Eating out of the Freezer/Pantry for January

[Doodlebug939]

I am trying to work hard this month to basically eat out of the freezer and cabinets. My plan is to only buy fresh stuff as we need. I have plenty to eat up and my goal is to shave $75 off of our weekly grocery bill. Which I plan to buy Disney gift cards to save for our trip in October. I am really tired of our wasting/lazy habits and feel that we can do a lot better in this department.

 

[Sadie22]

I don't know what Jiffy individual cups are. Is that peanut butter? I would make something that requires cooking to be sure.

Sites such as allrecipes.com allow you to put in ingredients and find recipes that use those ingredients.

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

LOL, I found some Jiffy cups that were expired that I ate last month. I don't recall how expired they were but the peanut butter was still fine. I toasted a bagel and slathered on one Jiffy cup and ate those for breakfast for week. Actually I had two boxes, one regular and one chocolate. The regular was almost gone and the chocolate box was almost full. Won't buy those again! Clearly no one ate them lol.

I am attempting the pantry challenge for January. I booked an impromptu trip in March that I need to pay off Jan. 18., I am starting by skipping the grocery store as much as possible for 3 weeks. That should save me $300+ and pay off half my balance to WDW.

I have been going through stuff and making lists of what we can make. I have this week and next week covered, it may get a bit more complicated after that.

 

[dreamin_disney]

LOL, I found some Jiffy cups that were expired that I ate last month. I don't recall how expired they were but the peanut butter was still fine. I toasted a bagel and slathered on one Jiffy cup and ate those for breakfast for week. Actually I had two boxes, one regular and one chocolate. The regular was almost gone and the chocolate box was almost full. Won't buy those again! Clearly no one ate them lol.

I am attempting the pantry challenge for January. I booked an impromptu trip in March that I need to pay off Jan. 18., I am starting by skipping the grocery store as much as possible for 3 weeks. That should save me $300+ and pay off half my balance to WDW.

I have been going through stuff and making lists of what we can make. I have this week and next week covered, it may get a bit more complicated after that.

I bought the peanut butter snack cups and bag of almonds for snacks to take to work . We ended up getting a student who is allergic to peanut butter so no nuts for me. I actually bought two boxes and we ate one at home. I love eating my PB with celery sticks. I guess I'll try it and have it with bagels and celery sticks since I'm off for another week

 

[Egdisney]

I am doing this! I just did an inventory of my food, and I bet I could go most of feb without shopping as well! I just need milk, eggs, bread and some fruit.

 

[pat fan]

I have a box of jiffy indivual cups that expired in June 2013 brand new box that I found in back of my pantry. Is it still good or can I toss????

I have a large bag o French's fried crispy onions that people use for green bean casseroles but we don't like green bean casserole. I bought to make chicken. What else can it be used for besides for hamburgers and breading chicken?

I also have a new bag of sliced almonds

Dh didn't know about this challenge but he went into the freezer and pulled out some frozen breaded chicken strips and told me to make a breaded
chicken salad because he bought a bag of salad. lol!

He didn't know I went through the freezer earlier and made a list. heres what I found

Freezer completed Meals
1. Chrispy chicken salad
2. Asian night- found mini egg rolls, stir fry veggies and frozen brown rice packages

Freezer Single items found so I need to pick up items to complete meals
1. frozen min corn cobs- maybe in a soup or as a side with chicken
2. new bag of onion rings and 2 serving of crinkle frozen fries- Thinking of making Cheeseburgers
3. box of frozen mozzarella cheese sticks
4. Box of fish sticks- fish tacos

Pantry items
1. 6 cans of evaporated milk
2. 1 can of baked beans
3. bag of rice
4. 3 cans of hominy- pozole
5 .3 large cans of pinto beans- tosadas, nachos and as a side
6. 4 cans of chicken both
7. 5 cans of tuna
8. 2 large cans of enchilada sauce
9. 2 cans of corn
10. 3 cans of green beans
11. 2 boxes of scallop potatoes
couple of other stuff too

Baking stuff
1. 3 packs of chocolate almond bark and 1 pack of white bark
2. large Costco size bag of chocolate chips
3. bag of flour all purpose
4. large bag of regular sugar
5. 5 boxes of cake mix
6. 2 packages of cookie mix
7. large container of hersheys cocoa- need ideas for using this up please
8. bag of brown sugar and powdered sugar
9. large container of oatmeal
10. 3 boxes of brownies
that's all I got to see before being interrupted

I just need to go buy some chicken some type of beef

When I go back to work I plan
I baking some goodies for Holiday potlucks
Jan just because- oatmeal cookies
Feb- sugar heart cookies (use up some flour and sugar)
March- cupcakes( cake box)
April- Easter- cake pops (cake box) Plus for family gathering

You could use the cocoa to make homemade hot chocolate, chocolate cake, mole sauce for chicken or brownies.

 

[pocomom]

You could use the cocoa to make homemade hot chocolate, chocolate cake, mole sauce for chicken or brownies.

Hot cocoa for the kids is the main thing we use cocoa for. I also make a nice chocolate caramel cookie.

This morning I am making a pear apple tart. Sheet of puff pastry dough (frozen kind) spread some peach or apricot preserves (apricot is better but I have peach in the fridge. Top with sliced pears,apples and bake. Kids and dh think I'm a cooking god when I make it, great way of using fruit that is on it's way out!

Last night I made veggi bean chili. Took a lot of license with this one. Had half a jar of pasta sauce, can of rotel , can of crushed tomatoes, 15 bean soup mix, some shredded zucchini in the freezer, bit of carrot, onions, peppers, frozen corn and barley added chili powder, cumin, cilantro salt, and it was delish!!! Had two good sized containers left over so I'm keeping on in the fridge for lunches this week and put one in the freezer for another dinner.

 

[MAJPLO]

I bought a tub of vanilla yogurt for DD but she doesn't seem to like this brand's flavor. I tasted it and I don't blame her. I'm looking for some baking or other cooing ideas for using it up. Please help.

 

[100AcreWood]

I bought a tub of vanilla yogurt for DD but she doesn't seem to like this brand's flavor. I tasted it and I don't blame her. I'm looking for some baking or other cooing ideas for using it up. Please help.

I would search the ingredient yogurt on allrecipes. They have a ton of healthy recipes that require yogurt. Also you can make smoothies. The taste should be hidden by all the frozen fruit.

I made this recipe once and it calls for yogurt: http://eatathomecooks.com/2012/08/chicken-casserole-lightened-up.html. Not sure if it will work since your yogurt is vanilla though.

 

[Arkansan]

I bought a tub of vanilla yogurt for DD but she doesn't seem to like this brand's flavor. I tasted it and I don't blame her. I'm looking for some baking or other cooing ideas for using it up. Please help.

I have a great recipe for banana cupcakes, if you're interested.

 

[kymom99]

I found a box of chicken helper in the pantry that is expired. Any thoughts on using it? I am not particularly squeamish about using boxed items past the date, and it doesn't seem that there could be anything in there that could really be spoiled. I know this has been discussed but this thread seemed like a good place to bring it up again. Anyone have any experience with this?

Edit: I dug around on google and as I suspected, the sell by dates are for freshness and height of flavor. One article specifically said you could eat a box of mac and cheese a year after the sell by date and never know the difference. So I'll use it.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I pulled kielbasa and black beans and rice for lunch today and Tilapia for dinner.
2 meals down!
I need to catalog my freezers tonight and make a list. I will have the kids catalog the pantry too.

Must go shovel now. I don't want to!!!

 

[WVMomof3]

I bought a tub of vanilla yogurt for DD but she doesn't seem to like this brand's flavor. I tasted it and I don't blame her. I'm looking for some baking or other cooing ideas for using it up. Please help.

I make pancakes with yogurt. The kids and all their friends always say my pancakes are the best.

The base recipe (I usually double or triple for my family)
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients. In separate bowl, combine the rest of ingredients and slowly add the the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.

Or smoothies with fruit always good too.

 

[MAJPLO]

I have a great recipe for banana cupcakes, if you're interested.

Yes please! I have some overripe bananas too and was thinking about using the yogurt and bananas for banana walnut muffins. Banana cupcakes would be even better.

 

[3dog2kidmom]

Just jumping in here as I'm trying to save on groceries this month. Heck, this year actually. I have two teens and we are on the go, a lot; I work full-time, DH works two jobs so...

Today I put a few frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot, added 1 can each of cream of mushroom & chicken soup, a chopped onion and chopped some celery that was on its last limp leg and a couple of cloves of garlic. Once the chicken was cooked through I "cut" it up with the spatula and added 2 cups of instant brown rice from the pantry and a bag of frozen broccoli to the pot for about an hour. As the brown & serve rolls we didn't use Christmas were baking, I cubed and stirred in the end of a package of velveeta cheese. Everyone loved it, I didn't have to buy a single new thing, and I have a couple of lunches for DH and I leftover.

For tomorrow I have some pork loin in the freezer leftover from a work party I brought home. Think I'll add another of those cans of cream of something (I must buy 2 of those every time I'm at the store!) and some egg noodles. Maybe the frozen cauliflower will go with that......

Any suggestions for a jar of white asparagus? haha

 

[100AcreWood]

How is everyone doing? I think we're doing well at resisting buying anything other than perishables. But I had no idea how many perishables we go through like milk, cheese, orange juice, bread, veggies, fruit. Yikes! In the last week I spent $130. I'm hoping to do better next week.

 

[threecrazykids]

How is everyone doing? I think we're doing well at resisting buying anything other than perishables. But I had no idea how many perishables we go through like milk, cheese, orange juice, bread, veggies, fruit. Yikes! In the last week I spent $130. I'm hoping to do better next week.

We're the same way! For the last few Christmas's/birthdays my mom has purchased me and my siblings almost all of our meat for the year. It is SUCH an awesome gift and we appreciate it much more than "stuff". She always gets us more than just the meat but I'd be happy if it was just that! She and a guy she works with go in and buy a cow and they split up the meat, and also do a hog around Easter time as well. My husband always gets at least 1 deer so we have that on top of what she buys.

Anyway, the only meat I really have to purchase throughout the year is chicken. I find myself STILL spending close to between $150 and $200 every two weeks (including our household cleaning supplies, toiletries, dog food etc).

We are a family of 5 - two teenage boys who easily eat like adults and one 12 year old girl.

I don't know how the heck it's possible, but our "sides" and fruits, veggies, snacks, and me taking my lunch still average out about $150 every two weeks.

I have got to get my inventory done of my freezer and pantry and get to cutting my grocery bill down, but at the end of the two weeks we need fruit, veggies, dairy and side ingredients. I very rarely have anything spoil or have to toss anything due to being expired.

I don't know WHAT the heck I'm doing wrong but I gotta figure it out.

 

[The Fox Menagerie]

We are off to a good start with this for January. The last two Sundays, I made a dinner menu for the week and hung it up in the kitchen, using freezer and pantry items mostly. I went to the grocery store for perishables only. It feels great to be using up what we already have. If I can just keep DH out of the grocery store for the month, we'll be in great shape (he likes to grocery shop to stock up on specials, which defeats my effort to clean out the food we have)!

 

[tavettava]

I fried some pork chops from the freezer, steamed some broccoli and cauliflour from the freezer, boiled potatoes from the pantry, and cheddar cheese from the fridge.

 

[annsteere]

We do this Oct/Nov. Then, I defrost the freezer, clean the oven one and get ready for holiday feasting.

Good thing about this schedule is that it also frees up cash for Christmas shopping.