/drink restrictions & T ate during his city errand run while I was in the chair.
Dinner – I managed some yogurt late afternoon & had a bit of tomato soup from the freezer later. T cooked a box of wings from the freezer, eating 1/2 with the leftover broccoli salad.
Jan 28
T finished his wings with some sliced tomato for brunch and then for dinner had a burger/bun (freezer) with the rest of his tomato, lettuce & the last dill pickle (I am saving the brine to marinate chicken fingers when I am back on solids)
I was on yogurt & freezer soup all day (finishing yesterday’s and then having broc & cheese later).
This is not the blazing finish to the challenge I had envisioned but at least we will see a big impact on our freezers!
Jan 28
Erin in Ontario
Allie – just a heads up that the weather gods have just issued another storm warning starting this afternoon at the latest, so depending on when your appointment is supposed to be you might want to reschedule if you can.
Heather M
OH gosh the timing of terrible weather and your dental appts. Glad you at least have had yummy soups to enjoy. Can relate to not feeling the blazing finish you’d hoped for this month. At least I know what I need to use up in the cupboards still. The freezer is more manageable, too. Hope you’re home and cozy and that your mouth isn’t bothering you too much.
Stephanie M
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
B – Paul had overnight oatmeal with yogurt. I had overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and a side of peanuts.
L – Paul had the last bag of Italian sausage soup from the freezer and the last slice of bread that we made on Saturday. He also had one of the puddings he made on Saturday. I had a roast beef sandwich with red onions, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat.
In the afternoon I had some cherries and almonds.
D – fish tacos and rice and beans and cucumber salad using the last cucumber.
Diinaus
Mad rush to get out the door.
L: carrots,apples,jam sandwich using up the jam stash. (Once the weather cools a little will find ways to bake with it) kids normally eat it down through winter with rice porridge.
D: made fritters using lo risotto, grated carrot and pumpkin. Served with last of lettuce and a tin of beetroot and a small bag of grated pizza cheese.
Kathryn M
lunch – soup
Dinner – ravioli
Midnight snack – took the other mini pizza out of the freezer. I was starving after work for some reason. I did burn a lot of calories at work.
Other snacks – potato chips, rice crispy treats, candy
Karen J
Breakfast-kielbasa, eggs and hashbrowns We generally have a big breakfast on Sunday and read the Sunday papers, which aren’t like they used to be. I am showing my age.
Lunch Starbucks mochas BOGO
Dinner-ribs from the freezer (the pre barbequed sauce kind that you just heat up), baked potatoes, peas and rolls
A pretty much relaxing Sunday. I think I stayed home all day.
Kathy in Denmark
So, I had a bit of crazy week and didn’t post anything! I just finished reading all the posts and comments, and I just want to say to everyone of you who are struggling: you are in my thoughts!
We are plugging along with the challenge, and even though I have been shopping for groceries, my bank account tells me that I am under budget this month 🙂
In no particular order, I have made:
– HM sourdough pizzas and pizza rolls with the LO dough
– Another lasagne with the leftover veggie bolognaise and béchamel sauce
– Pan fried sliced pork belly with potatoes, carrots and parsley sauce
– Tortillas with HM refried beans, salsa and salad fixings
– snacky dinners a few times
– rye bread topped with different odds and ends from the fridge
I hope to post the entire menu from each day the last few days of the challenge 😉
Allie from Ontario
Jan 28
Brunch – we split the leftover stew from Thursday night and each had a “parmesan- garlic butter” dinner roll. I had thawed whole milk to make them for Friday’s party and then made them on Saturday since the milk was thawed anyways and I find making bread to somehow be very therapeutic.
Dinner – I made some meatballs with ground beef + mild Italian sausage meat + parmesan & lots of fresh herbs and thawed 2 different marinaras I made from the garden in the fall. I put blobs of ricotta around the pan, added some more parm, ran it under the broiler and then added some pesto to garnish. It was very good.
Yesterday was a “rescue day” for a tub of ricotta & some fresh herbs that needed to be used. Some of both went into dinner and I also made a bunch of stuffed shells which I freeze “unsauced” so I can pull out a few at a time & make a super small pan just for the 2 of us. There is still ricotta left…sigh.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/28
Happy birthday to Bryan. So glad you are finally better so you could enjoy and celebrate his day.
B DH had a shake. I had oatmeal with raisins and walnuts. I bought 10 lbs of oats when I went to Sam’s club with my mother a while back. What was I thinking?? For 2 people?! Anyway, I’m “ down” to 5#. That’s one of the reasons I recently made oatmeal choc chip cookies-to help use them up!
L made pimento cheese with pimento I canned last spring and chunk cheese in the fridge, which we had on sandwiches with raw veggies
S as expected, DH wanted chicken wings for the football playoffs. But he declined to buy pizza when I said I was going to make pizza for dinner
D made regular pizza for him and Jessica’s goat cheese pizza for me. After I found goat cheese in the fridge that I previously used in a salad, I wanted to try her pizza, using the leftover cheese. I only had dried sun dried tomatoes so I julienned them and soaked them in olive oil. They did great and remained soft and chewy. It was a delicious pizza. I added a bit of hm pesto to part of it and it was good too. I made do with some things, truly a PC meal. I found 2 dried up garlic cloves that were almost like powder that I used. Then my onion was sprouting. I’ll use the sprouts as green onions in another recipe and used the good part for the pizza. Even with the substitutions it was really good.
I was hoping not to shop the rest of the month, but we’re about out of coffee and several things I need for dear granddaughter’s birthday are on sale til tomorrow, so I’ll probably shop then which will be the first time since the beginning of the month. Being gone a week certainly made that possible. But unless there are really good deals, I’m not buying! I’m liking my empty spaces!
Julie
My family eats about 100 lbs of thick cut rolled oats a year. ? So 10 lbs sounds small but I know every family is different!