November Pantry/freezer Challange - Page 4

[Hollysmom]

Originally Posted by rachelagain

OK ladies-- we're a week into this- how are things going?

Are you sticking to your menu plan/budget?

We are doing much better than I normally do at this stuff. I have resisted the urge to order in several times!

Didn't get a chance to post my meal plan for this week earlier due to computer problems. So, here it is. Better late than never!

Monday - Frozen Amy's Pizza
Tuesday - Cheese tortellini w/tomato sauce and garlic bread
Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan w/spagetti
Thursday - pork chops w/rice
Friday - Burritos (using recipe from Mothering.com)
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - steak, potatoes, salad (dh's favourite meal)

Now to get working on next week.

[hlkm2e]

[QUOTEi have so many beans, dried and canned. what besides chili can i make with these. every color, white, pinto, kidney, pink][/QUOTE]

put what you have into allrecipes. com It will give you different recipes with those ingredients. I found one for barley and black bean bake that I'm going to make with tacos soon.


I made my lasagna for our company and it was a huge hit. We've been eating the leftovers for 2 days now. I'm making hamburgers tonight.

[rachelagain]

I am pleased to see my cupboards and freezer getting more room in it... but I'm feeling kind of panicky- why? I am using my "stockpile for just in case"... but it's been sitting there for so long I know I need to use it up- I haven't used any of it until now... I guess I felt like we had more money when I saw more food in the cupboard?

[kathirynne]

Old Mother Hubbard syndrome...

It's normal to feel a little uneasy when your usually full cupboards start to look a little spare. Just breathe deeply, and remind yourself that you have enough food, and that you need to use up your "stockpile" in order to rotate it. (Otherwise, your "just in case" food gets so old that it becomes "never in a million years" food, and goes to waste. )

[selena_ski]

i am slowly going through my cupboards. i have a box to take to the food bank with things we will never use. i also discovered i had over 10lbs of dried beans. i knew i had a lot but golly. maybe i will make some bean bags.

i am still trying to not spend any money. we have spent about $40 at grocery store but most of that was household cleaners and laundry soap.

[Bex80]

"Old Mother Hubbard Syndrome"

That is the perfect name for it!! I noticed that I felt that littel sense of panic/urgency when I opened the fridge this morning. OTOH, it was nice and bright due to lack of rotting food and leftovers!

We have been really stretching out our meals by something dh started doing since it's been cold. He doesn't even know I'm doing this challenge, the compact, or the decluttering challenge. He makes either a huge pot of potato soup or a huge pot of chili and we eat that on alternate nights inbetween leftovers and a freshly cooked meal. I only have to cook like, two meals a week that way. It's awesome! And potatoes are really inexpensive.

[rachelagain]

yeah-- old mother hubbard... I get it from my mom. :-)

I did good tonight-- on my menu I had homemade mac and cheese... but we didn't get home until 5:15pm, and since we normally eat around 6pm... Anyway, I didn't know what to cook- I've already used my "quick" meal (meaning boxed) but I made some Hotanny pancakes- so it turned out good and we still ate from what we had! whew!

my fridge is looking pretty bare-- it's weird, since I know that I still have enough food for the rest of the month!

[hlkm2e]

My cupboards are looking a little old mother hubbard here too.

monday i made greek chicken and rice because my dh and mil had colds and it is basically greek comfort food. i had everything in the cupboard. last night i stretched the leftovers by grilling up all the random veggies in the fridge. tonight i took some taco meat i had frozen out and we will have quesidillas with the leftover veggies and meat. i do need to go shopping soon to get produce, but we are doing good at rotating thru all the stuff piled up here.

I'm embarrassed to say, I'm getting kinda excited for the restocking trip. i'm really going to plan carefully and get stuff i reaaly want and that is healthy and good, instead of randomly buying stuff every trip.

[artemis33]

My pantry hasn't been this bare in a long time!!! It makes me squirm a little too I will probably do a partial restocking soon, but the good thing is this has made me aware of the remaining things that have been lurking for a while and have got to be used up.

I've found:
Yellow split peas (going to make Dal)
Peanut Satay sauce
Phad Thai sauce and rice noodles
White beans dried (will make soup with turkey bacon and veggies)
toasted buckwheat (2-3 c dry) - planned to make energy bars, but have never gotten around to it

need ideas for:
Quinoa (have about 5-6 cups dry!)
1 can black eyes peas
Millet (have about 3-4 cups dry)
Barley (2-3 c dry)
some other random rice noodles (stick type I think - have to check)


I also have some random condiments -
green olives with pimentos (unopened)
opened jar of hot peppers in oil - HOW LONG IS THIS GOOD? anyone know? Maybe I should just toss it - I have no idea when I opened it!
a few others - forgot to write them, so I'll have to check later

Oh, I had a tube of anchovy paste that was opened so I decided to toss it. Anyone know how long those last? I've gotten better now about marking the date on things with a marker when I open it - sure helps a lot!!!

*I've love that veggie barley soup recipe someone offered before (have to look back I forget who!!) We eat meat, just don't do beef, so no beef broth.

I know I could check allrecipes and I have a ton of cookbooks, but I'd like to get tried and true ideas for some of this stuff!!!

Thanks mamas

[hlkm2e]

nak,

ok meal planners, what's on your menu for these last few days before thanksgiving?

today i used up a bunch of wilty veggies, threw celery, tomatoes, onions &potatoes in the crock with a pork roast. that should do dinner today and tomorrow. then wednesday i think i'll do grilled chicken to go with some asparagus in the crisper, a tomato and cuc. salad. that should clear out most of the fridge for all those t-day leftovers.

i still have a decent pantry and freezer. i think i'm going to need to continue this next month

[HydeParkB]

Well, we've been failures at staying out of the stores. But we have been pulling some things from the freezer that need to move.

DH did a mole turkey breast. Most of the ingredients, including the frozen breast, were on hand. I made lasagna this weekend; everything was in the freezer or pantry. And I've been having pasta with artichoke tapenade (from the pantry) for lunches.

I've got a recipe picked out to use some of our frozen okra, and I foresee a lot of bean soups in the crockpot over the next month.

[Emmama]

I am just now seeing this thread, but I have been eating what is in my pantry. We are going out of town for the holiday (thurs-sun), so I am happy I do not have to budget for that. I am making chicken stock as I type, and have dinner in the crock pot....barbeque pork.

I, too, used to spend a lot on food and would buy packaged foods often. Dh did not get paid early this month. We were forced to use what was in our house, and luckily I had enough food stocked up (I suffer from Old Mother Hubbard Syndrome as well). One thing I noticed that helps is making bread. It is much healthier and cost effective. I also discovered how easy it was to make homemade pizza! Wow, that saved us money as well.

This week the meal plan is:

Sat--Beer Cheese Soup, veggies, and bread
Sun--Jambalaya
Mon--Pulled Pork BBQ sandwiches and salad
Tues--Pasta Bake and salad with bread
Wed--Leftovers

[rachelagain]

I haven't planned out yet what I am going to make- I just need to come up with Mon, Tues, & Wed meals-- then we'll be out of town till Sunday- and I have the plans for next week.
I know I'm running late for today, eh? :-)

[avendesora]

Hello!

I've been doing this challenge on my own this month, and just found you guys! I've been buying nothing but fresh produce, milk and eggs. I've had plenty of everything else. DH is grumpy that the cheese has been used up though.

I've found that I've started doing all fresh vegetable meals - I have this sweet potato, pepper and white bean tian recipe that I love, things like that. So it's not really helping me to get through my cupboard! I've also started doing more salads, which is good. We ran out of croutons, so I made my own!

I "cheated" twice: we ran out of toilet paper, so I bought some, and for my birthday I bought some of the amazing dried dates that my organic coop carries.

I've spent $170 so far this month. It's far better than my average ($600 and up!).

Aven

[selena_ski]

i have fallen off the wagon. but i am getting back on.

i bought crissants and muffins from costco
and a rotiserrie chicken, bagels and ice cream from grocery- still better than other months. but we have saved enough money to get some x-mas gifts.

[rachelagain]

Don't beat yourself up-
I think it's really hard not to buy stuff walking through the store... and so, I haven't been to the store in over a week...

:-) If you saved some money, you did good!

10 days left! We can do it! We can do it!

[avendesora]

I 'broke down' again, but I'm not feeling bad about it. I need to use 4.5 c kidney beans for my contribution to thanksgiving dinner, and having run out of dried beans, I was going to use 3 cans. I really like having the cans around though, for when I am not planning ahead. With time still before thanksgiving, I really ought to be using dried beans. So yes, I bought some dried beans Saved a few dollars in the long run, not using my cans unnecessarily.

Aven

[rachelagain]

How was Thanksgiving on your plan?

I did ok. But had to run out on Thanksgiving day and get a few things for my mom, but I figured I didn't have to contribute much of anything to Thanksgiving dinner, so it's not that bad. Still well under what I would normally spend in a month! :-)

[artemis33]

Originally Posted by artemis33

I've found:
Yellow split peas (going to make Dal)
Peanut Satay sauce
Phad Thai sauce and rice noodles
White beans dried (will make soup with turkey bacon and veggies)
toasted buckwheat (2-3 c dry) - planned to make energy bars, but have never gotten around to it

need ideas for:
Quinoa (have about 5-6 cups dry!)
1 can black eyes peas
Millet (have about 3-4 cups dry)
Barley (2-3 c dry)
some other random rice noodles (stick type I think - have to check)


I also have some random condiments -
green olives with pimentos (unopened)
opened jar of hot peppers in oil - HOW LONG IS THIS GOOD? anyone know? Maybe I should just toss it - I have no idea when I opened it!
a few others - forgot to write them, so I'll have to check later

Oh, I had a tube of anchovy paste that was opened so I decided to toss it. Anyone know how long those last? I've gotten better now about marking the date on things with a marker when I open it - sure helps a lot!!!

*I've love that veggie barley soup recipe someone offered before (have to look back I forget who!!) We eat meat, just don't do beef, so no beef broth.

I know I could check allrecipes and I have a ton of cookbooks, but I'd like to get tried and true ideas for some of this stuff!!!

Thanks mamas

Hey mamas - I still need some ideas for this stuff - anyone????:

I also discovered 3 packs of Soba noodles that need to be used. I have tried a few recipes but have never been crazy about them. Anyone have one they love?

I did do a semi-restocking of some things last week but I was very good about NOT buying things I am only *almost* out of - which is what I normally do, so the next one is waiting when I need it. I really want to make sure I clear out all of the old stuff, so I only bought what we needed (mostly meat, eggs, potatoes) and still spent way less than normal.

I am going to have to extend this until 12/15 out of necessity - we have almost no money until then I am trying to plan very carefully.

Dinners this week (lunch is usually leftovers):
Sunday - roasted chicken breasts, cannelini beans, kale

Monday - soup and grilled chicken/avacado with smoked gouda sandwiches (lol the only cheese we had but it was suprisingly good)

Tuesday - red beans and rice with chicken andoiulle, kale and cornbread

the next several days (haven't picked days yet, still deciding)
*chicken pot pie
*honey baked lentils, leftover cornbread, maybe some chicken, kale
*buffalo burgers w/avacado , pan fried potatoes and salad
*homemade pizza
*frittata

[EnglishRose]

Cookbook reccommendation

Delight raved about the cookbook "Vegan with a Vengeance" on her blog, and I received a giftcard to Barnes & Noble as a gift, so I bought a copy (20% off, because it had a torn cover ).

I made the Corn Chowder recipe last night, and it is so good! It's basically corn, potatoes, carrots, onions, soy milk (but you could substitute regular milk if you do dairy), and some spices. REALLY simple, plus it helped my use up some frozen corn and an onion that was on the way to veggie heaven.


ETA: I haven't officially joined this challenge, but I have been trying to cook from my pantry this month, in order to save a little money to buy Christmas gifts for my (8 ) children. I will definately be joining future challenges!