Spring Pantry Challenge

It's Monday so it must be another week on the Pantry Challenge.

Lunch today - trying to get back on WW diet - shrimp from freezer, yogurt and pickeled beets. The beets are finished and the jar in recycling. One thing out of the fridge.

Supper - Ham and Brocoli casserole - using up frozen ham from Christmas and some sour cream.

Tomorrow supper - Zuchini Stroganoff - again using up some sour cream.

I need to make cranberry bread later in the week (yea...this was on my plan for last week, too). Then I need to sort for leftover appetizer type foods to take to our annual winter cabin camping weekend.

Lori
 
Fried in olive oil and garlic.... potatoes
Ham
French toast
strawberrys.. from last Apil I froze
 
I have around 1# of shrimp in the freezer that my Mom bought for DH for Christmas. I don't do seafood very often. It is pre-cooked and de-veined, and is quite large. Usually he uses it as a snack. I would like to use it for a meal for the two of us (kids won't eat it). I see the Red Lobster commercials for the meals and they look so good....

So help me with a recipe. I always have on hand, rice, canned tomatoes, garlic, seasoning, potatoes, etc... I have never did a stir-fry or anything like kabobs, but I am willing to try. I do have a stovetop griddle pan. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
What kind of soup? Please tell me you didn't take five different kinds, mix it together, and eat it???
No, I think that would be kind of gross. And I don't really consider opening up a can of soup and heating it "making" soup.

Two of the cans were chicken broth, and the other three were veggies and stuff.

Today will be leftover soup, and tomorrow I may make soup again. Maybe this kind again, it is really tasty, but I may be sick of it by tomorrow. I did find a recipe for soup using refried beans, not sure if it's too weird sounding or not to try though, but it would use up some more stuff. And then I'll also be making chili later this week.

I have a cold right now, so all this soup is really hitting the spot.
 

No, I think that would be kind of gross. And I don't really consider opening up a can of soup and heating it "making" soup.

Two of the cans were chicken broth, and the other three were veggies and stuff.

Today will be leftover soup, and tomorrow I may make soup again. Maybe this kind again, it is really tasty, but I may be sick of it by tomorrow. I did find a recipe for soup using refried beans, not sure if it's too weird sounding or not to try though, but it would use up some more stuff. And then I'll also be making chili later this week.

I have a cold right now, so all this soup is really hitting the spot.

Phew! I had images of a can of chicken noodle soup mixed with a can of tomato, a can on minestrone, etc. :rotfl:

I have never made soup from scratch but some day I should try it since I do love soups. Great. Now I'm hungry! LOL!
 
I'm happy to say we've stuck to the challenge so far. Freezer is going to be pretty cleaned out after this but that's OK.

Here's this week's plan:
Sunday - MILs
Monday - Shepard's Pie (freezer)
Tuesday - Turkey cheesy broccoli rice (freezer)
Wednesday - Rotini w/sauce (pantry)
Thursday - cranberry pork roast (freezer/pantry)
Friday - leftovers or froz pizza
Saturday - broiled chicken, stuffing, veggie

Also doing bigger breakfasts this week since it's mid-term testing. We had pancakes and bacon today. Tomorrow will be pumpkin muffins, fruit and sausages. Not sure for the rest of the week, don't usually do big breakfasts during the week so I have to get creative.
 
I am jumping in late, but have been working on the challenge since January 1, so far so good. I did have to buy bread, bananas, and a bag of frozen corn today. The corn was because I am making Chicken Corn Chowder for dinner that used up some celery, carrots and onions that were hanging out in the fridge and then chicken frozen from Christmas, and cream of potatoe soup that was OLD but still good.

I have to admit that other than milk and what I bought today I have only used what we have here since January 1, and it still seems like my freezer and pantry are FULL.

DH is out of town tomorrow through Thursday which might help me out as I will eat some of the individually frozen left overs that are in the freezer for dinners and make something easy for the girls. I tend to throw leftovers in the freezer in individual servings so I can grab them for lunch, but with the holidays that stockpile greatly increased, especially as DH was home alot and we did eat out more at lunchtime.
 
/
I am jumping in late, but have been working on the challenge since January 1, so far so good. I did have to buy bread, bananas, and a bag of frozen corn today. The corn was because I am making Chicken Corn Chowder for dinner that used up some celery, carrots and onions that were hanging out in the fridge and then chicken frozen from Christmas, and cream of potatoe soup that was OLD but still good.

I have to admit that other than milk and what I bought today I have only used what we have here since January 1, and it still seems like my freezer and pantry are FULL.

DH is out of town tomorrow through Thursday which might help me out as I will eat some of the individually frozen left overs that are in the freezer for dinners and make something easy for the girls. I tend to throw leftovers in the freezer in individual servings so I can grab them for lunch, but with the holidays that stockpile greatly increased, especially as DH was home alot and we did eat out more at lunchtime.

I was reading your post and thinking it's a shame I don't live closer to some of these folks, we could trade what we had, I have tons of frozen corn, than I see you're in Pittsburgh, Howdy Neighbor, I'm South Hills. :rotfl: If you need more frozen corn let me know. :lmao:
 
Lunch today was the leftover chicken fajitas ans spanish rice.

Dinner is Potato and double corn chowder that is currently cooking away in the crockpot and we are having warm ham and cheese sandwiches with it.
 
Lunch today was the leftover chicken fajitas ans spanish rice.

Dinner is Potato and double corn chowder that is currently cooking away in the crockpot and we are having warm ham and cheese sandwiches with it.

Okay have to ask. What is potato corn chowder? We have cream of potato soup here with bacon/cheese in it, but never heard of the potato corn chowder. Could you explain the taste and provide the recipe?
 
Okay have to ask. What is potato corn chowder? We have cream of potato soup here with bacon/cheese in it, but never heard of the potato corn chowder. Could you explain the taste and provide the recipe?

The Potato corn chowder tastes a lot like a baked potato with a touch of sweetness from the corn and smokey from the bacon you put in it.

The recipe is
1 can evaporated milk
1 can Cream style corn
1 can whole kernnel corn
1 bag frozen hashbrowns (The square ones work best)
8 Strips of bacon precooked and crumbled
1 tablespoon of whorchestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste.

Place all of the ingredients into a crock pot and cook on either low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. I serve mine with a dallop of sour cream on the top.

*I have modified the recipe a little by adding in a can of chicken broth to the soup to make it a little thinner as the starch from the potatoes really seems to thicken it.
 
The Potato corn chowder tastes a lot like a baked potato with a touch of sweetness from the corn and smokey from the bacon you put in it.

The recipe is
1 can evaporated milk
1 can Cream style corn
1 can whole kernnel corn
1 bag frozen hashbrowns (The square ones work best)
8 Strips of bacon precooked and crumbled
1 tablespoon of whorchestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste.

Place all of the ingredients into a crock pot and cook on either low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. I serve mine with a dallop of sour cream on the top.

*I have modified the recipe a little by adding in a can of chicken broth to the soup to make it a little thinner as the starch from the potatoes really seems to thicken it.
I'll have to try that. I have a lot of evaporated milk, and no real use for it.
 
tinkarooni said:
I was reading your post and thinking it's a shame I don't live closer to some of these folks, we could trade what we had, I have tons of frozen corn, than I see you're in Pittsburgh, Howdy Neighbor, I'm South Hills. :rotfl: If you need more frozen corn let me know. :lmao:

we are in the North, Sewickley. :)
 
I am going to jump in here mid month! I did this Nov-Dec and then we had to restock!!!! I got some fantastic deals (like free, and just about!) so my pantry and freezer are full again! My goal is to spend $40 per week for the rest of the month.

Tonight we had a new crockpot creation that everyone loved, and it all came from the pantry/freezer.
2 boneless chicken breasts
1 can cr mushroom soup
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1/2 jar salsa

I served it with tortilla chips, delicious!
 
for anyone that is hooked on tech like me, there is a freeware program called pantry for windows that lets you inventory your pantry (and all sorts of other things), plus set refill minimums etc..

The even better thing about it is that it is connected to itunes and you can download the app to your itouch or iphone. It also automatically makes grocery lists for you that you can print out (based on your refill items).

For menu planning, I have started to use springpadit.com

It lets me make a menu for the week, input all the recipes (including grabbing them from websites and importing them) and then making a shopping list based on what I need to get from each recipe. You can also share recipes through springpad. You can connect people to your account through facebook or email.

My menu for this week

Sunday: Pasta Margherita - All Recipes
Monday: Saurbraten
Tuesday: pancakes and scrambled eggs
Wednesday: Lemon Chicken Recipe
Thursday: Recipes - Grilled Lamb Chops - Australia (substitute pork chops)
Friday: Recipes - Pineapple Breakfast Bread - 'Ohana
Roasted Shallot-Garlic Butter
Recipe for BEEF MARINADE from 'Ohana at the Polynesian
Recipes - Stir Fried Noodles - 'Ohana - Polynesian Resort
Saturday: Recipe - Chicken and Leek Pie - Rose and Crown - Epcot
 
Meal plan for the rest of the week;

Tuesday - Chili
Wednesday - Chicken Sheperd's Pie
Thursday - Lentil Soup
Friday / Saturday - Refried Bean Soup

I did grocery shopping today for the first time since New Year's. I bought almost no pantry items, the only things I did buy aside from my "allowed" produce and dairy, were kidney beans, (for the chili,) and club soda.
 
Lunch today was the leftover chicken fajitas ans spanish rice.

Dinner is Potato and double corn chowder that is currently cooking away in the crockpot and we are having warm ham and cheese sandwiches with it.

We'll be having chicken fajitas tonight and tomorrow night. Yum!
 
Well, work had pork sirloin roasts 2.99 lb BOGO so I couldn't resist. Fit one in the freezer after vacuum packing and amazing puzzle fitting skills. Found a recipe for the crockpot for the other using brown sugar (something else I discovered I've got a lot of) and other stuff I have. Need to do the freezers still. Wanted to last night but I came home and proceded to have a migraine. Bad one too . Ugh.
 
I dug through the outisde freezer last night and found some dinnner rolls that were dated 12/28/08. They are becoming bird and squirrel food. Then I found some pepperoni bread, strawberry bread and a coffe cake that dh barterd for in December. So...it is almost empty!!

DH brough home lamb shanks that he found on the discounted meat rack yesterday. Why? I don't know. We have never cooked or eaten lamb shanks. Guess it is off to allrecipes to see if I can find out what to do.

Lunch today is leftover cassserole and salad.

Supper tonight - Zuchini stroganoff and pepperoni bread.

Tomorrow supper - Lamb shanks, baked poatoes and salad.

Lori
 
Tonight is a total pantry meal! Both girls are coming and going at different times too. Easy tonight....tuna melts with tomato soup on the side!
 














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