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?
Yesterday I gave the fridge a good clean and it felt good to see so much white space. I also tidied the kitchen closet storage. Ready for a new month!
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 instant oatmeal before Bryan and I went out for a vacation day.
Lunch – The kids had leftover soup. Bryan and I grabbed tacos when we were out.
Dinner – Pizza night!
And that’s a wrap, folks!
How did the Pantry Challenge go for you?
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/20/25
B: DH finished the yogurt so I had peanut butter toast and coffee. He’d asked that I buy some milk so he could eat cereal. I reminded him of that when he said it was time to buy more yogurt. I don’t want that milk to go bad, or to have to scramble to use it up in some way.
L: we had more of the Baked Potato soup, sandwiches and fruit. He added chips.
D: we have had snow showers off and on today with maybe 1.5 inches on the ground. Kids are out of school again today but the roads are fine and bridges clear. I had a doctor appointment so had to get out.
While out, I made a quick stop at the grocery store. I’d used up all of my tomatoes, both canned and frozen. I wanted to make chili and needed tomatoes. I picked up 8 cans for .49/can. Remember when they were.25/can? ?? I picked up a few cans of fruit for the food pantry at church. I spent less than $10.
I used some of the ground chicken I got for 1.50#. I needed beans. They were on sale too, but instead, I used the Instant Pot to cook pintos from dry. That bag has been here a while. I still have a bag of lentils too. Stephanie, didn’t you have a good lentil soup recipe? It’s been around even longer than the bag of pintos so I would love to use it up some way.
D: we had the chili. It tasted really good. We added cheese and sour cream. Also a tossed salad, orange slices and some crackers that we too had leftover from Christmas. It really hit the spot. I may make refried beans out of the remaining beans for our next Mexican meal.
Karen J
B- scrambled eggs with spinach, mushrooms and feta
L-chocolate pudding
D-When I saw the picture of Jessica’s shepherds pie with cheddar mash l realized I had everything to make it so that was last night’s dinner. Instead of making the topping with real potatoes I used the packaged kind and that worked out fine. I used Better than Bouillon for the broth and also added celery to the carrots, mushrooms, peas and onions in an attempt to get more veg in. I am now out of ground beef, however still have some ground chicken and turkey.
Today’s goal is to reorganize the freezer again (which actually I quite enjoy doing) and see what’s left to work with.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Those eggs sound so good! It’s great to get meal inspiration from others for sure!
Heather M
Hello All. Cold week here, in more ways than just weather. Anyways. Last few days:
Tues 2/18:
B/L: L took a salad with turkey, an apples, and almonds; I picked C up from the airport and took him to work(waiting for what seems the inevitable 🙁 ), but brought him a lunch- a frozen chicken tikka from TJs and a Kind bar; I stopped at Aldi’s and was hungry when there (mistake) so grabbed frozen french bread pizza and had one of the two.
D: I had an event but also had planned ahead when I went to Costco awhile back and had a prepared chicken pad thai to heat up for the guys; I ate at the event.
Wed 2/19:
B/L: L took a salad with turkey, a mandarin, and almonds; C only took a Kind bar as he had a thing at work; I ate tuna and crackers
D: made a riff on the popular marry me chicken but with sliced chicken sausage, lots of veggies chopped small, and orzo. No cream or half and half, but a little milk, since it’s all I had. Used up an old opened bag of orzo(from the “shelf”), several wrinkling bell peppers, mushrooms, the rest of a bag of spinach, the last about to turn shallot, the rest of a jar of sundried tomatoes and I used its oil to cook the veg! Lots of seasonings and garlic, too. Turned out great!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Sounds like a yummy PC meal! Well done. Yes, a cold week in many ways.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/19/25
B: yogurt, nuts, coffee
L: with snow forecast, DH wanted to know what soup we were going to eat for lunch? Well, we’d eaten all the soup from the freezer (including the chicken soup I usually keep in case of colds or flu) so I got busy! I had some potatoes that were trying to sprout and getting soft so I decided Loaded Baked Potato soup was a possibility. I had all the ingredients and it was quick to make. We had that with cold cut sandwiches on whole wheat bread. It tasted good as we watched the snow fall, which as always, was beautiful.
D: used some of the pre-cooked Springer Farms chicken I like to keep for short cut meals. I’d gotten it cheaply last week. Dh had soft tacos with the chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, avocado, salsa and sour cream. I ate mine with toppings on lettuce. We had orange slices also. It hit the spot and the torts continue to decrease. Mexican can be a quick to fix meal around here.
Heather M
Love that you threw together a delicious soup for lunch on a snowy day! And, yes, isn’t a quick mexican meal the best? After making homemade soup for lunch, I imagine it was nice to do something quick, easy, and yummy.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
It’s the prep work for most meals that is tedious. All the slicing and dicing.
Karen J
It certainly is soup weather! I’m looking at a bag of lentils and some leftover kielbasa. I’m thinking that with some vegetables and broth will be a soup coming up on the menu this week.
I found five pounds of bread flour in the back of a top shelf left from pandemic shopping. It is definitely expired, however I may give it a go in the bread machine.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Let us know how the bread works out. I’m curious!
Heather M
Yes, please let us know how the bread goes…. I have an old bag of bread flour as well, and need to see what can be done about/with it. If it’s ok. Definitely soup weather-lentils with kielbasa sounds yummy! I need to work some into our next week (even though the temperatures won’t be as bad as the past several…. I do not like it when it stays below freezing and the feels like is even worse. The san diego girl in me even though I have lived here my whole grown up life)
Stephanie M
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
B – Paul had a whole wheat bagel and overnight oatmeal. I had overnight oatmeal and cinnamon with a side of peanuts.
L – Paul had crackers and cheese and pepperoni again using up more of those crackers. lol. I had another tuna fish sandwich with tomato and lettuce on whole wheat.
D – there was only enough leftovers from last night for one of us so I got it. lol. I had leftover grilled chicken thigh, leftover rice, leftover broccoli with garlic and olive oil and roasted red peppers. I also made some more cucumber salad. Only enough cucumber left for a salad tomorrow. All leftovers gone. Paul had coconut shrimp from the freezer leftover from appetizers I put out over the holidays. He also had French fries. All coconut shrimp gone and another bag out of the freezer.
Lynn – thank you for masons birthday wishes. I watch him every day from 7:00 to 4:30. My “stamina” is struggling. lol. By the time he leaves I’m ready to fall on my face. But between my intentional steps and the steps I get just letting him chase me around in his little walker (starting to walk but not all the time yet) and running around here all day getting his meals ready and Paul’s and mine (I’m always the last to eat. lol), doing laundry, etc, by the time I go to bed I’ve gotten between 14,000 and 15,000 steps. This is everyday!! I don’t know where I’m getting the constant energy from but I’m tired at the end of the day. I get up every day at 5:00 and push the button on the coffee pot and get my first 1,000 steps and then my day begins.
Karen – we usually always have crackers in the pantry too. But since I’m
Trying to use up the lingering things I have I bought a cheese tray and some pepperoni to make a couple of lunches for Paul with it. Once it’s all gone I’m sure I’ll start over again. lol. I’m just so happy to see everything getting used up. I’m glad you’re feeling the same about your pantry challenge efforts.
I’m probably very late to the party but I’m
Converting my buying to as much organic as possible. We’ll be of course eating what we have while I start to make the change but going forward as I replace things I will be focusing on buying as many organic products that I normally buy in non organic.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Stephanie, it sounds like Mason is keeping you in shape and “young”! LOL. But what a blessing to him and your daughter, to be able to keep him, for so many reasons. 🙂
Stephanie M
Thank you Lynn. It sure is a blessing. I love having him here and our daughter and our son in law know that he is being well cared for. And the extra exercise involved in taking care of him doesn’t hurt either. lol.
Heather M
Stephanie, I’m willing to bet that both all the steps you take each day plus the healthy diet you follow are keeping you full of energy, even if you’re exhausted at the end of each day. You’re really keeping yourself in fabulous shape and this will only help you “age gracefully” and not as quickly either, since you’re keeping so in shape. It’s really awesome, and you’re a good inspiration to me. 🙂
Stephanie M
Well thank you Heather. I appreciate all of your kind words. I’m at a point in my life that after having been so active in doing my steps each day for so many years even when I had Covid, and watching what I eat and now incorporating squats several times each day, I would feel guilty if I didn’t do that. It would feel like I missed my daily skin care routine and I can’t have that. lol.
Karen J
Oh my Stephanie, I bet you are tired at the end of the day! That is a busy, busy age. I’m sure you are much appreciated!
My youngest grands are grade school age and quite self-sufficient and I am still tired when they leave.
Stephanie M
You are right Karen. When he’s awake I’m always in motion. He gets here at 7:00 and it’s not till about 10:30 or 11:00 when he takes a nap so by that time I’m ready for a break. He sleeps in a pack and play in our bedroom. I close the blinds so it’s dark and put on the white noise machine and he’s good for 2 to 2 1/2 hours and I have a nice break. That’s usually when I get his lunch ready and Paul’s too. And I do whatever else I need to do. We followed our daughter and son in law to Virginia when they decided to move so that we could all be close together. We lived in New Jersey and they lived in Pennsylvania and it was a 2 1/2 hour drive. Now we’re 3 minutes away from each other. We are all living in the same HOA community. Of course our other daughter and three grandsons are still in New Jersey and we go up there about once a month to visit but moving out of New Jersey was inevitable as it costs too much up there to retire and Paul is 16 months away from retirement. So it all worked out. We see our grandson everyday and they have us to watch him.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/19/25
Hello PC friends! We are back from my mom’s a day early in anticipation of the wintry weather that is supposed to come. So far, nothing, but at least we’ll be at home one way or another.
The latest installment of Stranger Things, Manteo NC version. When we left we had a cliffhanger. As we tried to pack the car to leave town, we realized the garage doors weren’t working, and no power in the garage. No time to deal with it then, but it was on the To Do list for this morning. Well, “strangely” when we pulled up last night, the garage doors miraculously went up. So I don’t know. Is this the end of the power saga? Stay tuned!
While gone, we finished up the chicken burgers and soup I had taken for meals. Except for going out to dinner for my mother’s birthday which was planned, we avoided eating out and take out, which was my goal. Now my husband did stop and buy some snacks on the way home as he was worried with a potential storm coming that we wouldn’t have any snacks to eat (insert eye roll. We would have snacks..) But that’s from his “blow money “ and not my grocery budget.
One thing that didn’t happen while visiting my mother-I didn’t get Jessica’s slow cooker cheesecake made. I had made Mama some Valentine cookies, but planned to make the cheesecake while down there for her birthday. I made it the first time for her birthday last year and it was SO GOOD ! I took the crock pot, springform pan and all the ingredients. I just ran out of time and energy. And since she had cheesecake at the restaurant and Shari’s Berries I felt the pressure was off. I figure I’ll make it for Mother’s Day. My husband was a bit chagrined that he’d packed all that up, but was a good sport about it.
I’m reading the items y’all buy at TJ’s with interest. There is one where my mom lives, but all I’ve bought there are their biscotti! I’ll have to pay more attention to your buy lists for my next visit.
Now that we’re home, I’ll get back with the program.
Karen J
Lynn, I’ve wanted to try Jessica’s crockpot cheesecake for ages, just haven’t managed to have all the ingredients at the same time-I’m happy to know that you really like it!
FYI- I did make Jessica’s chocolate pudding with half canned coconut milk and half whole milk. It turned out fine, with the taste not actually all that different from the regular recipe. Instead of the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips I used a chopped up chocolate bar. I’ve made this pudding many times and we always enjoy it!
I checked my weather app for Outer Banks and it looks like it’s cold and snowing in your area. Keep warm!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’ll have to try the pudding at some point. Smart to use the chocolate bar and to know it was a good substitute.
The cheesecake was delicious when I made it before. The only problem I ran into was when I used a probe to determine the temperature. It wasn’t quite done and I cooked it a bit longer. As I did, a crack developed at the small hole from the probe. I cut it along the crack but it wasn’t quite as “pretty”. If I’d had whipped cream I would have just piled it on! It didn’t affect the taste at all. I used full fat cream cheese and it was so rich. Jessica commented that I may have either over beat it or overcooked it. Not sure which I did, or if I did both, but it was still so very good. I had requested a small springform pan just so I could try it. It’s definitely worth making!
Yes, we have gotten snow. It is still coming down tho seems to be mixed with sleet 🙁 now. Not at all snow like the 5-6 inches from a couple of weeks ago! With our wind, feels pretty brutal (for us!)
Heather M
Glad you made it home safely, and also missed potentially bad weather. It sure is cold today! I must try that cheesecake sometime. Happy to hear it’s good! I have lists a mile long of favorites at TJs. I love buying bagged lettuces/greens- the price is great, and the quality is way better than at Aldi, the only other place with somewhat reasonable bagged salads, though when they are bogo at Harris Teeter I’ll buy there too. Quite a bit of their produce is well priced compared to regular grocery stores and the quality is great. We love their sourdough- it’s better than others but it’s so much better in CA. Alas. Lots of amazing frozen products, cheeses, dips. Their pasta is always $1/lb, they have great bottled sauces to keep on hand for when you don’t want to cook or don’t have much time. Their snacky things are fantastic (sweet and savory). Their vanilla ice cream is amazing and super well priced. We love to serve it with fresh berries for an easy dessert when we have people over. I could go on and on. So much good there.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Thanks for the list of TJ favorites. It seems I’m always short on time when I’m there so never have time to browse. I’ll have to make a point of doing so next month when I’m at my mom’s. I know my dd and SIL do a lot of shopping there in Arlington.
Stephanie M
Wednesday, February 18, 2025
Humming right along in my pantry challenge using up so much from the pantry and freezer and even things in jars from the fridge.
B – Paul had a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and a yogurt with banana and almonds. I had bran cereal with strawberries and blueberries and peanuts.
L – Paul had crackers and cheese and pepperoni. Almost done with the crackers in the pantry. I bought a small tray of various sliced cheeses and a stick of pepperoni in an effort to use up the crackers. I had tuna fish with lettuce and tomato on whole wheat toast using up the last two cans of tuna. I’m like Heather though. Once I finish the tuna in the pantry I buy more.
In the afternoon I had a yogurt and some almonds.
D – grilled chicken thighs, leftover rice pilaf, the last broccoli crown with garlic and olive oil and roasted red peppers and cucumber salad using up the second to last cucumber. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are also something I never let myself run out of in the freezer. But my freezer right now is much improved from beginning of January.
Lynn from NC Outer Bsnks
I like boneless skinless thighs too. I have gotten pretty good at de-boning them myself from regular on sale thighs.
Glad to hear you’re “humming along”. That made me smile!
And happy belated to the one year old. I admire your stamina, keeping up with him!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Stephanie, my comment to you went to “awaiting moderation “ so I’ll try again.
We like boneless skinless thighs too. They cook so quickly and are moist and tender. I’ve gotten pretty adept at de-boning them from on sale regular thighs.
When I read that you were “humming along” it made me smile!
Belated happy birthday to the one year old. I admire your stamina, keeping up with him!!
Karen J
Stephanie, I had to actually buy crackers and we never run out of crackers!
Like you, my freezer is so much better than the beginning of January. My refrigerator is full again, as my February focus is eating more fresh vegetables. I’m okay with that!
Heather M
Lol love that you’re like me. Tuna is a massive staple in my house. Luckily everyone likes it, but not everyone eats it as often as me, lol. Love hearing that you’re even almost done with the crackers. I always buy too many different kinds near the holidays for various purposes and end up with boxes for ages and have to figure out how to eat them before they get stale. Currently have a ban on buying any except saltines when we run out (for when my system is a mess, which happens randomly so I like to keep a few sleeves on hand). Almost through the ziploc that had extras from charcuterie boards; finished some empty boxes. I think there are only 2-3 other boxes left in there to open and use up. Only. Ha!
Heather M
Hello All! Hope everyone had good long weekends 🙂
Updates will be dinners only again; we ate the usual mix for lunch/brunch; C was out of town from right after work Friday until this morning(tues)- straight to the airport from work, and straight to work from the airport. We had a pretty busy weekend but also managed to watch several oscar nominated movies, which is something we love to be up on. Here goes:
Thurs 2/13: I ate at book club; made teriyaki chicken meatballs and broccoli over half and half rice for the guys
Fri 2/14: C was on a plane. We actually went out to dinner! Last time we went out on Valentines day was 10 years ago and that was a double date with our besties. It was a busy day for both of us and we opted to go to a local favorite (Coastal Flats) for a late dinner(and also we couldn’t get last minute reservations anywhere awesome anyways) and it was fantastic as always. Really nice after quite the week.
Sat 2/15: C gone. we had special meetings late afternoon and evening, so we ate leftovers in between-mine was from the night before and L finished the quinoa casserole
Sun 2/16: C gone. I threw together a small batch of chili with random things needing using up (soft tomatoes, cooked ground beef) and cans of kidney beans and chilis(one needing using up as the best by date is past). We had it over small baked potatoes, and topped with a little shredded cheese and green onions. So good!!
Mon 2/17: C gone. Used another thing off the “shelf”- a baggie with a small amount of whole wheat rotini, to which I added more of the same from another box. While it was boiling I prepped the rest of the ingredients for one of our favorite easy meals: tuscan tuna pasta. I use fancy tinned italian tuna in olive oil, incl the olive oil, capers, chopped red onion, basil, zest of one lemon plus half of its juice, all tossed with the pasta. It’s so tasty! I also sauteed a sliced zucchini in seasonings for some veg.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hi Heather! Yay for a nice Valentine’s Day dinner! Your household has been busy, busy! Your Tuscan tuna salad sounds delicious. When I get some more (giggle) I’ll have to try something similar.
You reminded me that I’ve got a baggie with cooked rotini whole wheat pasta in it in the freezer. It needs to be used in some form!
Heather M
Thanks! And also, glad you remember about the baggie! My little baggie(it was definitely less than a 1/4lb) was discovered when I was rearranging things to create the needing to be used up shelf. I found several things I’d “lost”. Glad it’s gone. Hoping to get more gone soon. Last night wasn’t going to happen. Tonight I’ll be using up some opened bags of orzo. I really needed to move the things around, as I discovered open pasta bags(and some other open things like a little bit of wild rice, some nuts and dried fruit that definitely won’t last- I had to throw out some nuts that had gone rancid even) that really need to get used so they don’t go stale. It’s great that Maureen cleaned out her pantry. I need to go through the rest of mine (Only got through part of my cupboards). Hope you’re staying warm!
Karen J
Heather, your salads always sound so yummy!
Heather M
Thanks! We do love them. And the combinations are seemingly endless. 🙂
Maureen
Lynn, I’m glad there’s some progress on your power and Happy Birthday to your mom! I can’t believe how well you’ve done with food on the road. We grabbed lunch out on Sunday on our way to a show. That night I cooked dinner and didn’t use anything that I was targeting to get rid of…and I ended up with small servings of things leftover. So, today for lunch I ate up 4 small containers from the fridge. The girls are off school this week for mid-winter break, so they are only eating two meals a day and some snacks. I need to figure out some snacks for them from things I want gone and I’m sitting down right now to put together a few meal ideas that use up a few things. Dinner will be dumplings and fried rice with leftover pork and rice and at least one open pack of dumplings from the freezer.
Stephanie M
Sunday, February 17, 2025
B – we both had overnight oatmeal. I also had peanuts and Paul had yogurt.
L – we both had chicken sandwiches using up the last of the deli chicken.
D – grilled Asian salmon, using up the last of the salmon the in bag. rice pilaf, broccoli and cucumber salad.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/16/25
B: I had avocado toast. I had brought 4 eggs with me. DH ate 2 for breakfast with toast.
L: Dh and I, my sister and BIL and one nephew took my mother out to lunch for her 94th birthday! She enjoyed her lunch, and the cheesecake the restaurant gave her for her birthday. Then, she came home and made fudge!! A year ago, she had lost 10+ pounds and she’s tiny to begin with. We’re thrilled her appetite has returned! And she’s always had a sweet tooth! We had a good time celebrating her.
D: leftovers from lunch
2/27/25
B: I had avocado toast using bread and avocados from home. Not sure what DH fixed.
L: We both ate minestrone soup and deli meat sandwiches on whole wheat I’d brought from home.
D: we had chicken cheeseburgers on buns with lettuce and tomato and baked potatoes, all from home. I did go buy more bread for sandwiches for tomorrow and apples which I sliced to add to dinner.
S: my mother received some Shari’s Berries which she shared with us. Yum.
Heather M
Yay for your mom and her appetite! Glad you had a good birthday lunch for her. That’s great!
Karen J
B- Greek yogurt/banana/granola
L-quinoa salad with avocado Yum!
D-tacos and refried beans. This used up the last of the lettuce and refried beans and I only have one pound of ground beef left in the freezer. Still plugging away!
Stephanie M
Sunday, February 16, 2025
B – Paul had a yogurt with almonds. I had bean cereal with strawberries, blueberries and peanuts.
L – we both had deli chicken sandwiches on whole wheat. Paul also had chips from the open bag in the pantry.
During the afternoon I had cherries and almonds.
D – macaroni and meat sauce.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/15/25
B: I ate a boiled egg for chicken salad which I didn’t get around to making. I didn’t want to leave it til we returned. DH had cereal and finished off a box from the pantry.
L: we’re on the road again so I prepped lunch for the car. I bought some sale lunch meat yesterday. I made sandwiches for DH and me using that, tortilla chips from Super bowl and sliced apples and oranges.
D: I repurposed the chicken meatballs into pasta with meatballs. DH said he’d like spaghetti. Well, I came close-had the meatballs in the last of the pasta sauce in the fridge over corkscrew pasta (no spaghetti or angel hair so using what we’ve got). Added a small salad with lettuce that needed to be eaten along with tomato and avocado.
We are going to be at my mom’s until Wednesday morning. So I brought some of the chicken burgers to eat the next two nights, the lunch meat and soup for lunches and avocados for avocado toast. We’re running low on bread so may need to pick up a loaf while here. Hoping to avoid drive throughs while we’re away from home.
We are closer to having power restored. They finally came yesterday. They determined no one was at fault, just Mother Nature. They found that a tree root had damaged the power line 🙁 The area where we live is quite wooded as it is a maritime forest, so that was the culprit. They were quite surprised that we were the only house affected (lucky us:( They did their part but we’re still on a temporary line. Another team will take care of that. SMH. Then, as we were leaving today, after they worked around the house, our garage door openers wouldn’t work and power is out to the garage!! Groan. It feels never ending. Thanks for listening to my rant. I’m finished now!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend!
Karen J
Lynn, I’m glad to hear that at least baby steps are happening to get your power figured out (then the big step backwards with your garage power). I’m sure it does feel never-ending!
Good on you for traveling with road food and repurposing your meatballs into another dish. Happy birthday to your mom! I am the matriarch of our family. It is sometimes a strange feeling, remembering the years of my grandmothers and mom having that position.
Enjoy your trip!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Thank you Karen for the wishes for my mom. We are blessed that she and her twin sister (the only children in that generation on her side of the family) are both in relatively good health. On my father’s side, she’s the matriarch and one of 3 survivors of that generation including in laws. My dad was 1of 12 and one brother (and his wife) remain, along with my mom. We cherish our time with her for sure.
Heather M
At least you now know what is up with your power situation! Let’s hope they can get that fixed soon enough so your endless power woes actually end. Sigh. Love reading about the planning you did for this trip to your mom’s that you’re enjoying. So smart. And definitely healthier than constant carryout/drive through.
Maureen
Happy Belated Valentine’s Day! I am thankful you all are still posting and keeping me motivated. I did completely clean out my pantry. My “needs to be used” shelf is pretty full, but I think it will help. I made an alfredo bake with leftovers one night for dinner. And threw a few bits and bobs from the fridge into my salad for lunch the other day. My other two lunches were mostly leftovers, too. We made homemade pizza for V-day, which the girls were excited about. And tonight was spaghetti sauce from the freezer…not a big help for the pantry challenge, as I always have some in there, but it prevented me from being tempted by take-out. But we also had garlic bread in the freezer from Christmas with it. I need to figure out dinner for tomorrow as we are going to be gone most of the day.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Maureen, that’s impressive that you completely cleaned out your pantry! And the “Use Up” shelves everyone is trying may be a good idea for me as well.
Karen J
I have three cans of coconut milk on my “needs to be used” shelf so I see a curry in my future. I might use one to sub for part of the whole milk in my favorite chocolate pudding recipe (which is Jessica’s by the way). Maybe it will taste like a Mounds bar?
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I have a can of coconut milk myself..
Heather M
Wow you cleaned out your pantry!! That’s awesome! You’re doing really great, especially if you are avoiding takeout by using what you have, wherever it comes from. At least you have your shelf filled and visible which will help with planning and using things up. Hope you’re having a good winter break week 🙂
Karen J
Heather’s quinoa salad from the other day sounded so good that I went out and bought some quinoa and fresh veg and made a big batch of a salad quite similar. I did use up many Kalamata olives from my “need to be used” shelf. I gave some of the salad to my daughter and I am busy eating the rest. Since it has cucumber in it my husband is not a fan. Too bad for him.
I made a Trader Joe run, the first since early December. I have to be careful there as I love that store so much. I got more of our favorite dried mandarins and cheeses plus a dozen of their reasonably priced eggs (there was a one dozen limit) amongst other things, but only two freezer items as I am still trying to limit those.
I had the grandkids all day on Valentine’s Day as mom was sick and they had no school. The youngest wanted jam and butter sandwiches for lunch and I was happy to finish off two near empty jars of jam.
Heather M
Yay, so glad I inspired you! Too bad for your husband indeed. So impressed at how well you did at Trader Joe’s. I do use it often for well priced produce, though, and live 10 minutes to 3, so I’m not quite so tempted to go overboard there as often. But, if I go hungry, look out. All the fun things end up in my basket 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
2/14/25
Oops. Sorry about the duplicate entry. I was trying to avoid that.
B: yogurt for me, cereal for DH
L: soup for me, last of pimento cheese and crackers for DH along with soup
D: I used some of that 1.50# ground chicken to make meatballs. I used two half opened bottles of hot sauce to make a Buffalo wings sauce. The color was off a bit, but still tasted okay, and they are now out of the fridge. I served carrots, celery and ranch dressing, the last of the Greek salad and a bag of strawberries I had frozen.
We opted not to go out to eat for Valentine’s Day as we will be going out Sunday for my Mother’s birthday and are leaving tomorrow morning. We decided we’d eat some of the steaks next week when we get back in town. I did serve our meal using pink and red dinnerware.
Hope everyone has had a nice day.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’m not sure what is going on with my comments. I didn’t see this one anywhere so thought I would try again. Hope it’s not a duplicate.
First off Happy Valentine Day to everyone.
If anyone here uses the app Ibotta, they have a rebate for 2.50 per dozen eggs just on Fridays for a limited time. Thought I’d mention it here.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Yes, Happy Valentine Day to all!
Also, I don’t know if anyone here uses the Ibotta app, but if you do there’s a 2.50 rebate on eggs purchased today. It seems they are doing this on Fridays for a limited time.
Stephanie M
Happy valentines day everyone!!