Spring Pantry Challenge

[charming23]

I was just on the website Organized Home and they have several printable menu planner sheets as well as pantry and freezer inventory sheets.

I printed some out and hope to get the inventory done over the weekend

http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook?page=1

Thanks for the website. I plan on printing out some pages tomorrow and re-write my list on that.

Last night was fun we had Musk-Ox stew (beef stew made with beer, bacon, and onions) and salad.

Lunch today will be leftovers. I am currently munching on our leftover pizza dip.

Tonight we will be at my Grandmother's if the snow lets up. So I need a game plan if we can't get over there.

 

[ssdeverell]

I officially started today since DH returned home. I will admit that I shopped yesterday, but most of it was drinks, my breakfast items, milk, some good sales, etc.

Breakfast - mini quiche for me, crackers/peanut butter for DH, and toast for DD. That used up the quiche and bread.
Lunch - I made a cheerios snack mix, so we all pretty much grazed the whole afternoon. DD also ate some froot loops at one point. Not really starting the new year off with good eating habits, huh?
Dinner - Sausage and rice casserole with black eyed peas. This used up a box of wild rice and some mushrooms I had.

Not sure of plans for tomorrow, but we may use a Chili's GC we received for Christmas. DS (step) is still at his mom's, which is why he is not listed in any of my information above.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Today I had leftover sausage and biscuit casserole for lunch, and there's still enough for another meal that I can have tomorrow. Dinner tonight was fajitas as planned.

Tomorrow I plan on getting lemons and fennel and making a crab dish for dinner.

Later in the week I am planning on pad thai one night, and that's as much as I have planned right now.

 

[ssdeverell]

Jan 2nd:

Breakfast: more Cheerios mix, DD and DH shared a pop-tart.
Lunch: Chili's
Dinner: We did not eat again since the meal at Chili's was so huge.

I also made another batch of the Cheerios mix (this stuff is great). That used the last of the cereal, brown sugar and raisins out of the pantry.

Jan 3rd:

Plans for today are honey/butter biscuits for breakfast, Chili's leftovers for lunch and fishsticks (DD's fav), corn and potatoes for dinner. That should use up the fishsticks, a thing of frozen corn and a box of potatoes out of the freezer and pantry.

No more shopping, I hope, for 2 weeks.

 

[Swimnoid]

Joining! The Pre holiday challenge helped me a lot! I thought I had made a dent in the pantry but it seems to magically filled up again!

I got lucky, though, and got a free turkey at the grocery so that will be tonight's dinner and several more lunches as well. Poor DH is not a big fan of turkey though. Too bad they weren't giving away free roast beef!

 

[charming23]

Yesterday's lunch was leftover stew and noodles. Dinner we ended up ordering Chinese as neither of us felt like cook but the good news is that we both have enough for lunch today out of that.

Dinner tonight will be the leftover pork roast my Grandma sent home with sweet potatoes, corn and rolls.

The tenative menu for the rest of the week is:
Ham with scalloped potatoes
Sticky orange chicken drumsticks with rice pilaf and glazed carrots
Baked macaroni and cheese with side salad
Oven Baked french toast with sausage and fruit
Potato and double corn chowder with snadwiches

 

[spare+a_pair]

I'm in as well. I did pretty good doing thos on my own over the summer, but it's time for another "clean out"

This week's Menu:

Sunday: (B) Croissant Rolls, (L) Leftovers, (D) Steaks & sausage, baked potatoes, and salad
Monday: (B) Muffins, (L) Sandwiches (or leftovers), (D) Shrimp Fried Rice
Tuesday: (B) Eggs & Toast, (L)Ravioli, (D) Red Beans & Rice w/sausage & cornbread
Wednesday: (B) Cinnamon Struesal, (L) Leftovers, (D) Hot Dogs
Thursday: (B) Pancakes, (L) Sandwiches, (D) Beef & Broccoli
Friday: (B) Biscuits, (L) Soup, (D) Leftovers (or homemade pizza)

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Yesterday I never made it to the store for the produce I wanted, so ended up doing the pad thai last night.

Today will be leftover fajitas and / or pad thai, and then I will go to the store tonight for lemons, fennel, and now I want to get some shredded carrots too, and heavy cream.

 

[tinkmom2]

My fridge and freezer were pretty cleaned out when I did the challenge in November. Since then I shop every week. Generally I spend around $80-100.00/family of 4 for the week. That includes soda and snacks. I generally use about $15.00-20.00 in coupons every time I shop. As a rule I don't by processed foods like Lipton Rice. I make my own.

This last week I found a lot of staples in the clearance section at my supermarket. The only thing wrong with most of the items were they were dented. I got cereal at 1/2 off, oatmeal, a huge box of Bisquick for 75% off and little ravioli meals my DD likes. There is also a bakery clearance section where we buy bread and cookies.

Breakfast is generally oat meal for me unless it's Sunday Pancake day lol!

This is what I made this week:
chicken fajita's with spanish rice
arroz con pollo made with chicken thighs
chicken and dumplings
turkey burgers with homemade fries
New Years feast including smoked fish, herring, raw beef, barbecued wennies, cheese and crackers, and a whole bunch more
last night was left over chicken and rice and grilled cheeses for the kids
Papa Murphy's pizza at $6.00 had a dollar coupon

I have until Wednesday and my fridge is still full. I have enough meat in my freezer now to go the rest of the month without buying meat. That should bring my bill down by atleast $20.00 a week.

 

[momto1]

Finally getting started today!

Lunch - leftover sandwiches from NYE with potatoe salad.
Supper - Pork chops with cranberry walnut stuffing, leftover cranberry relish and leftover sweet potatoe casserole. That is is for those lefts!

Making ham and bean soup in the crockpot for lunches - mine anyway since I am the only one who really likes it. Using the ham bone from Christmas and an open bag of beans from the pantry.

Need to plan the menus for the rest of the week.
Lori

 

[smiller]

Making ham and bean soup in the crockpot for lunches - mine anyway since I am the only one who really likes it. Using the ham bone from Christmas and an open bag of beans from the pantry.

That's what I'm cooking today! Well, among other items. Why am I always cooking? Beans are already soaking!

Ham and Bean Soup
Chicken Sausage, Kale, and Bean Soup
Ham, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
Banana Bread

I am working on eating up a few odds & ends this week:
Swiss Chard and Angel Hair Soup
Mushroom Ragout and Puff Pastry
Sloppy Joes and Baguette
Penne Rosa with Chicken

Then I'll move on to my new soups - I hope they turn out well! I love taking soup to work every day.

I've decided to toss the nasty hot dogs in the freezer as well as that disastrous acorn squash risotto I spent forever making. I just don't think I can stomach it! I might try to thin it out with some more chicken stock - but if that does not help in the trash it goes. I could put those freezer containers to much better use!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I've decided to toss the nasty hot dogs in the freezer as well as that disastrous acorn squash risotto I spent forever making. I just don't think I can stomach it! I might try to thin it out with some more chicken stock - but if that does not help in the trash it goes. I could put those freezer containers to much better use!

How do you make risotto? I think it's one of those tricky things to make that you have to have everything timed just right.

Which reminds me I have some risotto rice on the counter I need to use up, I like making beef risotto with red wine and beef broth instead of white wine and chicken broth.

 

[smiller]

How do you make risotto? I think it's one of those tricky things to make that you have to have everything timed just right.

Which reminds me I have some risotto rice on the counter I need to use up, I like making beef risotto with red wine and beef broth instead of white wine and chicken broth.

I think the biggest problem is I'm not sure if I actually used arborio rice. I live in a very ethnic neighborhood, but one which seems to have every ethnic food but arborio rice! So I ended up with something from Bosnia and Herzegovina which I hoped was the right ingredient...

Also, I think I should have used more broth/liquid, so maybe I can revive it with another few cups of chicken broth.

It looked so easy when Rachael Ray made it!

 

[TiggerStac]

I told my hubby I was doing this this week...without even seeing this thread!

We have done well lately w/cleaning out the freezer, I just haven't bought meat when we go. My pantry...I need to get rid of things. Today I'm making salsa chicken in the crock pot. Will have w/some rice. Tomorrow, baked mac n cheese...pasta, cracker barrell cheese (have left over from xmas party) and tomatoe soup.

I have plenty of pasta, vegies, etc. I will have to go to get eggs, milk, bread. But I really want to get thru my pantry! I, also, am trying to use crock pot as much as possible..new concept to me, but soooo easy.

My youngest is just starting to eat regular veggies, so that will help, he can have peas and corn. His baby food is almost gone. I may have to go get some babyfood cereal for him, but no more veggies!

 

[ILUVPOOH1]

I'm in! January is a bad $$ month for me as both DH and DS have birthdays. DS is turning 16 this year so it's kind of a big deal. We will take he and his girlfriend out to eat $$. Anything I can do to save money on groceries this month is a bonus. We have a ton of meat in the freezer (lot's of chicken and pork chops) Can't wait for school to start tomorrow because DS eats a lot when he's home all day (he's also in training for a marathon so he burns calories like crazy)

 

[luv2nascar]

NYE we had spaghetti w/meatsauce. I froze left over meatsauce. Put still had left over spaghetti so for lunch yesterday I made spaghetti frittata. It turned out really well. Next time I would add some diced onion and possible ham or another meat.

I made the left over pork into BBQ but friends stopped by and I didn't have enough for dinner DH splerged w/money he got for christmas & bought us chinese food. So left over chinese food for lunch today too. Dinner is spaghetti at in laws. I have lettuce and tomatoes so I will take that along.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

It looked so easy when Rachael Ray made it!

I've never seen Rachael Ray make it, but I've always seen the contestants on Hell's Kitchen get yelled at for screwing it up.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I'm in. We don't have a major amount of backup in the pantry, but enough to get us through this month and maybe February. I need to get the bills back on track... My one exception is DD works at a pizza place, and gets me "deals" depending on who she is working with. You will see examples in my menu's.

On New Years day, DD had to work so we munched during the day and cleared the frozen pizza's out of the freezer.

Yesterday, we had homemade oatmeal and cereal for breakfast, munched on leftovers for lunch and dinner was my New Years Day meal. Pork roast, smashed red potatoes with roasted garlic and cream cheese, homemade applesauce and green beans.

Today, DH made everyone french toast with the end of the bread and DD got us a large cheese and pepperoni w/20 wings for $5.00. So we had the wing for lunch, pizza for dinner.

We are stuck in a snow band here and it has been snowing almost 24hours straight. So I am not going to do my weekly shopping.

I plan on only buying lunch items for the kids (they brown bag to school and DH eats leftovers), fresh fruit, fresh veggies, bread, milk, juice, and eggs. I should be able to make do with everything else that is already in the house. DD and DS each give me a few dollars for their snacks for the week.

I am hoping to keep my bill around $50.00 per week including my toiletries and soaps. This is a savings of $75.00 per week for me or $600.00 for the two months. Wish me luck...

 

[figment3258]

Tonight is hot dog and bean casserole.
Tomorrow for diner will be Mexican stuffed shells
Tuesday will be frozen spaghetti sauce
Wednesday is some kind of chicken
Thursday pork chops
Friday using leftover chicken in my chicken casserole.
Saturday leftovers!

 

[stahshee]

fri was bbq chicken sat was chicken tenders. today my dh orderd pizza