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 31 of the Pantry Challenge!
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Wow! Last day? How did we get here? The month went fast, didn’t it?
Thank you so much for your participation this year. If you’d like to continue the conversation, feel free to do so in the comments section of this last post!
What We Ate
Breakfast – I made a breakfast bowl with leftover sausage and veggies from the fridge.
Lunch – We ate leftover lasagna and leftover beef pot pie from yesterday’s shoot.
Dinner – I had four pounds of clearance ground turkey that needed using. So, I cooked it all up and used half in burritos for tonight and the other half for a Shepherd’s Pie for tomorrow.
And that’s a wrap, folks!
How did the Pantry Challenge go for you?
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/26/26
B:the usual toast or yogurt
L: out to lunch
D: lunch LIs along with LO pot pie and Waldorf salad
S: cake from the freezer
2/27/26
L: made bean soup, made ham salad from a ham steak in the freezer. DH promptly said he didn’t like the ham salad. ?? I’ll eat it going forward and he can have something else.
D: bbq chicken legs I’d bought at .80#, carrot raisin salad (last of carrots), another Panera like salad minus apples as they’re gone, buttered noodles. I’m out of rice and potatoes so noodles it was.
S: DH was lamenting about lack of snacks. I discovered some peanuts in an out of the way cabinet which made him happy.
2/28/26
L: we’ll have soup. I’ll have ham salad DH can have last of ham steak on the last piece of bread.
D: LO chicken, pot pie, noodles, carrot salad. I have a bit of broccoli I’ll add.
And that brings me to the end of the road Maureen. I’m out of staples (oats, rice, potatoes, bread), produce and some condiments so I’ll be doing a major shop tomorrow. My chest freezer is about half empty which is great. I still have bacon in there and the extra chicken thighs. Many of the remaining items are odd, like cranberries, broth, snow (haha), nuts and orange juice. My fridge and freezer are much emptier so I feel like I have been successful in eating down all parts of the pantry and freezers. Now to see how I am next January!
It’s been great fun and I’m glad you to hung around. Have a great 2026 and I’ll see you in 2026. And Jessica, thanks again for hosting!
Maureen
You did an amazing job!! I’m very glad that we both continued. Everyone’s comments and progress always keep me inspired. DD is home from college for spring break this week, so I’m loosening up the challenge for dinners. I plan to finish a complete purge and continue with different shopping/stocking habits this year. I look forward to seeing everyone again in January. Have a wonderful 2026!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Maureen,
Enjoy the time with your daughter! Yes, such visits call for leeway in the meal plan.
Interestingly, our refrigerator started acting up yesterday and it got warm. Gulp. I put perishables on our screened in porch last night til we could figure out what was going on. (Our Lows in upper 30s, high 40 today, so still safe). THANKFULLY I had the extra room in my deep freezer so I put the proteins I’d bought in there. It seems okay today, but I’m keeping a close eye on it. I don’t want to lose any food to a malfunctioning fridge. I haven’t fully restocked yet, so that was good too. What a way to end it all! At Christmas I’d gotten a freezer alarm but it wouldn’t sync with our internet, so I returned it. I’m glad we were here. We’d kind of thought about visiting son, but are postponing it for now.
I stay motivated by people’s posts also, so really glad you were here too. I’ll want to hear how your continued purge goes! Have a great year and I’ll see you in January’27!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/24/26
B:toast from the artisan bread I made with strawberry jam from the freezer
L: chicken noodle soup and egg salad sandwich
D: easy tonight-LO meatloaf, LO baked sweet potatoes and another Fuji apple salad
2/25/26
B: avocado toast and coffee
L: more chicken soup and it’s almost gone, grilled cheese sandwich
D: made a scratch pie crust to go with the chicken pot pie base I’d made on Monday. Fixed a Waldorf salad using the last apple. We’re down to the oranges DH requested, frozen raspberries I keep forgetting about, a bit of a pomegranate, raisins and cups of apple sauce, which as I type all this, it’s certainly enough to make it til Friday.
DH had commented that we were out of snacks, though I’d bought some tortilla chips and we have popcorn. But I got around to making one of his favorites (as well as a southern favorite) cheese straws. I took advantage of heating up the oven for the cheese straws first and then cooking the pot pie for dinner.
We’ve got a retirement lunch tomorrow and we will be eating LO pot pie for dinner, so an easy tomorrow.
As well as a pantry challenge, I’ve been using up various household items. DH has a preferred toothpaste but I said there is no need to buy more until we use what we’ve got, and he agreed. So I’m doing a challenge with health and beauty and household supplies also. Feels good to be using them all up too!
Maureen
Lynn, you’ve made amazing progress! And it sounds like you’re set for a few meals after that busy day. I love that you were able to contribute to the church dinner, too. I found a few hardboiled eggs in the back of the fridge. I’ve been keeping it fairly empty, so when I didn’t see them I thought DD ate them, but nope, they had just slid behind the rest of the eggs. So, I had egg salad on toast for breakfast yesterday. And a chicken turnover for lunch. There’s a little leftover of both of those. I made stirfry for dinner with some sliced chicken I found in the freezer. Now, there’s also a small serving of that in the fridge, too. Today, both lunch and dinner are out of the house due to plans. I stopped at the store while out today to grab produce…ended up grabbing bagels for hubby and tortillas for DD, too, but that will likely prevent some takeout later this week when I am not home. Hubby has a work dinner tomorrow, so I’m hoping we polish off most of the leftovers.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I boiled some eggs as well the other day. I’m glad I got the sale eggs when I did as they have been helpful with the challenge. I think I have 1dozen left.
Yes, those easy to eat leftover meals work perfectly when not everyone is home for dinner.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/22/26
Went to the store to get bread and my DH’s requested oranges. I found some meaty chicken drumsticks sticks for .80# so I added 5 # as that’s a great price here. I purchased some cheese and spent about $20 for all. I think that puts me at about $150 or so for the month, though I’m not sure. I feel like I’ve “nickled and dimed” a bit more than I’d expected this month. I’m just going to stay the course as I know I’ve spent much less.
B:usual yogurt with add ins
L: chicken noodle soup
D: LO chicken divan, LO maple Dijon chicken, LO rice, Asian salad using one of the oranges
2/23/26
B:toast
Today wound up being a marathon cooking day. Our church was providing a meal for the homeless and needed a dessert for tonight. I have a recipe for semi-homemade cake that starts with a mix with some add ins. I had everything I needed for that cake and then made cupcakes with some enhancements, frosted with icing from the freezer.
DH asked if the soup was gone, and it was. I still had some chicken and broth, so more chicken noodle soup it was, as it has gotten bitterly cold again. I made egg salad for sandwiches to go with the soup. With the last bit of the chicken I put together a pot pie, using some LO corn, potatoes and green beans from the freezer, combined with the last turkey gravy, carrots and onions. I ran out of energy to make the crust so I’ll do that when we eat it. (I only use a top crust). Lastly, I made meatloaf (dinner #15/20) for dinner to go with sweet potatoes and green beans. Whew. I propped up my feet after dinner and watched my Carolina Tar Heels basketball win.
I have been able to finally finish up bits of condiments and small bags of LOs from the freezer which I’m thrilled about. Also glad to use the cake mixes and icing. Here towards the end of the second month, I feel like I’ve made good progress and the pantry shelves and freezers confirm that. I’m just going to continue on.
Maureen
I am still plugging along. We had the same idea with the rotisserie chicken. We are finishing off the chicken noodle soup tonight with homemade pretzel rolls. We made the rolls for little sis to take to sibling weekend up at college this weekend to share with big sis and her friends…some came back home. I saved a tiny bit of chicken for a chicken salad turnover thing my mom used to make with cream cheese – that will be my lunch tomorrow with salad. We ate a couple meals out this weekend – when son came over Saturday night to watch a basketball game on TV and when I picked DD up today. Everything else was leftovers or involved some leftovers. I made a small batch of homemade granola and sent some home with son. I’ll have that with the yogurt we have on hand this week. I’ll be digging through the freezer to figure out our dinners this week…although I have plans with friends and my mom on two nights.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/21/26
Maureen, if you’re still here, I think we’re the last ones standing.
B:the usual
L: chicken noodle soup with the broth and chicken from last night’s crock pot rotisserie chicken. Used a bit more of the chicken to make a small batch of chicken salad for lunch also.
D: after eating more beef than usual of late, we are back to our chicken, chicken and chicken meals. I made Jessica’s Chicken Divan (it’s so good!) I didn’t have the needed bread crumbs so made some from a bread heel I had in the freezer. We used the LO rice I found in the freezer and added a salad.
I made bread today! It wasn’t with the bread maker, like I’d wanted/planned to do. I used the No Knead Artisan bread recipe. It’s good too. We’re getting low on bread so figured we could eat this until I can get DH’s Dave’s bread.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/20/26
B: yogurt and coffee. Added freezer strawberry jelly to yogurt with walnuts and chia seeds
L: last of the chili
D: crock pot rotisserie chicken, instant mashed potatoes (pantry) with turkey gravy (freezer), cooked carrots and last of broccoli salad