Money Saving Mom and Fish Mama have started an Eat from the Pantry Challenge for the month of January. What a great idea!
The Eat From the Pantry Challenge is a plan to avoid grocery shopping as much as possible, and only eat food you already have on hand for an entire month (or week, 2 weeks, whatever you want). It is such a great way to save some money and get creative with your cooking ( I mean, what am I going to make with a million cans of Hunt’s tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, and Nestle morsels??).
After looking through my pantry and freezer, I’m actually pretty excited! I have some meal ideas already and can’t wait for the last week when I’ll really have to get creative. I still plan to buy milk, bread, eggs, fresh fruit, etc., but I will not be doing any stockpiling. I also plan to continue going out for lunch after church on Sundays, and my weekly playdate at Chick-fil-A with my Bestie.
This challenge also fits in perfectly with my personal goal to eat less processed food in 2010. We will go ahead and eat up what we have left, and any that we don’t eat by the end of the month will go to the local food pantry. Once it’s gone, it will be great to have a fresh pantry with less temptation. I also will get to have the fun of re-stocking it with healthier food!
Here are a few dinners I already have planned from my stockpile:
- Slow Cooker Veggie Chili (I’ll probably be making a LOT of chili this month…)
- Southwestern Chicken Stew
- Spaghetti Broccoli Bake
- Spicy Nacho Bake
- Monterey Chicken Quesadillas
- Leftover Mashed Potato Soup
- Cheesy Broccoli and Rice with Chicken
That is a week of dinners planned with no effort at all! Here in a couple weeks I may be desperately asking for ideas though!
So, what do you think about the challenge? Will you be participating?