Eat from the Pantry Challenge: Week 1 & 2

So, if you remember, I decided I was going to participate in the “Eat From Your Pantry” challenge that is happening in blogland.  I figured since I had already been practicing that through all our travels in December it shouldn’t be too hard to keep it up in January. The plan? Do a normal sized trip when we got back from Key West and then make two more trips in January to try to save about $240 total for the month. Now the question is how am I doing?

Well for starters, I knew we were going to need to go to the store when we got back from Key West. The fridge was totally empty (we hadn’t had fresh milk in the house since before we went out of town for Christmas), the freezer was almost bare and the pantry was looking lean. Our flight in was scheduled to land at 6:00 pm and I was debating in my head if I wanted to do it then or wait until the next night.

That was until I checked the weather to see what kind of cold we were going to come home to from the Keys. The Weather Channel said “WINTER STORM WARNING” in bright red letters. Now people, this is Nashville, where snow rarely happens. So I start reading and find out that there is supposed to be 1-3 inches of snow the next day. This is, of course, a disaster. I know all my northern friends are laughing at this, but here that is like saying that the world will come to a grinding halt.

So, we decided to go ahead and hit the store on the way home in case the worst did happen. And at around 6:50pm I ran into the store while the hubby waited in the car to see that it looked like it had been ransacked. No lettuce left, no chicken, no ground meat. I was lucky to find some bread, a pork loin roast, a discounted spiral sliced ham, a family sized thing of pork chops and some milk. (Plenty of pork in the store. It was honestly a little strange!) I did pick up a few other things that I knew I could make do with and headed out the door home. (Side note: it did snow and the roads were a little slicky but for the most part it was no big deal. However all the schools closed before the first flake even fell. Crazy I tell you.)

This week, I knew I was going to have to do a slightly larger trip than originally planned. I know the original goal was $30. Well I spent $57. However, it was mostly on some chicken and ground meat that I will turn into freezer meals today. Plus we needed miscellaneous pantry stuff that we have of course used up, like some salad dressing and spaghetti noodles. By my count now though, looking at the freezer and pantry, I have at least another 19 meals. This means I should not have to buy meal type food until February. My grocery trips should be contained to fresh dairy, produce, and lunch stuff.

How about you? Have you been trying it? If you are afraid about being able to come up with meal ideas check out this link that Michelle (Shell for those of you who follow her at Things I Can’t Say) posted in my first post. Supercook.com is this awesome site where you put in what you have in your kitchen and it comes up with a recipe for you. It is excellent for finding what to do with all the ham and other miscellaneous pork products you have sitting around!

I am linking this up with the other progress posts over at Crystal's at Money Saving Mom. Head over and check out what other’s are doing.