Eating from the Pantry & Freezer ~ Week 1

Stephanie over at Keeper of the Home has challenged readers to do some meal planning with what we already have on hand (as much as possible).  I love this idea and am all for it.

MY PLAN:
Eat from the freezer/pantry for 1 month (May 15-June 15)
Purchase only fresh foods (dairy, produce, some meat) & coffee ~ MUST. HAVE. COFFEE.

MY $$ GOAL:
10% savings off current monthly grocery spending (I'm not going to tell you how much...what we spend on food per month is appalling...it's better than what it was 12 months ago, but still appalling.)

SAVING FOR WHAT?
We have had a piano fund going since Christmas.  We are short about $400 for the used one we have our eye on at the local music shop.  Any grocery savings will go towards that.


INVENTORY:
After reading Stephanie's first post, I took an inventory of fridge, freezer, & pantry.  Here's what I had to work with, in a nutshell...

Freezer
  • Frozen chicken breasts (about 3 meals worth)
  • 2 lbs trout (a treasure caught by my mom & her husband)
  • a ham bone and several fatty chunks of ham from Easter
  • 1 rotisserie chicken carcass for making yummy rich broth
  • several bags of frozen veggies, all varieties
  • gallon bag of shrimp stock
  • 1 box (10 ct.) salmon burgers
  • a few packages of frozen english muffins, bagel thins, and wraps/tortillas
Pantry
  • canned goods:  corn, baked beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce
  • dried beans, various
  • rice, white and instant brown
  • pasta:  spaghetti, rotini, elbows, couscous, egg noodles
  • lots of old-fashioned oats
  • random can coconut milk
  • condiments & lots of spices
  • chicken broth
  • beef broth
  • plenty of sugar and honey (I collect honey from all over.  If someone wants to bring me home a souvenir, I ask for honey!)
Fridge
  • Lots of grains:  cornmeal, flours, wheat bran, etc.
  • eggs
  • greek yogurt
  • condiments
  • buttermilk


MEAL PLAN ~ May 15-21

Baked Bean Casserole RECIPE

GROCERY SAVINGS THIS WEEK= 28% (woo-hoo!)

Every Friday for the next month, I'll post my plan, savings %, and maybe a recipe or two.  Then on Mondays, I'll link up Friday posts over at Keeper of the Home.  Stay tuned!

~Allison

Comments

  1. Hi ! This is my first visit to your blog. Just popped over from Keeper of the Home.

    Anyway ... just wanted to say hello. :) Bonnie

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  2. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's not willing to share how much they spend on groceries. Our amount is quite appalling, too! I'm also not always the greatest at accurately tracking it. Although I think this freezer challenge is helping with that! (I stopped over from Keeper of the Home.)

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