I’m one of those shoppers that will see something on sale and think, “Well I don’t need this NOW but some day I WILL need it and it’s on sale now!”
So I’ll grab a few cans, boxes, jars and then I’m always prepared.
The downside? Our pantry is out of control full. And disorganized! I hate disorganization.
Michael does our Costco shopping. We always have a supply of frozen salmon, turkey burgers, Boca burgers and other frozen goods. The downside? Our freezer is small and it’s packed full.
Why do we need a ton of boxes of Mac n Cheese? Especially a brand we didn’t really like much.
And 8 cans of black beans?
I keep buying brownie mixes even though I haven’t made brownies (and don’t really keep stuff like that in the house).
Are we the only ones with more jars of mustard that actual food?
The solution? It’s time to eat through our pantry/freezer. Not only will it save us time (no more shopping for awhile) it will save us a lot of money!
I discussed the Challenge with Michael and he agreed. The only things we will go to the store for are things that expire: veggies, fruit, proteins, grains.
Michael took it to another level by suggesting we do meals with one of each: pantry, freezer and then fresh produce.
He also said that NOT eating out will also save us a lot of money (which I whole-heartedly agree with). We have a few Groupons we need to use before they expire but I think we can do it.
Michael teased me about having tons of jams, jars of pears and pickled things. Like–what am I going to do with a jar of pickled green beans? I have no idea!
He also teased me about how we are supposed to make meals out of all these things. I think it’s doable. I found a website for matching Recipes by their ingredients. I think we can create some interesting dishes for dinners and I think we can do it for a month. And no, Michael, that does not mean Mac n’ Cheese 4 nights in a row!
QUESTION: Do you overstock your pantry? How do you find recipes to use the random items in your pantry? And what the heck should I do with pickled green beans?
Becky
I overstock our pantry as well–I love a good deal! I use allrecipes.com and use their “Ingredient Search” to come up with recipes that use the things I have in storage. It works nice! Although I am kind of stumped about the pickled green beans…
Lisa Eirene
DANG! Me too…. 😉
The Boyfriend
Sweet! A week of nothing but mac and cheese!
Lisa Eirene
You’ll LOVE it!!!!xoxox
Carbzilla
This is sooooo familiar! We currently have 3 small jars of red curry paste and two bottles of horseradish. We went through and ate the boxed soups last week, but it seems like I can never get through all the black beans!
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Lisa Eirene
Hopefully it’s not a month of Disaster Dinners. 😉
Amber from Girl with the Red Hair
I’m not like that but my mom is! One time my aunt cleaned out her pantry and found 25 cans of mushrooms. 25 cans!!!!! Craziness.
I only have a very small area in my kitchen that is devoted to the “pantry” area so I keep it neat and usually know what is in it!
Kathy
I do this periodically as well; it is kind of cathartic and it makes sense for so many reasons.
Have a great day!
Notes from the Fatty File
I live in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen/almost no pantry space but I STILL manage to have 3 bags of brown basmati rice on hand at all times. So I feel your pain. I’m jealous of your stash, though, you really can do a ton with what you’ve got on hand. Seriously! As for the pickled green beans, I am a huge pickle person so I’d start by putting them on salads for lunch. You could cut them up or zap them in your food processor to make a kind of relish and put them in egg/tuna/chicken salads, too. I’d also put them on sandwiches.
Lisa Eirene
So would you heat up the pickled green beans or eat them cold? I love the idea of adding them to salads!
Notes from the Fatty File
Yeah, I’d keep them cold. I love hot/sweet pickled peppers on a giant veggie sandwich (avocado, sprouts, tomato, lettuce, onion, carrots, cukes, etc.) so I bet they’d be awesome on something like that, too.
Pantry Challenge Part 2 » 110 Pounds and Counting
[…] year I did a Pantry Challenge. It happened because I had tons of duplicates and the pantry was just overflowing with […]