Pre-holiday pantry challenge

[momx2]

DH spent $5.65 at Aldi for milk, soy milk, fresh pineapple and bag of onions. So that brings our total for the week to $51. We had pack of chicken breast with lemon broccoli mushroom sauce over rice and green peas. One pack of chicken down, so many more to go! Tonight it will be left over rice with chicken/vegetable stir fry. Girls are eating at the sock hop.

 

[keenercam]

DH bought spaghetti sauce last night and used ground beef from the freezer and pasta from the pantry for dinner for him and DS. He didn't realize I'd defrosted pork chops & broccoli to use shake n bake from the pantry. He did cook those for me, as well since they were defrosted.

Now we have lots of leftovers in the fridge -- tortilla crusted tilapia fillets, pasta w/meat sauce, & 2 more shake n bake pork chops.

 

[stahshee]

breakfast.. French toast
Lunch turkey soup... home made
dinner turkey soup and French bread

 

[PixiePlanner]

I used to go to a sandwich place that would put cranberry sauce onto their turkey sandwiches.

Years ago, one of my friends had to work on Thanksgiving. After her shift, she came to my apt and made herself a leftover sandwich. Bread, turkey, mayo, STUFFING, MASHED POTATOES and cranberry sauce. I was so intrigued, I made one for myself and have made one every year since. Sometimes I leave the stuffing & potatoes off but the cranberry is a must.

 

[lisam427]

breakfast peanutbutter on wheat bread, tangerine
lunch-egg salad, pita, apple
dinner-at my moms . dont have to make anything.


tommorrow
breakfast-cheese omlet, wheat toast, fruit
lunch-proabably another egg salad or peanut butter day w/ milk, fruit
dinner-baked pasta, salad

i have bread frozen in the freezer plus a couple dozen eggs in the fridge (hence the egg salad). the baked pasta will get rid of the already cooked sauce i have in the fridge, whatever cheese i have left, and a pound of ground beef i have in the freezer.

my plan 2nite is to buy pasta (totally out), mozzerella (almost out), fruit and vegis. i will spend no more than $20-$30 rather than the usual $80.

i will report tonight on how i did.

lisa

 

[stahshee]

now that I have made room in my deep freeze..I have sent my dh out to buy 4 turkeys.. Hey at 5$ each ..Now we can eat them all winter long.. I love turkey dinner its my fav

 

[lattemomof3]

Jeesh, where have I been - life has been crazy and won't be slowing down until roughly Dec. 30. We have gotten takeout a few desperate times but have decreased our pantry stuff by a lot. DS7's class was collecting pantry items so quite a few things went there, also. Tonight is turkey tettrazini from the freezer w/ broccoli that needs used up. I'm going w/ friends to see New Moon after that. I did get some things from Schwan's this morning - we needed some fast, fast things for dinner for the next few days (we leave on Tues!), and for the first few days we return as we jump right into piano recitals, basketball, Holiday dance recital, hosting neighborhood party, traveling for 5 days over Christmas, etc, etc, etc! I don't want to wish my life away but I am going to put my feet up on Jan 1 and be thankful we survived Dec!

 

[figment3258]

Diner tonight I found some hamburger and spicy sausage in the freeze adding them to cans of ragu to makre a delious sauce over pasta even found some garlic texas toast in the freezer too.

Tomorrow make a pizza from the freezer!

 

[momto1]

Tonight is Upside Down Pizza. It is a new recipe but I have everything on hand - hamburger, onion, sauce, cheese and croissants.

Don't know what the rest of the weekend will bring just yet.
Lori

 

[Jen117]

Last night was potato soup and tonight was chili mac. My pantry is getting bare but the freezer still needs some work. I have to pick up some essentials tomorrow but so far I am aiming at spending under $150 for the month on groceries. I am at $86 so far but I need to get some things for the foods I am responsible at Thanksgiving and lunch items for the kids (they take their lunch more often than they eat at school because it is cheaper and they like it better).

 

[charming23]

Tonight was supposed to be Potato and Corn chowder but I helped my Grandma clean out her cupboards after I went to the movies so she treated me to dinner.

 

[Jen117]

I envy everyone that gets $5 turkeys! We can get cheap turkeys but you have to spend $25 to qualify for ONE! What stores are you getting cheap ones at? I wonder what the price is at Walmart.

I went grocery shopping today and spent $67, but I haven't been shopping in over 2 weeks (except for milk only). So that's pretty good. It will last me until December unless I find cheap turkeys without having to buy anything.

 

[stahshee]

dinner turkey soup again

 

[charming23]

Dinner tonight is sausage links (freezer) and french toast (end of bread from bread machine) with fruit (the last of the fresh from the week).

Tomorrow we are finishing up our redo of the kitchen and decided to do the crockpot soup and sandwiches then so it will be ready and we won't succumb to going out for dinner.

 

[delmar411]

we're making progress in the deep freezer although DH keeps bringing home lasagna from work so I end up wrapping that and sticking it into the freezer. I have a feeling that's what is filling up most of the kitchen freezer.

We should be down to just the basics in the freezers in the next couple weeks. Other than the lasagna pieces. There is only so much of that a person can eat before getting very sick and tired of it.

 

[momx2]

Last night was take out pizza...I cheated! Tonight my DH is making Gumbo with chicken and sausage. Had to buy the sausage though. Tomorrow I am using 4lbs of my turkey meat and lots of cans from my pantry. I am making 2 containers of spaghetti sauce, 2 containers of sloppy joes and chili mac and stir fry for lunch. Unfortunately, I have to freeze most of it for later, but it frees up my pantry and I have several meals on hand for quick dinners. All I need to buy is one extra green pepper to make all that.

Oh yeah, DH bought a few more things at Aldi when he bought the sausage, total for $9.00 that brings us to $308 for the month and I still have to go buy a few things for Thanksgiving, like pumpkin pie ingredients. Not great, but it is less than my normal $600 - $700 per month and I have gotten a few good buys. So some of it, like the 2 turkeys will feed us later, but they did re-crowd my freezer LOL!

 

[charming23]

Sat down tonight with a calender and figured out what our meals will be for the rest of the month. I also made a list of what is needed for Thanksgiving. We are not doing a traditional meal this year but one with lots of appetizers. We have most everything in the pantry or freezer except for shrimp and mozzarella sticks.

 

[keenercam]

We spent $150 on groceries last night but nearly all of it is ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner, meals for me to pre-make for the kids while we are gone, and food for while my ILs are visiting. Jealous of the cheap turkeys. We got a 22 pounder for $1.09/pound last night -- eek! and a pre-cooked spiral ham for black Friday.

Otherwise, we have been eating leftovers and using up pantry items. Dinner out last night was a pizza place, but it was the first time we'd eaten out this week.

 

[Jen117]

Tonight is pork roast in the crock pot. I pulled it out of my freezer. I will shred it up and serve mashed potatoes and a veggie with it (we have a lot of potatoes at the moment).

I checked the store ads (all except Walmart because we don't get one). All places require a $25 purchase and limit ONE turkey. So I won't be rushing out for that. I have one in the freezer to use up that I got after season last year and it dropped to the bottom of the freezer. I needs to be cooked soon!!!

I am happy that carrots and celery are cheap right now because my girls loves those cut up for snacks and lunch. And I noticed a little hole developing in the deep freezer, so I am getting somewhere!

 

[tinkarooni]

Today we are having beef stroganoff. Still trying to finish up last years 1/2 beef. Will make mashed potatoes (potatoes, potatoes potatoes, I'm swimming in potatoes ).

Made a box of no-pudge brownies I had in the closet for the kids lunch this week. Made with banilla yogurt, yummy.

Will also be putting together some potato egg salad for dinner tomorrow. Will have chedder brats (freezer) with potato salad (potatoes and eggs from the chickens) and a green salad. I have greens from the garden and I've been sprouting broccoli sprouts on the counter.

Sent DH to the store, he picked up some lunchmeat for this week and DS yogurt for his breakfast. Turkey day shopping list completed, consists of celery and green olives. YaHoo!

So far I am on track to save about $200 this month from the food budget! I even did buy one extra turkey and a turkey breast. I also buy mostly organic so everything costs me just a little more, but I also use a ton out of the garden, so this saves.

This is even better than it looks because I usually go over the food budget and dig into my allowance money. So more like a $300 savings. I am thrilled!