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Pantry Challenge - Page 2

post #21 of 292
6/28/10 at 12:41am
Last minute dinner tonight, DH is making tofu stir fry from tofu that was on clearance (a few days from exp), CSA veggies and freezer veggies, with rice.
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post #22 of 292
6/28/10 at 10:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovermybabies View Post
i was wondering if someone could help me by building a great pantry?? any help would be greatly appreciated
This should be able to be done during a challenge. How much space do you have?

Do you cook from scratch?

Do you bake?

What is your monthly food budget?

What sort of climate do you live in?

This should help set you up.
post #23 of 292
6/28/10 at 10:35am
Today's plan is:

Milk and cereal for breakfast {WIC} or perhaps the breakfast tacos in the freezer {clearance item}
Lunch is soup made from leftovers for everyone but me, I'll have a TV dinner from the freezer
Dinner is poached chicken breasts with rice, chicken gravy, and veggies. Cheesecake for dessert made from a tub of ready-made cheesecake {clearance a while back and couponed - I have 15 tubs to use up} and sugar cookie crust {free after coupon on clearance}

Tomorrow I'm thinking of making crock pot lasagna - I've not tried it before but I've got everything to make it with.
post #24 of 292
6/28/10 at 10:43am
I'm in! I need to use what we have on hand so I can get the pantry organized better. Trying to cut costs too so I really want to lower the grocery bill. We should have enough here that I can make all the meals for July from the pantry with maybe a few fresh items to supplement. I'm going to sort through the pantry for an inventory list and work out a menu. I'll be back later.
post #25 of 292
6/28/10 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovermybabies View Post
i was wondering if someone could help me by building a great pantry?? any help would be greatly appreciated
I'm not a "pro" or anything.. but for my pantry, I usually just buy my staples that I use often in bulk. So for me those are: sugar, canned and dry beans, rice, coffee, flour, canned veggies, peanut butter, oatmeal, pasta, canned tomatoes, and lots of spices. I'm sure I'm missing something, but that is usually what I always try to have lots of on hand, then add whatever veggies I got for a good deal (or from WIC) into dinners.
post #26 of 292
6/28/10 at 11:04am
Lunch yesterday was gluten-free biscuits (homemade flour mix) with leftover white-beans-turned-into-gravy and braised greens that were on the verge of going bad. Just for clarity, DH is sensitive to wheat, but DS and I are not.

Dinner was leftovers.

Breakfast today was overnight steel cut oats with homemade raspberry coulis (raspberries from our backyard and agave), with almond butter and cinnamon.

Need to make bread today (I do th dough in the bread machine and then bake in the oven).

Dinner tonight will be mexican fiesta - thawed corn tortillas, homemade black beans in the pressure cooker, lettuce, a little bit of shredded cheese, avocado, and sauteed mushrooms and sweet potato.
post #27 of 292
6/28/10 at 11:54pm
I'm in! We really, really need to lower our grocery bill. Our pantry is stocked pretty well -- loads of beans, 20 lbs. of rice, various other staples like oatmeal, barely and quinoa, and lots of baking supplies. We belong to a CSA, so that is really helping round out the meals. Love reading the other responses!
post #28 of 292
6/29/10 at 12:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keeta View Post
Dinner tonight will be mexican fiesta - thawed corn tortillas, homemade black beans in the pressure cooker, lettuce, a little bit of shredded cheese, avocado, and sauteed mushrooms and sweet potato.
It ended up being black bean-sweet potato nachos, which were really good! I also used some dried sweet red banana peppers in the beans which I forgot we even had. All in all, a tasty meal.
post #29 of 292
6/29/10 at 1:36am
I'm in. This is my first pantry challenge!

We have lots of good produce too because of a CSA share, this would be so much more difficult in the winter months. I'll use up the last of the oatmeal for tomorrow's breakfast and the last of the white beans for supper, but we'll have about 20 pounds of rye flakes, 20 pounds of lentils and a few pounds of other types of beans and rice (not sure when we'll have the money to make another bulk order so we'll be eating rye and lentils for a long time once the beans & rice run out...).

Things I buy weekly:

1) Water (can't wait till we can get a filter)
2) Flour (I grind it fresh with a friend's mill)
3) Milk
4) Eggs

I think our chickens will be in this week too, so we'll have to pay for those, but otherwise no other purchases in July is the goal. I'm trying to save up for another bulk pantry order and to get a filter and then grain mill, any money left over at the end of the month gets applied to that.
post #30 of 292
6/29/10 at 1:56am
Tomorrows meals for us are:

Cereal and milk for breakfast
leftovers for lunch
Crock pot lasagna for dinner, with frozen veggies from the freezer and some canned breadsticks I found at .99 Only a while back. We'll finish the rest of the cheesecake from tonight for dessert.

Tomorrow the only thing I have to go buy is a pack of pull-ups for DD for nights only. We are working hard on potty training and she is making progress, but she sleeps so soundly that nothing will wake her at night. I have coupons for them and some register rewards from Walgreens, so I'm going to see if I can get away with only spending a dollar or two as I've only got $4 until Thursday.
post #31 of 292
6/29/10 at 11:18am
I'm in. In fact yesterday I just cleaned out, organized and inventoried our freezers and pantry and food room. I'm working on July's dinner menu from the lists I made.
post #32 of 292
6/29/10 at 11:35am
I'm in! I hope to keep up! I have quite a bit in the freezer that I want to get rid of so I can freeze some fruit and veg.

So come July I REALLY dont want to go to the grocery store..between our garden and what we have stocked I want to save some money
post #33 of 292
6/29/10 at 12:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keeta View Post
Oh and a TON of frozen shredded zucchini from last summer's garden! Really need to get through some of that and make way in the freezer.

You could make them into little hash brown type patties and fry them.
post #34 of 292
6/29/10 at 5:23pm
Our grocery budget was unexpectedly slashed by about $500, so for a family of 7 (and I am due with #6 in 3-6 weeks), we have about 375 to alot for the month. I want to spend as little as possible so that I can replenish the pantry. I have some...but not a ton. The month before the cut I had donated a lot of things in a local food drive, thinking we had plenty to do a pantry rotation. Everything happens for a reason though.. sooo The following is what we have done this month. I have managed to keep spending down to 50-75 dollars..this includes fresh fruits and veggies, bread for the month from the discount bread store, (which does carry whole wheat, HFCS free options and has a BOGO day on Tuesdays).

We have WIC and that does help quite a bit with the new food package additions of whole grains, fruits and veggies, etc. I save the cereal for days where we are really, really rushed and have been making huge batches of pancakes and waffles for breakfasts; it really fills the tummies up and the kids feel pampered. I will alternate scrambled or fried eggs with fried potatoes a morning or two, sometimes a big pot of oatmeal, etc.

I make huge pots of lentil vegetable stew that last for a week of lunches. Lunch is either lentil stew or a sandwhich.

Snacks are a piece of fruit and homemade cookies.

Dinners have varied with the contents of the pantry and freezer.

We haven't really felt it too much yet but I have had to plan very, very carefully. I am worried about having the money to restock my pantry as we need to replenish it but trying to take it day by day and be creative.
post #35 of 292
6/30/10 at 5:23pm
Yesterday, I made a pesto out of garden herbs and spinach, with clearance tofu, and had that mixed with WW spaghetti from the pantry.
post #36 of 292
6/30/10 at 5:52pm
Tonight will be frozen fish with mac and cheese and frozen veggies.

Our dishwasher just gave up last night, so we're having to pick our meals for less dishes used where possible.
post #37 of 292
6/30/10 at 11:27pm
Pasta with Spinach .. we had frozen spinach in the freezer that's been there for ages, plenty of pasta in the pantry, way more garlic than I need, and I added a can of tomatoes and a small amount of frozen peas (to use up the rest of the bag) to the recipe.
post #38 of 292
6/30/10 at 11:34pm
Chili tonight...lots of beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce and spices, crackers, etc. from the pantry.
post #39 of 292
6/30/10 at 11:53pm
any ideas for potatoes? making eggs and fresh picked blackberries and hashbrown potatoes for breakfast tomorrow. leftover pasta primavera for lunch and need some potato ideas for dinner.

by the way, i'm already a big fan of this thread. i love all the creative healthy ideas everyone is coming up with to use up pantry ingredients! very inspiring.
post #40 of 292
7/1/10 at 2:27am
Anyone have any ideas for what to do with flavored coffee creamers? I have a TON I got on clearance a while back that I stuck in my freezer, and now I can't drink coffee thanks to my gallbladder.


Tomorrow will probably be chicken breasts poached with mashed potatoes from mix, chicken gravy, veggies, and cake for dessert.