Pantry Clean Out!

[Zoesmama03]

We stuck to our plan yesterday. It was great.

Today I fell short on lunch. I forgot to grab my lunch out of the fridge (I leave before 6, so sometimes I'm not all there, lol), so I spent $4 at Taco Bell (terrible decision)

Family ate left over Chicken Stroganoff for lunch.

For Dinner, we are having honey baked ham (which was a Christmas present we stuck in the freezer), and a pasta side from the pantry.

We will doing some more inventory and planning tonight.



That's a great victory! It's so tempting, and so good (bad at the same time).

I admit there has been weeks we don't stick to a grocery and meal plan and get take out. I know it burns through money FAST though we run into days its just easier.

My inventory is super low and I know I have a few pantry staples to get yet plus seasonings that ran out so will have to add a bit more in budget for the weekend and next week. My next pay check will be super short it will be a tight squeeze so I'll do my best to stretch Fridays budget.

 

[4Mickeys]

I stayed strong for lunch today ... but was tempted to do a Maccas run (Aussie slang for McDonalds) after dropping of DS11 to a play day. I had a NYE drink with his mum it was 11.30am and I rarely drink alcohol lol - only the one as I was driving. Anyway driving home to the other 2 kids I was thinking ooohhh we have been sooo good I could surprise them with Maccas. But then out of nowhere the strength came and I drove straight home. Daughter and I had the leftover spaghetti from last night and Son had 2 minute noodles (which he made himself a new skill for him and part of my get the 15 year old more independent resolution lol).

 

[ariel1025]

Two of us eat spanish rice which helps the other parts spread onto more meals. And I sometimes have some of the leftover rice for lunch so it doesn't go to waste.

I totally wish I could start a garden in the spring but kids trample through the yard off the bus stop and once before I had a planter and they were destroyed. I'd totally grow a lot of food.

I love using leftover Spanish rice to make rice bowls for lunch the next day!

We planted our first garden this year. Some successes (bell peppers, squash, cherry tomatoes), some failures (cucumbers, jalapeno, cilantro). Can't wait to try again next year and see if we can improve. Major bummer that you can't because others aren't aware of their surroundings and tear apart others things

I admit there has been weeks we don't stick to a grocery and meal plan and get take out. I know it burns through money FAST though we run into days its just easier.

My inventory is super low and I know I have a few pantry staples to get yet plus seasonings that ran out so will have to add a bit more in budget for the weekend and next week. My next pay check will be super short it will be a tight squeeze so I'll do my best to stretch Fridays budget.

We are going into a tight squeeze paycheck as well. Best of luck to you!!!

I stayed strong for lunch today ... but was tempted to do a Maccas run (Aussie slang for McDonalds) after dropping of DS11 to a play day. I had a NYE drink with his mum it was 11.30am and I rarely drink alcohol lol - only the one as I was driving. Anyway driving home to the other 2 kids I was thinking ooohhh we have been sooo good I could surprise them with Maccas. But then out of nowhere the strength came and I drove straight home. Daughter and I had the leftover spaghetti from last night and Son had 2 minute noodles (which he made himself a new skill for him and part of my get the 15 year old more independent resolution lol).

Way to go on avoiding temptation!!!!!

 

[ariel1025]

Yesterday was another day of staying strong

Breakfast was pancakes (regular and chocolate chip). Lunch was a "grab whatever looks good" sort of deal (sandwiches etc) out of the fridge availability. For dinner we made nachos with crockpot chili con ques0. I had purchased the velveeta and cream cheese needed at Target the day prior, but we had the sausage, chips, cream of mushroom etc already on hand.

I also got around to cleaning out the fridge. Mostly condiments and beverages, but at least it'll be easy to see the leftovers and such we put in there.



Wishing everyone a very safe and happy New Year!!!

 

[ariel1025]

Happy 2016 everyone!

The last couple of days for us had a few failures and a few successes.

Thursday I utilized the remaining cream of mushroom and already cooked sausage that I didn't use in the previous nights queso. I combined them with the 1/2 bag tater tots that were in my freezer, some green chili in the fridge and a few pantry spices to make a breakfast type tater tot casserole. It honestly didn't look very appetizing, but it ended up tasting delicious. Success!

That day we ran out for a few errands, including running to the grocery store. Honestly we didn't need anything, but Albertson's was running a too good to pass up deal on chicken and bacon. Both items are consumed in bulk at my household so I bought 10 lbs of the boneless, skinless chicken breast ($1.67/lb) and 4 packs of the bacon (thick cut at 4/$10). It fit within our grocery budget for the week and will help us stick to eating at home. Success!

Dinner that night was our traditional New Years Eve cook at home appetizer assortment. We did however cave and buy the kids happy meals when they asked as we were pulling into another errand which had a McDonald's in the parking lot. It fit within our food budget for the week, but I still consider it a fail.

Yesterday was a toast and jelly type of morning, as we had several more errands to run and I was hoping not to be out of the house all day. Both Kohl's and Target took much, much longer than I anticipated and we ended up at Tomato Cafe for lunch. Big Fat Fail

Dinner was a hodgepodge of leftovers from the fridge (pizza, wings, macaroni and cheese, queso, tater tot casserole, potato skins) in a take your pick and fend for yourself type of deal. Kids were excited to make their own choices, everybody got full and we finished off the wings, potato skins and mac and cheese avoiding trashing it. Success!

How has the start of your New Year gone?

 

[4Mickeys]

I bought 10 lbs of the boneless, skinless chicken breast ($1.67/lb)

Wow you guys are so lucky in relation to some of your food prices - things are quite expensive here in Australia. I was comparing your cost of chicken breast - I used google to convert lb to kg our meat is priced per kg and 1 kg = 2.2lb approximately. At the supermarket skin off chicken breast is $9 per kg here the same weight of chicken for you would cost about $3.67. I saw it on sale the other day for $6.99 per kg which is still way more than you pay. I hate shopping some days I come out with only a few things in my shopping cart and it can still cost $100!

Ok admission - last night I caved in and we had takeout pizza for dinner - although my lovely son paid for it from his part-time job - does that still count lol? On the good side it only cost us $18.95 to feed the 4 of us. Breakfast had been toast and lunch was 2 minute noodles for 2 of the kids, scrambled eggs for the other and I had leftovers.

Pay day next week so I need to start planning meals ready for shopping - the stock of foods that we can use for dinner is starting to get pretty low.

 

[Zoesmama03]

This shopping trip I went without a list and spent $70 and feel like I don't have much to go on. Forgot some ingredients and that was all my budget. My brother whom we live with is going to pick those things up and some other snacks he probably wants. So frustrating when I spend so much and don't have much groceries. I was so embarrassed I had to put stuff back and i hate when that happens. I know I can do better with $70 than when I had $20 but when I don't have a list and map out what I expect to spend I end up way over. Of course the meals we at at $20 for four days is just not what I want to be eating health wise.

Oh well when I find and get myself a full time job I'll have this making a plan and list thing down and can see myself putting money into savings.

 

[4Mickeys]

This shopping trip I went without a list and spent $70 and feel like I don't have much to go on. Forgot some ingredients and that was all my budget. My brother whom we live with is going to pick those things up and some other snacks he probably wants. So frustrating when I spend so much and don't have much groceries. I was so embarrassed I had to put stuff back and i hate when that happens. I know I can do better with $70 than when I had $20 but when I don't have a list and map out what I expect to spend I end up way over. Of course the meals we at at $20 for four days is just not what I want to be eating health wise.

Oh well when I find and get myself a full time job I'll have this making a plan and list thing down and can see myself putting money into savings.

I can totally relate to this - I remember once having to walk away from a checkout mortified leaving like a whole trolley of groceries when my debit card did not work - I thought there was money on it but my awful ex at the time had lied about depositing money into the account! Also, many of us have been there where we had to make $20 stretch for 4-5 days and the food is less than ideal but at least we are feeding our families the best we can at the time - I definitely have before.

I will sent good vibes your way for the job hunt good luck

 

[dlavender]

This shopping trip I went without a list and spent $70 and feel like I don't have much to go on. Forgot some ingredients and that was all my budget. My brother whom we live with is going to pick those things up and some other snacks he probably wants. So frustrating when I spend so much and don't have much groceries. I was so embarrassed I had to put stuff back and i hate when that happens. I know I can do better with $70 than when I had $20 but when I don't have a list and map out what I expect to spend I end up way over. Of course the meals we at at $20 for four days is just not what I want to be eating health wise.

Oh well when I find and get myself a full time job I'll have this making a plan and list thing down and can see myself putting money into savings.

Definitely don't feel bad. We've been there before, scouring ad's for buy one get one's, or other deals, to stretch the budget. It is depressing when our littlest at the time would want a snack from an aisle, and we had to say no, because we couldn't afford the extra 2.99 or whatever. But you will get through it. $1 mac and cheese boxes are a cheap "fun" meal. There were weeks when we lived on Spaghetti - just sauce and noodles, and mac and cheese!

How has the start of your New Year gone?

We also had some failures and successes. On NYE we went shopping, spent $111 on groceries - this included some NYE drinks.....and the groceries should last through the week ending 1/8.

We failed on New Years Day ( I mean, how could we fail on day 1 of our resolutions? lol) We were out shopping/exchanging some things, and we had a $25 gift card for Chilis (our kryptonite), so of course we stop in for lunch. We only spent about $30 after the gift card, but still a pretty big, sad, fail

We have since (for 2 1/2 days) stayed the course.

Saturday we made Chicken Tetrazzini, using left over chicken from our Enchilades Friday dinner. We made over a lb of it, so we had the tetrazzini for Dinner, and again on lunch Sunday. The kids couldn't get enough of it!

For dinner we had left over Stroganoff and sandwiches.

Today:

Breakfast - Cinnamon Rolls

Lunch - Me - sandwich made at home (important distinction)
Family - homemade pizza - This has become a hit with the kids as well

Dinner - left over pizza

Thursday I utilized the remaining cream of mushroom and already cooked sausage that I didn't use in the previous nights queso. I combined them with the 1/2 bag tater tots that were in my freezer, some green chili in the fridge and a few pantry spices to make a breakfast type tater tot casserole. It honestly didn't look very appetizing, but it ended up tasting delicious. Success!

That sounds amazing! Going to have to work that in one day...

 

[secretpantssam]

I need to get on this again! I may take inventory tonight. We just got an Omaha Steaks gift for Christmas and a ton of leftovers I froze recently so our freezer is overflowing. And I want to spend as little on food as possible in January to make up for all the Christmas shopping. I love having the motivation of this thread!

I'll start with today:
Breakfast- last of the bananas
Lunch- I had the last slice of left over pizza from a family thing last week and a small salad and DH had the end of the turkey soup
Dinner- DH has a meeting where he'll eat and I may eat leftover shrimp scampi with rice and there are still Christmas cookies if I want a dessert.

 

[ariel1025]

Wow you guys are so lucky in relation to some of your food prices - things are quite expensive here in Australia. I was comparing your cost of chicken breast - I used google to convert lb to kg our meat is priced per kg and 1 kg = 2.2lb approximately. At the supermarket skin off chicken breast is $9 per kg here the same weight of chicken for you would cost about $3.67. I saw it on sale the other day for $6.99 per kg which is still way more than you pay. I hate shopping some days I come out with only a few things in my shopping cart and it can still cost $100!

Ok admission - last night I caved in and we had takeout pizza for dinner - although my lovely son paid for it from his part-time job - does that still count lol? On the good side it only cost us $18.95 to feed the 4 of us. Breakfast had been toast and lunch was 2 minute noodles for 2 of the kids, scrambled eggs for the other and I had leftovers.

Pay day next week so I need to start planning meals ready for shopping - the stock of foods that we can use for dinner is starting to get pretty low.

Prices here (where I live, at least) fluctuate quite a bit. Typically the boneless, skinless chicken runs about a $1.00 per pound more than I got at sale price. I can most definitely relate to very few purchases filling my cart for such a large sum of money. We were blessed for many years to get free beef as my FIL ran a ranch and he got 2 full cattle cut any way he requested as part of his annual Christmas gift from the ranch owners. He retired last year and I practically fainted from shock the first time I needed to purchase ground beef at the store. That was a time when I spent $100+ and felt like there was very little to show for it.

This shopping trip I went without a list and spent $70 and feel like I don't have much to go on. Forgot some ingredients and that was all my budget. My brother whom we live with is going to pick those things up and some other snacks he probably wants. So frustrating when I spend so much and don't have much groceries. I was so embarrassed I had to put stuff back and i hate when that happens. I know I can do better with $70 than when I had $20 but when I don't have a list and map out what I expect to spend I end up way over. Of course the meals we at at $20 for four days is just not what I want to be eating health wise.

Oh well when I find and get myself a full time job I'll have this making a plan and list thing down and can see myself putting money into savings.

I'm pretty sure we can all relate to that feeling. I know I definitely can!

Hugs to you and best of wishes in your full time job search!!!

I can totally relate to this - I remember once having to walk away from a checkout mortified leaving like a whole trolley of groceries when my debit card did not work - I thought there was money on it but my awful ex at the time had lied about depositing money into the account! Also, many of us have been there where we had to make $20 stretch for 4-5 days and the food is less than ideal but at least we are feeding our families the best we can at the time - I definitely have before.

I will sent good vibes your way for the job hunt good luck

Oh, that's just awful about the situation with your ex

As a whole I feel like I've let the ball drop on feeding my family a well rounded set of meals. My son is so incredibly picky and it seems no matter what we do we can't get him to stray from his dozen or so foods that he's willing to eat. That combined with my daughter's food allergies and I just want to throw in the towel (cooking pans? lol) many nights. My goal is once we get a lot of this boxed up, processed, sugar filled set of foods out of the house then I will stop bringing them back in.

Definitely don't feel bad. We've been there before, scouring ad's for buy one get one's, or other deals, to stretch the budget. It is depressing when our littlest at the time would want a snack from an aisle, and we had to say no, because we couldn't afford the extra 2.99 or whatever. But you will get through it. $1 mac and cheese boxes are a cheap "fun" meal. There were weeks when we lived on Spaghetti - just sauce and noodles, and mac and cheese!

We also had some failures and successes. On NYE we went shopping, spent $111 on groceries - this included some NYE drinks.....and the groceries should last through the week ending 1/8.

We failed on New Years Day ( I mean, how could we fail on day 1 of our resolutions? lol) We were out shopping/exchanging some things, and we had a $25 gift card for Chilis (our kryptonite), so of course we stop in for lunch. We only spent about $30 after the gift card, but still a pretty big, sad, fail

We have since (for 2 1/2 days) stayed the course.

Saturday we made Chicken Tetrazzini, using left over chicken from our Enchilades Friday dinner. We made over a lb of it, so we had the tetrazzini for Dinner, and again on lunch Sunday. The kids couldn't get enough of it!

For dinner we had left over Stroganoff and sandwiches.

Today:

Breakfast - Cinnamon Rolls

Lunch - Me - sandwich made at home (important distinction)
Family - homemade pizza - This has become a hit with the kids as well

Dinner - left over pizza



That sounds amazing! Going to have to work that in one day...

Our out to eat failure was on Jan 1 as well. Old habits really do die hard, huh? lol

Great job on getting back on track since then Homemade pizzas are a big hit with our kids as well!

I need to get on this again! I may take inventory tonight. We just got an Omaha Steaks gift for Christmas and a ton of leftovers I froze recently so our freezer is overflowing. And I want to spend as little on food as possible in January to make up for all the Christmas shopping. I love having the motivation of this thread!

I'll start with today:
Breakfast- last of the bananas
Lunch- I had the last slice of left over pizza from a family thing last week and a small salad and DH had the end of the turkey soup
Dinner- DH has a meeting where he'll eat and I may eat leftover shrimp scampi with rice and there are still Christmas cookies if I want a dessert.

Welcome back! I'm so glad you find this thread motivating for you!

I'm jealous you still have Christmas cookies left

 

[ariel1025]

Happy Monday y'all! I'm over here fighting off the back-to-school/back-to-work blues. How about you?

I'm happy to report that the weekend did not result in any out to eat meals. Not even a temptation. Wahoo!

I did, however, do some more grocery shopping. We were completely out of fresh produce. And I mean completely out, not a fresh item of fruit or veggies to be found I hit up Sprouts which typically has the best deals on those items here. I left with 4 bags of food on my arm and $34 less dollars in my bank account. At least I can honestly say there wasn't one single purchase I feel guilty about! And it felt pretty good to hear my daughter giggle in excitement when she saw that her Cuties (clementines) had been replenished

Saturday we used our Mickey waffle iron to make waffles and added a side of bacon for breakfast. Lunch was another day of hodgepodge leftovers/whatever anybody found that sounded good. It included the last of the pizza, sandwiches etc. That was also the day we also finished off the last of the Christmas cookies. I miss them. Haha! For dinner that night we had my Husband's parents and brother over and made a turkey dinner. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn and croissant rolls. I usually do that dinner on Christmas Eve, but my oven was broken from mid-November until Dec 30 (under warranty so I was on their timeline to get fixed) so it was a delayed feast this year.

There was plenty of turkey leftover, so I divided it out and froze it in meal size portions and am excited to have that as an option sitting in my freezer now. I also used the carcass and made stock for the first time. Ummm, why have I never done this before? Yum!

Yesterday was leftovers for breakfast (Mickey waffles) and lunch (turkey sandwiches with the turkey I didn't freeze for this very purpose). Dinner was a last minute thrown together spaghetti with meat sauce. After getting back from Sprouts, putting everything away, getting laundry folded and a load of dishes done it was suddenly dinner time. I walked to the pantry saw the noodles and sauce, opened the fridge and took 1/2 lb of the ground turkey that is in the fridge for Taco Tuesday this week and cooked everything real fast. After we were done eating my Hubs told me "I'm shocked you didn't just ask me to run out for a pizza when you realized how late it was getting." I'm not even kidding, it never even crossed my mind. BIG success!

Today breakfast was toast with jam. Lunch will be out (planned and budgeted, but I still feel guilty). Dinner will be crockpot beef and broccoli with fried rice.

And if anybody is interested, I sat down and came up with a list of meals I can make with food in the house, so they should all make an appearance sometime this month:

roasted spaghetti squash with oven baked chicken and roasted broccoli
pan seared steak and breaded baked salmon with veggies
tostadas with Spanish rice
turkey noodle soup
turkey pot pie (homemade)
turkey and wild rice soup
chicken avocado soup
chicken quesadillas with cilantro lime rice

I'm gonna have to go into the frozen tundra (aka the garage) to go through the deep freeze to figure out the rest of the month. But it's a good start

Do you meal plan? What's on your plan if you do?

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

So my shopping trip got a little off kilter....we realized we had a little extra money now so decided to buy some extra stuff plus boston butt pork roasts were on sale cheap....meaning I have pounds of pulled pork ready for the freezer now for about $12 total in price. Plus shrimp (gulf shrimp not nasty foreign shrimp....I;m from Louisiana we take shrimp seriously!!!) was on sale so I got a huge thing of shrimp...that we can eat on for awhile!

My budget was $100 I spent $176 with tax but $30 shrimp $15 boston butt (2 for pulled pork one for homemade sausage) $20 for diapers I didn't plan on needing yet (sitter was out) and a few extra odds & ends I realized we needed after I made my list got us to that total. But I don't plan on shopping again until Feb except for diapers/milk/produce.

 

[ariel1025]

So my shopping trip got a little off kilter....we realized we had a little extra money now so decided to buy some extra stuff plus boston butt pork roasts were on sale cheap....meaning I have pounds of pulled pork ready for the freezer now for about $12 total in price. Plus shrimp (gulf shrimp not nasty foreign shrimp....I;m from Louisiana we take shrimp seriously!!!) was on sale so I got a huge thing of shrimp...that we can eat on for awhile!

My budget was $100 I spent $176 with tax but $30 shrimp $15 boston butt (2 for pulled pork one for homemade sausage) $20 for diapers I didn't plan on needing yet (sitter was out) and a few extra odds & ends I realized we needed after I made my list got us to that total. But I don't plan on shopping again until Feb except for diapers/milk/produce.

The cost of diapers. The exact reason I am getting ready to start my daughter with potty training (2.5). I cannot wait until the day we get rid of that expense

Yay for getting a good deal on foods you love!

 

[ariel1025]

Well, this week has been a bit of challenging little bugger. It started with car problems on Monday. My husband had taken the prior week off so that we could all "staycation" together while my son was on Christmas break. Monday morning when he went to leave for work his truck wouldn't start. It's an old truck and this has happened before after sitting for more than a couple of days. Last time we just had to charge up the battery and he was good to go with no continuing problems. I took him to work before taking my son to school and we planned on getting the battery charged up that night. Due to this situation we had just planned to go out to lunch together so he didn't have to eat in the office (he has tried this multiple times, but the rule is pretty much if you are in the office you are available for answering questions etc which doesn't really result in a real lunch break). That night I worked on dinner while he worked on getting the battery charged up. Tuesday morning we go to leave and the truck won't start Same song and dance as the previous day except throw in having to get him to a different office location for the second half of the day and then to physical therapy that evening. The plan tonight is to get a new battery and hope that is the only issue.

Anyway, on to the food...

Monday breakfast was toast with jam and clementines. Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant. Dinner was planned to be crockpot beef and broccoli with fried rice. Due to the commotion of the day I forgot to get the beef into the crockpot. Honestly I wanted to just order pizza and call it a day, but I sucked it up and improvised with the plan. I made the beef and broccoli on the stovetop instead. I don't know if it was just stemming from my bad mood, but the meal was a disaster. The sauce for the beef was way too sweet, the broccoli was overcooked and the fried rice (frozen from Trader Joe's) tasted like a weird combo between Spanish rice and fried rice. Oh well, can't win 'em all, right?

Yesterday breakfast was cereal (kids), cream of wheat (adults). Lunch was out again (see above for all the running around) The dinner plan was "taco Tuesday." After getting home much later than usual I realized we were out of shredded cheese and taco shells and I had "stolen" part of the ground turkey for spaghetti earlier in the week. Still feeling guilty from going out for lunch two days in a row I pushed through to come up with a (quick!) alternate solution. I found a can of refried beans and tostada shells in the pantry and 1/2 a block of velveeta block from making chili con queso last week. I shredded some of the Velveeta block, chopped up a tomato and some onion, cooked the meat and heated the beans. Tacos became tostadas. They were delicious and everybody got full since the beans stretched the meat further

So, through all of this I have learned I do great with staying committed to eating from the house for dinner, but cave in a heartbeat for lunch. Gotta work on that!

How's the first half of your week going?

 

[dlavender]

Well, this week has been a bit of challenging little bugger. It started with car problems on Monday. My husband had taken the prior week off so that we could all "staycation" together while my son was on Christmas break. Monday morning when he went to leave for work his truck wouldn't start. It's an old truck and this has happened before after sitting for more than a couple of days. Last time we just had to charge up the battery and he was good to go with no continuing problems. I took him to work before taking my son to school and we planned on getting the battery charged up that night. Due to this situation we had just planned to go out to lunch together so he didn't have to eat in the office (he has tried this multiple times, but the rule is pretty much if you are in the office you are available for answering questions etc which doesn't really result in a real lunch break). That night I worked on dinner while he worked on getting the battery charged up. Tuesday morning we go to leave and the truck won't start Same song and dance as the previous day except throw in having to get him to a different office location for the second half of the day and then to physical therapy that evening. The plan tonight is to get a new battery and hope that is the only issue.

Anyway, on to the food...

Monday breakfast was toast with jam and clementines. Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant. Dinner was planned to be crockpot beef and broccoli with fried rice. Due to the commotion of the day I forgot to get the beef into the crockpot. Honestly I wanted to just order pizza and call it a day, but I sucked it up and improvised with the plan. I made the beef and broccoli on the stovetop instead. I don't know if it was just stemming from my bad mood, but the meal was a disaster. The sauce for the beef was way too sweet, the broccoli was overcooked and the fried rice (frozen from Trader Joe's) tasted like a weird combo between Spanish rice and fried rice. Oh well, can't win 'em all, right?

Yesterday breakfast was cereal (kids), cream of wheat (adults). Lunch was out again (see above for all the running around) The dinner plan was "taco Tuesday." After getting home much later than usual I realized we were out of shredded cheese and taco shells and I had "stolen" part of the ground turkey for spaghetti earlier in the week. Still feeling guilty from going out for lunch two days in a row I pushed through to come up with a (quick!) alternate solution. I found a can of refried beans and tostada shells in the pantry and 1/2 a block of velveeta block from making chili con queso last week. I shredded some of the Velveeta block, chopped up a tomato and some onion, cooked the meat and heated the beans. Tacos became tostadas. They were delicious and everybody got full since the beans stretched the meat further

So, through all of this I have learned I do great with staying committed to eating from the house for dinner, but cave in a heartbeat for lunch. Gotta work on that!

How's the first half of your week going?

Sorry about the bad luck with the car. Great job on fighting through temptation at dinner. With a long day, coupled with kids, it can be so overwhelming to try and scrape together a dinner at the last minute. Great display of will power!

We have been doing great. No eating out for 4 days in a row! (sad accomplishment, but I'll take it!).

Today we started our "biggest loser" challenge at work. Winner gets a $500 cash prize on April 1st. Its great motivation to keep eating at home. We have been really starch heavy, as we are going through our 16, yes 16!, boxes of pasta that we have amassed over the last 4 months (why do we keep buying those large packages at Costco?) Last night was Ziti, and tonight will be Spaghetti. I think that eating at home, coupled with working out, will still help me become the "biggest loser." Once we get through all of that pasta, we will limit our pasta intake.

Last time we did this pantry clean out I think I lost almost 16 lbs (I gained most of it back ) so I know I can do it again.

 

[DawnM]

We have SO MUCH food right now. Some of it is going bad. I need to do a pantry clean out, not eat out, and finish it up! I swear we could get by for an entire month with just buying milk, vegetables, and a few minor odds and ends.

I need to take inventory this weekend.

 

[4Mickeys]

Today we started our "biggest loser" challenge at work. Winner gets a $500 cash prize on April 1st. Its great motivation to keep eating at home

This is so cool and extra $500 would certainly motivate me lol!

Ok so I need to give all you guys a big thankyou - and probably some of the people of on the Eat At Home 3 thread but I have only lurked on there haven't posted yet lol. Your ideas combined with my new focus on paying off debt has meant huge changes in our eating habits over the last few weeks.

Sunday - Lasagne with vegetables - I had to fend of the hoards so there would be leftovers lol - they are used to getting a bigger slice of the lasagne but I held strong and stretched it with lots of vegetables - DD wanted to know if she could have more as her desert lol she really is a carnivore - no way I said find something else.
Monday - Left over Lasagne with dinner rolls.
Tuesday - Chicken Parmigiana - my boys made this together one made the schnitzel and the other added the parmigiana toppings - it was a huge hit - don't know why we haven't made it at home before as we like to have it when out at a restaurant sometimes lol.
Wednesday - Pot Roast with vegetables and Gravy.
Thursday - Left over pot roast & gravy rolls (my kids loved it even the one who when I make a steak burger won't have it on a roll and hates steak generally).
Friday - The last of the left over pot roast - I am going to chop it up and add it to some left over napoletana sauce with spaghetti for a thrown together bolognaise.

This was my first time making a pot roast it went ok - buying the cut of meat from the butcher was new to me and it cost more than I expected but in the end with the left overs I do think it was an economical way to cook - as it gave us 3 meals for about $11 each.

We are on our summer break here and we have been having eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, toast etc for breakfasts.
For lunches we also are doing much better at eating at home - a really simple lunch I have been enjoying is corn on the cob with butter yum! and only about $1 per ear of corn.

I did have to shop this week as we had done a pretty thorough job of eating our way through Christmas leftovers and other pantry food. But I spent $150 and have some chicken breast in the freezer enough for 3 meals I think and we still have some mince in there from my Costco trip. I have cut back on the fruit vegetables I buy - I used to buy lots to last us longer but now and buying smaller more often to make sure it is eaten and not thrown away!

Our Costco trip has helped with the weekly grocery bill as we have a stock of other snack foods and those other house hold necessities like laundry liquid etc already paid for.

We went to the movies late afternoon and did splurge on movie food - popcorn, chocolate and soft drinks - usually I get choc and drinks elsewhere but we were running late!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

This is so cool and extra $500 would certainly motivate me lol!

Ok so I need to give all you guys a big thankyou - and probably some of the people of on the Eat At Home 3 thread but I have only lurked on there haven't posted yet lol. Your ideas combined with my new focus on paying off debt has meant huge changes in our eating habits over the last few weeks.

Sunday - Lasagne with vegetables - I had to fend of the hoards so there would be leftovers lol - they are used to getting a bigger slice of the lasagne but I held strong and stretched it with lots of vegetables - DD wanted to know if she could have more as her desert lol she really is a carnivore - no way I said find something else.
Monday - Left over Lasagne with dinner rolls.
Tuesday - Chicken Parmigiana - my boys made this together one made the schnitzel and the other added the parmigiana toppings - it was a huge hit - don't know why we haven't made it at home before as we like to have it when out at a restaurant sometimes lol.
Wednesday - Pot Roast with vegetables and Gravy.
Thursday - Left over pot roast & gravy rolls (my kids loved it even the one who when I make a steak burger won't have it on a roll and hates steak generally).
Friday - The last of the left over pot roast - I am going to chop it up and add it to some left over napoletana sauce with spaghetti for a thrown together bolognaise.

This was my first time making a pot roast it went ok - buying the cut of meat from the butcher was new to me and it cost more than I expected but in the end with the left overs I do think it was an economical way to cook - as it gave us 3 meals for about $11 each.

We are on our summer break here and we have been having eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, toast etc for breakfasts.
For lunches we also are doing much better at eating at home - a really simple lunch I have been enjoying is corn on the cob with butter yum! and only about $1 per ear of corn.

I did have to shop this week as we had done a pretty thorough job of eating our way through Christmas leftovers and other pantry food. But I spent $150 and have some chicken breast in the freezer enough for 3 meals I think and we still have some mince in there from my Costco trip. I have cut back on the fruit vegetables I buy - I used to buy lots to last us longer but now and buying smaller more often to make sure it is eaten and not thrown away!

Our Costco trip has helped with the weekly grocery bill as we have a stock of other snack foods and those other house hold necessities like laundry liquid etc already paid for.

We went to the movies late afternoon and did splurge on movie food - popcorn, chocolate and soft drinks - usually I get choc and drinks elsewhere but we were running late!

That all sounds very yummy but I'm a huge fan of Italian!

Do you crock pot cook much? I try to do it at least one a week 1 super large meal like a roast that I know I can use or repurpose into left overs. There have been times I'll do a ton of beef in the crock pot knowing we can't/won't eat it all then and freeze half it to be used later in the month. Like a roast will become shredded beef on a bun for sandwiches or we like it thrown together with mashed potatoes a la easy shepard's pie like dish.
Plus the upside of using the crock pot to cook a roast is that you can get a super cheap roast and it will be so tender and yummy cooking that way.

 

[ariel1025]

Sorry about the bad luck with the car. Great job on fighting through temptation at dinner. With a long day, coupled with kids, it can be so overwhelming to try and scrape together a dinner at the last minute. Great display of will power!

We have been doing great. No eating out for 4 days in a row! (sad accomplishment, but I'll take it!).

Today we started our "biggest loser" challenge at work. Winner gets a $500 cash prize on April 1st. Its great motivation to keep eating at home. We have been really starch heavy, as we are going through our 16, yes 16!, boxes of pasta that we have amassed over the last 4 months (why do we keep buying those large packages at Costco?) Last night was Ziti, and tonight will be Spaghetti. I think that eating at home, coupled with working out, will still help me become the "biggest loser." Once we get through all of that pasta, we will limit our pasta intake.

Last time we did this pantry clean out I think I lost almost 16 lbs (I gained most of it back ) so I know I can do it again.

Thank you so much. We bought the battery last night, but it was too dark (and cold!) to install it. My husband got the day off work tomorrow (PTO he didn't realize he had that has to be used up by the 15th) so he will install it then. The auto shop he bought the battery from said it definitely sounds like it shouldn't be any other issue ::fingerscrossed::

What incredible motivation with the Biggest Loser challenge. Best of luck on winning!!!!

I can definitely relate to all the pasta. My Achilles heel in that realm is the $0.25 a box pasta after coupon and sale that occurs at Target all the time

We have SO MUCH food right now. Some of it is going bad. I need to do a pantry clean out, not eat out, and finish it up! I swear we could get by for an entire month with just buying milk, vegetables, and a few minor odds and ends.

I need to take inventory this weekend.

Good luck with our inventory and on eating the food before it goes bad Let us know what kinds of meals you create with it all!

This is so cool and extra $500 would certainly motivate me lol!

Ok so I need to give all you guys a big thankyou - and probably some of the people of on the Eat At Home 3 thread but I have only lurked on there haven't posted yet lol. Your ideas combined with my new focus on paying off debt has meant huge changes in our eating habits over the last few weeks.

Sunday - Lasagne with vegetables - I had to fend of the hoards so there would be leftovers lol - they are used to getting a bigger slice of the lasagne but I held strong and stretched it with lots of vegetables - DD wanted to know if she could have more as her desert lol she really is a carnivore - no way I said find something else.
Monday - Left over Lasagne with dinner rolls.
Tuesday - Chicken Parmigiana - my boys made this together one made the schnitzel and the other added the parmigiana toppings - it was a huge hit - don't know why we haven't made it at home before as we like to have it when out at a restaurant sometimes lol.
Wednesday - Pot Roast with vegetables and Gravy.
Thursday - Left over pot roast & gravy rolls (my kids loved it even the one who when I make a steak burger won't have it on a roll and hates steak generally).
Friday - The last of the left over pot roast - I am going to chop it up and add it to some left over napoletana sauce with spaghetti for a thrown together bolognaise.

This was my first time making a pot roast it went ok - buying the cut of meat from the butcher was new to me and it cost more than I expected but in the end with the left overs I do think it was an economical way to cook - as it gave us 3 meals for about $11 each.

We are on our summer break here and we have been having eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon, toast etc for breakfasts.
For lunches we also are doing much better at eating at home - a really simple lunch I have been enjoying is corn on the cob with butter yum! and only about $1 per ear of corn.

I did have to shop this week as we had done a pretty thorough job of eating our way through Christmas leftovers and other pantry food. But I spent $150 and have some chicken breast in the freezer enough for 3 meals I think and we still have some mince in there from my Costco trip. I have cut back on the fruit vegetables I buy - I used to buy lots to last us longer but now and buying smaller more often to make sure it is eaten and not thrown away!

Our Costco trip has helped with the weekly grocery bill as we have a stock of other snack foods and those other house hold necessities like laundry liquid etc already paid for.

We went to the movies late afternoon and did splurge on movie food - popcorn, chocolate and soft drinks - usually I get choc and drinks elsewhere but we were running late!

I am so, so glad to hear that this thread has been such a motivation and help for you!

I also lurk around on the eat at home thread, but it seems to be less chit chat between meal posts and the chit chat is what motivates me

We also love doing a roast because it so easily stretches into multiple meals for us. It seems slightly expensive on the front end, but when I see how many meals it makes I find that it is actually pretty economical.

That all sounds very yummy but I'm a huge fan of Italian!

Do you crock pot cook much? I try to do it at least one a week 1 super large meal like a roast that I know I can use or repurpose into left overs. There have been times I'll do a ton of beef in the crock pot knowing we can't/won't eat it all then and freeze half it to be used later in the month. Like a roast will become shredded beef on a bun for sandwiches or we like it thrown together with mashed potatoes a la easy shepard's pie like dish.
Plus the upside of using the crock pot to cook a roast is that you can get a super cheap roast and it will be so tender and yummy cooking that way.

The crock pot is my BFF now that my son is in school and we have so many activities to get to and from