Eat From The Pantry Week 3

Well, we’re half way through the challenge and we’re all still alive! Woot! :) A review of my goals:

1. Reduce weekly grocery spending to $80 from $100. I forgot to mention that my father-in-law lives with us now, too. He will be out of town for the first half of January though, so this should happen anyway – but may not if I don’t commit to it.

2. Use up odds and ends. Like that can of almond paste, frozen bag of pureed cauliflower, and the lonely package of soba noodles shoved in the back of the cabinet.

3. Schedule and plan for monthly freezer cooking days for the 3 months before our little one arrives. I want to have plenty of food on hand that is easy when she comes, and in the meantime I want some freedom to work through the time I’d normally be cooking so that I can check off some of the projects (kids room) that need to be completed.

4. Blog about it! :)

How am I doing?

1. So far… okay. I’ll tell you in a minute why I have $45 left for this month. lol! I do think we will make it under $320 this month though – which is a savings of $80! That’s worth it!
2. Used my random udon noodles in my Chicken Stir-fry but haven’t used the soba noodles yet. Decided the can of almond paste really had been in there too long to use… haha! And definitely used up the pureed cauliflower in an awesome curried soup last week!
3. I just posted about how I postponed my freezer cooking day – but it is still on for the end of this month! I’m super excited and have it pretty well planned out.
4. Um… check. ;)

I wasn’t exactly running on empty by the end of last week, but I was close enough that I needed some of the basics like flour and sugar. Here’s what my “pantry” looked like, cupboard, shelf, fridge, and freezer (oh, and toddler):

PLUS my fave grocery store was having a Hot Deals sale this weekend! CRAZY deals like bananas for $.28/lb, ziplock bags 2/$1, avocados for $.98, bags of dried cranberries at 3/$5, and ramen 5/$1. The best was the bags of Kraft cheese on sale 5/$6 – with a $5 off your next purchase coupon printed at the check out! I bought kind of a lot:

My total ended up at $106.52 (YIKES! I hate big numbers!) but I saved $7.35 with my coupons (see my post on where I get printable coupons) on top of the great sales and then there’s that $5 off my next purchase. I guess I’m officially re-stocking my pantry now – but I feel so accomplished having emptied it for the most part and getting back into the habit of meal planning has been awesome!

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My meal plan for the week:

Monday – Cook whole chicken, use some of it in spaghetti.

Tuesday – Frittata with chicken, spinach, and potatoes.

Wednesday – Chicken rice casserole of some kind

Thursday – Homemade pizza!!!!

Friday – Pork chops, homemade noodles in alfredo sauce

Saturday – SHOP! Ramen w/shrimp & veggies.

Snacks – yogurt, granola, fruit smoothies, kashi cookies

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I’ve been trying to find an excuse to make these yummy looking bread machine rolls from Money Saving Mom, but all of my meals already have carbs/starches in them. Maybe next week?

How are you doing with the pantry challenge? Make sure to link up and read other’s progress at Life As Mom.

4 Responses to Eat From The Pantry Week 3

Sonshine says:

January 18, 2010 at 7:17 pm

You are doing well.

As for an excuse to make those rolls, I say make them with your chicken rice casserole dish. I seem to lean towards a couple of starches in my meals for my kiddos who seem to have bottomless pits. :) Also if you are looking for an easy chicken rice casserole recipe, I have one! http://glimpseofsonshine.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicken-rice-casserole.html

Rachel says:

January 18, 2010 at 7:40 pm

Looks like you did awesome using up what you had on hand!!

I'm also planning on gearing up for lots of freezer cooking beginning in February! I'm due April 21…when is your little one due??

Anjanette says:

January 19, 2010 at 2:41 am

Mmm! That chicken rice casserole sounds yummy!

I saw that you are expecting, Rachel – congrats!!! We're due March 12th (ish – they come when they want to). :)

Megan says:

January 23, 2010 at 2:36 am

Looks like your doing a great job with your pantry challenge. Thanks for posting on my linky.