Eat from the Pantry/ Freezer Challenge--The END

Well it is the end of January and the END of this challenge; and I must say that I am tickled that it is over. It has been a great challenge; I have learned a lot about myself, my children and my husband. I want to say "Thank you" to my husband for putting up with this challenge and my "Creative meals" through out this month.
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Some things that I have learned from this challenge are:
-Set realistic goals
At the beginning of this challenge I said that I was going to TRY to only spend $100 for the month and to only go shopping 3 times. Well I actually spent $176 and went to the store 5 times. Those 5 shopping trips include a FREE shopping trip that I told you about here, but I still went so I counted it. I was over my dollar amount but I am OK with that considering that we sometimes easily can spend $600 a month on groceries. That amount also includes my husband sweet tooth stops---and there was more than one stop. But that is OK!
-My children are good cooks
To make this fun for our children, they got to cook one meal a week. My oldest one did most of the cooking and the others helped out. A couple of nights my husband had to go to a working dinner, so I thought perfect night for the kids to cook. One night we had mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese; another night we had Ramen Noodle soup. I wished that I had taken a picture the night that they had prepared the mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, because when I walked over to the table their plates were filled with only those two foods---I didn't say anything, I just grinned!

Some dishes that we ate a bunch of are: Baked Ziti, Tater Tot Casserole, Soup, Baked chicken with veggie packets, Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes (I had 40 pound of potatoes when we began this challenge---One of the local store had them on sale Buy one 10 pound bag get one for free so I bought four (40 pounds worth)).
We had a few meatless dinners---need to practice that more often!
One dessert that my children LOVE is chocolate gravy over bananas. It is so easy to make. Peach Cobbler is another favorite that I made a couple of times this month.

All in all it was an experience! We have never done a whole month and usually when we ran out of things we would just go to the store to buy it. I would love to know how you did this month so please leave a comment.
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I am ending our challenge in our home TODAY, because Baking Day starts tomorrow! I need to go to the store and get things to bake. I will blog more about the Baking days a little later on today...so stay tuned!

Eat from the Pantry/ Freezer Challenge---Making a dent

So this is day 17 of this challenge, how are you doing? We are making a dent in our pantry (actually cabinets). We have actually ran out of a couple of things like SUGAR. We went four days without it, sure I could have went to the store but I wanted to see how long we could go with out it; and I must say 4 days was it. Now notice the Nesquik chocolate powder on the top right shelf---hubby decided to stop by the store, on the way home, and bought some---on his own... with NO COUPON. LOL!

We have made a BIG dent in our cereal...remember all those boxes of opened cereal that I discovered at the beginning of this challenge; now we are down to just these.

On the morning of day 3 (without sugar) I remember that I had these little packets of muffin mixes, that I had bought back in November and decided to use them. I only had to add 1/2 of milk to each packet and it was a nice sweet treat.

The muffins didn't last long, well I did make the children (and myself--ahem!) save a few for their daddy to have with his lunch. They were really good.

Back in November I stocked up on Evaporated milk---I had a coupon and there was an awesome sale at my local Bi-Lo; so I stocked up! Now I just need to come up with some recipes to use them in. I am planing on using one can to make a couple of pumpkin pies, but am unsure what I will use the others for. Someone told me that they use evaporated milk when making mashed potatoes, so I may try that. They said that it gives the potatoes a richer taste. Have any of you ever tried it?

Here is what I am serving up this week in our home.

Snack Ideas:

Cheese and crackers

yogurt

granola bars,

raw veggies and ranch

smoothies

Breakfast:

Cereal x 2

Grits x 3

fruit

Banana, Pineapple, Yogurt shake---this is so yummy. (I will post recipe soon)

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Lunch:

Cheese quesadillas'

fruit

Ham sandwiches---chips

Scrambled egg sandwiches

RAISIN CARROT SALAD

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Dinner:

Roast, potatoes, green beans, pop up rolls

Hamburger Helper, veggies, and rolls

Cheesy rice, potato wedges, mac and cheese

Beefaroni, salad, and corn

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Friday night---Mammaw and Pappaw are coming and we are going out to eat----YIPEE!!! We have not seen them in almost a year (11 months) and we are so excited about their visit!

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So how are you doing? Do you have your menu planned out for this week, if not then why don't you?

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Eating from the Pantry/ Freezer --Update-

I know this is not the most pleasant picture that you have ever seen, but there are some recipes that you just have to use what the good Lord gave you and dig in...with your hands!
I love this challenge that we are doing, I have come up with a couple of new dishes from digging through my cabinets, putting this with that and that with this (LOL!) Well last night we had meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese for dinner....nothing new UNTIL I started to make the mash potatoes, obviously my mind was not on cooking and I thought that I had totally messed up the mashed potatoes, but they turned out to be a hit...per the kids and my hubby! I will tell you about them in a minute.
Meat Loaf Recipe:
2 pounds hamburger meat
1 packet of Lipton soup mix
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
As much ketchup as you want
Mix all together, shape into a loaf---I cooked mine in a bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
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Next I made potatoes and mac and cheese, notice in the picture below my yellow/orange potatoes! I opened the cheese packet for the mac and cheese poured it into my potatoes and mixed them up BEFORE I even realized what I had did---where was my mind at? Still cannot believe I did that! So I added a little salt, pepper and milk and served them as cheesy potatoes. My husband told me that they tasted good ---that they tasted like cheesy grits! I love my husband!

Next, I drained my noodles, added some milk, shredded cheese(lots of it) and butter---butter is suppose to make things taste better---right?

About 15 minutes before I took my meatloaf out of the oven I added more ketchup to the top of it; my children say that one can never have to much ketchup.

How are you doing in this challenge? What are you learning? Have you come up with any new dishes?

*If you have not joined in---it is NOT too late! Join us, set your own rules, eat from your pantry/freezer to save you and your family money. Can't do it for a whole month, try it for a week and I guarantee that you will be surprised at how much money you will save by staying OUT of the store. Please leave a comment below and share with us how you are doing.

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Eat from the Pantry/Freezer Challenge weekly update

How are you doing with this Eat from your Pantry/Freezer Challenge. So far so good here! I did go to the store (already), hadn't planned to go that early into the challenge, but I did. I had posted earlier my menu but I have wavered from that some---but that is okay---right because it is my rules. I went ahead and had the Baked Ziti, and Tator Tot Casserole . I ended up NOT having chicken and dressing. I have made chicken and dressing several times before, but this time I cooked my chicken too long, not only was it falling off the bone it was MUSH! That was the night I bombed dinner, I went a head and served the chicken with peas and mac and cheese. The kids loved the chicken, (gag) my husband just laughed because I was getting sick---it was horrible. I made the kids quit eating the chicken and I threw it away. I should probably put that under a frugal failure!

* I ended up making soup last night and we actually had left overs (pictured below); so we are having soup again tonight. I have never served the same dinner in a row before. I will be adding some more vegetable juice, more canned vegetables (drained), meat, and garlic---I love garlic in my soup!

For dessert it will be peach cobbler (YUM!).

Tomorrow I will be broiling chicken and serving broccoli and cantaloupe on the side.

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So how are you doing? Have you joined in this challenge yet? Don't have a clue what this challenge is about then go here.
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Remember this should be FUN and save you money----set your own rules, and get creative. See my goals and plans here.

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Eat From the Pantry Challenge UPDATE

I went shopping!!!!! I hadn't planned to go to the store so soon, but my husband said lets go and therefore we went. I had already taken inventory of our pantry/freezer and was pleasantly surprised at what I found, really surprised at all the cereal that we have!

I spent $58 on the items that you see in the picture above....not too bad, considering that I got two big packages of boneless chicken breast! With me spending $58 that leaves me $42 for the month because I am trying to ONLY spend $100 this month of January.

I am going to list some things that we will be eating this week. All these items will be from the pantry/freezer and no more shopping trips this week.

Dinner items:

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Baked Ziti , galic bread, and corn

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Tator Tot Casserole and Hominy

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Chicken Dressing, Parmesan potatoes

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Meatloaf balls, mac and cheese, potatoes

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Chicken and rice---so easy, as much rice as you want, cream of chicken soup and then chicken, bake, and eat! green beans on the side

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Lunch items:

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Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks

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Tomato soup

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grilled cheeses

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Fresh veggies and fruit

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Spinach Dip/chicken sandwiches

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Breakfast Items:

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Cereal ---lots of it too, have you seen my picture of all our OPENED cereal?

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Oranges, bananas, apples

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Snacks:

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Apple crisp

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Peach Cobbler

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Chocolate gravy over bananas

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Cheese and Crackers.

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Have you taken inventory of your grocery items? Have you planned your meals planned out? I hope so! I promise by doing this it will save you money!

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TATER TOT CASSEROLE: YUM!

I am all for fast fixin's and this is the easiest casserole to ever put together. I thawed my tater tots over night in the refrigerator and put this on the lowest settings this morning before we left for church and then enjoyed it once we got home(if you are going to be at home while cooking this then follow directions below).
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TATER TOT CASSEROLE:
1 pkg. Tater Tots, ($1.49)
1 can cream of celery soup, ($0.67)
1 can cream of chicken soup, (0.67)
1 pound ground beef, ($3.67)
1 (8-oz) pkg. shredded cheese ($1.67)
* Brown ground beef and drain. Mix both soups together in a bowl. Put ground beef in a casserole dish, add your soup mixture on top. Layer tater tots on top, then add the cheese. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
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*It only cost me $8.17 to prepare this meal for our family of six.
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UPDATE:
My husband had to stay in over the weekend, just doing some testing, and I had planned to put this on before church, again. With my husband being home he said that he would cook lunch and it would be ready by the time he got home...and it was. He followed the recipe above, but added rice to this casserole. I must say it was very good. I am learning that this is a casserole you can add several different ingredients too and it comes out tasting even better than before.
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Eat From the Pantry Challenge Reminder

Well it is the first day of our Pantry/freezer challenge. How are you doing? We are doing good here. I have not been to the store, matter of fact I have not been out of the apartment today, resulting in NO money being spent.

I am adding one more thing to our challenge for our house hold. I am not buying cereal the whole month of January either! Matter fact I refuse too, unless I can get it for free through a sale and use of a coupon. While taking inventory of what was in my pantry(not an actual pantry, but several cabinets) I discovered several OPENED boxes of cereal, so I decided right then and there I would not be buying cereal for the month.

We brought in the New Year with some friends---we stayed up late, watched the ball drop, played games, drank egg nog, and had loads of fun. All that resulted into a very late night/early morning celebration. I think that we all got into the bed around 4:00 this morning. We all slept through -regular- breakfast hours, snacked a little and had a late lunch, early dinner. I pulled a 9 by 13 pan of baked ziti out of the freezer, had corn and garlic bread as a side (YUM!)

One of my children gave me a cookbook for Christmas and it had this recipe in it.

I was so excited to find this recipe, not because it is good, but because it was put in the book by my friend Kristy B., who went to be with the Lord in the early part of 2009.

~Baked Ziti Recipe~

1 lb. dry ziti pasta

1 onion chopped

1 lb. lean ground beef

2 (24 oz) jars spaghetti sauce

8 oz. Provolone cheese, sliced

1 1/2 c. sour cream

8 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 T. Parmesan cheese, grated

*Bring a large pot of lightly salted to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes: drain.

*In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. DRAIN; add Spaghetti sauce and simmer for 15 minutes.

*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

*Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.

Then layer as follows:

1/2 of ziti, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese, and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheeses are melted.
Then eat :)

About three hours after we ate all four of my children say "We are hungry!" I'm thinking---we just ate. Then my husband says, "Becca I'm kinda hungry too."

So I decided to make them a snack. I cut up some bananas and made chocolate gravy to over them.

~ Chocolate Gravy Recipe~
2 c. water
5 T. flour
2 c. sugar
5 T. cocoa - I think Hershey's is the best!
Cook to a medium boil. Serve over bananas or even hot biscuits.

It is a favorite in our home!

See my Goals and Plans HERE.
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Eat From the Pantry Challenge: My Goals and Plans

Have you ever just cooked from your pantry---not going to the store at all, using what you have on hand, did I mention NOT GOING TO THE STORE at all! Just wondering?

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My husband has said many times that we need to use everything in our pantry before we head to the store again, we have come close but always end up going to buy meat to go with those things that are in our pantry; and I have NEVER done this for a month, much less be challenged too.

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So when I saw that Money Saving Mom and Fish Mama were co-hosting an Eat From the Pantry Challenge I was totally excited. I am also really excited about joining many other bloggers in doing this challenge, looking through your ideas and recipes.

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To be perfectly honest, I'm still not exactly sure at this point how I am pulling this off because I've never done something like it before....did I mention that I have NEVER done this before.

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Here are my goals:

• I am making a list of everything that I have in my pantry (and I am checking it twice )
• I need to make this fun---we are a family of six
• I need to make these meals tasty---so no one gets bored
• I am only planning a trip to the grocery store 3 times in the month of January---gasp(for milk, eggs, fresh fruit and veggies)
• I am planning ONLY to spend $100 for the whole month --double gasp!

I am going to try my hardest to make it a whole month and I want you to join in this challenge with me. Set your own rules; try it for week, two weeks...just try it. I am doing this for the number one reason because I think that it will be FUN...and not to mention all the money that we will be saving.

I will be updating you each week with what I have been coming up with, OR if I have gone to the store, what I bought, AND how much I have spent; remember this challenge is from January 1 - January 31, 2010...

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