Pantry Clean Out!

[m&m_mom]

Doing the solo parent thing this week. Doing pretty well so far. Got an unexpected $50 this morning (from a refund that I forgot was coming). That was a pleasant surprise and it went right into our Disney jar.

Tuesday's meals:
Breakfast - grapenuts & coffee for me, waffles, cuties, & milk for the kids
Lunch - PBJ, cottage cheese w/ pineapple for me, cheese sandwiches, apples, & popcorn for the kids
Dinner - leftover Hoppin John for me, Dinosaur nuggets, honeydew melon, baby carrots, & milk for the kids

Today's meals:
Breakfast - hot tea for me, waffles, cutie, & milk for DS, banana Belvita bar & milk for DD
Lunch - mac & cheese cup with a leftover mini burger for me, cheese sandwich, apples, cinnamon Scooby snacks for DS, Scooby snacks, popcorn, & Colby cheese for DD
Snacks/treats - DD got an apple juice for going potty in time at the store (we are potty training), I plan to have some taffy apple salad for dessert tonight
Dinner - Frozen pizza & some kind of veggie

 

[dlavender]

Doing the solo parent thing this week.

Godspeed... lol

Got an unexpected $50 this morning (from a refund that I forgot was coming). That was a pleasant surprise and it went right into our Disney jar.

Awesome!


We stuck to our plan yesterday. Thats 8 days in a row now!

Today's menu:

Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Chicken Nuggets and fries for fam (I brought a salad)
Dinner - BBQ meatballs and mashed potatoes (gonna have to control myself)

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Time to join in this one.

Just cleaned out the freezers and part of the fridge and made a good list. Also started the pantry last night, that is daunting.
We will eat slim next week since DH will be traveling.

My friend bought the kids 4 cases of ramen for Christmas, so now I need ramen recipes!

 

[pocomom]

Cleaned out kitchen drawers and cabinets today. Seems a lot easier to plan and follow through when I'm not searching all over for the peeler or can opener!

Quinoa veggie bowls with nappa cabbage for dinner tonight. Making some cookie dough for the freezer too.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Time to join in this one.

Just cleaned out the freezers and part of the fridge and made a good list. Also started the pantry last night, that is daunting.
We will eat slim next week since DH will be traveling.

My friend bought the kids 4 cases of ramen for Christmas, so now I need ramen recipes!

WOW THAT'S A LOT OF RAMEN!
I like to use the chicken kind in my chicken noodle soup. I boil some chicken breasts in water/chicken broth and add seasonings whatever you like shred the chicken add it back to the water/broth then throw in the chicken ramen noodles and seasoning pack ex i'll use 3-4 lg chicken breasts and 5 noodle packs makes a ton of yummy soup!

 

[dlavender]

Quinoa veggie bowls

That sounds interesting. Had my first experience with Quinoa last week, and loved it! How do you make your Quinoa veggie bowls?

 

[pocomom]

That sounds interesting. Had my first experience with Quinoa last week, and loved it! How do you make your Quinoa veggie bowls?

I use tofu , but you could easily add chicken or whatever as it goes on at the end. I cook quinoa. Take scallions, shiitake mushrooms, nappa cabbage, red pepper, little ginger and garlic and whatever else I want to throw in and stir fry in sesame oil (throw cabbage in near the end). Add a light sauce of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and pinch of sugar. Toss in quinoa and tofu (done in pan with salt, pepper and sesame oil ) I normally plate some for dinner right then and freeze a few for easy microwaveable meals for kids.

 

[Arich01]

Hi! I've been lurking a bit- what a great thread! Thought I'd join in!

The past week or so I've been "feeding" the freezer. Whatever I've had planned for dinner, I make twice what we would need and freeze half for another meal. Really stretches the food and avoids waste. Just did inventory of what I've added: Pot roast, lasagna, chicken noodle casserole, meatballs, and lasagna soup.

Last night I made a big batch of red beans and rice and just put enough in the freezer for another dinner and a couple lunches
Tonight we're making tacos and have everything already in the house!

 

[dlavender]

I use tofu , but you could easily add chicken or whatever as it goes on at the end. I cook quinoa. Take scallions, shiitake mushrooms, nappa cabbage, red pepper, little ginger and garlic and whatever else I want to throw in and stir fry in sesame oil (throw cabbage in near the end). Add a light sauce of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and pinch of sugar. Toss in quinoa and tofu (done in pan with salt, pepper and sesame oil ) I normally plate some for dinner right then and freeze a few for easy microwaveable meals for kids.

Thanks. That sounds so simple and great! We will definitely be using this one day soon.

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

I found this recipe and I have everything in the pantry except vegetable broth, but I have chicken broth so it should work!! I am adding it to the rotation for next week's meal plans.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2016/01/cheesy-vegetarian-chili-mac/

 

[megs193]

I have stuck to our meal plan all week and am so happy with how clean my pantry and freezer are and even happier with all the money I've saved! The only fresh produce I have left are green peppers, zuchinni and onions. Any ideas on what I could make with that?

 

[TwoMisfits]

Chicken Fajitas...slice the zucchini the same way as the peppers and onions...if you have no tortillas, just serve it over rice or tostitos...

 

[ariel1025]

I have stuck to our meal plan all week and am so happy with how clean my pantry and freezer are and even happier with all the money I've saved! The only fresh produce I have left are green peppers, zuchinni and onions. Any ideas on what I could make with that?

My first thought was also fajitas. Another idea is if you have a can of corn throw that in a pan with the diced bell pepper, diced zucchini and diced onions, cook until tender (could also do it omitting the corn). Slightly altered version of calabacits I like to add some cheese and the very end so that it melts it all together, Hubs says that's not authentic, but it's still YUM Serve as a side with some chicken or pork chops etc. Or throw on top of rice as a rice bowl. Or fold up in a tortilla as a vegetarian burrito fo sorts with or without the rice.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

So I finished the pantry, holy cow we have a lot of stuff, 2 full pages with 2 columns each. I divided it into groups like dried goods, soups, breakfast, sauces etc. I am going to sit down tonight with that list plus the fridge/freezer one and make a menu.

Tonight is tacos and beef casserole (buddy meals)
All of which I had in the pantry and freezer.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

So this week I've done great so proud of myself!

Monday MIL cooked for us...
Tuesday Shrimp & Grits plus 2 leftover lunches
Wednesday Beef Roast in crockpot with mashed potatoes mac & cheese
Thursday Shredded Beef sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls ( I had to go buy the rolls but they will be used tonight as well)
Tonight-chicken salad sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls and side to be determined (we are out of chips)

For the upcoming 2 weeks
Finally doing the honey mustard chicken lol
Chili
Cajun shrimp pasta
chicken noodle soup
lemon pepper chicken stir fry
smothered chicken and veggies in slow cooker with rice
and got some other stuff wrote down at home lol

ooh and last night I made sausage gravy up for biscuits this morning it was awesome! plus we have enough gravy for tomorrow for breakfast

 

[m&m_mom]

I have stuck to our meal plan all week and am so happy with how clean my pantry and freezer are and even happier with all the money I've saved! The only fresh produce I have left are green peppers, zuchinni and onions. Any ideas on what I could make with that?

I would do sausage with peppers, onions, and zucchini (or serve over zucchini noodles). Quick and easy.

Yesterday we were home all day getting things done around the house. It was pretty much just a snacking/grazing day.

Yesterday's meals/snacks:
Breakfast - coffee & grits for me (I'm so sick of grits but I want to use up what my MIL left here.) Cheerios, cuties, & milk for the kids
Lunch/snacks - I finished up the Hoppin John. The kids snacked on PB crackers, goldfish, cheese, apples, kiwi, graham crackers, and popcorn.
Dinner - We finished up the last of the frozen burgers & half a bag of fries I found in the freezer.

Today's meals:
Breakfast - Hot tea for me. Waffles, cutie, & milk for DS. Banana Belvita bar, cutie, & milk for DD.
Lunch - PB sandwiches, apples, Babybel cheese, & Scooby Doo grahams.
Snacks - Protein bar for me. Veggie Straws for the kids.
Dinner - Thinking of making veggie fried rice to use up some more stuff...& lots of wine for me. It's been a long week.

DH will finally be home for dinner! Yay! I'm pretty sure he stopped at a gourmet cupcake place & is bring some home as a treat. Yum!

 

[4Mickeys]

Ok we are on track pretty much - admission I caved for lunch today we had McDonalds.

But otherwise we have eaten from home pretty much sticking to the plan except for adjustments to eat left-overs. I did a roast chicken with stuffing, vegetables and gravy tonight first time in a long time - I just did the math and I managed to feed the 4 of us for $11.30 and I feel so full I could burst! Kids liked it better than the rotisserie chickens we get at the supermarket and it was cheaper - so I'm thinking in future to plan one into the weekend and cook it in the morning in time for lunch that they can have as they like (e.g. on a sandwich or with salad) and then use the rest for another meal the next day. I made sure to get a big one so there would be plenty left over. 2 nights left on my planned meals for this week - I need to do a Costco run soon we have munched through most of the snacks we bought a month ago while we have been on holidays - the kids go back to school in a week and a half so need to school lunch food and they are begging for more bagels. Bagels aren't common here in Australia the ones in our usual supermarket aren't that nice but OMG the Costco ones we have discovered are YUMMY - the twins want to fill a trolley of bagels lol.

Well done to everyone with your fantastic efforts over the past week- I'm proud of all of us

 

[Eureka]

WOW THAT'S A LOT OF RAMEN!
I like to use the chicken kind in my chicken noodle soup. I boil some chicken breasts in water/chicken broth and add seasonings whatever you like shred the chicken add it back to the water/broth then throw in the chicken ramen noodles and seasoning pack ex i'll use 3-4 lg chicken breasts and 5 noodle packs makes a ton of yummy soup!

When I was in my 20s, I made a lot of stir fry that I ate with ramen. Filled me up pretty well and helped stretch the protein and veggies.

 

[megs193]

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.

 

[dlavender]

I did a roast chicken with stuffing, vegetables and gravy tonight first time in a long time - I just did the math and I managed to feed the 4 of us for $11.30 and I feel so full I could burst! Kids liked it better than the rotisserie chickens we get at the supermarket and it was cheaper - so I'm thinking in future to plan one into the weekend and cook it in the morning in time for lunch that they can have as they like (e.g. on a sandwich or with salad) and then use the rest for another meal the next day.

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.