The goal for this month was to concentrate on eating down the pantry and spending $100 or less at the grocery store.
And guess what? It was a total success.
I suggested we should do it again for March but The HH said no… He’s out of chips and pizza and other stuff.
Then I remembered Maine Maple Weekend is coming up and I’ll want to load up on a year’s supply of maple syrup.
Real maple syrup. You can’t beat it!! Plus it’s always fun to check out the local sugar houses and talk to the makers.
Saturday night beans with real maple syrup. It’s one of my favorite cold weather meals.
And Lucy’s too.
I’m kidding! I do not feed Lucy beans. But I do let her pre-rinse the pot.
The HH: How old is this chicken?
Mavis: I don’t know… I think I froze it in December?
Also, he had to slice mold off one side of the cheese. He was not amused. But I was like… EVERYBODY does this! You don’t throw away a nice piece of cheese just because it has a little mold on it. You just cut that part off.
He didn’t believe me. Told me not to tell you about it. HA HA HA.
Tuna casserole is always a good idea. And yes, peas are a must! At least we agreed on that.
And that egg salad always tastes better on the second day. Why is that?
No idea how long the chicken curry had been in the freezer. But hey, we ate it over rice and now I can fill my container with something else.
I also used up the vegetable pucks I added to the freezer a while back. Do you make vegetable pucks?
Whenever I have extra carrots, celery and onions {and sometimes spinach too} I’ll sauté everything and then freeze them into ½ or 1 cup portions.
Making soup when you already have all the vegetables ready to toss in the pot really cuts down on prep time if you ask me.
Fact: We still have 10 million pounds of beans.
But at least the contents of the refrigerator and freezer have been thinned out quite a bit. Poor Lucy. She is always hungry.
She has Addision’s disease and has to take prednisone which leaves her thirsty and hungry all the time.
Clearly she isn’t missing any meals but anytime we are in the kitchen or open the fridge {or cupboards, or eating a meal!} there she is. 🙂
Thank goodness she hasn’t figured out how to open the pantry door.
Even after eating down the pantry for an entire month there are still a few things left.
The sugar and flour needs to be replenished though. So you know what that means… A trip to Costco. Yee-Haw!
I’m looking forward to loading up on the basics plus cheese, nuts, dried fruit, BACON. And who knows what else. After two straight months of working with a food budget of only $100, I am ready to splurge.
Several of you mentioned you were working on eating down your pantry this month too… How did it go? Did you get the cupboards whittled down?
Hey! It’s the weekend. I hope you have a good one. 🙂
Peace Out.
~Mavis
Nancy Settel says
Mavis I saw an article yesterday about sugaring houses in Maine and if you go into them they have a pot boiling of the maple sap and it has hot dogs cooking in them! Wouldn’t mind one bit trying those that’s for sure. We have been eating down the freezer this month and it has been fairly successful but the pantry still so darn full. Who the heck buys all this stuff anyway? Looks like it is going to be sunny and bright and mid 40’s here in Delaware this weekend and I am so ready for it.
Alice says
We also have been eating from the freezer and pantry but there comes a time when I just don’t have what I need to make something like pizza when there is no sauce or mozzarella cheese. No salsa, no chips? No frozen chicken, no ground beef, no sausage roll.s? So, rather than eat frozen squash all by itself or a bag of shredded cabbage, it was time to stock up. But we have rotated out a lot of freezer food as well as pantry food, you know, the stuff that we stocked up on a long time ago and didn’t end up using has now been used.
Kari says
I am an accountant who is in the middle of tax season. My cupboards are getting whittled down simply because I’m too tired after a 70-hour week to do much grocery shopping. I have been planning the meals, setting out recipes, and my hubby, who is in his slower season, has become quite the tax-season chef. What a blessing.
Good job on your food challenge. I never doubted for a moment that you’d complete it with flying colors.
Tracy says
I laughed when I saw the 10 million pounds of beans comment. I straightened out my big pantry yesterday and what did I find? 10 million pound of beans. I have refried beans cooking and getting ready to go in the canner as I type.