It’s easy to run to the store or order food delivered, but it can be expensive. If you’ve ever wondered, “Can I make dinner with what I have?” I’m here to say, “Yes, yes, you can. And you can save money, too.”
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When you’re young and just getting your first paychecks, it’s exciting to tap the app and have food or groceries delivered. What luxury! I’m a grown up!
But, over time it gets boring and expensive. Very very expensive.
I learned this the hard way. In our first year of marriage, we spent more on food for two of us than we did a dozen years later with five kids in tow. I can laugh at my spendthrift, younger self because I’ve learned a better, cheaper way – to make dinner with what I have.
Now, I didn’t learn how to shop the kitchen overnight. In fact, it took more than a few pantry challenges to get me tooled up. But, when I focused on using the food we had, I learned to be a better steward of my resources and to be more mindful of how I shop and cook.
In using up what you already have, you clean out the cupboards, getting a chance to tidy and declutter while you’re at it. By eliminating excess, you will free up space, both physical and mental, making cooking more fun.
It seems that I like cooking more when there’s white space in the fridge or freezer. When it’s packed to the gills, I just feel overwhelmed.
Here’s my basic method to make dinner with what I have. It works for a day as well as a month!
1. Clean out the fridge, freezer, and pantry.
It may take some time, but you’ll find that clean food storage areas will make your cooking much more enjoyable. If it’s been awhile since you tidied up the fridge, freezer, and pantry, then let’s do a quick clean: pull everything out, consolidate duplicates, and dump stuff that is no good.
2. Take inventory.
You can’t use what you have if you don’t actually know what’s there to be used, so it’s time to take inventory.
Once you’ve cleaned and organized and discarded the icky stuff, take stock of what you have. It’s really important to know what you have so that you can plan great meals from it.
Unless you have a very small food storage, I wouldn’t write down every single thing, but focus on taking stock of the main items or the items you have a lot of, like:
- proteins such as ground beef, ground pork, pork chops, pork tenderloin, chicken breast
- main grains like pasta, rice, quinoa, etc.
- veggies (everything from frozen bagged veggies to fresh red peppers to canned tomatoes)
- take note of special sauces or unique ingredients that need using up
Those items are the building blocks to easy dinners.
3. Plan meals.
If you’ve cleaned up and organized your food storage and taken inventory of what you have, you can start meal planning. When I do this, I sit down with my food inventory and brainstorm how I can make dinner with what I have.
Check out my list of What to Make for Dinner When There’s “Nothing” to Eat
Looking for ideas in using up certain proteins or bulk ingredients? Scroll through the Good Cheap Eats recipe database here:
- Beef Recipes
- Pork Recipes
- Poultry Recipes
- Seafood Recipes
- Bean Recipes
- Meatless Recipes
- Pasta Recipes
4. Plan a grocery stop. Or maybe not.
You have a clean storage space, an inventory of what you have, and a list of meal plans. Now, it’s just a matter of filling in the gaps. Maybe.
Most of us have enough to make all of some meals, but not all of all meals. In some cases, we could do without that one ingredient. In other cases, it’s nice to have a certain ingredient to make the meal complete.
When push comes to shove, it’s remarkable what we really can do without. For instance, check out these baking substitutions.
In very dire circumstances, you will amaze yourself. If we really didn’t have the money, I would just make do. In this season, I’m good with filling in the gaps with a few things, namely, fresh produce, milk, and cheese.
5. Get a meal prep practice going.
To save yourself more time and money in the kitchen, consider where in your schedule you can add a little meal prep.
While advance prep is not absolutely necessary to saving money on food, I’ve found that prepping a few snacks and treats as well as meal prep salads ahead of time really makes it easier to use what we have and enjoy it.
If my kids have freshly baked bread or cookies, they overlook the fact that there’s no cheese in the casserole or no sour cream for their quesadillas.
Preparing a few make-ahead items also makes it easier on me because it reduces my temptation to run to the store or through the take-out lane. It makes cooking at home more fun and definitely more delicious.
Are you ready for a Pantry Challenge?
If you’re the type of person who stocks up on bargains and doesn’t like to let the cupboards go bare, a Pantry Challenge might be in order. It’s a little outside the comfort zone, I admit, to let white space creep into your food storage, but it’s a good thing to help you pare down, save a little coin, and consider how to make the most of what you have. Those who keep stocking up without using up run the risk of wasting food. That defeats the purpose of bargain hunting.
If you have all that you need and money to spare, why should you make things hard on yourself? Having lived a season of fighting debt and a very, very small grocery budget, I know that keeping my skills sharp during my yearly Pantry Challenge is good insurance toward the possibility of future tough times. I don’t anticipate their coming, but I like to prepared just in case.
If you find yourself on tough economic times, here’s hoping that the Pantry Challenge will help you know you’re not alone. It’s my hope that you’ll find recipes, tips, and resources here on Good Cheap Eats to help you weather a tough season.
This year the Big ReDo starts on January 1. There’s something for everyone with a pantry challenge, meal prep tips, a kitchen refresh, and a grocery budget overhaul.
More Ideas for Using What You Have
What do you think?
Let’s chat in the comments!
This post was originally published on January 2, 2014. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Nita Foster
I am really curious about your pantry challenge. However my son and I live together to share expenses. We are wanting to try to be healthier but at the same time try to cut our food budget as well. We do not eat red meat but only on occasion. So it’s just the two of us and we have family over or friends once in awhile so we would have to include that. Is there any way you can help us or give us some ideas we’d appreciate it thank you
Jessica Fisher
Hi Nita! The pantry challenge is really for using up excess that you might have on hand. If you are looking for general ways to save money, I recommend reading this post: The System that Works to Save You Time & Money or taking my Grocery Savvy class.
maricela
Hi. Just found your site. I been wanting to start the meal planning for a few days. This comes at the right time. I just subscribed too. I’m in too!
Jessica Fisher
Welcome!
Emily Davis
I am just too excited. I’ve been sharing this everywhere.
The amount of extras and oldish things I have that need to be used…
CRA-ZY!
Happy New Year Jessica & Family!
Blessings,
Em
Amanda Geering
The biggest money saver for me is buying no name products and discounted items. That budget is not voluntary so I need to be as creative as possible!
Kjane
1. Get in the right mindset is my first pantry challenge challenge. I recycled the grocery ads without looking at them this week.
2. Make a plan to use fresh ingredients up so they don’t spoil-I have spinach I need to use up soon or else saute and freeze.
3. Already inventoried and looked up recipes to match what I have.
3. Have fun. Hope my husband doesn’t complain too much.
Jessica Fisher
Love the part of recycling the ads. Out of sight, out of mind. Ha! Great goals.
Juls Owings
I restock my baking supplies right after Christmas and fill in the deep freezer with what meat is on sale, ham, turkey, pork and one good size prime rib that I slice for 2-3 meals . Prime rib is my Christmas gift to Hubby that used to raise beef when he farmed.I try to keep my deep freezers organized so I always can see what I have. Though sometimes I find things get shoved around when Hubby has been in there. The pantry is always straightened as I can most of our veggies and some of the fruit and have everything on certain shelves.
Tonight was another night of eating from the pantry, well, actually my son’s pantry that he passed to us when he moved in with his lady, my mother’s pantry that my brother and I split between us when she died and our pantry.
Heather M
Prepping for this challenge was easy. I had already cleaned out and reorganized my cupboards in November. They’re still in great shape (no “pantry” in my pretty urban household just over the river from DC. No room for a deep freeze either, which is the one thing I wish I had that I don’t and can’t). Last night after getting home from our trip, I cleaned out the fridge. Was happily surprised to see that the two unopened bags of lettuce blends from Trader Joe’s were still edible! I had bought them for xmas eve dinner with friends where I had to bring salad for 40 and had bought extra to bring just in case. Plus, I always buy salad from Trader Joe’s since I eat tons and time is limited these days. $2/bag is a small price to pay if it makes the salad eating easier. This afternoon, I went to the grocery store and bought quite a few things on sale, and fresh items we needed ($112). Aside from one trip to Costco at some point, I won’t spend that much at any one time the rest of the month. I’ll be cooking and baking and planning. Which I love. In fact, I think I’ll be making banana muffins tomorrow, since we have overripe bananas from before we went out of town. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
Sounds like you’re set! Great job!
CeCee
I invested in a dry erase board that I put on the wall by my freezer. We are about 90% diligent about marking things in and erasing things out. At the end of the pantry challenge I hope to have this inventory 100% correct. Best <$15 investment ever!
Kelly
Our freezers are arranged a bit differently because we raise a lot of our own meat, so when you butcher a steer, it takes a lot of space i the freezer! We have 2 shelves for beef, 1 for pork, 1 for frozen meals, and the bottom has misc stuff. The chest freezer has trays that fit just right and are stackable, making it easier to get stuff from the bottom. The top tray has our frozen fruit, then it’s chicken and other meats we don’t yet raise, ground beef, and then the lamb at the bottom.
I read somewhere (wa it here?) To use a wet earse marker to write on the door of the freezer-the contents and location-of each item. Dry erase would probably work too if you could keep from accidentally rubbing it off, but if you keep the pen nearby, you can mark off what you took out, or write in new stuff as you add it. I haven’t tried it yet, but I like the idea.
I don’t have one central place for pantry items and that’s where I lose track of stuff. I try to keep like items together, and more frequently used closest to the kitchen, but even that doesn’t always work. Perhaps this challenge will help me see a better way to store food.
Jessica Fisher
I remember “somewhere” in the comments, someone saying that about the markers on the freezer door. Mine is a chest freezer that gets used as a table sometimes, so I know my people would wipe it off. When I do the clipboard thing, it seems to work. I just have to do it.
Kara
awesome post! I have loved reading your blog for years and especially the Grocery Geek posts because I am a GG myself. I decided to start a blog to document my journey this year. Thanks for inspiring me! I spent a lot this first week but I plan on eating my pantry and freezer down now!
Crystal
I love your Pantry challenge posts, and this is the first time I am brave enough to join in! My fridge is bare(I just cleaned it out this morning, and after spending Christmas and New Years away from home, there wasn’t much to begin with!) but my freezer and pantry are bursting at the seams! Thanks for giving me the idea to do a pantry challenge!
Jessica Fisher
What a blessing to have something bursting at the seams! Yay!
Tiffany
Jessica, you’re the queen of the pantry challenge! I’m always so inspired by this! Tackling a challenge this month and sharing this great post. What do you do with the extra money after a pantry challenge?
Jessica Fisher
Thanks for your kind words! Honestly, the money usually gets absorbed into the larger grocery fund because I inevitably overspend some other month. This helps me keep my averages low, curbs potential bad purchases, and helps us waste less. So some of the savings is hard to measure.
Kristen @ Joyfullythriving
Good point about sharpening our frugal skills with this challenge. I went through my pantry today and like you, threw away some foods that were too far expired (oops 2011 condiments!). I’m going to try and use some of the boxes / cans that just recently expired within the last month or two. I also moved everything out of my downstairs upright freezer to my kitchen freezer that I want to try and use up this month. I hope that will help me not forget what is in my freezer!
Jessica Fisher
The expired food is always a bummer, especially when you got it on a great deal. That’s part of why I keep doing these challenges twice a year, to make sure we’re rotating our stock.
Heather
I am ready, the menu is made and the groceries have not been bought. other than the casserole we were supposed to have last night that was to include broccoli which I didn’t have, I should not have to get too creative. I will probably be getting a few items on Sunday, but not many. However, I am about to put in a tea order from montana tea and spice company which I will use a full weeks worth of this month’s grocery budget. I know you break down and buy good coffee, I break and buy taste teas.
Jessica Fisher
Yep. I think you have to have those splurges. I think that’s what helped us get out of debt, having a little “blow money”, even just a little to feel like we had something special.
Lori Moffit
are you doing a link up with those of us who are joining you this year?
Jessica Fisher
I kinda forgot about that. I can do that this weekend. Thanks for the reminder!
Lori Moffit
Oh, good! Here’s my first post for the challenge! I grabbed your pantry challenge graphic and linked it back to you. 🙂
http://myjourneysthroughlife.com/2014/01/02/gone-gone-gone-gone-all-my-kids-are-gone/
Amanda Geering
I feed my family of 5 on a 200-300 dollar food budget so I love your pantry challenge idea. I don’t usually have much to work with but that just makes it that much more creative! Thanks for the inspiration Jessica!
Jessica Fisher
Kudos to you on those numbers! What would you say is the biggest money saver for you?