January New Year Pantry Challenge

[Amys1st]

This is to help you in many ways. You can organize your pantry, live out of your pantry, use up and declutter whats in your pantry, or stock up and learn how to use your pantry. Or better yet, save some money to put in the bank or pay off something else instead of using money for groceries.

Some people do it to use things up and only shop for things like dairy etc. Others use it to supplement their normal eating habits. Do what you want and help everyone else. This works great for the no spend mamas as a supplement their challenges!

[MJ13]

I am in this month!!!
We're moving and I really want to use up what I have in the pantry and freezers so we don't have to worry about moving those extras!

I think we'll be able to do it just buying produce and some dairy.

I'm excited to have some support here!

[guestmama9910]

:

I'm here, this fits so well into our plans to reduce our stuff load, consume less, and live more simply.

We're planning on picking up some five gallon sealing paint buckets or bins to contain our bulk grains in our newly cleared up under-the-counter space, and I want to pick up some of the unfinished wood "fruit crates" I see in the Michaels craft stores to start storing our onions and potatoes in easy access. On the other hand, I want to work through and get rid of all the spices we never use and the soups we bought "for emergencies" but can't bring ourselves to eat. Not to mention my holiday produced stockpile of sweets.
--
AnnaArcturus

[kittynurse]

Oh yay! I was just coming here to start a pantry challenge thread! Count me in!

We are super tight for money this month. Basically we are ok but for this month, anything we buy pretty much is on credit. Things will be ok but it's like this because of timing of stuff. So, I'd like to minimize how much goes on credit. Also, we have some debt that I would like to be able to put some extra money towards this month.

Tonight we are having sushi using stuff that we have accumulated over the past year while DH learnt how to make it. He got the last couple of needed items for Christmas. Tonight will be his first attempt - wish us luck!

Martha

[herwitsend]

I'm in! We are in desperate need of a pantry cleaning and are in the beginning stages of our Total Money Makeover. Any extra $$ we can find (even in the way of not spending) is GREAT!!

[katheek77]

I'm in. I need to rotate some stuff out. I did an inventory of my fridge and freezer yesterday (havent done the pantry yet). I have a dinner menu planned through the 17th, and the only thing I'll have to buy specifically for any of the dinner meals is some cheese. I'll still be keeping my eye out for good sales, though, to restock.

So, I guess my goal is to rotate old stock out and replenish with new.

[aprildawn]

I'm in!! I did this two years ago and loved it. My pantry isn't really overstocked, and we don't tend to let things sit in the pantry forever. But, I'll use the opportunity to clean out some pantry clutter and save a little $$.

I will have to buy dairy and some other things. But I'd like to see how we do w/o shopping for anything but produce and refrigerated items for a month.

[4kidlets4me]

Count me in! I am also doing the no spend challenge and started following the Dave Ramsey plan so this will complement both nicely. I have already inventoried the freezers and pantry and have enough food to last the entire month lunch and dinner wise. I will need to pick up milk and probably some bread and produce otherwise we should be set for the entire month.

[my2girlz]

I'm in! Things are pretty stocked right now so it would be the perfect time to use up some odds and ends.

[kedwards313]

I am in also. I did a lot of home food preservation last spring and summer, so we have a fairly well stocked pantry and freezer. I would love to reduce my food bill and eat up what I have prepared.

Kim

[lolar2]

I'm in-- same thing, I need to rotate.

[katheek77]

OK. Did the grocery shopping today for the next 17 days. Spent $134, which probably sounds like a lot, but, honestly, that includes all our breakfast/lunch/snacks/beverages for the next 17 days, and I picked up some org. meat and cheese on sale that I have now written into the last two weeks of the month. I don't really "plan" breakfast/lunches, because a lot of times it's leftovers (or using leftovers in an omelet or sandwich or smorgasboard plate or whatever), and the rest of the time, DD is content with oatmeal, fruit, cheese, oasta, etc. On weekends, DH does breakfast, and that's already planned in.

Plus, I told DH that this is the ONLY time I'm going food shopping until the 17th, so, he'd better let me know what he wanted before I went, and he through some things on I wouldn't have otherwise bought, but, if having a few of these foods around makes it easier for us to stick to this meal planning, I'm okay with it. For example, he said if I was going to make chili (not a fave of his), could I *please* pick up some saltines? And ice cream. And a few other things. But, honestly, if I can get him to stick to this, I think we will end up spending a lot less on food (because if he drops by the store for 1 thing, he's coming out with 10), and, more importantly, waste less. We'll see.

[Norasmomma]

I'll join in. I received a Foodsaver for Christmas and we have already put it to good use yesterday we took advantage of our local store having an awesome sale on steaks, NY and Top Sirloin. The NY were 2.99 a lb, the sirloin were 1.99. So we spent about $30 on steaks yesterday.

We have a fair amount of everything and I just want to get minimal produce and milk. I currently have been using powdered milk in lieu of fresh for all my baking and cooking because DD drinks major milk and she gets the fresh first.

We are planning a major stockpiling from Costco in a few weeks. If we have enough money, we may get another small freezer. I am looking to clear out some of the items in our freezer, so that we can start utilizing that Foodsaver and rotating out the old stuff.

[vickjul]

We need to start using up our pantry and freezer stock to prepare for a move, so I'm in. Am going to try to limit grocery shopping to produce only, as we rarely use dairy and have some meat for hubby in the freezer. Plus, we could stand to save on groceries, as the holidays took a toll ...

[seeing_stars]

I'm in, though we are trying to build a pantry and freezer stockpile. I just started hardcore couponing and we are trying to cut the grocery budget significantly while stockpiling for emergencies. The plan is to stay under budget while buying staples and rotating through our pantry supply. So far so good, I spent less than $40 today on groceries and saved more than $100

[Kino]

I'm in as the pantry/freezer needs to be reorganized and restocked for the new year. I also need to plan next season's garden. Busy month.

[kittynurse]

Well, we had the sushi and it turned out pretty well for DH's first time! Our 2 year old loves California rolls so that is what DH made.

The only things we had to buy were the cucumber, avocado and the crab (which was on super sale at our grocery store last week and we bought some and put it in the freezer in anticipation of the sushi night).

Now all we have to do is make sure that he makes sushi more often so that all the things we have purchased for this don't go to waste and make what we had tonight the most expensive sushi ever.

Tonight I am shredding filing cabinet stuff but tomorrow I am hitting the pantry and the freezer and making some meal plans!

Martha

[HydeParkB]

Originally Posted by kittynurse

Well, we had the sushi and it turned out pretty well for DH's first time!

YUM!

I'm in this month. We need to make sure we are using what we have. I'll probably restock some of it, if there are good sales, but I want to keep using our home canned goods, and use up the odd items. It will be good to save some grocery money - one of the cats goes in for surgery tomorrow. Not looking forward to paying for that!

I have 4 boxes of unopened cereal, so you can guess what we'll be having for breakfast for the next several weeks.

We've been doing pretty well with our leftovers. I can actually move things around in the refrigerator now.

[becoming]

I'm in this month! We have tons of stuff taking up permanent residence in our cabinets, and I'm ready to evict it all. And thanks to DH's hunting, our freezer is full of venison of all kind -- deer sausage, deerburger, tenderloins, etc. We got it processed, and I think it's about 60 pounds all together. I also came across some really good deals on ground beef and chicken tenderloins recently, so I stocked up on those, too. I also have enough bread flour and yeast to make our bread for the whole month. I'll be supplementing with fresh produce, but the bulk of our meals will come from our pantry/freezer.

[Samm]

I'm in too. Some things are in danger of becoming permanent residents in the freezer . . . so time to get creative in the kitchen :