Pantry Challenge Continued

Okay. So I’ve done a horrible job at keeping going with this thing. Going to try again!

Spent about $60 on groceries this week. I picked up chicken breasts thinking we were out, but we weren’t. Oh well, they’ll all be eaten. Also it’s supposed to snow this weekend somewhere between 3″ and 2′ so I stopped by the store yesterday to pick up milk and bread before all the crazies go out tomorrow.

Here’s what we ate:
Saturday
B: bacon and eggs
L: salad for me, cheese and blueberries for S3. S2 and H were out fixing the car.
D: I had ratatouille (from the freezer) and rice. Boys had popcorn? I don’t really remember.

Sunday
B: pancakes and bacon
L: pizza and salad
D: pumpkin, black bean chili and cornbread muffins

Monday
B: pancakes, eggs and bacon
L: leftover chili and muffins
D: sausage, white bean and kale soup

Tuesday:
Me:
B: Turkey bacon and spinach mini frittata
L: leftover chili, salad, muffin
S: apple, pear

Boys:
B: pumpkin mini muffins, bananas, pancakes, cottage cheese, blueberries
L: chili and cornbread muffins
S: mandarin oranges, apples

Dinner: chicken enchiladas, black beans

Today’s plan:
Boys:
SIL is going to feed them

Me:
B: mini frittata, zucchini mini muffin, coffee
L: lunch bunch
S: roasted seaweed, pear, blueberries, carrots and cucumbers (might not eat all of this, just packed a bunch because I’m not sure what lunch will be)

D: leftovers

Pantry Challenge Day 15

Halfway through the month! I’m not sure we’ll make it the whole way to the end, but we’re also in an apartment and don’t have a deep freezer or anything like that too clean out. We still have steaks, a roast, salmon, shrimp, and liverwurst in the freezer. Some bread, edamame, strawberries, and random fruit, too. We’ll see how we do on the meat end of things.

Boys:
B: pancakes from the freezer, applesauce I canned in the fall
L: chicken noodle soup
S: pear cups, bananas, apples

Me:
B: quiche
L: salad and soup
S: apple, carrots and cucumber

D: if the boys are hungry (they don’t normally want dinner) I’ll make eggs to go with the black beans currently in the crockpot. If they aren’t, I’ll probably make some soup or salad for myself.

Pantry Challenge Day 14

Okay, first things first. H and I went it for dinner last night. Total was like $60. That’s more than what I’ve spent this week and almost more than what I’ve spent this month to feed our family (I guess that’s not exactly accurate, I mean I did spend money on the food we’re eating, I just didn’t spend the money in this month…) anyway we both also ate way more calories than we needed to. Yes, it was nice to have a “date”; we don’t get very many of those, but still crazy to think about the cost of eating out.

Today:
Boys:
B: SIL is feeding them
L: ham, green beans and potatoes
S: mango, apples

Me:
B: cereal and banana
L: salad and soup
S: apple, orange, roasted seaweed

D: hopefully the last of the ham, green beans and potatoes!

Pantry Challenge Day 13

Okay, so today doesn’t really count. We’re eating mostly nothing from the pantry…

Boys:
B: pumpkin mini muffin, oatmeal, strawberries
L: pizza, carrots and hummus
S: bananas, apples

Me:
B: quiche, pumpkin mini muffin, coffee
L: lunch bunch
S: veggies, apple, orange, roasted seaweed
D: out with gift cards from H’s boss

Pantry Challenge Day 12

So far, so good!

Boys:
1st breakfast: waffles with jelly, pumpkin mini muffin
B: scrambled eggs, black beans, strawberries
L: ham, green beans and potatoes
S: apple, popcorn

Me:
B: oatmeal, 1 slice quiche, coffee
L: salad, soup
S: roasted seaweed, apple, orange

Dinner: leftovers (Chicken and mushroom spaghetti, shrimp and rice, pizza, and ham, green beans and potatoes are all hanging out in the fridge )

Pantry Challenge Days 10 and 11

Yesterday:
B: bacon, eggs, black beans and tortillas
L: homemade pizza, salad and strawberries
D: shrimp and rice Ecuadorian style
S: bananas, oranges

Today:
Boys:
B: oatmeal muffins, strawberries
L: mushroom chicken over spaghetti, broccoli
S: bananas, oranges

Me:
B: quiche
L: salad, soup from freezer
S: orange, apple, roasted seaweed

Dinner: ham, green beans and potatoes (soup style) with peanut butter bread

Pantry Challenge Days 8 and 9

Wasn’t able to post yesterday because I didn’t take the train. I picked up our CSA on Thursday. We ended up with collards, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots, Swiss chard, and pea shoots. I also picked up 2 green peppers.

Friday boys:
Sister in law fed the boys

Friday me:
B: oatmeal with a banana, peanut butter and cinnamon
L: taco salad
S: blueberries, veggies
D: I thought we were going to have dinner before a post-work event, but nope, so I had a bowl of cereal and a banana when I got home.

Saturday:
B: waffles from the freezer, eggs and bacon
L: chicken and veggie soup
D: mushroom chicken spaghetti

Yeah, chicken twice in one day and possibly the last chicken from the freezer. H was going to cook one night and thought two pounds of chicken are necessary to feed us (one is fine) but he already had it thawed before I realized and then he didn’t end up cooking so it needed to be used.

Today I went shopping. I picked up all of the milk we should need this week to avoid a mid-sized week trip. But fruit is also super cheap this week ($0.29/lb for bananas, $1.69 for 3 lb apples, $1.99 for 3 lb oranges) so maybe a trip for fruit for next week will be worthwhile. We ended up with more strawberries, boys did a great job eating then last week, so I think it is okay even though they’re on the expensive side.

Still over the $20 limit I thought I’d aim for…oh well.

I also spent 3ish hours prepping food today.

2 loaves stir and pour wheat bread
24 pumpkin wheat mini muffins
1 swiss chard, mushroom and feta quiche
21 cinnamon raisin oatmeal cups
4 salads (chickpeas, cucumbers, carrots, kohlrabi, green peppers, pea shoots and spinach)

I think we’re ready for the week ahead!

Pantry Challenge Day 7

Had to stop at the store yesterday – 1 gallon of milk and 1 bunch of bananas ran $5.xx. It would have been cheaper at Aldi, but I also would have had to run a few extra miles which I didn’t feel like doing after work yesterday and might have cancelled out the savings anyway.

Today’s plan:
Boys:
B: mini muffins, eggs, black beans, strawberries and blueberries
L: chicken, bean and cheese quesadillas, carrots and hummus
D: spaghetti
S: mandarins and bananas

Me:
B: oatmeal with banana, peanut butter and cinnamon, coffee
L, D and snacks: provided at work (all day meeting)

Pantry Challenge Day 6

Okay here we are on Day 6. Refrigerator is looking a little bare, but I suppose that’s the point. Also I pick up the CSA share tomorrow…we haven’t had a pick up since Dec 17 because of the holidays, so I’m hoping it’s a big one. 🙂

Boys:
Well, the woke up super early this morning so…
First breakfast
S2: pancake with Kelly
S3: tortilla with egg and black beans
Second breakfast: banana mini muffin
Third breakfast (if they still ate it at SIL’s): pancakes, cottage cheese, strawberries
Lunch: chili with rice
Snacks: cheese sticks, mandarins, bananas

Me:
B: eggs with mushrooms, spinach and feta
L: lunch bunch (someone else is cooking)
S: blackberries, apple, carrots and cucumber

Dinner: salsa chicken in the crockpot which I’ll probably make into quesadillas

Pantry Challenge Day 5

One thing I neglected to mention on my Saturday post is how stinkin’ hard it was for me to avoid purchasing some things at the grocery store…seriously. chicken breasts were in sale for $1.49/lb. I don’t think I saw that price at all last year. But we have chicken breasts in the freezer that need to be used. And they’ll likely be on sale again at the beginning of February. And hams were $5 off, too! But I had just cooked an entire ham for Christmas and the bone and some scraps are in the freezer waiting to be made into soup. But still. So hard to resist and not throw them in the cart.

Also, I haven’t made a weekly or monthly food plan and here’s why: the boys don’t always want dinner, sometimes my sister in law feeds them and sometimes they just aren’t hungry so then whatever was made for dinner that night (since I almost always have it in the crockpot or have at least thawed something) becomes dinner for the next night. I have a list (in my head) of things I can make with what’s in the freezer and pantry so there are a few meals that can be made at any time.  Also, I have a CSA share that I pick up on Thursdays, so what’s coming in that is always a bit of a surprise. I know there will be lots of greens (hello quiches and soups), but beyond that, who knows?

Day 5 plan:
Boys:
First breakfast: mini muffins and milk
B & L: sister in law is making
D: chili and rice
S: mandarins

Me:
B: eggs with sauteed spinach and mushrooms, coffee
L: taco salad
D: chili
S: blackberries, mandarins, carrots and cucumber