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 30 of the Pantry Challenge!
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We’re almost at the end of the challenge. The month went by quickly, didn’t it?!
What We Ate
Breakfast – Leftover Zucchini and Sweet Potato Hash with fried eggs
Lunch – Big salads with chicken
Dinner – I found a random bag of Italian sausage in the freezer drawer and made Minestrone Soup with Sausage. No tortellini, but added small pasta.
How did Day 30 go for you?
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jessica, in rereading your post, I checked out your zucchini sweet potato hash. Guess what I found in the freezer? Small package of sliced zucchini. I have plenty of sweet potatoes left so I think this will be in one of my upcoming meals. Used all of my mushrooms in the pasta dish, but think I can still make do. Looking forward to trying it. Thanks for the recipe.
Also, as I rummaged around in my pantry, I came across 2 jars of morello cherries. They were an impulse buy. I was in the Dollar Tree a while back, when items were still a dollar. This gentleman pointed the cherries out and remarked to me that $1 was a good price for them. I had no idea what they cost, but bought 2 jars based on his comment. It’s 24 ounces. They’ve stayed in the pantry as I didn’t know what to fix with them. I have since found a recipe I will try when I next fix a dessert. Out of curiosity, I checked Amazon’s price. I know they are not always the cheapest, but their price for 24 oz of the same brand, was $15!! Oh goodness- that $2 WAS a good price. I’ll make a cobbler or pie with them.
Stephanie M
Hi Lynn. I’ve made this recipe so many times. It’s delicious.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
All the comments agreed! Thanks for an additional thumbs up!
Karen J
Lynn, did you see my sweet potato hash comment from way back in 2015? Lots of Jessica’s recipes are family favorites.
We are back home tomorrow from Arizona so I will be back in pantry challenge mode. Although I will have to do a shop to pick up some basics.
Jessica Fisher
Love it! It’s really good in quesadillas!
Heather M
Oh my goodness that price difference is wild! I hope you make a most delicious cherry dessert!! Also, this type of thing–all those truly random things in the cupboards, is what I need to work on. In fact, based on how things are going right now, I don’t know that I’m going to try to really clear things out right now. Maybe grabbing things are really good prices is a better move until we see how things go in the next few months (it’s so all over the place day to day, hour to hour…). But I can still keep with the spirit of this by doing what I need to do–use up those languishing items I don’t what to do with and have no idea why/how I have them.
Kathryn M
Brunch – yogurt, banana bread
Dinner – soup
Snacks – Reese’s candy and a bag of chips from the work vending machine, soda
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/30/25
B:I had whole wheat toast with a tad of peanut butter, coffee and an orange. Not sure what DH ate.
L: dh finished the 1/2 cup of chili as his “starter”. I then made him some pork nachos. I had cooked down the meat with seasonings and put it in the freezer. I used chips, the pork, LO black beans, cheese and then sour cream, avocado and salsa. For me I used the same ingredients minus the chips to make a cauliflower rice bowl. It hit the spot for both of us.
D: I had a great PC meal for dinner. I ran across an interesting ziti recipe from Southern Living that called for spinach. I had some leftover from the soup I made earlier and had the other ingredients as well, so decided to make it. I cooked my usual cauliflower with the noodles. It called for meatballs (I had just a few leftover and used up) which I quartered, pepperoni which I had in the freezer. I had the sauce in the pantry. I used the last of my frozen mushrooms. It didn’t call for ricotta which many recipes for ziti used. I had some, so I put a dollop in there. It was very good! We ate half and the other half will be eaten to close out the month. I added LO cabbage and a handful of cherries to round out the meal.
S: I got a little hungry before dinner so had a cup of ham bone soup from the freezer as an appetizer. I had a couple of chips later.
My DH did say this morning that he felt our breakfast choices were slim pickings. (We still have toast, eggs, oatmeal and pancake options)?? He is requesting that I buy some Greek yogurt, which I have missed this last week too. So that will be on my list when I next shop. I was also delighted to see that the lean, Springer farms chicken burgers are on sale this week. I can get them for $1.50#, which is a stock up price. So that will be on my list come February as well.
Erin in Ontario
Lynn, your cauliflower rice bowl sounds delicious! I also love that you made such a smart pasta meal with all the bits you had.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Both were good. That’s the nice thing about Mexican-so flexible with ingredients, like your Tex Mex rice. Always so good! I would not have thought to add spinach to a meat ziti, but it was perfect to use up that and some other bits.
Your day did sound busy with kids and grandkids! No wonder you needed a nap:)
Erin in Ontario
A belated happy birthday to Bryan and safe travels to Tasty!
Yesterday was a busy one. I got my youngest grandchild off to daycare and my daughter off to work (we’re down to one car at the moment until a large repair is made on the other one), then I took my teenager and a teenage grandchild out for “breakfast” – I had eggs and homefries with toast, they both ate massive burgers and fries. It was a ton of fun. Dropped them off at my oldest son’s house so they could hang out some more since it was a day off school.
By the time I got home, I was so full and sleepy that I ended up reading with my eyes shut for a good two hours, much to my husband’s amusement, so I have no idea what he ate for lunch.
Did a pile of laundry and other housework while husband went to pick up our daughter and grab groceries. They had had plans to pick themselves up a frozen pizza, but apparently there had been a weather related power outage in that town and so they got home empty handed.
I threw together a spicy Tex Mex rice and beans, which we ate with salsa, sour cream, guac and whatever else we found bits of in the fridge. It turned out absolutely delicious, so not a bad way to wrap up our day at all.
Heather M
Love that you got a nap in! And, three cheers for getting that rice and beans dish together! I bet it was so good!
Stephanie M
Thursday, January 30, 2025
B – Paul had scrambled eggs, the last hash brown from the freezer, whole wheat toast, and turkey sausage. I had bran cereal bananas and blueberries and a side of peanuts.
L – Paul had a roast beef sandwich on whole wheat and the last of the chips. I had a Mediterranean salad with a slice of whole wheat toast.
D – Asian salmon, white rice, cucumber salad, using up the last of the salmon from the freezer.
Jennifer
B – oatmeal and sausage for me
L – leftovers for dh, snacky lunch for me
D – french toast and bacon, sliced peppers
krista
Yes, I will continue as well. My stock is getting down, but could stil go another couple weeks.
B bacon, egg, cheeses on sourdough, I added avacado
L got a major blast from the past. A while ago hubs requested I get one of thoe pizza kit in a box items, we haven’t had that in 20 years, but I made that all the time when we were first married ( 34 years this sept). We were tired of LO’s so I made that! Immediately after opening the box I remembered that smell :). It was good, and still have half left. I don’t recall there being 2 in the box, but a lot has happened in 20 years.
D fish sandwiches using the rest of the Hawaiian buns from freezer
S HM yogurt mixed with powdered peanut butter I found in our stash, and mini frozen fruit bites, hubs had ice cream
krista
I mean the mix made 2 pizzas, but I only made half the package, so still enough left for 1 more pizza.
Kathryn M
I kinda cheated and resupplied at the food rescue yesterday while I volunteered. It was refreshing to get something new into the house though.
Lunch – while volunteering I nibbled on a deli sandwich, pirate booty, and a reeses cup candy.
Dinner I brought home a home chef beef enchilada individual meal and rather than sticking it in the freezer, I just microwaved it for dinner.
Snacks – had to try out some mochi ice cream that I got at the food rescue. ate 2 broken cookies too. (another volunteer wanted to throw a bunch of broken cookies away so I got 2 individual ones and 4 giant gingerbread kid kits. Not moldy just broken so I don’t know why she was so keen on getting rid of them….)
Karen J
One day left-it’s gone fast!
Breakfast-poached eggs, toast, and the last of the breakfast sausage
Lunch-Panera with a gift card-my treat to myself after spending the morning volunteering in both grandkids’ classes. Great fun, but glad I am retired!
Dinner-husband was out with his guy group, I had leftover jambalaya and rice krispie treats. I made a half batch to use up marshmallows and cereal
I looked at the grocery ads for the first time yesterday, getting ready for a small shop on the 1st. Several BOGO offers on meat. We’re down to a few shrimp, a couple of chicken breasts and lots of various sausage so I will take a look at that.
Allie from Ontario
Last day of January! Jessica, I sincerely hope the tests give you answers and that you do start feeling better. And again – huge thanks for “hosting” this. This has made me look closely at my one big shopping issue – what I call my “pandemic shopping hangover” which is the need to do one GIANT shop far less often which leads to overbuy as I don’t want to have to go back for a while. This also leads to “while am I am here” purchases. While I do appreciate being able to cook mostly whatever I want with what is in the house, it does result in overstock/impulse purchases.
Jan 30
Brunch – I had leftover enchiladas (there is still one more serving) and T had chicken soup from the freezer.
Dinner – I made a sausage, onion, apple, cabbage skillet using the last farmer’s sausage & Oktoberfest sausage. We ate it over smashed red potatoes which also finished off the green onions.
Hope to “see” everybody tomorrow and yes – I will plan to continue on into Feb for a while as well.
Karen J
Jessica, we all want you well again! Hopefully soon.
Allie, I am so with you on the “pandemic shopping hangover”. When it was hard to find items, I overbought when they finally arrived back on the shelves (I’m looking at you multiple pounds of dried beans). I also tend to overbuy when it is on a good sale. I don’t really need ten of something when there are just two of us.
Heather M
Your skillet sounds delicious!!! I have really enjoyed reading about your meals. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jessica, like others, I hope the tests you are undergoing will yield some answers so that you can feel better soon.
Jessica Fisher
Thank you!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/30/24
B: I had oatmeal with blueberries from the freezer. It may be the last bag, frozen from my mother’s bushes last summer. DH had some of the gifted sausage with an egg and grits.
L: last of the pimento cheese in sandwiches
D: we both had pulled pork sandwiches with slaw in hot dog buns. This kinda tears the DH out of his frame that the same tasting buns are not in the “correct” shape. LOL. Hey, it’s a challenge! I offered other options including an English muffin with the right shape but wrong taste or loaf bread-wrong taste and shape! Husbands-they can be funny:)
S: popcorn
I did do a limited shop this afternoon. Picked up coffee, bread, squash and zucchini (for us and for a dish ddil wants me to make for the baby’s first birthday) and cake mixes I’ll doctor up for cupcakes. Ds wanted white cupcakes , which call for egg whites only. I just happened to have frozen egg whites from making egg nog at Christmas, so that works out perfectly. Ddil is making the cake. I also picked up deli ham and cheese for sliders I’m going to make to take. I spent ~$20, but most of it was for the baby’s upcoming party so I’m definitely okay with that. That brings me to $73 for the month, which is a bit higher than I wanted, but if I subtract the items for next month, it puts me at about $50, which was my target.
I will be carrying on into February with targeted purchases. I saw in the ads that the lean ground chicken I can get for 1.50/# is on sale this week so I’ll be getting some of that. We didn’t stop at Aldi on our return home from our trip. But we have to make an out of town trip to VA to apply for TSA pre-check (a disadvantage of a small town) and will stop at Aldi then.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Oh, and I added Waldorf salad to dinner using the last small apple, celery, raisins and walnuts. No pineapple but had saved juice so used some of it. I found an old marshmallow (which I don’t typically put in there. I think I bought them for s’mores for young visitors at Labor Day) but I chopped it up and the juice in the dressing softened it up, and that got it out of the pantry.
Karen J
Ha! to your husband. Mine did the same thing when we had chili dogs on hamburger buns instead of hot dog buns. I have to say he’s been a pretty good sport this month, then again we haven’t needed to get into the really creative pantry challenge meals as I was so overstocked the first of the month. I’ve kind of missed putting the super odd ingredients together. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Mine has been too, actually. I was plenty stocked too, partly due to as you said “buying 10 things when there are just 2 of us”. It’s been the redundancy of meals for us(pork and turkey) since we had big portions of those meats, that has been hard. I’m looking forward to some chicken, seafood and restocked produce. I do have some crabs in the freezer I definitely need to deal with-maybe in February!
Heather M
Jan 30: last minute late dinner out, as L wanted to run a late errand after work and I only had frozen leftovers for him and he’ll get those today.
B: L skipped; I had a piece of white toast with honey
L: L took a chicken salami arugula sandwich(chicken from roast chicken dinner), the rest of the blackberries, and pretzels/peanuts; I had a fried egg with 2 of those 97% fat free beef hot dogs, a few potato chips, and snacked on some of the lemon yogurt cake.
D: we ended up at a local diner chain which serves a lot of locally sourced and really awesome dishes, along with some diner favorites, The Silver Diner. I couldn’t torre muc, and they do such healthy things. So I ordered a cheese omelet and had them replace the home fries(skin on the potatoes so no go) with bacon and it came with a delicious biscuit- I only ate half the omelet and bacon; L ordered a cup of crab chowder and a lamb merguez shaksuka and loved it!
Heather M
Jessica, I can relate to all those blood tests- this time last year (dec-Jan-Feb) I had piles and piles of them, along with other diagnostics. Good luck and I hope you find some answers soon! <3
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I remember last year when you were having all of your tests. Glad you got some resolution from them with a plan of care. I know you’ll be glad to have your procedure out of the way to go back to eating more varied foods!
Jessica Fisher
Thanks, Heather!
Maureen
I’m not sure how I went so many days without reading or posting, but I’m caught up. I fell off the planning/prepping wagon, but managed to keep our eating on track with the challenge. I made a few dinners using up a few things, but we’ve done a lot of leftovers and snacky meals using up bits from the fridge, etc. Details are a blur. My spending is down quite a bit this month, but what I’m more happy about is the time I’ve saved by not running errands (especially with the bad weather we’ve had). And it always helps to look at the habits (shopping and otherwise) that are really not working for me anymore. We still have a lot left, so I’ll be continuing through February and am glad some others plan to stick around for a bit. Definitely enjoying the white space, but I need to completely wipe out the fridge and inventory more of the freezer, so that I can get back on track with planning.
Heather M
Hi Maureen! It must feel good to know you’ve been using things ups no matter how it’s happened. I’m right there with you continuing into February. I’d really like to clean out the freezer and lower the stash if things in the cupboards, as I know there are things that need using or I’ll feel the need to toss them a year from now And I hate waste. I’d also like to store food we really do use regularly and not all the randomness I keep finding. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
That’s great that you were able to stick to the challenge regardless! Well done, and I’ll see you here in February!