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 5 of the Pantry Challenge.
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FishChick17 and I ran to Ralphs for a quick perusal of the clearance and to grab the digital deals that caught my eye. We spent $68 there and then did a $35 Walmart pickup. I think that should tide us over for basics until I get to ALDI on Thursday.
I know that sounds like a lot for a few days, but with 7 adults, four of whom are men eating double protein, we go through food so quickly these days!
I didn’t get to work back to my kitchen project, but maybe later tonight? We’ll see when I run out of steam.
What We Ate
Today was a tasty day!
Breakfast – I have no idea what the kids had. Bryan always has a protein bar and coffee. I had the blueberries I bought on sale with cottage cheese.
Lunch – It was just FC17 and me for lunch. We both had salads with chicken nuggets atop; she had some leftover pizza; I had some leftover Broccoli Cheese Soup. I also ate the last piece of cheesecake from Sunday dinner.
Dinner – Funnily enough, I recycled last year’s Jan 5th menu. I didn’t even know I was doing it until I came to up date the post.
We had Grilled Pork Tenderloin, roasted carrots, a Caesar Salad, and Brazilian cheese buns, recipe from the back of the Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Flour.
How did your Day 5 go for you?
Angela
I love those cheese rolls!
First day with students in my classroom since Christmas break.
B- breakfast biscuit with sausage, cheese & veggies baked in; hot tea with honey & lemon
L- chicken salad with celery, carrots & pecans
D – Leftovers from hubby’s grill-fest on Sunday: grilled burger with sautéed mushrooms, roasted sweet potatoes and roasted onion. Delish. I love it when he grills!
Kelly Cook
I’m reading this on Jan 6th and don’t see a post for today. I haven’t been very intentional, but we are using up leftovers and eating frozen items I bought because the price was too good to pass up.
Roberta in So Cal
Mon. 1/5/26
B: For 3. Hubs had his usual cereal (w/ banana I think), toast, OJ, and coffee. I had cereal and coffee. Son had cereal and probably coffee.
L: For 2. Hubs–turkey and cheese sandwich, salad, apple, orange slices, yogurt w/ strawberry jam. I had PB toast and yogurt topped with honey and the crumbs from a container of Trader Joe’s English toffee. Son had lunch with his GF.
D: For 3. Loaded baked potatoes w/ LO ham, cheese, sour cream; corn; salad; apple and orange slices; See’s chocolates for dessert.
Karen J
I love your use of toffee crumbs on your yogurt. Sounds yummy!
I go to See’s once a year before Christmas. Ours stopped giving samples. Boo.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/5/26
B: Greek yogurt with add ins and coffee for both of us
L: soup and toast for me, soup and sandwich for DH
D: I had planned to make a meal with chicken, but DH requested that we repeat last night’s dinner of chili on baked potatoes, and so we did. I added the cheap sautéed cabbage and mandarins to round it out which made for a pretty easy meal prep.
S: big hunk of panettone to finish it off. Ahem.
I frequently ask DH if there are any meals he would like us to eat, and he usually comes up with one or two requests for the month. He supplied me with a list of about 10 thus far this month, some of which I was planning anyway. So that has been interesting. I’ll see how many I can rustle up with the challenge underway.
Heather M
Good luck satisfying your husband’s list. Maybe you can do meals adjacent to some you don’t quite have the ingredients for? I know you’ll do really well, regardless of what you make for dinners.
Karen J
Lynn, Won’t we be glad when Christmas treats are gone? Yikes-it’s going to be awhile at our house.
Laughing at your husband’s special request of ten meals this month during pantry challenge. Good luck! You can do it!
Allie from Ontario
What we ate on Jan 5
Brunch: T started early with a banana and a toasted English muffin with h/m raspberry jam on 1/2 and honey from a friend’s bees (he’ll be sad when that jar is gone!) on the other 1/2. He also had some kielbasa, cheese & crackers later. I had my mixed berry smoothie + Ryvita & peanut butter.
Dinner: I made ground pork sliders with Lea & Perrins, green onions + blue cheese mixed into the beef mixture (very tasty!). For the condiments, I mimicked a bacon jam recipe I saw by cooking some diced bacon then stirring it + some Dijon mustard into a couple of spoonfuls of my home canned onion/garlic jam. That was spooned on top of the little patties and we used home canned red onion/tomato relish on the bottom buns. We had 2 sliders each with a little salad using up the dressing I had made the night before.
I had this feeling after dinner that we weren’t getting anywhere re: clearing things right out and then T reminded me that we are using lots of ingredients that will eventually empty and (importantly) that it was only DAY 5! He does make a good point….sometimes 🙂
Stephanie M
Monday, January 5, 2026
B – Paul had the last whole wheat English muffin and mixed fruit. I had bran cereal strawberries blueberries and peanuts.
L – Paul has the last two slices of pizza from the freezer and a yogurt. There was just enough whole wheat spaghetti in the fridge for one person leftover from dinner so I fried that in butter and added two eggs to make a frittata for me. I also had the leftover cucumber salad.
Snack – Paul had Christmas cookies. I had a yogurt.
D – the last of the chicken piccata over wild rice and salad.
Stephanie M
Monday, January 5, 2026
B – Paul had the last whole wheat English muffin, and mixed fruit. I had bran cereal with strawberries blueberries and peanuts.
L – Paul had the last two slices of frozen pizza leftover from a few weeks ago. He also had a yogurt. There was just enough whole wheat spaghetti leftover from the night before so I fried it in butter and added two eggs to make a frittata for me. I also ate the leftover cucumber salad.
Snack – I had a yogurt. Paul had Christmas cookies.
D – the last of the chicken piccata over wild rice and salad.
Tàsty
Jan 5
B – hubby had his usual. I had a banana, a yogurt and a piece of cheese. I also had a slice of bread and h/m jam, my excuse being, I wanted to try the new bread I had made using a neighbour’s recipe – really good!
L – hubby? I had a cheese sandwich when I got home about 2.30
S – haddock and fries with the rest of the baked beans in the fridge.
Not an exciting day but still a win
Happy birthday Heather. Sorry to see you are havIng iron issues again. Hope yesterday’s procedure puts you back where you want to be.
Heather M
Thank you, Tasty! I sure hope that this one infusion is sufficient. I’ll get my levels checked again in a month. Also, homemade bread sounds amazing. I really need to start making bread sometimes.
Tasty
I’ve made all of our bread for probably the last 25 years Heather and when I say I make it, I mean I pull out the breadmaker. This particular recipe was from a neighbour in the condo. He had made a loaf for one of our condo get togethers and it was lovely. After talking to him, he popped the recipe under the door one day and I thought I had best try making it before I see him again this weekend at a condo brunch.
Heather from Sacramento
Today was a boring WFH day. The heater is out at work so we have been able to WFH for a few weeks. It was really nice around the holidays but I’m ready to go back. We heard today that the heater should be fixed by Monday. I am glad to go back but I need to be better about having food prepared to take with me.
B- coffee
L- scrambled eggs with Monterey Jack cheese and apple cinnamon toast with butter
D- I made a double batch of tortellini soup. I will freeze some for leftovers.
Snacks- finished the last of the chocolate oatmeal cookies from Christmas. Hot apple cider.
I forgot to mention that I had a few pieces of bread left after making grilled cheese sandwiches and I made breadcrumbs of of it and put it in the freezer for upcoming meals.
Kathy in Denmark
Day 5:
First day back to work and school.
B: Oats and milk for DH, Rye porridge for DD2, chia pudding with fruit and chopped nuts for DD2 and myself.
L: DH eats at work, packed lunch for both kids. I had made a sandwich with WW bread for both kids (salami for DD2, smoked salmon for DD1). I always send some fruit and veggies as well.
I had some toasted HM sourdough bread with shrimp, lettuce and some different cut up veggies.
D: Last of the LO tomato sauce and the last of the pasta in the bag. Also some rolls with different toppings, as DH took some home from work. They had breakfast together at work to welcome some new interns, and there were a lot of rolls left!
I did some grocery shopping today and got some great mark downs, including avocados and blueberries. We also got bananas and milk, which are essentials in our house!
Monday is always a bit strange mealwise, since our oldest has singing lessons until 18.15 and I like to grocery shop in the supermarket in the town where her lessons are. This means I’m not home when I usually prepare dinner.
This evening was even worse, because I had a migraine coming on and it was snowing quite a lot when we were driving there and home again. So I was grateful for LO pasta and the rolls, so dinner was easy.
Heather M
Oh the busy days with after school activities. They’re great and also chaotic. So glad you had leftovers and the unexpected rolls to have for dinner, especially as you weren’t feeling well. Also, reading your first entries this year I am struck by just how your girls are growing up! They aren’t so little any more and it reminds me of how long we have all been here every January to support each other and get to n own each other and just how wonderful this little January community is.
Kathy in Denmark
My oldest turned 14 in December and the youngest turns 11 i February!
Good thing I’m not aging 😉
Heather M
Jan 5: sort of back to normal for just the weekdays except Tuesday which is my birthday and I notoriously don’t cook dinner- we will get takeout since we splurged on a special restaurant meal when everyone was here on the Saturday after Christmas (I called it my early bday dinner since it was both kids and their bf/gf). Today wasn’t fully normal either as I spent the afternoon at the hospital getting an iron infusion (and waiting). After 2023-4 were huge struggles in getting it regulated, I did great in 2025, until it suddenly tanked again in December.
Brunch/lunch: C took a frozen meal since there were no leftovers, a Kind bar, and a satsuma; L took his usual salad (somehow a bag of butter lettuce and radicchio survived the holidays enough for 2 lunches!) with added celery, tomatoes, and deli roast beef(sm package purchased in December and never opened!), an apple, and cashews; I had crackers with the rest of the homemade pimento cheese our neighbor gave us for Christmas (so good) and a leftover Christmas cookie.
Snack: I had fig newtons at the infusion(they have snacks!)
Dinner: had random sorry veg (wrinkled red bell pepper, some raw veg leftover from that restaurant meal-daughter is celiac and can’t have bread so in place of it she was given a wide range of veg to use for delicious middle eastern/North African dips)- leftover were red cabbage, green and purple caulifower(or whatever they’re called), and sliced huge watermelon radishes(I think….), an onion. First defrosted and cooked up chicken breast. Sauteed both the veg and chicken in the last of a green goddess dressing and added Trader Joe’s ranch seasonings. Added cooked whole wheat pasta, and the rest of an open package of Neufchâtel and a little seasoned salt. Oh was this yummy. And, salvaged a few things! I had a little ice cream after (we have lots left from Christmas (among so many other treats).
Kathy in Denmark
I’m sorry about the iron level tanking after doing so well in 2025. I hope you get it sorted out soon!
You had a great PC day! Yay for using up so many things.
Heather M
Thank so much, Kathy!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, I’m so sorry to hear of the iron deficiency reoccurrence. I remember your past difficulties. Maybe this will just be a hiccup and you can get back to your good levels of 2025.
Heather M
Thanks, Lynn. This is my hope, too.
Karen J
Oh my goodness, your dinner sounds delicious! And healthy too!
Heather M
Thanks, Karen. It was so good.
Maureen
Happy Belated Birthday!! No fun spending some of it at the hospital, but hopefully you’re levels will stabilize and you’ll be feeling better soon.
Karen J
Day 5
I was in charge of getting the youngest two grandkids off to school today so stopped at Burger King for a Happy 2026 breakfast for them. They needed a bit of encouragement after two weeks off.
Lunch-cottage cheese and peaches
Dinner-hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes (reminiscent of old school hot lunches), green beans and French bread
Snack-cookies left from Christmas-there are still plenty left-all in the freezer in an attempt to not eat as many, which is not working.
I did a long delayed kitchen task today and sharpened all my knives. What a difference it made!
Heather M
I need to sharpen my knives! Thanks for the reminder 🙂
Kathryn M
01/05/2026
B- pastries (these were a bunch of baked goods that I brought home from the last time I volunteered at the food pantry- we get tons of baked goods and can’t seem to get rid of it fast enough.)
L – for me: cheese, pepperoni, crackers, a few raspberries that needed to go away, a Halo orange
for spouse: made a ham and cheese wrap.
D – Breakfast for dinner. I made scrambled eggs with bacon, onion, bell pepper, and cheese stirred in.
I did stop in the store and picked up ice cream and a half gallon of milk. I also grabbed a couple of bananas. I am leaving town on 1/20 so my pantry challenge will end then. This year I am just focusing on getting the fridge emptied out. Hence the heavy leftovers usage – it helps not stuffing things in the freezer before leaving.I am also trying not to spend at the grocery since I will have to buy food at our destination for us and 2 guests.
Maureen
I munched on some cheese and crackers from the holidays for breakfast. And had leftover pasta for lunch while I was prepping pasta sauce for my daughter to take back to college. Dinner was enchiladas made from leftover Mexican chicken and cheese from a party that I had frozen. I had enough to make two lunch portions, too, so those are now in the fridge for later this week. I hard boiled some eggs for my high schooler, too, so she had that instead of enchiladas for dinner. We also munched on a few Christmas treats and some fruit.
Kim from Colorado
B- cereal
L- burgers
D- leftover chicken/rice/cuke-mango salad thing. My son wasn’t thrilled to have that again (not a cucumber fan) so I sliced the chicken up thin and made him a sub sandwich
Karen J
Day 5
I stayed home the entire day, which was wonderful. I made a loaf of cranberry orange bread, read a book, and re-organized one cupboard finding things that needed to be used.
B poached eggs on the last of the bread, bacon from the freezer
L cranberry orange bread and mandarins
D rice bowls with pinto beans from the freezer, the last of the pork roast, cabbage, salsa and cheese
Heather M
Yay for a productive and relaxing day at home!
Roberta in So Cal
Yum! Cranberry orange bread. I need to make some (once all the chocolate from Christmas is gone!).
Stephanie m
Hi Jessica and everyone on the challenge. I’m a bit late to the party but thanks to Heather who reminded me, I wanted to join in.
My husband and I have had a busy year in 2024. Moved from New Jersey where we have lived all of our lives to southern Virginia. Followed our daughter, son in law and 11 month old grandson. Meanwhile we go back to New Jersey once a month to visit our other daughter and grandchildren.
Life is very different down here. But I’m finally coming out of the culture shock.
All that said it’s definitely time for me to do a pantry challenge even though I try very hard now not to overstock my freezer. My pantry is another story as there are some things I can’t find here so when I go to New Jersey I stock up on
Those things even if I don’t need them yet.
My husband is going to California tomorrow for the week so I’m on my own with food. I stick to easy fast things when he’s in business trips but I’m still using what I have and buying only what I need to make dishes with what i have.
B – Paul had the last two hard boiled eggs, the last small pretzel roll with butter, an a yogurt parfait. I had a yogurt parfait.
L – I had a turkey meat loaf in the freezer so I defrosted that and we had meatloaf sandwiches.
D – I used up the last three packages of chicken sausage to make an Italian sausage soup. That will last a few days before I freeze some of the leftovers for Paul’s lunches when he gets home next week from California.
Jessica Fisher
Welcome back, Stephanie!
Stephanie m
Thank you so much Jessica!!!
Tàsty
Good to see you back Stephanie and congrats on the new grandson.
Stephanie m
Hi tasty thank you so much. Nice to hear from you! That makes four grandsons!
Heather M
Yay you’re back here, Stephanie!
Stephanie m
Hi heather!! Thank you so much for reminding me about the pantry challenge. It’s always so nice to catch up with old friends. ??
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Stephanie, I had missed this post when I commented. Sounds like lots of changes in your life for sure! I can see how NJ to VA could be a bit of a culture shock, but welcome south!
Four grandsons! Congratulations on the newest one. I remember when 2 were born awhile back. I have one grandchild-a little granddaughter who’s almost 2. She is such a joy.
Will look forward to sharing posts and catching up more!
Tasty
A quick recap of day 5:
B: our usual
L: neither of us was really hungry so just some cheese and crackers
S: pot roast
Heather M
January 5:
In which we realized birthday (today.. the 6th) dinner out on my birthday (or even takeout/delivery) was not going to happen as every hour it seemed they upped the snowstorm totals for today. I went to bed late with snow falling and got up at 10(a nice leisurely birthday wakeup) to lots of snow and more to come before late tonight. I’d much rather be on a warm(not hot) beach under an umbrella with sand between my toes, the ocean right in front of me ready to swim in, and a book on my lap. Alas, I have a snow birthday this year. the DC area hasn’t gotten much snow the past several years, maybe one lighter storm a season. It’s been 6 years since a storm like this, and they say we may have more on saturday. Needless to say, the kids in the area are thrilled, as school (well everything) is closed and winter break extended.
Jan 5 meals:
Brunch: L only ate cashews until dinner; C had several pieces of sourdough toast and nibbled on some christmas chocolates; I had some more of that christmas bread and some treats as well.
Dinner: we went out to an early dinner (5pm-we normally eat like 7:30 on weekdays, since L is rarely home from work earlier) to an upscale kebab place, a third very casual sibling to a restaurant in DC we’ve been trying to get reservations for for ages and never have any luck (Maydan)- one day we’ll get the timing right. It was great- we started with fried brussels with pomegranate molasses and a dried beef thing, sumac chips, and grilled red pepper dip with walnuts and pomegranate. all delicious. Then we all had various kebab choices with great sauces on them and amazingly all chose couscous over rice for the starch. Good dinner!
Jessica, so glad you had a good weekend and no traffic! What a win!
Kathy in Denmark
Happy birthday, Heather! Or should I say: Til lykke med fødselsdagen, Heather!
I’m sorry everything is closed, but at least you get to stay in and relax. I’m sure Hubby will take you out another time when the snow clears 🙂
Heather M
Thank you! It was a good day at home and dinner out last night made up for it.
Tasty
Wishing you a very happy birthday Heather. Sorry you can’t get out for your birthday dinner but I’m sure it will happen at some point when the snow has stopped, or even better, disappeared.
Heather M
Thank you! It was a good day! You’ll read about my actual birthday dinner on the Jan 6 entry, but last night’s dinner counts for my birthday dinner out. 🙂
Kim from Colorado
Happy birthday!
And your dinner on the 5th sound delicious!
Heather M
Thank you! It really was delicious!