Saturday, January 9, 2010

Eat From The Pantry Challenge - Week 1




The challenge is on!

Because I share way too much To give y'all a good idea of what we're starting with in our food reserves, I thought I'd share some pictures of our cupboards and such.

Here's our packed fridge/freezer

and chest freezer, and three soups that don't fit in the fridge, so they sit in the garage, where it is like a freezer!


and the pantry, plus a bit of overflow.
(oops - I forgot about the other pantry cupboard...not pictured)


We started the challenge with a ton of leftovers from having guests all throughout the holidays: chili, potato soup, veggie soup, pork tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, calico beans, bbq pork, tacos and lots of snacky foods like veggies and dip, cheese, sausage & crackers, etc.

Here's what our menu has looked like for the past 9 days:

Jan 1 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping, no cooking!

Jan 2 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping, no cooking!

Jan 3 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. Made one loaf of bread. Went grocery shopping at Costco, spent $19.95 on the following, which was nearly half of my projected budget of $50...$30.05 remaining for the month.


3 gallons of milk (should last us 2 weeks)
10 lbs apples (should last us the whole month)
5 lbs limes (should last approx 3 months)

Jan 4 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping, no cooking!

Jan 5 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping, made 1 half-loaf of raisin bread and 1 half-loaf of french bread, made teriyaki rice for the kids and added it to my leftover veggie soup. And I've got to say, I'm getting sick of leftovers!!!

Jan 6 - Breakfast & lunch: leftovers. Stuck the remaining leftover soups (about 4 portions worth) into the freezer; still have bbq pork, calico beans, some tuna leftovers in the fridge...and I'm sure I'm forgetting something! Dinner: made tater tot casserole. Hooray for something new! :) No grocery shopping!

Jan 7 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping, no cooking!

Jan 8 - Breakfast, lunch & dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping, no cooking - well, I made a salad, but that's not really cooking.

Jan 9 - Breakfast: made pancakes, Lunch & Dinner: leftovers. No grocery shopping!


And here's our menu plan for the next week:
(breakfasts are usually cereal and/or fruit)

Jan 10 - Lunch: leftovers; Dinner: Kung Pao Chicken
Jan 11 - Lunch: Greek Chicken Wraps; Dinner: Tacos
Jan 12 - Lunch & dinner: leftovers
Jan 13 - Lunch: leftovers; Dinner: Egg Casserole
Jan 14 - Lunch: Fettuccine with Spicy Sausage; Dinner: leftovers
Jan 15 - Lunch: frozen pizza; Dinner: leftovers
Jan 16 - Lunch: leftovers; Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Soup

8 comments:

  1. That's a lot of leftovers. We saw that when my fiance's stepdad died...his mom had food for DAYS. We don't have a spare freezer.

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  2. Wow! That's a LOT of stuff! We are doing the same. We should have enough supplies for another week or so, then the house will be bare! Good luck!

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  3. Your garage freezer made me laugh. We refer to our garage as the walk-in refrigerator. Recently, on the garage floor, we had sodas, bottled waters, frog eye salad, a turkey, pumpkin pie, and who knows what else. Drinks from the garage are colder than those from our indoor refrigerator.

    It's good to use what we have - especially since so many of us really do have a lot of food in our homes. Encouraging post!

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  4. That's wild about your garage. I never thought people could use it as a refrigerator in the winter months.

    Mine is so hot in the summer I almost pass out. I can't clean it out my car during those months, because the heat sends my heart into an arrhythmia. I know it has risen to over 120 because it broke the thermometer in there. On the positive note my water heater doesn't have to run as much.

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  5. such a good idea to plan like that. I need to get my butt in gear. I'm always finding ingredients gone bad in the fridge because i didn't plan. But this is inspiring me! Thanks!

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  6. Just wanted to let you know you have an award waiting for you. :) Here's the direct link:
    http://brittanyciara.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-first-bloggy-award.html

    Happy Saturday!

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  7. Okay so I cracked up when I saw your three pots of soup being refrigerated in the garage. If I tried that here, they would grow mold. Too funny!! You are doing awesome with this little challenge. Way to go!

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  8. Oh my gracious sakes! That's a ton of food! I'm comin' to your house next hurricane season, LOL

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