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?
Thank you so much for your participation this year and your graciousness as I work through energy and health issues.
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 sandwich with the last of the freezer rye bread.
Lunch & Dinner – I shot three recipes today, so watch for those updated images. They are basically what’s to eat today for lunch and dinner: Sauerkraut and Pork, Crockpot Chili Mac, and Rice and Black Bean Salad.
And that’s a wrap, folks!
How did the Pantry Challenge go for you?
Kathryn M
day 31 of 2023 challenge.
B- Smoothie: banana, mango, pineapple, yogurt, and a little milk. My yogurt had a sell by date of 1/27 and needed to go away today.
L- pasta: I jazzed up the rather dull leftovers from several days ago with the last of the jarred sauce that I didn’t use on the pizza, plus a generous amount of Italian herbs seasoning. I always cook too much pasta and end up stuffing it in the freezer! I have one serving left that will get frozen for a work lunch for next week because I am tired of eating it now…..
Dinner – I made a large tossed salad. I got Spring Mix at the food rescue that I volunteer at and had bits of veggies in the fridge to add to it. Still have not made much of a dent in those condiments in the fridge including all the open bottles of salad dressings.
Snacks – cheetos, some yummy peanut butter crisps from the food rescue (dated 1/29 but still absolutely delicious), a few oreos.
I stayed just under my $100 budget. Going into today I was under $80 but I needed to go get some sodas at the store. I also picked up milk on sale, a big yogurt tub, and found a ground beef markdown for $3.99 that went straight to the freezer. That blew thru my $21 that I had left, but I need those items to start out with in February.
My other prizes from the food rescue were strawberries and papaya for more smoothie making the rest of this week. I am not freezing those, just planning on using them up along with the rest of my bananas. I truly didn’t need much today so I only left the food rescue with one small bag of goodies. I had my eye on a bunch of dented french onion dips but they were gone by the time I got ready to leave.)
Heather M
Great job staying at budget! That must feel good. I love the idea of a food rescue. And how good that you volunteer there, and then reap the benefits. Have a great year. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I love the idea of food rescue too. And what nice “rescued” food-fresh produce! I’ve volunteered at food banks but they were always limited in fresh foods. That’s wonderful that food is saved and provided to those that need it. And kudos for staying under budget.
Kathryn M
I was travelling so I kinda ended my pantry challenge on the 29th when I went to Aldi and spent $32 for the week I was out of town. I had a 2 burner stove and micro in my hotel, so I was able to mostly cook for the week. This made my actual January grocery spend to be about $40 for January.
Now that I am home, I am gonna try to keep purging from the pantry. I have spent about $40 from Feb budget restocking on basics like milk, fresh produce, and a few markdown meats that were a good deal. I think there are a few more things that I can definitely get out of the pantry and I want to defrost my freezer after I finish of the rest of the meat in there. I only have about a dozen items to get rid of this month before I can tackle that big job. In other words, February should also be a pretty low spent month for me.
Kristy/Mama K MeYeR
Here’s what I shared on FB when we finished our Annual Pantry Challenge last week.
******
And that’s a wrap on our Annual Pantry Challenge! Happy dance ?
Due to some fun plans this weekend that didn’t fit our PC agenda, we opted to stop after 28 days. Since we makes the challenge rules, we can ‘break’ them if we want, right?
Here’s the breakdown of how we did.
3 Meyers and 1 Smith currently live here.
28 days x 4 people x 3 meals per day.
We host a few extras on Sundays for breakfast and dinner, and occasionally throughout the week adding about 20 extra plates being served.
I/we also picked up a meal here or there resulting in about 16 servings being eaten elsewhere.
28x4x3= 336 servings for us + 20 servings for friends and family sharing a meal with us – 16 = 340 meals
$148 spent divided by 340 servings = $0.435 per serving.
43 cents a meal? Yes please! The pantry is lighter and FAR more organized, the freezers have been defrosted and organized, and we ate some things that we had plain old forgotten were in there. We tossed old food and tried new recipes, won some and lost others, but overall, saved a good chunk of change this month.
#MathNerd
#InTheKitchenWithKristy
#GoodCheapEats
#PantryChallenge?
Thank you to my mom, LaVonda Smith, for organizing the fridge and freezers, looking up recipes for what we had on hand, and doing the lion’s share of the cooking.
Thank you to my faithful eaters who eat dang near anything I put in front of them.
Jessica, thank you for introducing me to this idea years ago. It has saved us literally thousands of dollars over the years. This year alone it saved me $450. Thank YOU!
Kristy- aka-MamaK
kari
Re:do Pantry-Challenge+see 25Cans:Gr-Beans/since kids left home=Imust eat them;LOL. Hubs used to buy when per-out camp+older-kids= oft+ came home uneaten: I see brands I’d not-buy/so knew not mine. Now:9Cans:Wahoo! Per our dual Health issues/Pandemic-Numbs still high our area/not much-Shop. Spend+ Maybe $165-Nov=1kid+Shop:us/;Dec:$8:Prod/ Jan:$145.; one:Feb- maybe:few days. A LG-Amt-Due:our-Prescrips/Vits:in few days/see+ any $$L-Over:Food. Try use much can per-Fresh-items: treat as gold & so do use-up lots: Can-Items/ Dry-Beans/Pulses. Eat little Meat=find:Store had LG-Date Pre-Pack Sandwich-Meats-not fresh-Deli-ones:great adds+Salads/Grill-Cheese! Yes:never waste L-Overs myself+often Cook-Meal:Soup/Pasta-Sauce/Stew-or-Chili: so Cook-1X & Sve something new-Day2+ Day3+back that item/Freeze down:Rest. Save $$ AND Resources as not Cook SM-Amts= same thing often. Thanks for your all posts/hints/recipes!
Florence Dean
I really enjoy this post! I am a “Depression Kid” so try to always have food on hand. My kids make fun of me but if the weather is bad or I am just not able to get out, there’s plenty stockpiled. Finding room in a mobile home is a challenge; I once used the under-sink cabinet in my guest bathroom for canned goods – that still gets comments from friends. One item that has been so helpful has been boxed milk – Dollar Tree carries a good brand but now that prices are being raised it may only be for real emergencies. I do have a question. someone mentioned using lunchmeat from the freezer. I haven’t had a lot of luck with that; do you have a better freezing method for lunchmeat? Thanks for your many great ideas and recipes.
Jessica Fisher
I just freeze it, usually in the package it comes in. Needs to thaw refrigerated for best results.
Sarah
Thank you for hosting again, Jessica! I didn’t get to post every day but we really reigned it in and used what we had.
I think every year that we do this I learn a different “lesson” and this year’s was that going out to eat isn’t really worth it since I’m GF. A $10 frozen GF pizza and a bagged salad kit is a perfect dinner when we don’t feel like cooking.
Like last year when I learned that a veggie tray and dip counted as a veggie side lol.
Not going out to eat 1-2x a week in the big city meant we saved $500 this month!!
The money went right into our emergency savings fund and it felt really good.
Thanks so much!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/31/22
B: avo toast, coffee
L: chicken noodle soup
D: Had a mix up in date and time for a work-related event, so wound up unexpectedly going out to eat with a colleague. DH picked up a personal pan pizza.
I’ll get back to using the leftovers tomorrow!
It has been a calamitous week for us. I was having trouble with the heat in my car. After a trip to our mechanic, the trouble with the heat is a major repair. Then, we found an oil leak-even worse news. So it looks like we will have to be in the market for a car right here in the midst of very limited supply and skyrocketing costs. 🙁 On Fri, my husband happened to go into our garage about 15 minutes after we’d returned from eating out to find our water pump spraying water all over the garage! Thank heavens he went out there else the garage would have been under water. He cut it off and we are awaiting a visit from the plumber. On Saturday night we noticed our refrigerator didn’t seem as cold as it should have been. This continued into Sunday, so we took everything out and put it on the porch (temps were in the mid 20s and 30s so they were plenty cold) or in coolers. The repairman came today. I was worried, thinking back on Jessica’s refrigerator woes, but they were able to repair it. I was glad we didn’t have as much as usual in there as DH took everything out and then scrubbed the fridge and put everything back in. I guess the money I saved this month goes back into household expenses.
I’ve realized that I did have a good supply of food for the challenge this year. In past years, I’ve run out of veggies, but maybe I did a better job of managing them this year. I do think that were we not in a time of limited supplies, I would not have gone over my planned spend amount. I would have just waited until the next sales cycle for that item. However, now it has become when you see it-buy it! Here’s hoping that next year will be a more typical challenge in that way.
It’s been really fun, as always Jessica. Thanks so much for hosting us all again and your daily updates. I’ll be eager next year to see how the PC is reimagined in your house with so many cooks. I’ve learned from everyone and am looking forward to making some of the recipes I’ve read about this month (Hands Free Cashew Chicken first). It’s always great to meet back up here, with familiar virtual friends and new ones. Wishing you all the best in 2022.
I plan to continue to be mindful of my shopping and will continue on into Feb hoping to empty the freezers even more. Last year I carried on until March, and then there was the pandemic shutdown! Meanwhile, same time next year everyone?
Heather M
Oh boy, Lynn, you really have it rough right now. We understand about needing a new car in this car-buying climate. Our daughter desperately needed a new one and from Thanksgiving until she took possession of her new car a few days before she came out here for Christmas, well, it was crazy. Just trying to find a car at all to see in person before deciding on a model is a trick right now. She was luckily able to do it, but it took lots of legwork and luck. Then pay for a hold on a car being transported, to get the right model/decent color. It was a wild but very necessary ride. My dad had to do the same in December as well and the stories he told of driving everywhere after calling everywhere, etc etc. I wish you all the luck and patience it will require. Seriously. I wish you well in continuing to tackle your freezers and for sure look forward to catching up again next January. 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, thanks for the wishes for luck and patience. I feel like I will definitely need both!
Sandy
Jessica, thank you so much for hosting. I wasn’t great at posting because this month was crazy with sickness and babysitting grandkids, but I did read the posts while rocking kiddos and did participate fully trying to use up the miscellaneous things in both the pantry and freezers. I successfully used a lot of what I had put in a container from cleaning out our big deep freeze at the beginning of January. It shouldn’t take much longer to use that stuff and my upright freezer finally has room to breathe! I will continue for a bit longer to stay on task. Good luck finding a routine for your kitchen, just be thankful they can survive on their own if they need to!!
Susan Clark
Dear Jessica, I can report that we saved 2/3 of our monthly grocery budget by shopping our frig, pantry and freezer. ? Thanks for your inspiration. This is especially significant cause my sweetie will be retiring in 2 years. We have changed our menu planning, shopping habits and enjoyed every meal! Plan to continue this process!
Roberta
So I did the PC again this year, but I just never got around to posting any of the meals. Ah well. My total January grocery spending came to $128.55 this year. (It would have been under $100, but son came down with a cold, so I spent a tad over $34 on things like vitamin water, juice, various teas, crackers and such.) Still, I’m very pleased with the total. Last year’s average monthly spending was $298.65, so this is less than half of my normal spending. Yay!
I’m hoping to keep February’s total below average as well (although it won’t be as low), but swim season starts this month so I’m not sure how well that will work. DS will need extra calories and protein. 🙂 I’m sure going to try though!
lisa s
Some of us were under the weather, some were recovering from dental work, some both, so we opted for eating the leftovers mostly: chili, ham and beans, enchiladas, etc. I made two grilled cheeses after my nap for those who wanted. Some canned soup was also consumed. Overall, for the month we did well. Cleared out a lot of deer meat and porkchops that were taking up space in the freezer. That let me add a batch of chili for the future, and will be adding red sauce this Sunday. The pantry: I used up some beans and kept myself from buying things it turns out no one was eating. I haven’t tallied the spending yet, but I have good feelings about it since the meat spending was minimal.
Julie T
I have read the posts on the challenge the last couple of years. This is my first year commenting. I enjoyed it and felt like you were all friends since I followed along. Jessica this was fun posting with like minded people and doing the pantry challenge. I will also be continuing into February. The goal is to empty my smallest chest freezer by the end of February and unplug it until we will need it for fall when we buy beef and pork from our farmer friend.
B-the last of the pear zucchini bread, a pear, and coffee for me. Whole wheat toast and OJ for hubby.
L-Ate out. We met my hubby’s brother and his mom for a later lunch. We ate off the lunch menu so smaller portions, less cost, and no leftovers
D-Hubby had popcorn. I had a fried egg and a piece of toast.
Thanks Ladies!! Hopefully we will connect again in 2022!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Julie T, I was a “lurker” for years before I started posting. I’ve enjoyed the PC even more once I became a full participant. Great to read your posts and glad you joined us.
Heather M
The last day! Jessica, thank you, as always, for hosting this each January. It really is so helpful and motivating. And it’s so fun to keep up with everyone’s goings-on in the kitchen. We all have so much we can learn from each other, the way we feed ourselves and our families, how we approach the Challenge, all of it. Everyone did so well!!! I look forward to catching up with all of you again next year, if not sooner.
Our last day was a bust Challenge-wise, but I do intend to continue into February still shop carefully and use up more things before restocking with things we regularly use. We had a different day Monday, and I was on 3 hours of sleep. I fed us based on my husband’s whims (which he deserved, given the day). And that included ice cream for dinner, which I had to go buy. Up until yesterday, I had spent $147 on food/groceries (I don’t lump in other household items) in January. And then I spent $25 on ice cream. I’ll add $10 of it to my January total since that’s the price of the containers that were opened. So our grand total was $157. I wanted to keep it under $200 and definitely succeeded!
B: he had scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast; I had bacon and the last GF bagel with cream cheese and everything seasoning
L: he had Wendy’s burger and fries; I snacked on some egg rolls, chips, and an apple
D: ice cream
Not the best day, food-wise, but it is what it is and it’s a new day and we will be eating much more balanced today!
I wish all of you a happy and healthy rest of 2022 and hope to see you all here again next year. 🙂
Tasty
Thanks so much for hosting the pantry challenge again this year Jessica. I always enjoy it and take something new away afterwards. This year, I find we really are eating less as we get older but I have not yet changed my shopping habits. Plus if we do make the move into town, I`m sure we will only have room for one freezer so have to empty out at least one here.
B – our usual mixes of fruit, yogurt and muffins or toast
L – we were both out and about. I grabbed a latte and a cookie for the drive home while hubby found something at the local coffee shop
S- I pulled the last of the stew beef from the freezer and made a pot of Hungarian goulash with some extra veggies. A good way to use up some of those little packs of odds and ends – a little tomato paste, a few pieces of parsnips, a handful of peas, a jar of home canned tomatoes etc. It was really good! Made some French bread to mop up the juices from the stew. We`ll have more of the bread tonight with a bowl of soup.
Thanks again Jessica. Hope everyone stays safe over the next year. Good luck Jessica on trying to organise your kids in the kitchen. Be thankful they know what to do in there.
Danielle L Zecher
We’ve kind of gone off the rails with the pantry challenge. Duke came home on Saturday and is doing fairly well but needs help getting up and down and near constant monitoring. He’s 100 pounds, so getting him up and down multiple times a day is exhausting. There has been a lot of takeout, and the fridge is full of random things. I’m hoping to organize it tonight after work.
We’ll definitely be continuing the pantry challenge into February.
Heather M
I’m glad Duke is doing fairly well and hope that he continues to improve and life can get back to some semblance of normal for you! I’m also with you and will continue into February. Off the rails for you was kind of important, since tending to Duke and work have had to come first. Best wishes with all of this!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Danielle, hope Duke continues to improve. I remember how hard it was helping our Golden Retriever who was about 90 pounds get up from the floor and then up/down steps. You did what you needed to do and many of us will be continuing on into Feb.
Stephanie M.
January 31
B – Paul had peanut butter toast and yogurt. I had overnight oatmeal and peanuts.
L – I had a box of Mac and cheese in the Pantry for our grandson who doesn’t like it so I made it for Paul and added two hot dogs. I had a turkey sandwich and half a banana.
D – leftover spaghetti with olive oil and garlic and beef strips and mushrooms
My pantry challenge was good in the way that I got rid of all the little freezer bags of small leftovers and small random things in there. I also used up plenty of meat from the freezer and I have a lot less now. That all said, I didn’t have an overloaded freezer to begin with but I did have so many small freezer bags with tiny leftovers. I also was able to empty out containers of frozen cooked foods. I have added some new things but it’s always rotating. I always enjoy participating in the pantry challenge because it helps me to become more focused and thoughtful and finally pushes me into getting rid of all the freezer bags of random items.
Jessica, I have the same exact dish pans in my freezer. I agree they take up room but they also coral like items and I can see exactly what I have. I love them and I hope you enjoy yours too. I even have them in my fridge. One holds bread items; one holds all of my yogurts.
I also have a lazy Susan carousel that I put on the top shelf of my fridge to coral items that i use on a daily basis, like certain condiments, a jar of pickles, etc so I don’t have to look for them on the door. This is only for the things I use everyday.
Thank you for hosting this challenge. I look forward to it next year. ?
Julie
Yes I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s posts even if I haven’t had time to comment. Well done, all!
B eggs, breakfast sausage I pressure canned in December – 3 pints! But I guess not a surprise when 4 kids are eating and while I drained it before canning there was still over 1 pint of broth and fat I strained. So about 2 pts of meat, oranges and Clementines.
L cheese on bread /leftovers
D ham and bean soup from freezer also kids had popsicles from last summer after supper/bedtime snack. I like to keep some on hand for illnesses. We have been ill , going through us all since a week ago Sat. Just have been isolating at home and everyone is much improved by now although I got chills again this morning.
I still have some foods we need to cycle through. I’m not complaining but it’s kind of odd. I love freezer cooking and baking but the fresh quick and yeast breads go over so much better than when they’ve been in the freezer. So I have quite a bit of banana bread and pancakes and the like in the freezer.
Maureen
Leftovers for lunch. My youngest had been asking for tortellini, so I obliged. I converted pizza sauce into marinara, heated up leftover alfredo, cooked up a partial bag of pasta, and sauteed a bunch of veggies. I was happy to get rid of bits, but we now have 4 small containers of leftovers in the fridge. Gah! The fridge is currently an exercise in Tetris, so that’s the focus for the next 2 days. It’s looking like my kids will have 1-3 snow days this week, so they may be around to help me eat up the fridge.
I will certainly be continuing through February. I will miss reading all of the updates to keep me motivated, but look forward to hearing from everyone again next year. I definitely need to change my shopping habits, especially when my son moves out (likely this fall). I enjoy grocery shopping and with the kids older and stores nearby, I really don’t need to keep as much in the pantry. I can stock the basics and just grab whatever we’re in the mood for/on sale each week. So, I’m going to work on downsizing the physical space for food to force me into submission. And I won’t buy things to try unless we’ve tried the previous item already, otherwise they pile up until a pantry challenge.
Wishing everyone a fantastic year filled with more family, friends, and fun!
Jennifer
It was a good end to the month! I see space and don’t feel like a hoarder of food anymore.
B – leftover muffins or cinnamon toast
L – leftover pizza, peppers, almonds for me, pizza, fruit yogurt for hubby
D – a freezer meal of firecracker chicken meatballs. Served over cous cous. Sliced peppers, pickles and cranberry sauce
Kathy in Denmark
Day 31
B: HM granola and yoghurt for DH, HM granola and milk for DD1, Rye porridge with banana for DD2, HM roll and coffee for me
L: DH eats at work, packed lunches for the kids, rye bread with whatever I could find that needed using up in the fridge for me
S: HM rolls and honey bread cake for the kids after school. DD2 also had a banana right before we left to her swim class.
D: WW spaghetti with marinara and parmesan. I used up a little red pesto, half a jar of bought tomato sauce and the water from cooking veggies the day before in the sauce. Added onion, a few tins of tomatoes and some spices and let it simmer while DD2 and I were away.
We always make extra sauce and pasta, so right after dinner I mixed the two together and put in in an oven proof dish, so we have an easy dinner Wednesday, when DD1 has her swim class 🙂
I have enjoyed doing the challenge – as always! I do find it hard to keep up with posting and sometimes answering the other participants, but I really like this community.
I have been in a cooking rut for some time and haven’t been meal planning like I used to, but I have made a plan for a couple of weeks now and mostly stuck to it, so that is a big win for me. I plan on continuing the challenge for a little longer, just to help myself use up the last things that linger.
Thank you so much for hosting and updating every day, Jessica! And thank you for your recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting, which I have been using and will use again for DD2’s birthday on the 4th 🙂
Heather M
It’s always good to see you here, Kathy. Looking forward to next year. 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
Right back at ya, Heather 🙂