Pantry Challenge Update

So the Pantry challenge is coming to an end and I've done pretty well with everything so far. I haven't starved and I've maintained a reasonable diversity in my diet, although a lot of this is due to the extensive eating out I've been doing (kind of anti-challenge but whatever). A few days ago I picked up carrots and chicken at Target for a total of $3.49 bringing my total for the month to $20.86.

Today I decided to break my challenge goal of sticking to only perishables because I saw some pretty decent deals at Harris Teeter and figured I'd take a lot of this down to NC with me for some easy eating.

Anyway - I spent $10.04 on the following:
2 1 lb boxes of Cheerios (note, these are HUGE and probably will hold me for a few months)
4 boxes of mac and cheese
2 loaves of arnold grains and more bread
3 broccoli florets
3 bananas

Total Savings: $15.42. WOO!

I think I am finished with my grocery shopping for the month so I feel confident giving my final numbers.


Total Challenge Grocery Spending: $30.90! Not bad for a whole month!

Impromptu Dinner Party: Challenge Style

A few friends and I decided to get together randomly last night for dinner and games. We decided to do a pot-luck type dinner and since it was basically my idea, I wanted to bring a main entree. This posed my greatest challenge thus far with completing my pantry challenge. I'm perfectly content to eat sandwiches, etc but I wanted to have something a little more substantial to share.

The other problems was that I didn't have enough time to run to the store so I reallyhad to make do with what is in my pantry and freezer - and that meant no meat.

So thanks to a recent by suggestion (you know who you are), I decided to modify a Bisquik Chicken Pot Pie recipe.

Here is what I had on hand - some broccoli (about 1/2 cup chopped), 1 can corn, 2 carrots, and lot of misc. bell peppers (green, red, yellow, and orange).

So here is my Veggie Pot Pie experiment:

The recipe calls for Cream of Chicken soup but I had only Cream of Celery or Cream of Potato - so I went with the Potato. Here is everything all mixed together. I was worried about the peppers - they just seemed a little random with the other veggies.


Here is the finished product with the topping. I have to say, it turned out really good. The whole thing was gone (6 adults) so I take that as a good sign. I was impressed by how it turned out given that I basically improvised most of it. The peppers worked and gave it a nice flavor. I will probably keep this recipe handy for a quick and easy dinner that can be made without much planning.

Eating from the Pantry Challenge: Update

It has been another week of eating from the pantry and overall things are going really well...at least in terms of purchasing groceries. I've been spending more money than average on eating out but since I am trying to see people before I move to NC, I consider this time well spent! :)

I went to Trader Joe's today for some produce. I am trying to combat the constant eating out with salads and fruit!



3lbs of apples, a bag of salad greens, and some bananas for $7.22. That brings my total spending for the month up to $17.37! I've more or less stuck to the produce, dairy, and meat plan except for when I had to buy easy mac when I forgot my lunch and due to the extreme fatigue association with putting my condo on the market, I bought a 6-pack of diet coke. Absolutely essential!!

Eating from the pantry Challenge: Strawberry Scones

Back when strawberries were in season I picked up a bunch of them and chopped and froze the ones I couldn't eat in time. I ended up with a decent sized stash of frozen berries.



Unfortunately, frozen berries don't travel well for a move so when I stumbled upon this post from LifeasMom's Good (&Cheap) Eats blog, I was thrilled. Strawberry chocolate chip scones? Yes please!

There were 2 problems which led me to somewhat modify the recipe. 1. I don't really like chunks of fruit in my baked goods. 2. When you thaw frozen strawberries, they end up sort of soggy.

So I modified her recipe by taking out the heavy cream (which I didn't have anyway) and adding in 3/4 cup of pureed strawberries. The end result was a not-too-sweet scone with a hint of strawberry. To be honest it probably could have used a little more strawberry to give it a good berry flavor but that would have upset the balance with dry ingredients so I left it alone.

I'd probably make these again. Either way - now I have a frugal dessert to eat this week made from ingredients from the freezer/pantry!

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Eating from the pantry Challenge: Freezer Quesadillas

Week 1 of my Eating from the Pantry Challenge is underway and I am happy to report that things have been going well so far. I've spent $1.51 for fruit this week (though I will need to buy some more) and because I forgot my wonderfully prepared lunch on the counter yesterday, I also spent $1.42 for a container of easy mac and a roll (thank goodness I have a grocery store downstairs otherwise I would have spent much more!) So that is a grand total of $2.93 so far.

My big success so far is "Freezer Quesadillas." All of the ingredients are things I currently have in my freezer. This can be varied to suit tastes and ingredients on hand.

My quesadillas:
Some pre-cooked/pre-seasoned ground chicken (cooked it last week)
Bell peppers (got a phenomenal deal when they were in season and I still have tons!)
Mozarella cheese (wouldn't have been my preference but that's what I had)
Flour tortillas (I've had some frozen for a while. I was worried about how they'd thaw but it worked fine)
Extra taco seasoning (to make the mozarella cheese less strange)

In a pan I heated up the taco meat and chopped peppers. PS - I am LOVING my new pan:


After the meat was thawed and the peppers cooked through (actually it was nice - they took up some of the taco flavor), I put a tortilla on the pan and let it thaw a bit. Then I covered it with cheese (mixed with taco seasoning) and the meat/pepper mixture and then more cheese.


Once the cheese was melted and things were more or less sticking together, I just sliced it up, paired it with some broccoli (random, but I love broccoli) and a glass of milk and I was good to go!
All in all I'd call this a success. It was a creative use of ingredients I had on hand and it was actually pretty tasty. Plus, because I had pre-cooked the meat it took only a few minutes to prepare!