I have way too much food. I spend too much at the grocery store for a family of One! I don’t go to the store and buy just what I need, rather I browse the isles and add extra things to my cart. All reasons to challenge myself to a pantry challenge.
My goal is to not visit a grocery store for all of January and February. I’m allowing visits to Sam’s Club for dairy, bread and fresh produce. I am not bringing anything into the house that has to be frozen.
This is my basement pantry set up. I plan to share a picture of the freezer another time. Focus items are; Bisquick that expired in October. It’s a small box, shouldn’t be hard to use up. Minute Rice that I bought a couple of years ago during CoVid and expires* in May. Old Fashion Oats. I thought I had more than I do, but I easily use the quick cooking oats, but not the old fashioned oats. Pepper ridge farms dry season stuffing. I have four bags, two of two varieties! I do not need four!
Canned chicken. There was a time I didn’t like it, but now I love it. Not as good as rotisserie chicken, but a big time saver. I have some shredded rotisserie chicken in the freezer and some breaded chicken strips, nuggets and maybe filets. I don’t have any chicken breasts, thighs or legs.
Beans! Hyvee had them on sale fall of 2021 for $0.19. I picked through and got cans that didn’t expire till 2024 and I think I bought 24cans! I’ve made a big dent in them making chili or taco soup.
Tomatoes! Yikes! I only have one jar of spaghetti sauce and I’m planning to try my hand at making my own using canned tomatoes. I use tomatoes in chili and taco soup, but I need more ideas on how to use up those tomatoes.
Two purchases I don’t use, need in this picture. The canned mixed vegetables and Aldi canned potatoes. I read an Aldi fans post about how wonderful the canned potatoes are, so of course I had to get some. Same with the two cans of mixed vegetables. I need to find uses for both.
Crackers! Yes, that’s a lot of crackers! I love to make my own version of Lunchables with cheese, lunch meat and crackers. Sometimes I add pickles. I also eat cheese and crackers as a snack or for breakfast or dinner, especially in the summer when I’ve worked outside and don’t want much of a meal.
Cake mixes! A few of those are brownie mixes, but the cake mixes are all chocolate! And the frosting, it’s all vanilla! It’s rare that I make a cake, maybe once a year, so this is an example of browsing the isles, seeing a good deal and buying what I don’t need! Oh, I spy a spice cake mix. I saw a video on YouTube where someone made cookies using a spice cake mix and canned pumpkin.
Grape jelly. I feed it to the birds and go through a lot of jars.
Poor lighting, I’m in my basement. I have:
Five pumpkin
One pumpkin pie mix
One of each; apple, strawberry blackberry pie filling
Two cherry pie filling
Five fried apples (can, Aldi)
One cherry maraschino
One crushed pineapple
One pineapple ring
Cherry jam
Strawberry jam
I need to find uses for the pumpkin and fried apples. And the pie fillings! The rest have 2024 or longer expiration dates.
Poppy seed dressing makes the best grilled or baked chicken marinade.
My russet potatoes were purchased back in October, I believe, when two stores had 5 lb bags on sale for $0.99. Haven’t seen that price since. Those I have left have started to grow eyes and a few have started to get soft. I have a plan for them.
The sweet potatoes were purchased before Thanksgiving when on sale for $0.39 a lb. It’s cool enough they’ll last a long while down stairs. Eventually I will bake them, cool, wrap in heavy foil and freeze in zip lock bags. They’ll keep this way all summer. I love having a sweet potato in the summer or while camping. They taste as good reheated in the microwave as they did the day baked.
Cereal. There are two boxes on another panty shelf. Those I eat when I’m craving something sweet and crunchy. Those shown in this picture are destined to be chex mix and Rice Krispie treats.
Gatoraid is kept for the mail man. I stock up when it goes on sale and leave him a cold one in an igloo on the porch if the temp or heat index is above 90 degrees. You should always have a couple of gallons of water on hand should something happen that requires a boil order or a water main breaks and you’re without water while the city fixes it.
I rarely eat potato chips (Doritos), but they were on sale. A lot of my purchases are they-were-on-sale purchases. Avoiding the grocery store and not watching the ads means no more they were on sale purchases.
*Expires. Some items “expire” others have best by dates. In years past, I would have tossed an item the second it expired. I no longer do, but I make a habit of going through the pantry once a month and pulling items that I need to eat, which reminds me, I pulled a can of sauerkraut and got hotdogs last month for hotdogs and sauerkraut. Need to have that this month. A friend told me to add 1/2 tsp of baking soda to expired cake, brownie, cookie mixes and they’ll be fine.
If you look, you’ll see I write the expiration date month and year on every item when I’m putting it away in the pantry. Someone years ago did that on a YouTube video I watched and I’ve done it ever since. Sure easier to find the expiration date when I store it than to try and find it when going through the pantry.
My last visit to a grocery store was right before Christmas. I’ve been to Sam’s Club since then, but haven’t added anything to the pantry. Let’s see what I can make and how long I can avoid going to the store.
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