Spring Pantry Challenge

[charming23]

Bump

We have been pretty good at following the menu this week.

Monday we had grilled cheese with some soup from the freezer, Tuesday was London Broil on the grill with baked sweet poatoes and corn, last night we had family over for corned beef, and tonight we are having pasta with meatballs from the freezer for my mom and some italian sausage I found in the freezer for me.

 

[Swimnoid]

Bumping

I always get good ideas from here. Maybe everybody is destashed now and has to build their pantry back up!

 

[lisam427]

i really missed posting in this thread! it really helped me plan my meals and avoid going out to eat! here's our meals for the next few days. tonight we had burgers, boxed mac and cheese, and broccoli.

friday-stovetop easy sausage bake, salad
saturday-crockpot roast, mashed potatos, veg from freezer
sunday- goulash, salad

 

[momto1]

I still need to be cleaning out the panty, cabinets, laundry room, etc. But, I have made lots of progrees!

Tonight - Polish Sausage, Red Rice and Beans (box in pantyr), corn on cob (from freezer)

Tomorrow - not sure. We are supposed to head to our camper to open it for the season. We usually meet up - me from work and the guys from home - on Fridays and have fancier snacks - fancy olives, mozzarella/basil/balsami, etc. We don't have that type of food on hand right now, though.

Lori

 

[50sjayne]

I'm thinking we should change the title--maybe spring challenge .

 

[tinkmom2]

Yep I agree on changing the title It's been a hard month here for me. I really need to be working! The good news is I got a summer job that starts in June. Bad news..it starts in June lol! So we really have cut our all ready low budget in half and are still doing ok. I spent only $50.00 at the grocery store yesterday and that was for meat, a few other items, and soda lol. This is what I am making for the week..
I forgot to add I made eggplant parm with some chicken added too!
Yesterday was ground beef pastys (made with ready made pie crust, ground beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, a bit of beef broth)
baked tilapia with a potato
chicken and brocolli crockpot style
lasagna with garlic bread
onion soup with cheese on top (requested from my daughter?)
some kind of breakfast for dinner
loaded potato soup

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Bumping

I always get good ideas from here. Maybe everybody is destashed now and has to build their pantry back up!

That's what happened to me, except now my pantry's kind of full again. It doesn't take very long.

Speaking of which, does anyone know any good cous cous recipes? I bought a big jar of it for a curry dish, and now have tons leftover, and the curry thing was good, but I don't want to make that a dozen times.

 

[Promomx2]

Okay I need help. Dh took out hamburger patties from the freezer without me knowing about it yesterday, so I need to cook them today. I really don't want hamburgers. Any ideas? I was thinking of doing a hamburger with gravy but I don't know how to make gravy.

 

[TiffanyK]

That's what happened to me, except now my pantry's kind of full again. It doesn't take very long.

Speaking of which, does anyone know any good cous cous recipes? I bought a big jar of it for a curry dish, and now have tons leftover, and the curry thing was good, but I don't want to make that a dozen times.

I have a Zesty Chicken in the Slow Cooker recipe that I like to make with couscous. The chicken makes a lot of broth with onions and it's good on the couscous.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Okay I need help. Dh took out hamburger patties from the freezer without me knowing about it yesterday, so I need to cook them today. I really don't want hamburgers. Any ideas? I was thinking of doing a hamburger with gravy but I don't know how to make gravy.

Are they cooked patties, or are they just raw ground beef? Because if it's just raw beef, you could just mix it up and make meatloaf or something.

 

[charming23]

Glad to see this is back up. We have been doing really well. I did a little restocking of our freezer and pantry but have been able to keep grocery bills under $300 for a few months.

This week we had/will have:

Sunday: We had Chicken with roasted veggies tossed with angelhair pasta
Monday: We had cheesy ham and hashbrown casserole
Tuesday: Pork Souvlaki with cucumber yogurt sauce, oven potataoes and sauteed carrots and zuchinni
Wednesday: Buttermilk waffles with canadian bacon and fruit salad
Thursday: leftovers/sandwich night
Friday: Grilled Chicken Salad
Saturday: Grilled Pork Chops with rice pilaf and harvest apples

I have also been doing good on eating up leftovers. I rarely buy lunchmeat anymore and instead eat leftovers for lunch. This time last year I could have filled a black trash bag twice a month cleaning out our fridge whereas now I can just add what has expired to our weekly bag from the kitchen,

 

[tinkmom2]

Okay I need help. Dh took out hamburger patties from the freezer without me knowing about it yesterday, so I need to cook them today. I really don't want hamburgers. Any ideas? I was thinking of doing a hamburger with gravy but I don't know how to make gravy.

Gravy is pretty easy to make. It's almost like making a roux. Take 2Tbsps butter and 2Tbsps flour mix until a golden color with a wisk add a can of beef broth or stock(approx 1cup) and mix until just under boiling. It will thicken as you cook it. S&P to taste.

 

[Promomx2]

Gravy is pretty easy to make. It's almost like making a roux. Take 2Tbsps butter and 2Tbsps flour mix until a golden color with a wisk add a can of beef broth or stock(approx 1cup) and mix until just under boiling. It will thicken as you cook it. S&P to taste.

Thanks but I don't have any broth or stock, can I use the drippings from frying the hamburgers?

 

[tinkmom2]

If you were making chicken gravy I would say scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan and use bullion if you had it but I am not sure how the grease would taste from hamburgers.

 

[Priorityonecb]

I'd love to get back to this thread too! The more I save at the grocery store, the more we have for summer fun money!

Last night I made a italian bread salad and a fruit salad using up all the produce from last weeks shopping trip. We had that with leftover pizza from the night before.

Tonight we had tuna sandwiches, the rest of the fruit salad, cucumber slices, and carrot sticks.

I only spent $33 on groceries for the week! Putting aside $20 in cash for produce at the farmer market this weekend. So, $53 this week! Not bad!

 

[50sjayne]

Yep I agree on changing the title It's been a hard month here for me. I really need to be working! The good news is I got a summer job that starts in June. Bad news..it starts in June lol! So we really have cut our all ready low budget in half and are still doing ok. I spent only $50.00 at the grocery store yesterday and that was for meat, a few other items, and soda lol. This is what I am making for the week..
I forgot to add I made eggplant parm with some chicken added too!
Yesterday was ground beef pastys (made with ready made pie crust, ground beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, a bit of beef broth)
baked tilapia with a potato
chicken and brocolli crockpot style
lasagna with garlic bread
onion soup with cheese on top (requested from my daughter?)
some kind of breakfast for dinner
loaded potato soup

You ought to just open a restaurant until the job starts...I'd go. Seriously those sound like Great dinners....

That's what happened to me, except now my pantry's kind of full again. It doesn't take very long.

Speaking of which, does anyone know any good cous cous recipes? I bought a big jar of it for a curry dish, and now have tons leftover, and the curry thing was good, but I don't want to make that a dozen times.

My daughter made some when we were on vacation. She made the cous cous, put some grilled salmon on top with some stir fried veggies-- it was so good and the consistency of the cous cous was great-- kind of made everything stick together. Oh this was on a bed of baby spinach too.

I think we'll get more responses with a spring title.

Both my freezer and pantry are looking really good. Y'know-- it's nice to not do a lot of shopping too.

 

[charming23]

We did really good this week. We did go out last night so we are haiving the grilled chicken salad tonight. I also went grocery shopping yesterday and spent $51.49 but $25 of that was toilet paper, laundry detergent, softner and some cleaning supplies.

I am also cooking up some crockpot vegetable beef soup to have for lunches this coming week.

Next week's menu is:
Sunday: Grilled country style pork ribs with homemade mashed potatoes and brown sugar carrots
Monday: Crockpot potato and double corn chowder
Tuesday: Baked macaroni and cheese
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Grilled pork chops with rice pilaf and veggies
Friday: Homemade pizza
Saturday: not sure yet depends on the weather

 

[figment3258]

I know that i have not posted in a while but i am happy to say that my freezer and cupboards are almost empty! Its been great. I really have just been trying to use what I have but we have be getting take out quite a few times. So now after this weekend i am back to no eating out and using what I have. Melting pot tomorrow night though so looking forward to it! Spring challenge here i come
!

 

[Priorityonecb]

We've been doing fairly well! Friday I grilled chicken and made parmesan couscous and green beans on the side.

Today we had a coupon for Panda Express, buy a three item entree get a one item entree free. We got the three all orange chicken to take home for dinner for all of us. Dh and I shared the one item entree for our lunch. So we got two meals today for $7.50!

Tomorrow we will use the leftover chicken for chicken ceasar salads, and I will make a strawberry shortcake from fresh berries! Yum!!

 

[lisam427]

my freezer and cupboards are really packed. i picked up my angelfood order yesterday and had to put some of the stuff in my moms freezer. i couldnt pass it up as i got two packages for $56. this is enough for us for a month. i really need this challenge.

tonight-we are having roast, mashed potatoes, vegi
monday-crockpot deli roasted chicken, rice, salad
tues-chili, salad, cornbread
wed-chicken and rice casserole, veg from freezer
thurs-breakfast for dinner, fruit
friday-leftovers
saturday-shepards pie or goulash
sunday-pasta and meatballs

with the deli-roasted chicken i will use some leftover meat for the chicken and rice casserole. anything left will be made into chicken and rice soup for next week.

lunches will be leftovers. for breakfast we have plenty. we have a ton of chili left so what ever we dont eat will be put in the freezer for next week. im planning on just buying dairy, bread, and produce as i need it. my goals are no eating out for a month starting today, and using as much up as i can from the pantry/freezer, going to the store and buying as little as possible .

i have to start paying off my sept. trip to disney.. this challenge is really going to help.