Eat From the Pantry Challenge

I've been doing great with coupons while I transition our family to whole foods, and I love following along with Money Saving Mom. She also is transitioning to more whole foods, so seeing her frugal progression helps me feel more realistic about our slow progression. Does that make sense?

Now Money Saving Mom is hosting an Eat From the Pantry Challenge. My stock isn't huge, but I thought this should be fun! With the nice long Christmas break, I had time to clean out my pantry and inventory my freezers. I was pleased to see how many plain foods I have. Lots of green beans from the garden and a couple turkeys, basics like that, not too many weird surprises. Now I've got a plan through January 10, but I don't know how long the meat will hold out after that. I'm kind of leery of buying meat right now anyway, but that's a topic for a different post, isn't it?

My goals are to, as always, spend as little as possible. I also want to empty my chest freezer so I can defrost it before we buy some beef from my Pappaw. It would be awesome to go to the grocery only once every week and a half! My spending won't be completely down, rather it will be diverted. I have a big trip to the Amish bulk foods store planned for this week or next. I have a beauty of a list started!

Here's our menu for the first part of January. I've spent about $75 at the store, mostly on produce, tons of tp, etc., and about $10 of that was pure treats. (aka Starbucks and junk food) And of course bacon to flavor the green beans. Gotta have that, right?

Dec 31
Homemade hot chocolate, whole-wheat cinnamon rolls
leftovers
Pizza, fruit, popcorn, fondue

Jan 1
scrambled eggs and leftover cinnamon rolls
leftovers
Hibachi dinner on a double-date with the big kids

Jan 2
Oatmeal flavored with cider, pears, apples and raisins
hibachi leftovers and rice
Stromboli

Jan 3
Homemade bagels, cranberry chutney, cream cheese
Potato Soup, crackers and homemade soft pretzels, salad, clementines
BBQ turkey on homemade buns, white & sweet potato fries, homemade cinnamon applesauce

Jan 4
defrosted frozen fruit from the summer, pumpkin bread, scrambled eggs
mystery soup (forgot to label!), crackers, salad, clementines
Roasted chicken, potatoes, green beans, rolls

Jan 5
homemade bagels, cranberry chutney, cream cheese
7 bean soup with rice, clementines
leftovers, or chicken bean casserole

Jan 6
Oatmeal sweetened with cider, apples, craisins, and nuts
bean/rice leftovers, carrot sticks, bananas
Stromboli

Jan 7
Pumpkin waffles with pb and applesauce
Veggie hamburger soup, homemade tortillas, carrot sticks
tomato soup, grilled cheese, apples

Jan 8
Smoothies, PB toast
veggie burgers, carrot sticks, okra, clementines
Company: Garlic lover's chicken, bread, green beans, white & sweet potato fries, mini derby pies with ice cream

Jan 9
muffins & hot chocolate
snack from free McDonald's coupons on the way to Ohio to a family meal
Pistachios to share at big meal
PB and crackers and other snacky stuff for trip home.

Jan 10
7-grain cereal (if I get to go to Amish) or cold cereal
Church Potluck: King's Hawaiian bread & dip, green beans, and something fruity or sweet
Smoothies & popcorn (if I get to go amish)

Whew, lots of good food! Making a detailed menu like this has been so unburdening for me now that I've been doing it consistently for a few months. I'd be stressed out in the kitchen without it!

By the way, it looks like I'm always making fresh breads, but really I make a bunch at a time and freeze them. So during this week and a half, I will only make bread stuffs 4 times. Okay, I guess that is a lot, but I'm just used to it now!

And I'd really better go start the rolls for dinner!