Spring Pantry Challenge

[figment3258]

Been MIA for a few days but i am back now. Yesterday I made a wonderful chicken noodle soup and tonight I made a easy beefy bake with stew beef and potatoes carrots covers with a mushroom gravy mixed with tomato juice and onion soup mix. I even put in mushrooms that I had in the freezer. It smells so good. Tomorrow maybe waffles for diner or chicken. Still need to plan out next week

 

[Priorityonecb]

We definitely had a pantry night tonight because everyone came home late and I had to throw together something quick and easy!

Black bean burgers (black beans, salsa, flour)
sweet potato fries (used up last 2 sweet potatoes)
Applesauce (last of a jar we had in the fridge)

I threw that together in minutes, and it got two comliments!

 

[stahshee]

hot dogs cream corn. garlic potaotes

 

[sau418]

Help!!! My freezer is still pretty full and I don't want to make anything from it!!! I have 4 quarts of wonderful turkey chili, but DH has been having stomach issues so it will have to wait until he can eat spicy again. There is a package of Hot sausage, again not an option until DHs meds start working. A package of chicken and I am so over chicken. A package os ground beef that I may use for sloppy joes. An apple pie from my mom. A spahetti pie, but we already had that on Sunday. Two pizzas, three ham and hashbrown bakes, and a package os saurkraut and kielbasa.

 

[tinkarooni]

Oh boy, I have been SOOOOO busy. It's just been one of those weeks. However I am so so proud that we haven't eaten out once. So far the only eat out was I got a sandwich for lunch one day and only because I was starting to feel a little dizzy and didn't want to take any chances. (Hypoglycemic) Other than that little emergency we have been eating at home. I am hoping to get through the whole month with no eating out to get control of the food budget. We have a major home improvement project to pay for and I want to pay cash, every little bit helps.

So today for breakfast it was fend for yourself, oatmeal or cereal and hard boiled eggs and juice. Lunch was sandwiches on homemade bread, apples from the basement stock. Dinner really was a last minute thing. I have been so busy working that I didn't even think about it until 5:00. I hate when I do that. So I threw together a super fast pot of Tortellini Soup with diced tomatoes and spinach and made grilled cheese sandwiches.

Tomorrow is leftover night, I love leftover night. I call it smorgasboard for the kids and then they love it too.

 

[DawnM]

Made a beef roast with potatoes and carrots in the crockpot last night. I have enough left over for either today or tomorrow.

Tonight will be pizza and/or burritos.....I have burrito meat already cooked and it needs to be eaten, but I promised the kids Friday night could be pizza night.....so will check with them on what they want.

Dawn

 

[momto1]

A quick check in since I have posted in a couple of days. Still on track. The fridge is finally getting some space since we have been able to use up some of dh's products from his business - pickled carrots, pickled beets, peach salsa, pickled asparagus - all gone!

Tonight we are heading to our winter cabin camping weekend. We are either having Wendy's or Taco Bell with coupons or taking a take and bake pizza for when we get there. Then it will be snacks for the next three nights. Our big meal will be lunch and will be eaten out.

So...Monday I will be back on track and posting. I am hoping our mid winter thaw continues and dh can cook up some sausages and burgers and we can have those.

Lori

 

[charming23]

Lunch today is again whatever you find in the fridge. I am having a leftover turkey burger.

Dinner is out tonight. For Christmas my Aunt gave us a Red Robin giftcard and since it is by the movie theater (finally going to see the Princess and the Frog) we decided tonight sounded like a good idea to use it.

 

[sau418]

Back on track today.

Took the spaghetti pie out of the freezer for the ILs and DDs to eat tomorrow night while DH and I go out for date night. Tonight is dinner out as a family, probably eat n park or applebees. I also pulled out a roast for Sunday dinner and I will pull out the apple pie to go with it, but not until tomorrow. That will give me two completely empty shelves in my freezer

I am hosting a pampered chef party next Saturday so I am hoping to keep the shelves clean until then and then make a Sam's Club trip later in the day on Saturday.

 

[PeytonSdiz]

Tonight we had lemon herb tilapia, glazed carrots, and rice. Dried fruit for "dessert."

 

[josh0208]

Tonight we have cheddar sausages, ravioli w/sauce and peas for dinner. That cleared a few things out of my freezer.

 

[NHWX]

I'm in!

I did a lot of cleaning out this fall but then bought a ton of stuff during the holidays. Some of the expected company didn't come - brother and sil bought a house at the very end of December - and then the ILs came but didn't stay, that sort of thing.

The net result is that a) I now have three crockpots (gifts) and need to move at least one that's taking up room on my pantry shelf and b) I have way too much cranberry sauce. My kids used to like canned cranberry sauce until the older one tasted homemade and then read the label on the canned to see why the homemade tasted so much better. Now I need to find ways of hiding the stuff. I already have cranberry bread and cranberry bars in the freezer.

I can predict some very weird meals this month.

One of the drags about the new year is that we now have the new, higher health insurance premiums. Going through the pantry and freezer stash will help somewhat but over the long term, we're still stuck with lower income. And that's after we chose a plan with a higher deductible and higher co-pays. Some days I just want to pull the covers over my head.

NHWX

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2/3 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 package dry (Lipton) golden onion soup mix
Preparation:
Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker/Crock Pot. Combine remaining ingredients; add to the slow cooker/Crock Pot, coating chicken well. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
Serves 4 to 6.

 

[charming23]

Breakfast this morning is kashi warm cinnamon ceral that I got at marc's for .99 with a $2 off coupon.

Lunch will be over at my Grandma's as we are helping her take down all the Christmas decorations.

Dinner will be pot roast in the crockpot that I will put on before we go over there.

I did stop at Marc's after the movie yesterday and picked up two roasting chickens to make up tomorrow. We will have that for dinner and then divide the rest up between lunches for the week and containers in the freezer. I also plan on making a stock from the bones.

 

[stahshee]

last night, egge beaters, broccoli and cheese that I had frozen in freezer ( the egg beaters were south west style and my kids hated it)
so I made grilled cheese
we also had Escrole , Tomatoes, and Celery salad

this morning I made pancakes... I made enough to have for a snack later in the day

 

[lisam427]

well i just did an inventory of my pantry. after doing this challenge for a couple of months, along with hurting my leg and being unable to go to the store, my cupboards are pretty bare. i did an inventory. this is what i have left:
lots of spices (includes cornstarch, bouillon cubes)
beverages like tea, hot chocolate,coffee etc..
two cans of pork and beans,
2 jars of spaghetti sauce,
4 cans of vegitable soup,
2 boxes of onion soup mix,
2c. long grain rice,
4 boxes of cereal,
2 pouches of fibre one pancake mix,
4 boxes of cake mix
2 boxes of microwave popcorn
2 boxes of special k bars
2 boxes of brownie mix
powdered milk (in case of snow storm)

thats all. my fridge and freezer is a different story. they are both pretty full. to me this is a big improvement as my pantry was overflowing. we had a difficult time shutting the cupboards in our pantry.

this month so far i have spent $50 out my my $200 budget and i spent $59 on my angel food order (which i pick up next week). that leaves me with $92 dollars to stock up. today i will be looking at the adds and my coupons and will be trying to stock up again. if i go over then that will be ok as the past few months i have been anywhere from $35 to $40 dollars under budget. but i really dont see that happening.

i am thinking of making up a batch of master mix in which i can make pankcakes, biscuits, and muffins from scratch. i also plan on making a mix for cream of something soup. i have all the spices/ingredients in my cupboard and is a replacement for cream of mushroom soup in casseroles. dd loves quiche so this weekend i have to make i will also be making that and will be using pie crust from scratch rather than pre made pie crust. the quiche will be 1 dinner and lunches for the week.

wegmans has a 5 pound sack of mozzarella and cheddar cheese for $8.99 each. i usually portion the cheese out in ziploc bags and freeze. it works out to less than $2.00 a pound and i use those cheeses in casseroles and quiche. it will last us a long time. i also plan on buying pasta, stuffing mix,a couple of boxes of mac and cheese, bag of rice at aldis. we have enough produce and milk. i also need salad and bread.

tonight we will have a pork roast, mashed potatoes, and cauliflower. the leftovers will be made into shredded pork sandwiches, fries and a salad for sunday. monday will be quiche and salad. tuesday will be homemade soup and master mix biscuits. wednesday breakfast for dinner, thursday spagetti and salad. friday-leftovers.

lunches will be leftovers and quiche. breakfast are the usual oatmeal or cereal, fruit and milk, or eggs toast, fruit, pancakes or french toast. will post later on how my shopping trip went. have a good day everyone!!!

lisa

 

[NHWX]

Thanks! How did you know that I have chicken breasts in quantity, homemade chili sauce from my SIL and probably something on a shelf that will do in place of the soup mix? This will be Monday's dinner!

NHWX

4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2/3 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 package dry (Lipton) golden onion soup mix
Preparation:
Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker/Crock Pot. Combine remaining ingredients; add to the slow cooker/Crock Pot, coating chicken well. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
Serves 4 to 6.

 

[tinkmom2]

This last week I think I had the best coupon week I have ever had! My store is a discount store(it's a huge place and takes about 2 hours to go through) and does not have it's own discount card. The prices are already low. Normally I save about $10 in manufactures coupons each week and my bill is about $100.00 for a family of 4. (including cat supplies and food and soda and snacks.)

Weight Watchers had coupons in the paper this last week. I got 2 free meals when I purchased 10. I had another coupon that I could use when I purchased 5 and another coupon on top of that. So I paid about $7.00 when it should have cost around $17.00. I saved around $25.00 in coupons all together and am stocked on the basics. Some of the meals like the mini pizzas have two in a box. Again I picked up a lot on clearance.

This week we did our taxes so we did eat out a few times. I used a IHOP coupon twice. Once for my hubby and I. It was a BOGO coupon ($13.00 for the two of us) And a 20% off coupon when I brought the kids along yesterday.

My DH and I finally bought a new bed after 13 years! So that was our big expense for the year. We don't plan on going on vacation but might head to Chicago for a few days which is a train ride away. I also had to buy glasses for my DD. I have no idea what she does to them but they were 2/$99.

Food wise we had:
$10 Pizza for my Mom and the girls so my DH and I could go out on a date
chicken pot pie using some clearance pizza dough
shrimp and gritts caserole
turkey burgers and homemade wedge fries
might make oxtails and rice tonight...

 

[lisam427]

my aunt called me last night. their freezer broke down and they asked me if i wanted some frozen food. they showed up with a huge box full. my freezer is now overflowing.

yesterday i did end up at wegmans but didnt buy what i planned. i had a $25 giftcard plus coupons and bottle returns. i ended up getting $36 worth of food for $5.49. stocked up on pasta, pasta sauce, mac and cheese, and other items to be used for sides. i did get cheddar and mozzerella, but not the huge bags i planned on. no room in the freezer.

today i go to aldis. i am only planning on buying a few boxes of stuffing, rice, vegetable shortening, and snacks for dd. i never got to making the quiche. my menu for the week is changed too. last night dd made pasta w/ salad. i have not figured out dinner tonight but for the next coming week, everything will be coming from the freezer. im going to head to the freezer and pull things out for dinner.

 

[Priorityonecb]

I've been doing really well with my budget and eating up the pantry/freezer supplies! I only spent $50 last week, $40 this week!

Last night we had barbecued meatballs, brown rice and green beans. Tonight is cheese ravioli's, salad and Texas Toast. I made some brownies from the pantry (with pecans from the freezer) for dessert since youngest dd is having a sleepover.