Day 1 of 30 Day Pantry Challenge

Day 1 Goals, Leftovers and Inventory

A dutiful blogger and home economist that is a little more organized would likely tell you to take a full inventory of all your pantry and freezer items and make a meal plan accordingly, I am not that blogger. Well I can tell you to do that and it is likely a good idea but I'm not doing that myself, at least not for week one.

Why am I not taking inventory?  

Because I have so much food on hand week one should be a no brainer.  

I'm a casual couponer (formerly an extreme couponer) and I love Ibotta.  I stock up on items whenever I can.  We are a hunting and fishing family and have a well stocked freezer.

I'm setting a goal of not spending more than $100 on groceries this month.  I think I could do with less but my husband likes his coffee creamer and soda (only from a can) and they don't give either of those items away.  The only other things I'm planning on purchasing is bread, dairy, eggs, if needed and fresh produce.

I know roughly what I have on hand:

I have lots of meat, thanks to my hunters

Several jars of various pasta sauces, thanks to Ibotta

Several boxes of plain and a few flavored pastas, another Ibotta surplus 

Man oh man do I have rice, plain, flavored, dry, instant, as well as heat and eat.

Home canned veggies along with a few store bought.

Frozen bread dough

Biscuit mix

Corn bread mix

This is why I'm not taking an inventory yet.

Week one will be mostly about using up our perishables that are in the fridge.  For example, yesterday's veggie and meat and cheese trays are going to be tonight's creamy, cheesy vegetable soup.  Waste not, want not right?

What about breakfast and lunch?

I have a ton of cereal, granola bars and oatmeal for quick week day breakfasts.  Hubby likes an English muffin with sausage and cheese every morning, these will have to be purchased by week 2 (he really drags my budget down 😉). I've got pancake, muffin a waffle mix if we want to have a bigger breakfast on the weekends.

Lunches for hubby is usually leftovers and there should be no shortage of those since I'll not only be cooking more often but I've also got previous leftover meals in the freezer. For my daughter and myself, we can also do leftovers or I've got lunch meat in the fridge and freezer and plenty of canned soup and convenience foods.

As the month draws to an end I will likely have to get a little more creative as my family grows bored with spaghetti. 😁This is where an inventory and a little more planning may be necessary. 

Please follow me on my journey, hopefully I'll have some pointers and insights as well as some delicious recipes to share.

I will post again tonight to let you know how our first dinner goes.