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Sunday, January 28, 2018

January Pantry Challenge--Week 4



For me, a pantry challenge is a good thing. For the most part, I have always kept a well stocked pantry. I admit to getting lazy sometimes about going to the store to stock when the prices are good. I also admit to hating to shop!  I use what I have in the house and the stock gets low and I get panicky.  Then I have to work, work, work to get back into my comfort zone.

I feel I am in a good place right now with what I have remaining in the house. There are somethings I need to replenish...I am out of tomato product of every kind! I am running low on pasta. I'm running very low on beef in the freezer! But there is enough other meat that I'm not worried about that at all.

I love having a menu plan but find it difficult to plan for a whole month. I prefer a week or 2 at a time. I did a menu plan for January but have strayed at times. No big deal. I kept a list of what we actually had for dinners. I've also kept a list of what others have shared on our group and have some pretty good new ideas for us.

So enough babble...my week went like this. Monday was an on your own day-aka leftovers. We had a meeting in town and went to Costco--may as well, we were in town!  Tuesday we had dijon mushroom pork chops, Wednesday was turkey tortellini soup.  Thursday was breakfast for dinner-my favorite! and Friday Ernie wanted Chinese so I ordered and he picked it up. The serving sizes are so large that we had enough for Saturday dinner too.  It was like date night 2 nights in a row. 😉😉

I used pantry stock to make some Vanilla Chai Tea Mix. A doubled recipe makes 2 1/2 quarts. Granddaughter Taylor loves this so I had promised to make her some. Will she get a full quart? Probably.

With 4 days left of this challenge, I'm calling it a success for me. I need to take my list and go to the store. I am planning to continue into February with the challenge. I will watch the sales but as far as just going to get groceries..no thank you. I don't want to. I'll just use what I have. I  has to be a good sale to get me into the store. 

Thanks Leisa of Suttons Daze on you tube.  I look forward to what will happen next month. 

2 comments:

The Joyful Quilter said...

What determination you have!! I frequently ignore my pantry and head to the store to get whatever was "voted on" by the family for the next few days of meals. Although, this week, I was inspired by you and used what we had for most of our meals. Thanks!

Nann said...

When I was starting out I took to heart all the articles in women's magazines about what the well-stocked pantry needs to have....and the advice has stuck with me. I've never been good about advance meal planning but I do pride myself on using up leftovers and making a nice variety.