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 7 of the Pantry Challenge! I don’t know about you, but that first week went by pretty quickly! How are we already one week down?
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Sorry for the delay in posting. I got caught up in a book and forgot to post.
What We Ate
Breakfast – I had some instant oatmeal packets from the stocking stuffers.
Lunch – Leftover chowder and sourdough bread.
Dinner – I made two pounds of Easy Homemade Taco Meat and opened the last box of taco shells. Along with pintos and an array of toppings, everyone made what he wanted.
How did Day 7 go for you?
Allie from Ontario
What we ate on Jan 7
Brunch: I made up a ilttle bowl using/chopping up some things leftover from salad night…a chunk of chicken, 1/2 a hardboiled egg, some feta, celery, the last of the dressing and the last few croutons. T ate the other 1/2 of the egg and the last of the shredded beef. He had to go feed & exercise a friend’s dog (brrr….that was a cold job) and took a sausage & bun from the freezer to cook there while he and dog watched a movie 🙂
Dinner: I had cooked the last cup or so of dried navy beans, some for dinner & the rest into the freezer. I also took a container of olive roasted cherry tomatoes and a mild Italian suasge from the freezer and made a pan with those 3 items + red onions, sweet peppers, garlic and lots of basil. This was all spooned over Jessicas “rich & creamy” mozzarella polenta. Sooo good.
I need to rethink my eating during the day for a bit as I am now on some heavy duty antibiotics to be taken before 8, mid day and after dinner – all with food. I took this morning’s with dinner leftovers but I’m not sure that’s really what I want to eat at 7:30, SO today I made a batch of steel cut oats in the instapot to make it easier on my stomach. I have a jar of apple butter in the fridge & sliced almonds in the freezer both of which I really like with oats.
I am sincerly hoping that anyone who is themselves or has familyand or friends affected by the California fires are somewhere safe.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Oh, Allie, I second your thoughts. The images are just heartbreaking and shocking. I lost my house to fire 20 years ago this month. Mine was different in that our house wasn’t reduced to cinders. We actually were able to salvage a bit despite the extensive fire, smoke and water damage.
Public service announcement: please video/photograph your house and belongings. Include your attic and garage. I had done this shortly before our fire when Hurricane Isabel was coming ashore here. It was quite helpful with all of the documentation that was next required. And it is much easier to identify items when they are intact rather when they are charred or gone completely. Also, if at all possible have replacement value insurance. This replaces your items in today’s dollars and not depreciated. Stepping down off my soapbox now.
Tasty
Great advice Lynn.
Heather M
Lynn, this is great advice. I’m so sorry you had to go through that 20 years ago. Imagine this is bringing back all those memories. I need to tell my mom to do exactly that- video her entire house. I made her get a go bag ready, just in case anything kicks up in her area, but so far San Diego county has been spared.
Heather M
Great meals all around and I like your strategy for food and the antibiotics! Nicely done! Feeling very much like you, just heartbroken. I’m originally from San Diego and also have some friends in LA. It’s really awful.
Kathryn M
Jan 7th
Brunch – the last of the banana pancakes.
Dinner – spaghetti and garlic toast. I added mozzarella cheese to the spaghetti before throwing it in the microwave.
Snacks – more danish butter cookies, plain ritz crackers, a piece of chocolate cake.
Not very exciting. I have one more spaghetti serving but will save it for Thursday. I am off work Wed and will cook something different.
Heather M
First off, THANK YOU Jessica for the birthday shout out on Jan 6’s post 🙂
Jan 7:
In which the entire region was still closed from the monday snow, but I got to the hospital in record time? Had a fancy iron infusion I desperately needed(had one in december, 2 in september and more before that- beginning in sept they started giving me a fancier type with way more iron than the standard infusions). I’ve been struggling mightily with anemia, am losing iron faster than I should and we have yet to discover the reason. Have had all sorts of imaging, etc. It may be microscopic loss. Anyways, have another infusion (biologic for crohns) thursday and I have terrible veins, so not the most fun week here. The guys worked from home.
B: I had a rice krispie treat while at the infusion; I think the guys skipped
L: from what I could tell C had a toasted turkey and cheddar on sourdough and L finished the salad from monday night and ate almonds and some tortilla chips; when I finally got home close to 2 I had the last of the delicious soup I had made over the weekend, along with a few tortilla chips
D: threw some frozen chicken breasts in the IP, then shredded it and saved at least half of it for a future meal and saved the yummy broth(I added seasonings) in a jar. Made a sauce of two open green salsas-salsa verde and the spicy Herdez guacamole salsa- plus some greek yogurt and additional seasonings, then mixed some chicken with black beans and some of the sauce. I have had some corn tortillas languishing and used some of them along with the sauce, filling, and 2 kinds of cheese and layered it-sauce, tortillas, chicken mix, a little cheese, tortillas, rest of the sauce, cheese, and baked it. It was another huge hit, so I wrote down what I did again. Both guys insisting I make it again. I liked it too 🙂 We had some chopped lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and green onions with it.
Allie from Ontario
Heather! That dinner sounds awesome!
Heather M
It was 🙂 thanks.
Karen J
Heather M, I hope they can figure out your anemia struggles, that has to be so frustrating. Then you come home and make an incredible pantry challenge dinner. You are amazing!
Heather M
Thanks, Karen. I have great care here, but my body is being tricky. It likes to be that way. I just want to not have to be poked with needles so often. And not be on a huge roller coaster of fatigue and other things. Alas.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, I am sorry you continue to struggle with the anemia. I’m with Karen J-you go through your infusion and come home to whip up a delicious pantry meal. Superwoman!
Heather M
Thank you, Lynn. 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
That was quite a day you had, Heather!
That dinner sounds amazing! I would love to eat dinner at your house 🙂
I have had some confusing symptoms as well (starting last January), and when I was at my GP (who knows me really well) she said: You’re a little strange – but very nice LOL
She then referred me to different specialists and they took it from there.
Your story of not knowing exactly what is wrong reminded me of this. I hope you get it all figured out and I am happy you are well cared for in the meantime.
Danielle L Zecher
This week really has flown by! I’d be happy if the whole winter goes by on fast-forward. 🙂
I only slept for about two or three hours Monday night, so yesterday was kind of an off day.
Breakfast: We both grabbed drive-thru on the way to work.
Lunch: I had leftover beef pot pie. I don’t know what Nick had. I also munched on peanut butter cookies and pomegranate arils during the day.
Dinner: We got Mexican food so we could have an easy night and go to bed early. 100% worth it!
Heather M
Has to happen sometimes for sure! Hope you slept better last night.
Kathy in Denmark
Hope you slept better – lack of sleep is the worst.
Tasty
Day 7
B: hubby by had the usual fruit etc. Aiming for some protein, I had scrambled egg on toast
L: bacon sandwiches
S: beef vegetable soup from the freezer.
Still just the one trip to the store when I got yogurt and mozzarella for pizza at the weekend – grand total of $11 for the week.
Nancy
B. Oatmeal
L. The last of the LO grilled pizza.and a couple homemade bars from the freezer. I bake too much and keep finding containers of cookies and bars in there.
D. I had LO pasta Alfredo and my husband has LO Mexican food.
Linda B
I’ve fallen off the wagon reporting what we’ve been eating, but not with sticking with our pantry challenge. I did break down the other day and bought boneless skinless chicken thighs marked down to half off and made those for dinner.
Brunch—bagels and cream cheese, sunny side up eggs, breakfast sausage, OJ, coffee.
Dinner—Spanish rice with pork chops. We have leftovers for later in the week.
What I’m learning is that the biggest barrier to me using the food in our freezer is that I don’t plan ahead to thaw things. Because I know we have all the ingredients for a lot of meals, I haven’t been planning ahead like I should to make sure things are thawed to cook. I’ve got to work on that. But right now we are loaded with leftovers from the last couple of days, so we’ll be eating those for a while.
Only spent $8.81 on groceries so far this month because we needed milk and lettuce, and I bought that half price chicken.
Jessica Fisher
Do you have a thawing station? I find that to be really helpful to have a specific spot in the fridge for thawing things. Since they take several days, you could plan to just have something thawing all the time, on a tray in the fridge. If the tray is empty, you know to go grab something.
Tasty
Sunday 7th
B: Hubby finished off the open pack of bacon in a sanadwich. I had fruit yogurt and a muffin
L: Vegetable beef soup courtesy of the freezer
S: I slow cooked a chicken so we had that with baked potatoes and creamed peas.
Finished off the shortbread with our coffee.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Hey Tasty! Glad to see you here.
Tasty
Thanks Lynn. I was really pleased.to see so many familiar names – so many of us have been doing this yearly challenge for so long. It’s like meeting up with old friends!
So far, I have not set foot in a grocery store this year. Usually, I head to the store when the stores reopen after the holidays and I can usually get some really good deals on meat and so the cycle continues! This year we are really going to give this challenge a good try.
Jessica Fisher
Sounds like a great goal, Tasty! Always glad to see your name. 🙂
Heather M
Hello Tasty!!! So glad to see you back this year 🙂
Tasty
Thanks Heather. It’s good to be back!
Diinaus
Day 7
Woke up with a siezed back so it was a matter of survival. Roast tray of vegetables that was slated for todays lunchs//dinner accidentally got left on the bench over night. Not all wasted despite my frustration. The animals ate well saving their regular food for another day.
B: real coffee and milk before having to make a 2.5hr drive to work.
L: kids made nachos with baked beans cjeese and corn chips, I brought Salad at work
S: bits of fruit at home, nuts from a servo for me.
D: hubby purchased ground beef and the kids had pasta ready for me when I got home well after a long day. All those cooking lessons I gave have paid off:) tomorrow is a new day. Lots of errands and meal preparation to get done. Hopefully after a chiro visit this will be accomplished easier
Karen J
I went for a nice walk with my friend fighting leukemia. Good for both of us. She has a rough road ahead.
Breakfast-leftover grits, scrambled eggs with peppers and onion
Lunch-toast and hummus
Dinner-turkey meatloaf, baked potatoes and green beans
There is a bit more room in the freezer, but still lots to go. This week I am going to try to use the “big” things.
Diinaus
Thanks for the reminder. I have roo mince in the bottom of the freezer thst i must make meatloaf with today.. sorry to hear about your friend. That’s tough but glad you can support her.
Kathryn M
Day 7 2024. Chicken salad sandwich for lunch. I ate some pickled onions and bread and butter pickles from the fridge. I made so many pickles this last summer and I need to get busy eating them.
Snacks – bbq chips, a last brownie I needed to finish.
Dinner was at work – some leftover pizza breadsticks and mozzerella sticks with dipping sauce.
Allie from Ontario
There is a jar of pickled beans hanging around in fridge. T, who loves them, will never think of having a few beside dinner. I have intended to put them on his plate 4 different times in the past 3 weeks AND forgotten each time. I struggle to find who is at fault here 🙂
Kathy in Denmark
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I am writing this on Monday, and DD1 is almost ready to go back to school and DD2 no longer has a fever and is a lot more like her usual self, so fingers crossed this is the end of the crud!
Day 7:
Brunch: soft boiled egg, toast, LO croissants, coffee and juice
S: Hot cocoa with whipped cream and LO Christmas treats
D: HM bread with different toppings
The hot cocoa was made from scratch with full fat milk and some dark chocolate added at the end. I also had real cream, so whipped some of that. Trying to get extra calories in DD2, and this is a good way to do it 😉
I baked some bread, so thought we might as well have some for dinner. No one seemed to mind 🙂
Heather M
Glad your girls are perking up! And, that hot cocoa sounds amazing.
Diinaus
Glad to hear kids are on the mend. Hot chocolate I swear has medicinal properties. All the fat soluble vitamins and othe good antioxidants things in chocolate that are restorative to health. . In addition to this when my kids need a boost elderberry syrup always goes down a treat along with honey and lemon drinks. 🙂
Allie from Ontario
Jan 7
Brunch: I had tomato soup (freezer) +the end of a sleeve of crackers with cheddar & my tomatillo-jalapeno jam. T had the last cottage roll sandwich & a bowl of the split pea soup I made on Saturday. 2 single servings of soup are heading to the freezer (he promises not for long) & 2 are going to his father, who will be thrilled 🙂
Dinner: I made ground pork sliders (meat & buns from the freezer) with a green salad. I finished off an almost empty jar of Dijon by making the dressing in it which worked well.
I also made cookies yesterday using up the last of the Skor bits but I’m not sure finishing up homemade cookies this week will count as a much of a “challenge win” :).
Heather M
Everything about this day…. Awesome! And T’s dad is lucky. Between the jam, soups, cookies, and dinner, deelish!
Diinaus
Cookies esp home made are definable as a challenge win. Esp if it picks up moral. Mum used to make the best cookies and bar recipes for lunc boxes when she was cleaning out the pantry when moving or it was a tight pay period.( we never knew as kids only learning later on) . Only problem was that she did not ever make the same version twice.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
1/7
B: dh had scrambled eggs, I toasted an English muffin with coffee
L: lo quiche for both of us
D: turkey and cheese quesadillas with lettuce, sour cream and salsa toppings, pinto beans cooked from dried, orange slices and grapes.
In preparation for dinner, I started looking for the Romaine lettuce I bought since we used up the last of the spinach. It was no where to be found! I guess I MEANT to buy it 2 weeks ago. So I purchased it for 2.99 and bought 12 lbs of russet potatoes for .39#. That’s the cheapest I’ve seen them in quite some time, so stocked up. We’re headed to DC soon and mashed potatoes are a favorite of my DD and SIL, so I’ll be fixing them. I’ve spent 7.64 this month.
Heather M
Have fun up here!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I plan too! Always fun to visit the area 🙂
Karen J
That’s a good potato price. Our Kroeger (Fred Meyer)this week has russets for $0.99 a pound (yikes) or a ten pound bag for $4.99-much more reasonable, but not as good as yours.
Your quesadillas sound yummy. For some reason I rarely think to make them at home. They are one of our go to camping meals though.
Diinaus
That’s a super deal on spuds!! Currently our best price here is $2/kg or about $/pound.mind you it is summer in the tropics and not spud growing season. Have discovered Ube(?) Tubers that are purple yam like vegetables but are slimy when pealed. When cooked taste just like normal potato. Hopefully that might be a good solution to out climate inabilities to grow standard spuds.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Diinaus, That’s interesting. I’ve not heard of those tubers. I’ll have to investigate them. The best price I’ve found was for sweet potatoes. They were .25/# the week of American Thanksgiving. Where in the tropics do you live?
Heather M
Posting for Jan 6/7:
Quiet 6th/birthday, after setback with vertigo recovery. Until dinner. We only had light snacks during the day because L took me to a high end Spanish restaurant I’ve always wanted to go to: Del Mar (named after my hometown in CA lol). And it was one of the best meals of my life. Balfego Bluefin tuna carpaccio(beyond amazing; blue crab stuffed piquillo peppers with sea urchin sauce (perfection); Spanish tortilla with black truffle, lemon crema, Belper Knolle cheese (the lightest, most fluffy delicious tortilla ever); then we really blew it out with a grilled whole Aquanaria Branzino and it was impossibly amazing.And there was a trio of delicious desserts as well. Wish I could show pics. Anyways, after that meal (and its price), I’m even more determined to keep costs this month really low.
Jan 7: we both woke up full still and had various meetings to attend. L didn’t eat anything until late in the day, when he snacked on tortilla chips and the last chocolate coconut macadamias from Christmas. I snacked on a couple rolls and some Christmas sweets as well.
Dinner: L had two spicy jalapeño chicken sausages from the freezer and finished the leftover pasta from Friday; I didn’t want a ton, so finished the tiny bit of guacamole with some tortilla chips and had some raw veggies with pimiento dip from new years.
Kathy in Denmark
Happy birthday, Heather!
That restaurant sounds amazing – so happy you got to enjoy such a great meal with your Hubby.
Heather M
Thanks! It was quite a treat 🙂
Karen J
Oh my, that dinner sounds amazing and what a great place to celebrate your birthday!
I hope your vertigo gets better soon. I had it briefly after the flu years ago and still remember how awful it was!
Heather M
Thanks on all counts. Today feels like I’ve turned a corner. Fingers crossed!
Jessica Fisher
Happy Birthday! So glad you got to celebrate. 🙂
Heather M
Thank you!!
Stephanie m
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
B – bean cereal with bananas and blueberries and a side of peanuts.
L – turkey meat loaf sandwich on whole wheat using up the last of the meat loaf.
D – BLT on whole wheat using up the last of the turkey bacon. Paul is in Savannah on a business trip and headed to California straight from there on Thursday. I babysit our 11 month old grandson every day from 7:00 till 5:00 so by days end I’m ready to fall on my face. Don’t know how I did it with two when I was a young mother. lol.
Diinaus
Happy Birthday Heather
Heather M
Thank you’
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Heather, that birthday meal sounds amazing! I don’t even know what some of those dishes are! Glad you were able to go and enjoy, vertigo notwithstanding.
Heather M
Thanks so much, Lynn
Danielle Zecher
Happy belated birthday!
I hope the vertigo clears up soon! My husband and M-I-L have dealt with that, and it was horrible.
Danielle Zecher
I hope things level out for you with a return to your normal schedule. I’ve been looking forward to this week, too, for the return to normal.
Sunday wasn’t a good Pantry Challenge day. We skipped breakfast, went out for lunch, and ordered takeout for dinner.
Danielle Zecher
I also meant to say thank you to everyone for your kind comments about my cat.
Heather M
Not really all that surprised your day involved food out/takeout. You are taking care of yourself amidst grief and that’s a good thing???
Jessica Fisher
Thank you! I’m definitely taking things easy. Perimenopause is a trip!
Maureen
We had homemade pizza Saturday night on the grill since DH was willing (not a common occurrence in MI in January). Sunday we ran to the store for a few things…mostly eggs, a little produce, and dairy. We stuck to our list, but grabbed some sirloin for dinner to go with a bunch of leftovers from the fridge. And we grabbed lunch out while we were out, but it was a planned treat. I need to dig through the freezers a bit this week to round out my meal plan.
Kathryn M
Travelling. I left early and just snacked on junk food (airplane snack mix, cookies, etc) instead of having breakfast and lunch. No spending on food though.
Dinner – I threw some leftovers from home in my bag and microwaved them at the hotel for dinner.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Jan 7
Those are good looking biscuits, Jessica. So tall and fluffy. Mine don’t seem to fluff up that high. I want to try your crockpot cheesecake recipe. Looks less nerve wracking than one made in the oven and both variations look delicious.
Interesting re: your price comparison. We don’t have an Aldi, though I seek them out whenever we are traveling. Walmart for me is a 45-mile round trip, so I don’t frequent them very often either. It might be a little more “doable” in the off season, but definitely not during tourist season.
The week has gone pretty well though not much progress seen in the freezers yet.
B: coffee, last piece of cornbread, blueberry muffin from freezer
L: Italian sausage and bun, fruit
D: We both had turkey divan from last night and a variation of Jessica’s pear/blue cheese salad (used apples). We really like this salad, Jessica!
We finished the minestrone soup and it’s kind of chilly here this week, so I made Ham Bone soup with the Thanksgiving ham bone for later in the week. Used lots of fresh and canned veggies. The only problem, like Tasty noted earlier in the week, is that now there is more soup to go BACK into the freezer. I plan to give a quart to a neighbor to decrease our leftovers.
Danielle L Zecher
Breakfast: Breakfast burritos (eggs, salsa, sauteed onion and bell pepper, black beans, and cheese).
Lunch: A planned lunch out. We had an appointment for hair cuts in SC, and love Tropical Grille, so planned to eat lunch there. It was so good!
Dinner: Since we had a late and fairly lunch, we weren’t very hungry. I had some chips and Nick had some chips and Christmas candy.