Reading a favorite blog of mine (http://ctonabudget.blogspot.com/) I came across this pantry challenge that my friend Carol is going to participate in. Without being aware of it while making out my January menu plans and thinking ahead to January expenses I too was involved in a pantry challenge. I checked out this particular challenge (http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/12/prepare-to-eat-down-the-pantry-2013-challenge) and liked what I saw here about specific goals. I am going to do this! My goals in January are to1. Eat down a lot of what we have on our pantry shelves as well as use up the leftover turkey and ham bones from the holiday.
2. Keep my food budget to under $150. Some things, milk, fresh produce, other perishables will have to be purchased but I have limited the amount of fresh produce this coming month relying more on frozen and canned goods that I already have on hand.
3. Get back to more cooking from scratch, especially making breads/rolls myself.
4. Eliminating a lot of food waste that has been going on and which I am ashamed of. I have gotten very slack lately and need to rededicate myself to making sure that by making do I don't do without.
To these ends I sat down today and made up a month's worth of dinner menus based almost entirely on what I already have on hand. Lunches will be eaten at work/school or will consist of leftovers or items already in the house (example today's lunch will be a quicky chicken-dumpling soup made with chicken stock from the freezer, garlic, shredded carrots, herbs from the cupboard, and homemade drop dumplings) and breakfast will be the usual variety: yogurt, oatmeal, cream of wheat, toast, bagels, english muffins for weekdays with a cooked breakfast (waffles, pancakes, egg dishes with either sausage, ham or bacon) on Sunday mornings.
As I made my dinner menus I began to see a pattern arising with at least one meal per week being soup based (I love homemade soups in the wintertime) and most Sunday suppers based on a larger cut of meat I can then create a second meal from. Thursday has been Dinner Date Night for my gentleman friend and myself (with the kids doing a DIY meal at home) and lately he has wanted to do some financial belt tightening as well so now I make a special meal just for the two of us on this night at his house. I have planned some nice dinners that won't break the bank and which are based almost completely on what is on hand.
I am psyched to get started !
Thanks for the shout out, Nancy. January has usually been a let's eat out of what's on hand month, now as a single Mom battling Winter's higher bills, even more so. I have always planned my menus based on what's already on hand, capitalizing on deals, stocked up sale prices.I would then fill in around the edges. In ubber frugal month, instead of purchasing a green vegetable at the store, I turn to frozen and canned supplies already on hand. We'll eat well, have a varied diet, there will still be a treat or 2. Hopefully more weight loss for me as well!
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