Spring Pantry Challenge

[Priorityonecb]

We did well tonight! I made meatball subs, and used up the last of the tator tots I had in the freezer.

 

[smiller]

I've been busy taking inventory of DSis's fridge, freezer, and pantry. I've got almost all areas cleaned out and organized.

I did do some grocery shopping for her yesterday - brought my Jewel total down from $107 to $67 thanks to my 38 coupons!

I think even coupon-wary DBiL was impressed.

I've got to re-write all the inventory lists and work on some fun meal planning!

 

[tinkarooni]

I'm here, I'm here.....life got in the way for awhile. My 92 year old grandfather who lives in Florida can no longer live by himself so my DM is there packing him up and sorting him out and I am here trying to find him a seniors complex to live in. He insists he can still live by himself. At least if he's closer we can keep a better eye on him.

I am very proud of how we're doing this month. Figure I will have extra food money left....maybe. I bought out of this months food budget the seeds and plants for my garden this year. My garden feeds us veggies pretty much for the whole year. Than I also bought the beef and pork we will need for the year. Along with the chickens I raise that are in freezer camp I am pretty well set. I have high hopes for how much I can save from next months food budget without these big expenditures that all fell on one month.

So today for dinner we had Hamburgers on the George Foreman grill, sweet potato fries, recipe courtesy of Paula Deen and broccoli from the freezer. We are still using up garlic, squash, pumpkins, apples, onions, herbs, potatoes and sweet potatoes from the basement storage.

Tomorrow for dinner will probably be omelettes with eggs (yard ) ham from the freezer (recvd as a gift at X-mas) I'll toss in whatever veggies I can find in the drawer, some fresh whole wheat rolls I'll make tomorrow and maybe slices of apple. Lunch for me has been whatever I find and the kids have been taking sandwiches, sometimes pb&j, sometimes tuna, sometimes lunchmeat.

One thing is I have been buying way less prepared food and making it myself. The kids complained at first, especially DD9. But honestly now that there are less choices in the house we're saving a lot of time. For example, you can have oatmeal, a hard boiled egg or a pb&j for breakfast with fruit, which do you want? Easy peasy. I have discovered my kids simply had too many choices before.

 

[irish dancer]

Everyone seems to be doing great!! Anyone care to share their sweet potato fries recipe? Never made them but think we'd love them.

Just had to jump on quickly as today could have so easily turned into a drive-thru or order out night and I resisted. DD12 had a volleyball tournament that started at 4:30p. They won the first round and played again at 6p. They won that round too and played for the championship at 6:50p. Unfortunately they lost but my planning ahead paid off. After school I had fed the kids a more substantial snack (pb sandwich, fruit, veggies, smoothies). Also packed lots of snacks for the game (popcorn, apples, granola, water). Made mac-n-cheese and sandwiches when we got home! It was a very late dinner but at least it wasn't McDonalds or Burger King.

Spent $22 at the store this week which brings the month total to $100. Enough meals still in the freezer for next week so all is looking good!

 

[charming23]

Not Doing to hot this week. Ended up going out for dinner tonight to celebrate with a friends for her completing her first semester of Massage therapy school. So we went to Famous Dave's but at least it was $1 Beer night and my bill was under $20.

I will get back on track for the rest of the week. The only time we are eating out again is my Grandma's 90th Birthday on Tuesday.

 

[tinkarooni]

Everyone seems to be doing great!! Anyone care to share their sweet potato fries recipe? Never made them but think we'd love them.

Here you go.....gotta love Paula Deen. These don't even have any butter in them and are pretty heathy.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-sweet-potato-fries-recipe/index.html

 

[pjlla]

Just hopping on to say that I have been reading along here, but haven't had time to comment (I spend most of my DIS time on the WISH boards). But this has definitely been an "eat-from-the-pantry" month for us. It was a combination of a tight month financially combined with an overflowing freezer. DH worked out of town many, many, many nights/days this past year, which meant I was cooking far less "full" family meals, but for some reason I didn't stop buying big cuts/packages of meat and such! So now my freezer is bursting at the seams. I have been working hard this month to use up the freezer and pantry surplus and so far I'm doing well.

Last night was a pasta bake that I made early last week (I made a double batch last week and this was the second batch). It was yummy and easy... essentially it was pasta (trying to use up the white pasta in my freezer so we can start using whole grain most of the time) canned tomatoes/sauce, some sauteed veggies (frozen onions/peppers, fresh spinach), diced up turkey meatballs (another "deep in the freezer" find), and some shredded light cheese. Side dish was frozen green beans.

The night before was a favorite of DD's... teriyaki chicken (I used two packs of drumsticks from the freezer... removed the skins), topped with teriyaki sauce from an easy recipe that calls for just pantry basics. Side dishes were a box of couscous from the pantry and broccoli from the fridge.

And Monday's dinner was actually served at noon... since we were all home at that time. I made a nice pork tenderloin that I bought on sale before Christmas, cauliflower from the fridge, and packaged instant mashed potatoes from the pantry (Idahoan brand... the family likes them better than real potatoes!) . Kind of a "white meal", but tasty and healthy.

I did stop at the store early this week, but just for fresh veggies, eggs, and bread. We are out of potatoes, almost out of milk, low on eggs now, but I will try to resist buying until next week.

Anyhow, sorry for rambling. Just wanted to share my pantry/freezer success meals. Thanks for sharing all of you meals/recipes/ideas. I will be taking my freezer/pantry inventory today that I have been planning as part of my New Year declutter plan. I'll be planning a some meals to use up any specific overages I have and hopefully by mid -February I will have a better looking freezer and pantry!......................P

 

[Deffenm]

Here is our menu for the week.
Monday - we had bacon venison burgers, home made french fries, chicken wings (we only had a few left and since DH was cooking the french fries he threw them in as well), and fruit.

Tuesday - chicken and shrimp kabobs, tropical fruit, and rice

Wed - Tuna noodle casserole, veggie

Thursday - BBQ Beef sandwiches, cole slaw, mac n cheese, cinnamon apples

Friday - Ham, potatoes, fruit, veggie

Saturday - steak, salad, veggie, bread

We can actually see empty space in our freeze now. It looks so bare. I just have to resist filling it up with items we don't need.

 

[tinkmom2]

Everyone seems to be doing great!! Anyone care to share their sweet potato fries recipe? Never made them but think we'd love them.

One thing I do do is poke some whole in the potatoes and microwave them for about 5 minutes first to cut down on cooking time. I use olive oil instead of grapeseed oil.

For my fries I use a recipe for regular oven fries I found on Foodnetwork by Arron Mc Cargo. I use it on sweet potatoes too!
* 6 medium (about 2 pounds) russet potatoes, cleaned
* 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
* 2 tablespoons freshly chopped rosemary
* 1 tablespoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
* 3 tablespoons chopped garlic
* 2 tablespoons Big Daddy Seasoning, recipe follows
* Freshly chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut potatoes with a mandoline. Cook's note: If you do not have a mandoline, cut each potato lengthwise into thirds; cut each portion into thirds.

In a large bowl, combine cut potatoes and grapeseed oil. Add rosemary, thyme, garlic and Big Daddy Seasoning. Toss to coat.

Place in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender, turning once. Remove from oven and toss with chopped parsley.
Big Daddy Seasoning:

* 1/2 cup smokey paprika
* 1/4 cup granulated onion powder
* 1/4 cup granulated garlic powder
* 3 tablespoons seasoned salt
* 1/4 cup fresh cracked pepper
* 1/2 cup kosher salt

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Welcome to all the new posters...

Yesterday was extremely stressful and I broke the no eating out chain. I fed the kids Mighty Taco after picking them up from school and DH and I had Chinese take-out. Total $30.00. It really bothers me that I did it since at the house the porkchops were in the crockpot waiting to go. Told DH that we would have to figure something else out for days when I get dumped on from family members and such since I don't handle it very well...

So good news is that I just have to re-heat the porkchops for tonight.

Porkchops, gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli. (apples for DD who refuses to eat the broccoli)

Hopefully the rest of the week will go better and I really only need a few necessities grocery shopping this week that I am not going to even look at the specials. As one of the other posters said, the kids will just have to eat what is in the house.

This thread is really great when you need a place to come when you know that you blew the budget for the week. Thanks all for being here. Gonna go back and edit this weeks menu....

 

[charming23]

For me lunch today was my leftovers from Famous Daves while mom had some oatmeal since her stomach was acting up.

Dinner tonight is going to be soup and sandwiches since my mom is still feeling funky.

I did run to the store today as we needed cream cheese and walked out $20 later with "sale" items I just had to have.

 

[stahshee]

I found a box of grape nuts and we had that for snack
Dinner Sheapards pie...enough left over for lunch tomm

 

[charming23]

Breakfast this morning was some bagels that my Grandma dropped off to us yesterday that were left over from her bridge club breakfast yesterday.

Lunch was some boxed Kraft macaroni and cheese I found in the cupboard.

Dinner tonight is Angelhair pasta with the leftover roasted chicken and roasted zuchinni and grape tomatoes in a light lemon garlic sauce.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Dinner last night and lunch today was lasagna.

 

[50sjayne]

This is weird. Thought I'd check the thread today and found all the posts on sweet potato fries. I finally cut up some sweet potatoes that had been out in the garage since Halloween--my last trip out to the farms. That was last night. I had cleaned out the fridge and prepared stir fry for today ahead of time (cut up the veggies and marinated the tri tip) and had about 20 minutes before the Golden Globes repeated. I had missed the first hour because of work so wanted to watch that until Conan was on. I have a huge ziplock baggie of cut up sweet potatoes in the fridge. I figure I'll just dole them out however much we'll eat per meal this week. I found a recipe online that uses cumin so I thought I'd try that.

Made the corn chowder with crab added to it-it was good, kind of thin- I think next time I won't even add a can of milk for 2 cans of soup. Of course there was added liquid in the canned crab. I saw someone mentioned cous cous. I have about 3 boxes of this in the cupboard and have never made it.(long story) I take it it's used as kind of a side dish like rice?

 

[charming23]

Breakfast this morning was a bagel with cream cheese and fruit with yummy Puerto Rican coffee my Mom's friend sent us.

Lunch was the leftover Chicken and angelhair pasta.

Dinner tonight is french toast with sausage and fruit.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

What a week of ups and downs, but we made it with just eating out once...

Here's tonights menu:

Southern Ham Casserole, green beens, and peaches...


I have chicken out for the crockpot tommorow, even though it should have been today, and I have a head of lettuce that must be used on Monday. Still hoping not to have a large shopping list this week.

Here's hoping everyone has a great weekend.

 

[pjlla]

This is weird. Thought I'd check the thread today and found all the posts on sweet potato fries. I finally cut up some sweet potatoes that had been out in the garage since Halloween--my last trip out to the farms. That was last night. I had cleaned out the fridge and prepared stir fry for today ahead of time (cut up the veggies and marinated the tri tip) and had about 20 minutes before the Golden Globes repeated. I had missed the first hour because of work so wanted to watch that until Conan was on. I have a huge ziplock baggie of cut up sweet potatoes in the fridge. I figure I'll just dole them out however much we'll eat per meal this week. I found a recipe online that uses cumin so I thought I'd try that.

Made the corn chowder with crab added to it-it was good, kind of thin- I think next time I won't even add a can of milk for 2 cans of soup. Of course there was added liquid in the canned crab. I saw someone mentioned cous cous. I have about 3 boxes of this in the cupboard and have never made it.(long story) I take it it's used as kind of a side dish like rice?

Imagine finding you over here! Anyhow... couscous is actually a tiny pasta... smaller than rice. It cooks up in NO TIME so it makes a nice quick side dish. My kids really like it, so I always keep a few boxes in the house. I prefer the flavored Near East couscous, but I don't buy it unless it is on sale because I can get plain whole wheat couscous in bulk cheaper. Give it a try!

Well, I've done fairly well using up my pantry/freezer stuff since I last posted. I did breakdown and buy pizza for the men as a treat on Thursday night after skiing. Last night was a hodge-podge of stuff, since we were eating at different times. DH had the last of the fish sticks, DS had Bagel Bites (I must have had a coupon at some point in time... I never buy those). I had a package of sugar snap pea frozen stirfry mix and a shelf-stable pouch of lemon/pepper tuna fillet (bought on clearance at Target a while ago).

My freezer/pantry inventory went well the other day, other than the freezing hands! And the timing was good.... I found three packages of kielbasa that I bought to have on hand for a pot luck or something like that... and tonight we are attending a Robotics dinner and I want to bring something.... so I pulled the kielbasa out on Thursday to defrost and it is in the crockpot now with a sweet and sour sauce. Nothing my family would really ever eat, but very tasty and I feel okay bringing tonight.

I pulled out a few other things to get defrosted to use this week (including a huge tupperware of homemade chicken stock) and I did some rearranging in the freezer, so I will have an easier time determining what to use up first.

Thanks for listening..............P

 

[stahshee]

I am totaly off the chalange with my dinner... I am makeing home made Calazones...wayyyyyyy over budget also

 

[50sjayne]

Imagine finding you over here! Anyhow... couscous is actually a tiny pasta... smaller than rice. It cooks up in NO TIME so it makes a nice quick side dish. My kids really like it, so I always keep a few boxes in the house. I prefer the flavored Near East couscous, but I don't buy it unless it is on sale because I can get plain whole wheat couscous in bulk cheaper. Give it a try!

Well, I've done fairly well using up my pantry/freezer stuff since I last posted. I did breakdown and buy pizza for the men as a treat on Thursday night after skiing. Last night was a hodge-podge of stuff, since we were eating at different times. DH had the last of the fish sticks, DS had Bagel Bites (I must have had a coupon at some point in time... I never buy those). I had a package of sugar snap pea frozen stirfry mix and a shelf-stable pouch of lemon/pepper tuna fillet (bought on clearance at Target a while ago).

My freezer/pantry inventory went well the other day, other than the freezing hands! And the timing was good.... I found three packages of kielbasa that I bought to have on hand for a pot luck or something like that... and tonight we are attending a Robotics dinner and I want to bring something.... so I pulled the kielbasa out on Thursday to defrost and it is in the crockpot now with a sweet and sour sauce. Nothing my family would really ever eat, but very tasty and I feel okay bringing tonight.

I pulled out a few other things to get defrosted to use this week (including a huge tupperware of homemade chicken stock) and I did some rearranging in the freezer, so I will have an easier time determining what to use up first.

Thanks for listening..............P

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
Yeah I need to do the freezers. Think I'll start that now.