Last year I did a Pantry Challenge. It happened because I had tons of duplicates and the pantry was just overflowing with “stuff.” We made amazing progress last year and I wanted to do that again. Our pantry is once again disorganized and overwhelming.
Over the weekend Michael and I worked really hard cleaning out several hall closets, the bedroom closet, the freezer and kitchen drawers. Fat Kitty helped:
I took three big bags and two boxes of junk to Goodwill (KITTY-FREE!) and it felt awesome to purge it all!
Pantry Dinner #1
The first dinner was a “throw everything together” kind of meal. I found a very large chicken breast in the freezer when I cleaned it out. I made a box of garlic and olive oil couscous from the pantry, mixed in some frozen peas and then Michael cooked up that chicken breast with some shallots.
I liked the flavors of the shallots and peas in the couscous. The dinner was really easy and used up three things we needed to get rid of! Excellent. I made us side salads to go with dinner:
The dinner was easy and would have been a good meal to prepare during the week when we’re short on time and desire to cook. I also had leftovers for lunch for 2 days.
Pantry Dinner #2
Pan-seared salmon and a Savory Carrot Salad was on the menu. For the salmon Michael heated the skillet and coated the salmon with olive oil. I seasoned with salt, peppers and capers (from the Pantry! Yay!).
He flipped the salmon over until cooked–like 5 minutes or so.
I garnished the salmon with some lemon slices and had the Carrot Salad.
Pantry Dinner #3
Okay. Technically NOT dinner but…. for dessert one night after work I made pudding.
I’ve has these mini shells in the pantry since this summer. The plan was to make them for a potluck and then I never ended up doing that.
I made up the chocolate pudding in these crusts and we desserts for the week–less than 250 calories each.
The pantry and freezer are a work in progress. We’ll continue to work through the food in there and try to clear some things out. But we’re making progress!
QUESTION: How often do you clean out your pantry? What creative meals have you made?
Ashlee
This is a great idea! I was just looking at our laundry room where I keep all the extra food (my pantry) and I was thinking it was time to eat some stuff. I am definitely going to challenge myself to do this. Only going to the store when we need stuff that will spoil.
Great Idea!
Lisa Eirene
I tend to buy “too much” and then it sits there in the pantry for the Zombie Apocalypse or whatever. When money is tight, it’s smart to eat the stuff in the pantry and only buy essentials.
Anita
My pantry is small, so I can keep it under control. It’s my freezer that gets crazy. We buy meats and vegetables in bulk and freeeze them, so every two months or so my husband and I go on the “Freezer Diet”. Every fish, fowl or meat product and vegetable in there has to be eaten before we can buy anything else.
It’s really effective and means we don’t have to throw something away because it has freezer burn!