Pantry Challenge

I've decided to participate in MoneySavingMom's January 2010 Eating From the Pantry Challenge. We'll see how this goes. I am primarily doing this to prepare for the 'big move' coming up at the end of the month. I don't want to have to pack all my misc. pantry supplies so I am going to try to eat a lot of them before moving. I cannot live off of what is in my pantry alone though - I have plenty of pasta and rice and peanut butter but I definitely do not have enough meat and produce to last the entire month. So I'll have to pick up some fresh goodies throughout the month but I am going to try to minimize that as much as possible.

We'll see what happens. Hopefully by the end of January I will have a lot less stuff to move!

Target, 10/13/09

Motivated by Hip2Save's recent video on Target shopping, I decided to grab a few deals while I was there buying a birthday present. I'd say it worked out pretty well. I stacked a number of Target coupons with manufacturer coupons which resulted in much bigger savings.

Anyway - the deodorant I got for $0.07
The ziploc bags ended up being $0.22
Each Chex Mix was $0.49
The nature valley deal was buy 3 granola bars and get the nut clusters free. I used 4 separate coupons and ended up paying $1.32 each for the 3 boxes plus the clusters. Not spectacular but a pretty good deal overall.

For everything pictured I spent just over $7 and the total value was over $18. Soooo - not too bad :)

Anyway - what I am hoping is that I can use a lot of these deals to send to my adopted soldier overseas. I got an email recently saying that they had WAY more soldiers needing to be adopted than they had volunteers so I volunteered again. Last time I did this I wasn't so aware of coupons and deals and all that so I am curious to see how it goes this time around. I am hoping to pick up a bunch of inexpensive but useful items to send over and some tasty snacks, etc.

Butternut squash with chicken in white wine sauce

This is one of my favorite fall foods. I got introduced to it somewhat recently and plan on making it for YEARS to come. Seriously, I do not get tired of it.

Risotto:
Butternut squash
1 small onion
Some garlic
2 cups Arborio rice
6-8 cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Fresh sage to taste
olive oil


Remove skin and seeds of butternut squash and cut into cubes. Steam until soft and easily mashable. Mash and set aside.

In small sauce pan, heat chicken broth.

In large pan (like you would make pasta in), heat some olive oil (medium). Add chopped onion and garlic to taste (I use the pre-chopped stored in olive oil and I just put in one big spoonful). When onions are clear, add 2 cups of rice. Mix around for a min or two and then add white wine and simmer until absorbed. To make risotto, spoon enough hot broth over rice just to cover it. Let absorb over medium heat while stirring often. Repeat....a lot...until rice is creamy and has softened (about 30 mins). When just about finished, add in some chopped sage, mashed squash, and parmesan cheese. Stir together and let sit.

Chicken:
2 Tbs flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth

Mix flour, pepper and salt. Dredge chicken in mixture. In large pan, heat olive oil. Cook chicken on both sides, about 2 minutes each. Add chicken broth and white wine. Cover and let simmer until cooked though.


I'm not positive about how frugal this meal is. Let's calculate!

butternut squash - $1 (farm = cheap)
1 onion - ~$0.75 (got a bag of onions on sale for $3 at some point)
rice - this rice tends to be a little expensive. I think the bag was probably $6 and I probably used 1/2 so we will call this $3
Chicken broth - 1 full container @ $1.97
Cheap white wine - 1 small container @ $3.99
Chicken - 3 chicken breasts @ $7.97
Parmesan cheese - package was $1.97, I used only a small portion. We'll say $0.50
Sage - package was $1.99. I probably used about $0.30 worth. I'll be cooking with sage again soon to use this up!

So grand total looks to be about $19.50 and I will get 6 meals out of it so that works out to be about $3.25/meal. Not the cheapest for sure but for a complicated meal with meat, I think it works out to be pretty good. Eliminating white wine and using only chicken broth would make it about $2.50/meal.

Plus it is amazingly delicious so it is totally worth the treat :)

Meal Plan Monday

Due to special request, I am participating in Meal Plan Monday. Where you, my faithful reader(s) can learn exactly what delicious items I will be enjoying this week! I warn you - my meals can be somewhat repetitive. Since my opportunities to cook are limited, I tend to make a lot of something and eat it all week. Luckily, repetition doesn't bother me :) The theme of this week is - using foods I picked at the farm yesterday!

Monday:

B: Fruit
L: Toasted bagel with peanut butter, bananna
D: Butternut squash risotto with steamed broccoli and chicken in a white wine sauce (I'll post recipe in later post)
S: Apple, apple pie

Tuesday:

B: Steel cut oats with flax and banana
L: Butternut squash risotto with steamed broccoli and chicken in a white wine sauce
D: Peanut butter sandwich and apple (dinner while driving to class)
S: Apple, apple pie

Wednesday:
B: Steel cut oats with flax and banana
L: Butternut squash risotto with steamed broccoli and chicken in a white wine sauce
D: Dinner out with friend
S: Apple, something TBD

Thursday:
B: Steel cut oats with flax and banana
L: Butternut squash risotto with steamed broccoli and chicken in a white wine sauce
D: Spaghetti squash with pesto, steamed broccoli
S: Apple, TBD

Friday:
B: Steel cut oats with flax and banana
L: Butternut squash risotto with steamed broccoli and chicken in a white wine sauce
D: Frozen pepper, onion, meatball pizza I made last week
S: TBD

So that's the week. Usually I don't eat the same thing THAT many times but I love this dish and I made a ton of it so I will be eating a lot of it :)

Recent purchases

I haven't had too much time to post about my good deals recently. I've been doing a good job of keeping under my grocery challenge budget for the month which has been awesome. I've had some unexpected purchases but have otherwise kept everything to a minimum. It is hard to pass up some deals though so I've still been doing a little shopping! Above shows a recent trip to CVS. I spent $0 OOP and got back $2 in ECBs. Thee was another piece of candy too which I ate at work one day.

Total Value: $9.83
Total OOP: $0.00 (I don't know why I didn't get charged tax...)

Total savings: 100%




I was in a shopping mood last Friday so I decided to give myself $5 to spend at Target. I went over but I think it was worth it.

The skittles were free! The Kotex were each $0.09. The other exciting news is that my Target now carries produce. WOO HOO!!

Total value: $11.31
Total OOP: $5.80

Savings: 49%

Plus, I have $45.07 left in the grocery budget for the month (which is almost over!!)

Homemade Pizza!

I love MoneySavingMom's pizza dough recipe. It is quick, easy to make, and delicious. A friend came over to dinner recently and we decided to make a pizza for dinner. I made the dough and used some of the stockpiled mozzarella cheese from the freezer. The peppers were from my Kroger deal from the beginning of this week. Man I love peppers. There are onions on the pizza too but you can't see them. My friend is quite the chef and made the tomato sauce from a can of tomatoes that I had. It was delicious and there was enough for lunch the next day!

Farmer's Market Deals

I was really excited to learn that a Farmer's Market opened up just down the street from my house. Unfortunately it is only open on Tuesdays which is the day of my Fall class so we'll see how often I am able to go. Anyway, I spent $4 and got some green beans, a cucumber, some peapods, and 3 apples! I also got a loaf of bread but I am counting that as part of my 'hospitality' budget since I purchased it to bring to a dinner where I was asked to bring bread. It was definitely worth every penny and I have some leftover in the freezer!

The apples are absolutely delicious. Very few things beat a fresh from the orchard apple. I can't wait until apple season is in full swing so I can pick a whole bunch and make a pie!