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?
Danielle Zecher
I hope you get your results soon and are able to get some relief.
Breakfast: I skipped. I have no idea what Nick did.
Lunch: I had leftovers from going out to dinner Monday night. Nick got lunch out at work.
Dinner: I made spaghetti and meat sauce with the ground beef I defrosted on Monday, and garlic bread.
Jessica Fisher
Thanks, Danielle!
Danielle Zecher
Breakfast: Drive-thru on the way to work.
Lunch: Leftover cheeseburger soup
Dinner: I worked late and was exhausted, so we tried a new Italian place one of my coworkers had told me about. It was very good.
Jennifer
I have struggled to adjust to the kids leaving. I never know how much to cook. So I cook a ton and we eat leftovers for days. Not always bad but gets tiresome. I need to get it figured out because I know we have been wasting food some.
B – I had a muffin and sausage from the freezer, dh had oatmeal and grapefruit
S – I had a back injections that dh had to drive me to. We stopped at a coffee shop for a treat after as my reward for making it through the sucky appt.
L – Noticed the City BBQ next door to the coffee shop and remembered how good it was last summer when we had it out of town. Grabbed lunch to go and ate at home. Delicious and an unexpected treat.
D – buffalo chicken patties bought at the farmers market last summer. Served with lots of veggies and leftover crescent rolls
Kathryn M
B – muffin
L- skipped because I had a dental visit today.
D – made some potato cheddar soup since I still had sore mouth from the dentist. This was a package of Bear Creek mix that I had in my camping supplies. It needed used up anyway. I had a couple of Hawaiian dinner rolls with it. There is a ton of soup left. I packaged 2 bowls for work lunches on Wed and Thursday.
Snacks – bbq chips and cheetos from my snack box
I didn’t get much cleaned out of the freezer this month, so I am going to continue with pantry challenge thru Feb and try to get rid of some of that stuff…..
Maureen
I was successful in not creating many leftovers the last few days, so I was able to get rid of a few things from the freezer (sausage, beef stew) and fridge (ranch dip, rice, pasta, bacon bits)…mostly for lunches and snacks. My youngest enjoyed some frosting from the fridge with some frozen sugar cookies from Christmas, too. Tonight is au gratin potatoes with ham from Christmas and salad. I’ll still have a lot of ham in the freezer, but that’s a good use for some of it. I’m hoping to stay focused the rest of the week on using up some bits from the fridge. My youngest and I are camping with girl scouts this weekend, so I know those left at home won’t make any progress then. I’ll be back at it next week, though, after I completely wipe out the fridge and rummage around in the freezers for planning.
Heather M
Day 30:
Back at it after the no-cook/no real meals weekend. Don’t need to shop until later in the week either.
B: both skipped
L: L took a ham, spinach, and avocado sandwich, ww eggnog bread, and 2 satsumas; I had some mac and cheese with tuna and chopped onion
D: Made a broccoli cheese soup based on Jessica’s recipe cut in half but with changes: used as much veg as I felt like(more than called for) but the same amount of liquids, added some garlic, less butter and flour in the cheese sauce, and my cheeses were sharp white cheddar and some shallot and chive boursin. It was delicious! We had pan con tomate on the side
Heather M
Forgot to mention the broccoli was from the freezer. And nothing was specially purchased for this; had everything, so a good pantry challenge meal!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jan 30
B: DH had one egg, sausage, I had waffle from freezer
L: DH: soup, ham (freezer) sandwich I had soup and ½ pbj
D: pork (from freezer, already cooked and only needed to be reheated), sauteed cabbage, baked sweet potato, fruit medley (orange supremes, apple, pom arils)
S: Wheat Thins
ZC from MA
B: some grapes – I ate a light breakfast today because I know I’ll be having an early lunch.
L: ate at work
D: pan-roasted brussels sprouts, brown rice
S: an apple, some grape tomatoes
Stephanie M.
Monday, January 30, 3023
B – I had a yogurt parfait.
L – Paul had leftover grilled chicken and broccoli and macaroni with garlic and olive oil from the freezer that I made a few weeks ago. I had a ham sandwich and a banana
D – leftover grilled chicken, leftover Spanish rice and salad.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/30/22
B: French toast, coffee, sausage
L: DS and future DIL left before lunch 🙁 “Parting is such sweet sorrow”. They took turkey sandwiches to eat on the way. I had an open-faced turkey sandwich with gravy and cranberry sauce. DH had a turkey sandwich with cheese and Granny Smith slices on it.
D: LEFTOVERS since I have lots of them!
lisa s
Had this great plan to have breakfast for dinner with this box of blueberry pancake mix in the back of the pantry. Upon opening said box, its contents laughed at my plans because it was muffin mix. So, we had eggs and bacon and biscuits and strawberries instead. I baked the muffins for snacks and breakfast during the week; they deserved it. I also boiled the rest of the eggs for lunches.
Kimberly
1/29
Playoff football on so late lunch while we watched.
Meatloaf cupcakes- These are a family favorite and great to use up some small packages. Combined ground beef with HM breadcrumbs from freezer, last of a bag of matchstick carrots, a stick of celery, some oregano in fridge that was getting past prime, finished a bottle of ketchup (had 3 partials left from a cookout), some other seasonings; used the last couple potatoes on top in mashed potatoes, also used the last of a heavy cream carton to mash them. Made pumpkin oatmeal muffins to go along (only one serving of HM pumpkin purée left in freezer!) and a salad finishing off some greens and veggie toppings. Definitely need to restock or make more salad dressing after this challenge!
And then made cookies?
1/30
Been wanting to try the poach function on my egg cooker so had Eggs Benedict for dinner. Used leftover salami for the meat, a dry package of Hollandaise sauce from pantry (would prefer HM in the future), a half avocado from fridge. Only had to buy the English muffins. Side of leftover shrimp cocktail and HM chocolate milk.
A good final couple days for the challenge. What I learned… I had no where near enough proteins for a challenge…had to restock freezer meats and eggs 1 1/2 weeks in. Stock up on sale meats! My continued focus will be using up rarely used items, and not buying sauces or veggies unless I have a plan for them that week. My family apparently likes routine for breakfast, and usually lunch. Try out some more recipes for easy, healthy snack items… these growing boys like to eat at regular intervals all day and having something they can easily grab on their own is important for the sanity of all!
Thanks to all for your inspiration each day! I really enjoyed reading all the posts
Julie
B: eggs, oranges, leftover French toast
L chicken salad sandwiches or chicken salad on greens, gf banana bread I made and froze a few mos ago
D popcorn and mango smoothies
I’m not sure how many jars of home canned food we used but a decent amount. I’ve been putting my pepper and onion relish on my salads and used homemade relish and pickles in the chicken salad (and used a big can of Sam’s club chicken).
We plan to go to Costco on Friday this week and will spend a lot then but it’s about 30 minutes out of the way for us so we only go every few months. Otherwise, I still have a bunch of odds and ends in the freezers but did organize and clean my freezers at least this month.
Tasty
Sunday January 39th
B- grapefruit and pineapple mix with granola (h/m) for hubby, I had some l/o pineapple (originally tinned but from the freezer) with yogurt and a slice of toast
L – ham & mushroom quiche
S – home canned tomato soup (made last summer from our own tomatoes), toasted meatloaf sandwiches (using the last of the meatloaf and mincemeat turnovers, using the last of the puff pastry and the last of an open jar of mincemeat.
Certainly a good day for using things up, but still so far to go. February here I come!!!
Tasty
Guess I made January a verrry long month!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’m chuckling Tasty!
Tasty
Monday January 30th
B – the usual mix
L – pb/jam for hubby with a banana while I finished off the salad with a hard boiled egg
S – turkey stew from the freezer and the last of the pecan pie
Maureen
Everyone was on their own for lunch on Sunday…most had leftovers. I found 1/2 a tri tip in the freezer, but it’s too cold here to grill, so I cooked it on cast iron (stovetop, then oven). It turned out great for tacos. I diced up the little bit of leftovers for nachos this week. I restocked our chicken supply when I ran to Costco for a couple of things, but I’ll be careful to ration it by alternating with meals of freezer items I want to get rid of. Our schedule looks quite full this week, but they are predicting a snow storm W/Th…so, we might end up with 1-2 snow days. Either way I plan to do some freezer digging to use up some things as snacks and meal components. If we end up stuck at home with the storm, then I plan to control lunches – a little effort on my part could result in a number of things that I’ve been trying to get rid of disappearing.
Heather M
Love your idea of alternating the recently restocked chicken with freezer items you want to use up. I should do the same, once I restock a few things which will probably be in the next week or so. Good luck with your continued freezer emptying 🙂
Jennifer
Well, I did make a big trip to the grocery store but the only meat I bought was breakfast sausage found on deep discount. Mostly restocking dairy and produce stuff. I had to do it yesterday but am determined to still plan my dinner meals from the freezer full of meat.
I also found a 1/2 bag of frozen chicken breasts and threw them in the crockpot. Shredded them up and added a can of pinto beans, the remains of 2 jars of salsa, and 1/2 an onion and made burritos for the freezer. I also thawed ground turkey and made homemade breakfast sausage. It was a good day in the kitchen.
B – homemade chocolate chip muffins, grapefruit
S – coffee date
L – hubby had a burrito from the freezer, I had yogurt – wasn’t hungry
D – homemade pizza with sliced peppers and cucumbers
S – hot tea and chocolate
Stephanie
January 30
B – Paul had cereal. I had yogurt parfait.
L – Paul had Christmas appetizers from the freezer. Only one more box of taquitos left and all appetizers will be gone. I had a turkey sandwich and 1/2 a banana.
D – I had leftover London broil from last night so I made angel hair, mushrooms, parsley and cut the steak into small strips and added garlic and olive oil. Put everything on top of the angel hair.
Kathy in Denmark
I’m catching up – again! It seems impossible for me to get uninterrupted computer time on the weekends, when everyone is home. Sometimes it feels like we have more than two kids LOL
Day 28
B: The usual for all
L: The usual for DH and the kids. Last of the tuna salad in a sandwich for me
S: Cookies and crisps for the girls while they watched a movie in the afternoon
D: Nachos and oven chips (fries)
Denmark was playing semi finals in the European Handball championship, so we had movie night in the afternoon and a HM fast food dinner.
They lost 🙁 But won the bronze match Sunday 🙂
Day 29
Brunch: Bread, softboiled eggs, coffee etc.
L/S: DH and I each had a bowl of soup. Kids had cut up veggies and some pita chips made from LO tortillas cut up and baked in the oven. They also each had a small yoghurt
D: Rye bread, fish fillets, vegetarian schnitzels etc.
Dessert: Honey cake hearts with butter cream filling and chocolate
The honey bread hearts were actually baked before Christmas, but we ended up having so many other things that I just left them in the fridge. They keep for months, as long as you dont fill them with buttercream. Kids and DH were very happy! I don’t even really like this type of cake and it’s a pain to make, but I make them around Christmas because everyone else in the house loves them!
Day 30:
Brunch: Scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast, coffee and juice
L/S: Yoghurt or milk with HM granola
D: Oven baked chicken thighs or vegetarian schnitzel, oven chips, boiled bulgur, hollandaise, sweetcorn and peas
I made pancakes from a HM mix that had been in the cupboard for a long time and needed to be used up! We didn’t have a lot of bread, so the pancakes meant we stretched the toast and everyone was fed!
I have a bag of bulgur and a bag of couscous in my cupboard, which I would like to use up. I boiled some of the bulgur in vegetable broth and served it with everything else. The kids thought it was ok and DH ate some with the sauce, but is not really a fan 😉
I’ll probably make some tabouli as well and try serving that, so we can get it used up. If all else fails, I’ll use the couscous in small amounts when making meatballs or pasta sauce. I have succesfully used up quinoa like that before (thanks for the idea, Jessica!) and I am sure I can do the same with the couscous 🙂
Heather M
Another good day for the Challenge. But, I’m tired of mostly being home. Tomorrow means freedom from that– the reason we’ve been staying away from people is in the morning (we couldn’t risk getting covid accidentally). So, I’m pretty excited. Meanwhile, Sunday’s meals:
Brunch: turkey boursin spinach wraps on whole grain lavash; pineapple and strawberries
Dinner: slow cooker braised pork with olives, prunes, lemon, capers, white wine, garlic, and lots more; our usual mix of 1/2 cauli rice and 1/2 jasmine rice; big side salad – this used up two small packages of pork chops from the freezer (and I mean small- neither were a pound) as well as a bunch of random things we have in the cupboards & fridge- I didn’t have to buy a thing to make it. I also made a decent amount of the 1/2 and 1/2 rice, which we’ll have with a few other dinners this week. And I made extra salad which will come in handy for lunch. Sort of meal prep, I guess? Also was easily able to enjoy the football games since the rice and salad were quick and easy to make and the rest was in the slow cooker since late morning. A win!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, we do the same here-mixing the cauli and rice. Adds those vegetables and reduces carb load. I also sometimes add the cauliflower to mashed potatoes as well. I use a potato masher so the potatoes are roughly mashed. The cauliflower hides in there just fine, though now most of my family knows that there’s a good chance that cauliflower will be in the rice or the potatoes-and even potato salad!
Julie T
B-cornflakes and a banana with coffee for me. Cheerios and OJ for hubby.
L-Potato chips with cheese whiz and a pear for hubby. I had nachos made with L/O chopped country pork rib and chopped veggies from the fridge
D-Hubby had L/O German potato salad and brat. I had some pasta with L/O marinara from the freezer.
All L/O are gone from the fridge, so I will need to cook tomorrow. I did can 10 pints of cooked crumbled ground beef today. That frees up some space in the freezer and uses up some older ground beef.
I have spent $72 on groceries this month and used 41 jars of home canned food. I am happy with that.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Your totals are great. You were quite busy to can that much food. I don’t have a pressure canner so my canning is limited to what I can can with a water bath. I’ve done this bit of canning for the last few years, but I still get a little nervous. I have to have total focus. No multi-tasking!