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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Apparently, a year ago I also had a cold. sigh.
Tomorrow’s Bryan’s birthday and he and I are taking a vacation day around town. Since the boys have regular activities on Monday night, we did our big birthday dinner tonight. Sorry. No pics, though.
What We Ate
Breakfast – I made vegetable hash and fried eggs, but I’m not sure what the others had.
Lunch – Bryan and I went out to lunch, using a free rewards from Chipotle, so lunch for the two of us was just $10. The kids made sandwiches and ate up leftovers.
Dinner – I roasted poblano chiles and cooked a flat of chicken from the freezer to make 3.5 pans of enchiladas. Along with rice and beans, that was a yummy dinner. FishChick15 baked a delicious chocolate bundt cake with espresso chips. We ate half the cake already, but I’m not sure it will be here in the morning!
How was Day 28 for you?
Heather M
Jan 28: church and football. And eating the basic low fiber diet, specifically per my specialist IBD GI. Weird way to unofficially end the challenge since the colonoscopy is on Feb 1, but I’m planning to continue well into February because I am determined to clean out the freezer and get a handle on how much random stuff is in the cupboards and use a lot more up.
B: we both skipped
L: L skipped(his Sundays are quite busy and he’s rarely home until 5 since the new year started(in 2023 he started earlier and ended closer to 3); I found a package of 97% fat free beef hot dogs buried in the freezer so it’s getting attention now. I sliced and cooked up one and scrambled eggs with it. Then had laughing cow cheese on ritz crackers.
D: it was all football all the time so I didn’t want to spend any time in the kitchen. L finished the leftover pizza pasta salad and I finished the leftover white rice. We both had the rest of the open package of fish sticks from the freezer and some garlic bread also from the freezer. Heavy on the refined carbs but that’s the way it goes for a few more days.
Tasty
January 28
B: breakfast at the curling club in support of a fundraiser for a
new hospital – sausages, pancakes and baked beans.
L : chicken fingers
S: a repeat of our cheese and tomato omelets from the other day
We will be heading out soon on vacation so using up what is in the fridge!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Tasty, is this when you sometimes head south, down my way? Seems like one year you went to SC?
Jennifer
Catching up from the weekend. We went to an indoor farmers market and I got syrup, eggs and apples
Saturday
B – chocolate chip muffins and fruit
L – leftovers for dh and I had yogurt, grapefruit, granola bar
D – we went out for Mexican to celebrate my dd graduating from esthetician school
Sunday
B – dh and ds had leftover muffins, I had yogurt and sausage
S coffee date, I also had a scone
L – I made peanut butter oat balls to snack on and dh had leftovers and I also had a muffin and grapefruit
D – I was gone all afternoon unexpectedly helping my dd pick up her new dog so we ordered pizza and sliced up veggies
I also took dd grocery shopping. So I’m saving money at the store only to spend it on my kids. I guess that is the way it works with young adults
Lynn from NC Outer Bankd
Jennifer, yes I think so! Now that I’ve got a granddaughter in the mix, I find it brings me much more joy to spend on her than me! When we have made gifts to our grown kids, I’ve said it was partly due to my frugality in the grocery store, and that is really true!
Heather M
Oh the amount of $$ spent on the young adults……
Lynn from NC Outer Bankd
Jennifer, congrats to your daughter!
Not sure what happened to my comment again, but just wanted to say YES, that’s how it is with young adults. And now that I have a granddaughter, I way more enjoy spending on her than myself! When we’ve made gifts to our “kids” I’ve said it’s partly due to my frugality when grocery shopping, which is true!
Danielle Zecher
I’m catching up here since I didn’t post over the weekend.
Friday (1/26/24) –
Breakfast – Drive-thru on the way to work.
Lunch – I had tuna and crackers. Nick snacked on some stuff at work.
Dinner – Chicken (from the freezer) cooked in the crock pot with salsa verde and taco seasoning, with sour cream (that was quickly approaching its expiration date) and cilantro added at the end. Served with yellow rice (for some unknown reason, we have two giant Sam’s Club containers of this!) and cucumber/black bean salad. I also made a boxed mix Reese’s coffee cake that was approaching its use by date.
Sat (1/27/24)
Breakfast: I woke up feeling terrible (sinus thing) so went back to bed. Nick had cereal.
Lunch: I think Nick had leftovers. I had some cereal around noon, and some hot tea.
Dinner: We ordered pizza and had some of the Reese’s coffee cake.
Sun (1/28/24)
Breakfast: McDonald’s. My throat was still hurting, and I really wanted their tea.
Lunch: Leftover pizza and Reese’s cake.
Dinner: Crock pot roast beef French dip sliders, mac & cheese, and three bean salad. We also had more of the Reese’s cake.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Your crock pot meals sound delish. It’s one appliance I couldn’t do without. I got a small spring form pan for Christmas and plan to try making Jessica’s crockpot cheese cake for my mother’s upcoming birthday.
Danielle Zecher
I think we’d starve without the crock pot! I have four in different sizes and I use them all often enough to absolutely justify the space they take.
The cheesecake is on my list of things to try. I hope your mom enjoys it for her birthday.
Kathryn M
B – muffins
Lunch – homemade pizza. used some of the leftover jarred spaghetti sauce and whatever appropriate veggies I could find in the fridge. I diced up a little pepperoni onto the pizza too.
Dinner – I made chili/cheese dogs. I had the hotdogs in the freezer but had to dash out to buy buns. There was not enough chili to really make a meal so that was my solution to use it up. I had a bag of jalepeno chips out of my snack box.to go with mine,
Snacks – nuts and bagel chips
Kimberly
I am pinning that Medicine ball tea to my recipes!
Saturday and Sunday were fairly successful here! Did pick up Chick-fil-A Saturday night between kids basketball games and trying to get downtown in time for a professional lacrosse game (Christmas gift), but better and cheaper than stadium food!
b- variety of cereal, eggs and avocade toast, poptarts
l- leftovers, sandwiches, fruit, cheese and crackers (almost all holiday crackers eaten now), eggs
d- fancied up a frozen pizza with Italian seasoning and cream cheese chunks (if you haven’t had cream cheese on pizza, you have to try it!), stone soup with lo country style ribs and all kinds of random veggie bits from fridge and& freezer- I was a bit nervous but it was the best stone soup I have made!, muffins using lo cranberry sauce- also so good!
Desserts- ice cream, TimTams, candy from Halloween & Christmas
Maureen
We’ve done well with some planned leftovers to make some nights easier…chicken tacos stretched to nachos the second time, daughter asked for leftover rice in the freezer to make fried rice, etc. We baked up a tray of cookies from dough frozen at Christmas – there’s enough for another tray this week, then it will be gone. I cleaned out the fridge and used up a few little bits that were in there.
We have SOOOO MANY crackers in the house from the holidays. I need to start snacking on them in various ways (chicken salad, PB&J, etc). And there are a ton of things (mostly smaller) in the freezers that I haven’t gotten to, so I’ll be working on those through February.
I’m extremely happy with how little I’ve shopped this month. I have been pretty careful about what’s come into the house, which is helpful, but I’ve also saved a lot of time by not running to the store. I look forward to continuing that for a few more weeks.
Heather M
lol I am with you and all the crackers. So many crackers to eat up. Will be doing the same as you. 🙂
Jennifer
Saturday – I went to the grocery store – spent about $50 on us. Spent $75 on groceries for my ds and his girlfriend – they are flat broke and have covid and haven’t been able to work. I got them easy foods like pizza, nuggets, bagels and cream cheese, sandwich stuff, soup, breakfast burritos as well as OJ, oranges, strawberries and potatoes. I cleaned out my snack cabinet of things that were just sitting now that we only have 1 adult child at home. They were grateful when we dropped it off.
B – I made a fried egg sandwich on 1 piece of toast and finished the last of the bacon. Ds had pancakes, dh had bagel and cream cheese
L – dh had leftovers I had yogurt and fruit
D – I went out with a friend – 3 nights in a row I ate out, but that will stop now, just a weird set of circumstances, dh had lacrosse and ate leftovers at 9 pm
Heather M
I totally get the purchases for your son and his gf. We are in the same stage of life as you are, with young adult children. We do whatever we can to help, too. I hope they recover soon and well. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’m sure your meals and snacks were appreciated by your son and gf. Hope they will recover soon and can resume their lives. With my 2 now adult children who live out of town, I always arrive with food in tow. They look forward to the “Meals on Wheels” that Mom brings and sometimes have special requests!
Danielle Zecher
I hope you’re feeling better. I love your Medicine Ball Tea. 🙂
Breakfast: We were both working (me from home, Nick at a different place for a side job) which isn’t usual for Saturday. Nick got drive-thru on the way. I skipped. And finished one of the projects w/ a looming deadline! 🙂
Lunch: The place Nick was working bought lunch. I got Panera.
Dinner: Black Bean & Chicken Quesadillas.
I’m hoping there will be a comment section for those of us continuing the Pantry Challenge into February to keep up. I feel like that’s when I’ll really be starting in earnest.
Heather M
Yay for finishing a project!!
Stephanie M.
Saturday, January 28, 2023
B – I had a yogurt parfait.
L – we both had turkey sandwiches.
D – grilled pork chops, air fried potatoes, roasted broccoli, and stuffed clams.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Cheesecake. Yum. I didn’t get a small springform pan for Christmas like I had hoped, but I am going to go buy one so I can try your crock pot cheesecake recipe. It looks so good in your posts. It sounds less hands on, which is a good thing for me.
Jan 28
B: cinnamon toast, DH shake
L: made some chicken salad with 2 roasted chicken tenders from the freezer supplemented by a can of chicken I had in the pantry. Used 1 precious boiled egg in the mixture. We both had this-me in a pita (freezer), DH on ww bread. Had bean soup made from a ham hock and a couple of ham slices from the freezer. Used a mix of dried beans. It hit the spot.
D: Garlic lemon chicken thighs (thighs from freezer that I deboned), LO rice pilaf, LO 3 bean salad. Orange supremes
S: made a mini charcuterie board with nuts, raisins, cheese and crackers and pepperoni from the freezer
Heather M
You’re really getting creative and making such yummy sounding food! love it!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Oh thanks, Heather! I think this year’s challenge has been easier because I had so.much.food! And though I’ve made some room, I’ve still got LOTS of food to head into February. In the past, I’ve run out of fresh and frozen produce towards the end. This year, for some reason, I seemed to have been better stocked. I’ve missed a few things like broccoli, so will pick up some of that come Feb. Maybe it was not having 30 packages of shredded cheese in the freezer like my first year, so more room for frozen veggies 🙂 LOL.
ZC from MA
B: The usual–overnight oats with flax milk, almond butter and blueberries, coffee
L: chicken and chestnut stew, brown rice, microwaved kale
D: carrot soup, Trader Joe’s Japanese style fried rice
S: an apple, some grapes
I got groceries today for the next 2 weeks and did a bit of meal prep – one goal I have for February is to eat more plant protein, and this time I made kale and chickpea soup. I did cheat a little by adding chicken broth that I made using split breasts. I got those on sale (also usually cheaper than boneless chicken breast in the stores I shop), separated / froze the meat and used bones for broth. Also salvaged a cup of shredded meat from the bones afterwards, which will work well in a noodle salad.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I like to buy the bone in/split chicken breasts when they are on sale too. I sometimes roast them whole. Or, like you, I debone them and make my own boneless skinless chicken breasts, at a much better price. I’ve done this for a while, but it’s only been recently that I realized the part that is the chicken “tender”. So now I separate that out too. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!
I’ve never cooked at all with chestnuts. I have a friend from ME and she always buys chestnuts (from Williams Sonoma I think) in the fall to make chestnut dressing/ stuffing at Thanksgiving. I remember long, long ago that there were chestnut vendors in NYC, but I never tasted them. I’m intrigued!
Tasty
Saturday January 28th
B – Hubby had his usual, I found some blueberries in the freezer so berries, yogurt and granola with a muffin. Made some more muffins (A spoonful of cherry jam in each) in the morning as we only had 2 left.
L – an old favourite of beans on toast
S – stuffed chicken breast ( from the freezer), potato casserole – used up some bacon from the fridge and the last of a block of cheese and the last green onions – and a salad using greens, cranberries, blue cheese and almonds
Emily
I’m glad the challenge is coming to an end, in fact I’m ending it Monday in order to do a big restock shop. It will be nice to have some healthier meals instead of whatever happens to be in the house. I did manage to use a lot of things that have been sitting around for to long but somehow we still have loads of candy and chocolate, we’re still eating through the Halloween candy!
B- gf buckwheat blueberry pancakes I had made and put into the freezer.
L- leftover French onion soup, a Mandarin and some chocolate.
D- burgers and onion rings. I had a beyond burger everyone else ate beef burgers.
Sarah
Big snow here so Thursday we looked around and said nah we are good on groceries which was a big deal. There’s a few pantry staples that we used up making a last batch of GF chocolate chip cookies (cup4cup is the best GF flour blend ever).
We had tacos on Wednesday so I used the rest of the taco filling for snow day nachos yesterday. Very good!
B: coffee w/ cream + yogurt
L: nachos w/ leftover taco filling topped with the last southwest salad kit.
D: Freezer meal: GF chicken tenders + fries and cauliflower w/ cheddar sauce. BF had leftover soup.
S: dried dates with pb
Heather M
Happy Birthday Bryan!
Had a package of teriyaki meatballs(purchased in Dec at Costco) that needed using or freezing by Jan 31, so I opted to use them and that is a win for the freezer which still is too full to restock how I want to restock it. Clearly will be working on it into February before the restock.
B: banana oat chocolate chip muffins
L: he had the rest of the beef pad kee mao; I had tuna in whole grain pitas
D: teriyaki meatball soup, with lots of veggies(celery, carrots, zucchini, spinach, green onions) – I created this on the fly and it turned out pretty yummy! and pan con tomate ( a favorite- just toasted bread with either chopped tomato or sliced beefsteaks with olive oil and garlic- given beefsteaks aren’t in season, I chopped a few smaller tomatoes and let them marinate in the olive oil and garlic/salt for a bit)
Stephanie M.
January 28
B – Paul had toast and yogurt. I had yogurt parfait.
L – Paul had the last of the pasta e fagioli. I had the last of the leftover macaroni, the last of the leftover marinara that was in the fridge from the chicken parm I made several days ago and the last three turkey meatballs from the freezer.
D – Paul had the last di journo pizza from the freezer and I had overnight oatmeal.
So the east coast had a big snow storm come through and as of now, we have about 8 inches.
Julie T
B-maple nut oatmeal (oatmeal with walnuts and maple syrup), coffee and OJ
L-I went to see my dad and hubby went to see his mom (opposite directions). I picked up a couple of tacos. He had a burger.
D-We weren’t very hungry so we had popcorn while we watched the Wild hockey game.
Brats are thawed out in the refrigerator. They will be tonight’s dinner.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Julie T, time got away before I could comment on you saying you lived in Minnesota with those frigid temperatures. I knew a guy in college that was from Minnesota. He told me way back when how cold it was there, and I think he was in northern Minnesota. He totally enjoyed our warmer weather here in NC while in school. I’ve experienced single digits a couple of times and that was cold enough for me. Can’t imagine below zero. Shivers.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/28/22
Happy birthday to Bryan!
B: Made banana (freezer) pancakes, and blueberry (freezer) pancakes. Used up some oats as well. Had bacon with additional options of avocado toast, eggs, fruit, smoothies. Everyone ate the pancakes and bacon.
L: minestrone, HM bread, HM pimento cheese from pimento canned this summer
D: Well, my turkey dinner is put off until tomorrow. Everyone was wanting oysters and when we checked with restaurants, most will be closed tomorrow due to weather, so I’ll put off the turkey til tomorrow. We went out to eat (talked wedding plans 🙂 and enjoyed the local seafood.
Tasty
Wishing Bryan a great birthday!
Friday January 28th
B- hubby made oatmeal ( need to buy more grapefruit and pineapple), I had an apple, a pear and a slice of toast and marmalade.
L – pea soup with corn muffins. Yes, I made up the rest of the corn muffins that were out of date – they are now filling some of the once empty spaces in the freezer!
S – ham, leek and mushroom pie with broccoli. I found a small raspberry loaf in the freezer, to go with coffee after supper.
All told, a good day for the freezers!