How’d you do this week with the Eat from the Pantry/Freezer Challenge?
I originally had these four goals for the challenge:
1. Try new from scratch baking recipes (pita bread & corn tortillas)
. 2. Use meat from the freezer (especially beef soup bones)
. 3. Use up some of the frozen Okra I have in my freezer
. 4. Try at least one new recipe each week (bacon pizza, taquitos, beef & barley soup, grapefruit salad)
I’m happy to say that I fit all four goals in! I tried a new muffin recipe and used frozen apples from my freezer; I used up some meat from my freezer: barbacoa beef that we ate in burritos, a chicken, and a pork roast; we ate okra one night; and, I tried one new recipe: Honey, Mustard & Rosemary Pork Roast. It was YUMMY! A friend gave me a bag full of fresh rosemary and I didn’t know what to do with it until googled “honey, rosemary, pork roast.” I also used my last scone packet, and most of the homemade pancake mix I had in the freezer as well. I’d call that a successful week even though I did buy a lot of hummus for my freezer and we didn’t follow my menu plan exactly. I did not make the pizza or the chicken pot pie so I’ll keep them as ideas for later.
Here’s what I originally had planned for this week:
Jan 10 – leftovers or dinner out (I’ll probably make the bacon pizza instead)
Jan 11 – Crockpot chicken with black beans & salsa over rice (Thanks Robin!)
Jan 12 – Bean burritos, guacamole & chips
Jan 13 – Beef & barley soup, crusty bread
Jan 14 – Pizza night, Chi-Chi salad (This will probably change)
Jan 15 – BBQ pork, homemade buns, pasta salad
Jan 16 – leftovers or dinner out
I have new goals this week:
1. Eat up the drawer full of grapefruit
2. Use the beef soup bones
3. Eat frozen okra again
4. Try one new baking recipe again
My kids were the biggest obstacles. One day for lunch I made grilled cheese sandwiches with provolone cheese instead of the normal cheddar cheese (because that’s what I had!). You’d think I was trying to get them to eat sand. They also griped about the black beans I served with our Mexican food, instead of the normal pinto beans (again, because I had black beans in the freezer). When we had those beans the next day as leftovers for lunch, though, they were Ok with them…They were really looking forward to the bacon pizza, but we went out instead. Of course, they didn’t gripe about that!!
How did you do??? I’d love to hear!
About Michelle
Welcome! I'm Michelle and I'm glad you're here. Simplify, Live, Love is a blog about simple life in rural Iowa. We are a self-employed, frugal, green, mostly homeschooling family of 6 working to go off the grid on a modern day homestead in Eastern Iowa. Please subscribe for gardening tips, green living hints, recipes, fun giveaways, and frugal ideas. Thanks for stopping by.
I don't have as lofty goals but then we're not moving!
However, last week I did not buy any new meat for the freezer, just ate what we had. And I did an inventory on the gluten-free stuff we had and used up some boxed bread mix that was nearing it's expiration date. The boxed bread mix wasn't good though. However, the main reason for the inventory was to assess what I had before buying new flours for a new recipe I found. So we also tried the new recipe, which rocks!
Lets see, next week goals are to use up more freezer stuff, and inventory the rest of the pantry. I'd also like to pick up some more containers for the various flours we have.
Did you ever pick out new containers? if so, what did you settle on?
Michele, I have not picked out containers yet. I'm looking at some from Ikea and need to go to Dollar General still. I'm waiting b/c I need understand exactly how SMALL my new kitchen is going to be. That will determine how much I'll be able to store in the kitchen and how much will have to be located elsewhere, likely in the basement… I'll let you know when I figure it out.
When we are low on food, I tell the kids we're playing "Eat like little ratties" day. Gross to some, I know. But we try for a day or two to just eat what's in the cupboards. The children really seem to get into creating new foods. Tiny frozen bagels, coconut milk and canned beets is an amazing soup. Canned pumpkin is great with honey decorations! I have discovered we often eat HEALTHIER on rattie day!