Pantry Clean Out!

[ariel1025]

Thanks to everyone who recommended making fajita's with the zuchinni and peppers. It was delicious! Tonight we had steak from the freezer, veggies from the freezer and potato's from the pantry. I also took advantage of my emptier than usual pantry and took everything out and scrubbed it down. I made another meal plan based on things I already have but I will have to do decent amount of grocery shopping because we are completely out of fresh produce and dairy. My goal going forward is to decrease our food waste by paying attention to what we have.

So glad you enjoyed the fajitas!

I also took the time to wipe down our pantry now that there's some white space showing up. I am so in love with how clean and organized and pretty it looks I don't even want to stock up on food anymore haha!

That's a great idea. We will sometimes just buy the ones from the deli, but making it ourselves would be so much better!

Last weekend we traveled to ATL to see some family, so we obviously did not eat at home. My SIL made a wonderful Kale coleslaw. I could not believe how amazing it was. We fell off the wagon last night. We were tired from our travels (excuse), and used our last Chili's gift card. It reminded me how wasteful we had been eating out. Even though we just used a gift card, our meal was $48! I was telling DW that's at least 3 days worth of food! We are back on track today.

Breakfast - Waffles
Lunch - Left over meatballs from Thursday for me, Family mac and cheese
Dinner - The rest of the orange chicken and rice

We spent $58 on groceries last night (I know, we were too tired to cook, but not too tired to grocery shop, I know, we really just wanted some Chilis). DW has us on an organic only regiment now (4.99 for eggs!). We purchased eggs, milk (we go through 2 gallons a week), Greek yogurt, salad mix, bananas, and creamer. We still have enough to get us through the week (thank you giant bag of frozen chicken and boxes of pasta from Costco!). Next week's grocery trip is going to be much larger, but we are so happy that we cleaned out a lot of inventory from our pantry, fridge, and freezer.

If you ever shop at Target ours relatively frequently has the whole chickens with a $2-$3 off coupon attached to them (red and white sticker style) because it's within a few days of the freeze by date. This makes them under $4 each here. They limit you to 4 and buy the max every time I see them. Maybe you'll spot the same where you are

 

[ariel1025]

Yesterday was a simple day.

Breakfast: Leftover homemade waffles and bacon from the day prior. We also finished off the last of the orange juice. I definitely prefer the simply orange to the Sprouts brand we bought this time. Add that to the list of things I think are better to pay more for, haha!
Lunch: I had 1/4 of a bell pepper and a tomato that needed to get used soon. I chopped those up along with some fresh mozarella, cooked up some veggie blend pasta, added some Italian dressing and had a yummy pasta salad. We also cut up some of the items from a Hickory Farms set my husband got for Christmas to go with it. Easy meal while watching Pan #thumbsup
Dinner: My in-laws came to town and took us all to a local pizza and pasta place

As mentioned to @megs193 , I was starting to see some white space in the midst of all my pantry clutter, so I took the time to pull everything out, wipe down the pantry, and put everything back in an organized way. I had to throw a couple of things out and also made note of items that I won't buy again because it's nearing the expiration date and we still have no desire to use it With all that said, I'm loving how organized my pantry now is and how easy it is to see everything in there that I have no desire to do any major stocking up on things again unless it will fit in our overflow "pantry" in the garage.

Wishing everyone a successful week!

 

[Eureka]

In the past few days we've had frittata, burritos and calzones to use up stuff in the fridge. I'm not doing an official pantry clear out but it's nice to make sure we're cutting back on the waste.

 

[pocomom]

Big batch cooking this weekend. Made dh two weeks worth of frozen meals. He doesn't cook and works out of state . Made some frozen meals for the kids as well and used lots of pantry items. Plus I don't have to cook for a couple of days !

I made:
Red lentil dal -used up extra lentils
Curry- used up extra spices, chick peas , some sweet potatoes and cauliflower I had extra of and rice.
Vegetarian "Meat" loaf and mashed potatoes - potatoes and Italian bread crumbs.
Chili - more beans! ( I'm ready for the zombie apocalypse with all the beans in this house!)
And sent him with some Mac and cheese and a couple of the veggie quinoa bowls

I also prepped a few other things for future use - roasted some butternut squash and have ingredients ready for a slow cooker pot pie, and I might make some broccoli cheese soup with leftover bits of cheese later in the week. But tonight I'm just going to enjoy my shiny clean kitchen and full fridge and dinners made to start the week!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

OK DH is gone for the week plus we are potentially getting a major storm Saturday, I need a plan.
I hate cooking when he's not home.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Friday we fell off the wagon....
Decided to go out to eat and use the gift card we had.....yea after waiting 40 mins with a fussy 1 year old and nowhere to sit and ppl waiting around us longer were not being sat we called it quits and left the restaurant.

By this time it's almost 7 and DD is in full melt down mode so we hit Sonic for some burgers and got her a corn dog.

Saturday DH had to work so I made some chicken noodle soup for lunch and supper was chicken tenders and fries.
Sunday in laws took us to lunch and supper was a sausage plate from fundraiser.
Finally last night we got back on track a bit and I made shrimp pasta using up half a box of penne I had plus 2 jars of alfredo and some bell pepper and onion.
I had a huge bell pepper and a huge onion so I took what was left and threw it and some chicken into the crockpot...tonight is fajitas!

 

[ariel1025]

Yesterday was pretty simple.

Breakfast: The remaining leftover waffles from Saturday.
Lunch: Fend for yourself. Between the three of us (my husband had a working lunch) we had pasta salad, leftover mac and cheese from going to dinner with the in-laws, peanut butter rollups, grapes and baby carrots.
Dinner: Used some leftover turkey from the freezer, grabbed a couple of cans of vegetables from the pantry and pie crust from the freezer to make my first turkey pot pie. It was slightly sweet because I only had sweet peas available, but we all loved it. Will definitely make two next time! http://www.pinkwhen.com/turkey-pot-pie-recipe/#_a5y_p=2553240

Went to Target after dropping my son off at school and went off plan a little bit. Got cinnamon toast crunch, some mini oreos and cake frosting. All for my son's birthday tomorrow. He has been missing his favorite morning cereal (we ate our surplus and I've been trying not to make it such a habit anymore). When I organized the pantry I found three boxes of cake mix including his favorite, funfetti, so we will make that for him while he's at school tomorrow but I didn't have any frosting. The mini oreos are for his lunch (just a couple of them!) as birthdays are the only days the school allows that type of food in their lunches.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Question for those in the know...we were given a large 15ish pound turkey I want to finally cook it Saturday morning when I have nothing else on my agenda...when should I take it out of the freezer...It will take up a lot of room in our fridge so I don't want it out sooner than it has to be...

 

[TwoMisfits]

Question for those in the know...we were given a large 15ish pound turkey I want to finally cook it Saturday morning when I have nothing else on my agenda...when should I take it out of the freezer...It will take up a lot of room in our fridge so I don't want it out sooner than it has to be...

Now..it's gonna need about 3-4 days to defrost (rule of thumb is 1 day per 4lb)...

If you don't have that kinda time, you can do this Friday...this takes a little effort (usually for a bird as big as you have, you'd want to sanitize something like your utility sink or your tub before and after if you do this)...

• Thaw breast side down, in an unopened wrapper, with enough cold water to cover your turkey completely.
• Change water every 30 minutes to keep the turkey chilled.
• Estimate a minimum thawing time of 30 minutes per lb.

 

[m&m_mom]

We did really well this weekend. We used up quite a bit from our stock.

Saturday's meals:
Breakfast - we all had cinnamon toast & OJ
Lunch - grilled cheese & apples for the kids, leftovers for me & DH
Dinner - spaghetti & meatballs (used up some frozen veggies for the sauce)

Sunday:
Breakfast - cereal & cuties for everyone
Lunch - PBJs, apples, & chips for everyone
Dinner - bangers & mash (used up Italian sausage from freezer & leftover mashed potatoes)
Dessert - I made a chocolate peanut butter cream pie (used up a pie shell, choc. pudding, condensed milk, & heavy cream)

Monday:
Breakfast - waffles & pear cups (finished off) for kids, cereal & coffee or me & DH
Lunch - PB sandwiches, apples, & chips for kids, leftovers for me & DH
Dinner - roast chicken (whole), stuffing, broccoli
Other - I made 2 loaves of banana bread, one chocolate & one vanilla (used up bananas, walnuts, choc. Chips, & cake mix)

Tuesday:
Breakfast - waffles & cuties for kids, cereal & coffee for me & DH
Lunch - cheese sandwich & apples for DS, PBJ & applesauce for DD, leftover pasta with a quick peanut sauce & apples for me, DH gets lunch at work
Dinner - chicken quesadillas (use up tortillas & half of leftover chicken) & broccoli for everyone

Getting ready for the big snow storm coming so we'll be heading to the grocery store today. Just need to pick up milk, bread, fruit, veg, & a couple whole chickens since they are on sale for $.88/lb. The chicken from Monday will give us dinner all this week. The rest of the meat will be used for chicken & rice casserole and then we will have chicken & dumplings and chicken noodle soup from the stock that I'm making today (from the carcass).

I'm loving not throwing out as much food and getting back to making more food from scratch. I'm really putting forth the effort to get rid of the prepackaged junk that made its way into our cabinets over the holidays.

 

[pocomom]

In the past few days we've had frittata, burritos and calzones to use up stuff in the fridge. I'm not doing an official pantry clear out but it's nice to make sure we're cutting back on the waste.

Yum calzones! I just added them to my plan for next week. I'll make a big batch of pizza dough and have Friday pizza night freeze leftover dough and do it next week as calzones.

 

[pocomom]

We did really well this weekend. We used up quite a bit from our stock....

I'm loving not throwing out as much food and getting back to making more food from scratch. I'm really putting forth the effort to get rid of the prepackaged junk that made its way into our cabinets over the holidays.

YES!!! I love cutting back on the waste!

 

[4Mickeys]

Well yesterday was the start of another weeks food planning for us - I checked out what we had and made a little shopping trip $40.22 but I will have to do a small shop for some vegies and fruit tomorrow. But all in all that's pretty good.

Yesterday: spaghetti bolognaise (we have leftovers) - also we splurged on an afternoon treat whilst waiting for my oldest son while he was having an interview for a part-time job (won't know till Friday it he had any luck) - we had Chocolate fudge sundaes while sitting at the beach - paid way too much for ice-cream but we really don't do this very often and school holiday are almost over for us here - kids go back next week so I am ok with it.
Today: I didn't plan anything because its MY BIRTHDAY! so this morning kids made us choc chip pancakes with maple syrup and bacon - lunch was out at the beach calamari and fries (my mum paid for that) and then for afternoon tea instead of having a birthday cake we went to a local San Churros Chocolatier café - I had a birthday voucher for a churros feast (18 churros and 6 dipping sauces) for half price (usually $35 - I'm sure many of you are shocked at the prices over here lol) my son and my mum also had a piece of cake - my mum's first time trying a churros and she liked it Mum covered most of that cost too - now we are all so full that I'm not expecting to eat 'dinner' tonight but we do have a few churros that came home with us as we couldn't eat them all - so they may call me later to finish them off - haha.
Thursday: Left over spaghetti bolognaise with pasta from the pantry.
Friday: Roast Pork with vegetables.
Saturday: Hot pork and gravy sandwiches (with pork leftover from Friday)
Sunday: Fried Rice and Chicken - Chicken is in freezer.
Monday: Beef stir fry with left over fried rice - will have to buy some beef strips though.

Good luck for this week everyone with your plans

 

[Eureka]

They're calling for a storm this weekend, so I went out this morning before work to pick up "a few things" (since when did that end up being $90?! - since I have two teenagers, I guess) even though we do have a bunch of food in the freezer. But the kids have been eating snacks like they're going out of style and if it's messy on Sat., I don't want to listen to the sighing that there's nothing good to eat.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Now..it's gonna need about 3-4 days to defrost (rule of thumb is 1 day per 4lb)...

If you don't have that kinda time, you can do this Friday...this takes a little effort (usually for a bird as big as you have, you'd want to sanitize something like your utility sink or your tub before and after if you do this)...

• Thaw breast side down, in an unopened wrapper, with enough cold water to cover your turkey completely.
• Change water every 30 minutes to keep the turkey chilled.
• Estimate a minimum thawing time of 30 minutes per lb.

Thanks....I think I will go ahead and stick it in the fridge tonight and just suck it up and come Friday night if it still needs some attention I can do the sink thaw method to finish up. I hope to be able to season it up and have it wrapped up in the pan and ready to go Saturday morning early. My husband uncle has one of those really neat infrared fryer things---greaseless fryer I wish we could use that yummy fried turkey without the mess!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Well yesterday was the start of another weeks food planning for us - I checked out what we had and made a little shopping trip $40.22 but I will have to do a small shop for some vegies and fruit tomorrow. But all in all that's pretty good.

Yesterday: spaghetti bolognaise (we have leftovers) - also we splurged on an afternoon treat whilst waiting for my oldest son while he was having an interview for a part-time job (won't know till Friday it he had any luck) - we had Chocolate fudge sundaes while sitting at the beach - paid way too much for ice-cream but we really don't do this very often and school holiday are almost over for us here - kids go back next week so I am ok with it.
Today: I didn't plan anything because its MY BIRTHDAY! so this morning kids made us choc chip pancakes with maple syrup and bacon - lunch was out at the beach calamari and fries (my mum paid for that) and then for afternoon tea instead of having a birthday cake we went to a local San Churros Chocolatier café - I had a birthday voucher for a churros feast (18 churros and 6 dipping sauces) for half price (usually $35 - I'm sure many of you are shocked at the prices over here lol) my son and my mum also had a piece of cake - my mum's first time trying a churros and she liked it Mum covered most of that cost too - now we are all so full that I'm not expecting to eat 'dinner' tonight but we do have a few churros that came home with us as we couldn't eat them all - so they may call me later to finish them off - haha.
Thursday: Left over spaghetti bolognaise with pasta from the pantry.
Friday: Roast Pork with vegetables.
Saturday: Hot pork and gravy sandwiches (with pork leftover from Friday)
Sunday: Fried Rice and Chicken - Chicken is in freezer.
Monday: Beef stir fry with left over fried rice - will have to buy some beef strips though.

Good luck for this week everyone with your plans

You just make me want to come to Australia! a Churro feast oh my! That sounds soooo good!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Does anyone else feel like this is making them a much more creative cook? With trying to use up stuff we already have I'm thinking of new ways/ideas to make it work.

Like I almost threw in the towel this morning and said we are getting fast food...but nope I pulled it together and tonight will be chili. Because I know we won't eat it all tonight tomorrow I will add some rice and we have a half box of frozen chalupa things so this be cooked up and we will have a Tex-Mex style for tomorrow.

If not for this I would have most likely thrown out that half box of chalupas...and those things were like $5 for a box uhmmm no! I love coming to this board it keeps me on track lol!

 

[Arich01]

I'm loving not throwing out as much food and getting back to making more food from scratch. I'm really putting forth the effort to get rid of the prepackaged junk that made its way into our cabinets over the holidays.[/QUOTE]

THIS is exactly my approach too!

I feel we've done pretty well this past week of just eating at home and using ingredients we already have. Monday I had to grab a few things we were out of and stumbled upon an awesome deal on whole chickens! $1.45 and $1.60 each! These will make some super cheap meals for us and great to have in on hand in the freezer!

Sat- I made Spanish Rice-a-Roni with some taco seasoned ground beef from the freezer. Was pretty good!
Sun- Hubby made waffles and bacon for breakfast, baked sesame chicken and veggie fried rice for dinner
Mon- Beef stroganoff and brownies from a mix
Tues- I made home made broccoli cheese soup for lunch. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/slow-cooker-broccoli-cheese-soup/ Grilled chicken and bacon(leftover from Sunday) sandwiches with tater tots
Today- We have leftover grilled chicken and beef stroganoff. Kiddo took some stroganoff and a brownie for school lunch. May make chicken tacos with the chicken or just have the stroganoff for dinner

Like previous posters have said, I'm really trying to eat at home more and cut out waste. I'm trying to use up a lot of the prepackaged stuff and get to eating less processed junk.

 

[secretpantssam]

I've been super busy recently so I haven't posted. But I've been pretty good keeping budget! I'm glad to see everyone is holding up well. We all need to give in here and there- especially when life gets hectic. But I think this post really helps all of us keep our eyes on the prize!

I've made two small trips to the grocery store in the past couple weeks and I think my totals were both under $30. Just buying a few fresh veggies and some stuff to keep the freezer and pantry train going. Though my last trip I accidentally picked up organic milk which was much more expensive and I didn't notice until I was at the register, but I'm sure it's healthier for us!

Sunday
Breakfast- some donuts got on sale
Lunch- Homemade chicken soup
Dinner- Keilbasa, saurkraut, and frozen pierogies ( I can't even remember when I bought these. It was nice to get the box out of the freezer)

Monday
Breakfast- Donut
Lunch- Salad
Dinner- Shrimp Scampi

Tuesday
Breakfast- last donut
Lunch- leftovers
Dinner- Spaghetti and the last of the frozen meatballs I made a couple months back

Wednesday
Breakfast- grapefruit
Lunch- leftovers
Dinner- Hubby plans to make Cashew Chicken

I plan on making chili in the crockpot during the day on Friday which will use up some ground beef from the freezer and some canned beans. And it should be nice too because it's supposed to snow and it'll be nice to come home to some chili to warm us up! I hadn't gotten around to making that Honey mustard chicken but I plan to do that on saturday. Also if it's a huge storm it'll give me some nice time to finally go through the pantry and chest freezer to really inventory and make a serious plan.

 

[pjlla]

OK DH is gone for the week plus we are potentially getting a major storm Saturday, I need a plan.
I hate cooking when he's not home.

Soup and stew!! It is a great way to use up bits and pieces from the fridge, freezer, and pantry, and super comforting when the it storming outside!! Plus you can make it in the crockpot! Good luck and stay safe during the bad weather! It looks like I will only be getting a brush from that storm........P