Pre-holiday pantry challenge

[momx2]

I altered my weeks menu already. Tonight we are having spaghetti and homemade meatballs (from the freezer) instead of the grilled chicken. Probably have some frozen broccoli with it. Oh well, still taking something from the freezer.

DH is going to Aldi to pick up celery, green pepper, bag of apples, banana and soy milk. We need the celery and green pepper to make homemade chicken salad. We have two 2 1/2lb whole chickens we need to use in the freezer. This will get rid of one and we will have chicken salad for lunch this week. We will use the left overs to make chicken stock.

I will probably go Saturday to take advantage of the Kroger sale. I'm having a hard time not grocery shopping. It's what I do! I think I will make a pan of brownies tonight also. That's one more box out of the pantry.

 

[stahshee]

I was away for a couple of days...
I had to do some basic shopping for fresh fruits and veggies, milk and yogurt...
anyway I also bought 3 turkeys that were 5$ each and 5 bags of sugar that were 1.50 each

anyway I spent 150.00.. Im sorry I have a great sale stock pile problem.....

Im still eating from the freezer alot more to go

 

[momx2]

OMG! I just took inventory of my freezers. I have the following:

20 bags of different frozen veggies;
Big bag of corn on cob;
4 qts. fresh frozen corn;
6 qts. fresh frozen green beens;
1 bag frozen fish fillets;
1lb talpia;
1 box shrimp scampi;
10 ziplocs of homemade pesto;
2lbs. french fries;
1 container of burgoo; and
1lb. blueberries

Now the meats and poultry!!!

1 lb. ballpark hotdogs;
1lb. bacon;
3 lbs. ground beef;
(2) 2.5lb whole chicken (thawing one now for chicken salad)
(2) 2lb. split chicken breasts
(8) 1.25lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts;
(1) 1.25 bonless, skinless chicken thighs;
(2) 1 gallon ziplocs full of chicken tenders, about 3lbs each??
(1) 4.5lb beef brisket;
(16) 1lb. ground turkey (we usually use this instead of beef);
(2) 8-9lb. turkey breasts;
(2) 1lb. bags of meatballs;
1.5 container of stew meat;
(1) 3lb. beef roast;
(3) 2.5lb. pork tenderloins;
(4) 2lb. pork roasts; and
Odds and ends chicken nugget and chicken patty bags.

Maybe the thought of this will keep me away from the grocery. This is ridiculous!!!! We could eat for 2 months just on this with a few fresh extras!!!!

 

[Poohbear5]

If you need to make room for holiday cooking supplies, please consider a small (or large if you can afford it) bag of groceries to a food bank, Boy Scout drive, church or needy family!

Holiday food baskets are being prepared and the need is greater than ever this year.

 

[delmar411]

I have been good about staying away from the grocery store although I did pick up a turkey so I wouldn't forget before T-giving.

We haven't made even a small dent in the freezers though. We just can't eat that much. But we still have about 6weeks until we leave for vacation so hopefully we will make it through the freezers.

I still need to do an inventory. That would be helpful for meal planning.

 

[neatokimmo]

Yesterday we ate out but tonight we are having spaghetti. I have a ton of sauce and canned tomatoes so I'll be making this as often as I can stand it lol

I'll using up a jar of sauce, three cans of diced tomatoes, an onion, some dried mushrooms and a package of ground beef. Oh ya, and a pack of spaghetti noodles. Spaghetti is a great pantry/freezer clearer

 

[tinkmom2]

MOMX2 I will be right over lol!
Turkeywise I think we are frying two this year. At one point we were frying 4 but it's a small group this time. I am not going shopping til I come back on the 23rd. I plan on spending my normal of $100.00 but that's including peanut oil for frying which is around $20.00. Then the leftovers will feed us for the week.

We are having pizza tonight! I am happy to report we had 6 dinners, breakfasts, and lunches from our pantry challenge. My store total for food this week was around $40.00 down from $100.00. I did buy a few 2 liters of diet A&W to get me through the week though lol!

 

[charming23]

Today we had family over for pork bbq sandwiches and we have a lot of pork left over.

This weeks dinner ideas are:
Leftover pork bbq sandwiches with chips and dip and fruit
Pot roast with mashed potatoes
turkey meatlove with buttered noodles and sauteed veggies
peppersteak with rice
potato and double corn chowder with roast beef sandwiches
macaroni and cheese

I have everything already in the house so the only groceries I need will be milk, bread and bananas

 

[smiller]

I finished up the breakfast sandwiches and shells & cheese.

I did buy some fresh bread, chocolate milk, and a couple of items to share at work. Nothing that will stick around the house.

Still need to cook up the chicken and bok choy - that will be today's project!

I did inventory of the freezer and pantry and have a ton of meal options - and there are more I keep thinking of! (Pork Chops & Sauerkraut, Bean Soup with Ham)

I'm totally loving this challenge!

 

[SnowWhite607]

Just wanted to weigh in and say that even though I am not doing the pantry challenge, you all have inspired me in other ways.......I will NOT buy wrapping paper for Christmas, I will use the 14 half used rolls in the closet. I will not buy new hair products till I use up the ones in the bathroom cabinet. Simple things like that! So, thank you!!

I am not doing the pantry challenge because I usually dont stockpile and sometimes I will just have a few odds and ends and not really know how to make a whole meal out of half a box of egg noodles, half a box of shell pasta and 10 baby carrots, LOL!

 

[smiller]

Just wanted to weigh in and say that even though I am not doing the pantry challenge, you all have inspired me in other ways.......I will NOT buy wrapping paper for Christmas, I will use the 14 half used rolls in the closet. I will not buy new hair products till I use up the ones in the bathroom cabinet. Simple things like that! So, thank you!!

This thread has also inspired me to use up other items around the household.

I'm slowly going through my CVS toiletries stockpile, as well as using all sorts of lovely paper napkins. Who knew I had one for nearly every occasion?

Thank you for the reminder about the Christmas wrapping paper - I definitely don't need to buy any this year!

 

[DawnM]

Yesterday our church had a FREE luncheon and we had signed up, so lunch was out with friends but didn't cost us anything extra.

Last night was pot-luck for the class I teach, so dinner was covered too.

Today we are eating left over soup, I am using up a hamburger helper (which is one of the items we will NOT be bringing back in once we do our no-processed foods deal), and salad.

Our cupboards are starting to actually have SPACE for the first time in years. I don't have a pantry, so this is great.

Dawn

 

[momto1]

I spent $47 yesterday mostly on fruits, veggies, and necessity type items. I confess to buying 4 boxes of Betty Crocer potaotes. The were on sale for 79 cents and I had 4 coupons. so, $1.26 for 4 boxes of potatoes

But...when I went to put said potoatoes away, I dug back into the deep dark corners of the panty and found a box of potatoes that had a use by date of Sept, 2006! So...I guess I really, really need this challenge.

Last night- Turky tenderloins with some marinade in the fridge that needs to be used up, sweet potatoe casserol from a box, and frozen veggies.

Lunch - leftovers

Supper today - Pork Chops with mushroom soup, box potatoes, and squash.

Lori

 

[stahshee]

ok breakfast----- dinner rolls( that I made and froze). I put cinnamon and sugar on them with butter and heated them up
dinner--- beef hot dog and wholewheat rolls.. Im doing home made French fries and some yellow squash



Ok Im down to one more package of hot dogs after this one. So I am makeing some progress...

Im going to make a turkey on Wed and that should give me some meals for the week.. ( This does not include the 3 turkeys that I just bought)

 

[tinkarooni]

Breakfast for kids was hard boiled eggs, dry cereal and oj.
Lunch for me was egg salad sandwich on an english muffin with an apple.

Dinner I think we will go down to the basement and let everyone pick out a frozen dinner. In a fit of desperation a few months back I bought some Schwans frozen meals for me to eat for lunch. Now I'm sorry I did that, as I really don't want all the processed food. So we will eat some of it, donate some of it and not buy this kind of stuff again.

I baked a bundt cake using a "Cake Doctor" recipe and yellow cake mix and vanilla pudding. I don't know why I have cake mixes? I bake most everything from scratch.....sometimes I wonder if somebody throws things in my cart when I'm not looking?

Anybody have any ideas what to do with last years Christmas goodies in the freezer? We have candy, peanut brittle, chocolate covered nuts, truffles. The kinds of things that people give you and you think, I'll put these in the freezer and they will be a treat......you just don't need this many treats, I don't want the kids to eat all of this? Ideas?

 

[smiller]

Breakfast was a repeat of the potato pancakes/sausages/apple sauce/sour cream meal. It was quite enjoyable until i badly burned my hand making the roasted mustard greens.

Yikes! I've been sitting with my hand in a bowl of cold water for the past 1.5 hours - I'm not sure what else I can do!

Thank goodness I have the day off but all the cooking I had planned will be a lot more difficult!

 

[charming23]

Breakfast was cinnamon toast (with wonder cinnamon swirl bread from the freezer) grapes, and juice.

Lunch was some leftover BBQ chicken breasts from Sat. night

Tonight we are going to have leftovers from yesterdays gathering. Pork BBQ, chips, veggies, dip, and fruit salad.

 

[HLDisney]

I fell off the wagon last week on this challenge (we ended up eating out quite a bit) but for today, I resisted several temptations to eat out or buy more food and ate only what I already had.

Breakfast - (me) homemade waffles I had frozen a few months ago, a slice of leftover bologna and half a banana, (my DD) leftover macaroni from last night (she loves pasta for breakfast), a slice of bologna and half a banana.

Lunch (me) - frozen tater tots, a fried egg and 2 sausages (yeah, it was kind of like breakfast for lunch but I really wanted to work on eating up the tater tots and sausages)

Dinner - BBQ ribs from the freezer, the remainder of a pack of frozen veggies, macaroni

We also donated a bunch of stuff to my DD's school for their food drive.

Helen

 

[HLDisney]

Anybody have any ideas what to do with last years Christmas goodies in the freezer? We have candy, peanut brittle, chocolate covered nuts, truffles. The kinds of things that people give you and you think, I'll put these in the freezer and they will be a treat......you just don't need this many treats, I don't want the kids to eat all of this? Ideas?

How about using them to decorate a gingerbread house? Or baking the chocolate covered peanuts in cookies (instead of using chocolate chips)?

Helen

 

[momx2]

We have stayed on course for the past two days. DH did go to Aldi and spent $21.85 on some milk and fresh fruit and veggies. We cooked a small chicken for chicken salad and will make chicken stock also. We ate the remaining 3 chicken patties, some chicken nuggets and one of the bags fries in the freezer. So, I made a little progress, but I did have a lapse. CVS had Ragu 3/$5, spend $10 get $3 ECB and I had coupons and some ECBs to use. So, I got 6 jars for free, with my EBCs, and got $3 ECB. I was down to only 1 jar anyway, LOL