The Freezer Challenge: Part One

I've enjoyed following along with The Frugal Girl as she cleans out her freezer and challenges herself to use up a certain amount of things each week. This post is definitely inspired by her!

We have three freezers--two fridge freezers and one large upright freezer. It's nice but sometimes food gets thrown wherever is easiest at the moment and it's hard to know exactly what we have and where it is.

Such is the case with our fridge freezer in our kitchen. I had thrown and piled stuff in there to the point that food would fall out whenever we tried to get anything out.

Last Friday, I planned an easy dinner of bratwurst and roasted okra and zucchini and yellow squash. At the last minute, I remembered a partial bag of hot dog buns in the freezer so pulled those out to eat with the brats (we typically eat them bunless but we had some buns left from having company back in May.) That inspired me to tackle this little freezer compartment the next day!

I pulled everything out after taking before pictures, of course. :-)

Everything was set out on our island and I sorted as to what was deemed "challenge worthy" and what needed to be moved to our big freezer. All the packages of meat went to the big freezer as that's where they belong and I kept the frozen vegetables in the kitchen. Some of the other odds and ends were kept out to use quickly.

Here's what I had to work with:

• Small container cooked spaghetti squash--put right in fridge for side for Monday's dinner.
• Small serving of soup--put in fridge for Monday's lunch.
• Lone popsicle--I ate it right away!
• Partial bag of mini bagels--these were thawed and served with Saturday night's Breakfast for Dinner and finished up for Sunday breakfast. Bonus points for this since I also had an opened package of cream cheese to use!
• Container of cooked turkey--I'll be honest here. I had used some of this previously in a soup and it was still dry and stringy so I threw it out. :-( 
• One hamburger bun. Seriously?!? (Again, left from company!) I thawed it and made it into cheese toast to go with random leftovers on Sunday night. That wasn't hard!
• Gallon bag of chicken bones and vegetable ends and peelings for broth. Immediately poured all this in the crockpot and made crockpot chicken broth overnight. I then used the broth to make a big pot of gravy to use for one meal this week and freeze the rest.

What went back in the freezer to use later:

• Ice cream--we don't need a plan for this. It doesn't stick around long here.;-)
• Various bread and individual sweet rolls left from the market. (I've been selling my homemade baked goods at a local Farmer's Market this summer and always have a few things left at the end.) Some of the bread will be used for lunches this week and the sweet rolls are pulled out for breakfast occasionally. 
• Package of "Sandwich Skinny's" (left from company)--maybe use these for quick broiled pizzas or tuna melts in the next week or two. 
• Fresh ginger--This stays fresh in the freezer and I peel and grate it as needed. 
• Ice packs--these needed to be in there for easy access and there hasn't been room. 
• A bag of homemade doggy ice cream portions aka Frosty Paws. These are for Willie as an occasional treat so they'll stay in there. 

I didn't tackle the door yet but that is mostly spices and homemade spice blends that get used naturally over time. 

After photo:

It's much easier to get things from the freezer now!

I'll do another update on my freezers in a week or so. 

A Soup Kind Of Day

Andy has been feeling a bit under the weather today. I believe he's fighting a spring cold. He didn't feel like eating too much but agreed that chicken soup would taste good.

I dug though what we had and found frozen homemade chicken broth and seasoned cooked and chopped chicken in the freezer and onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms in the fridge. A few seasonings from the spice cupboard rounded it all out.

I chopped up all the veggies and sauteed them in the soup pot in a little olive oil. The veggies always smell and look so tasty during this step!

Lastly, I added broth, chicken and seasonings, brought the soup to a boil and then turned it down and let it simmer.

It was delicious!

Whenever I chop and peel veggies, I save the well-washed peelings/ends and add to a big freezer bag. When I have a bunch of chicken bones, I use this bag of veggie scraps to make delicious homemade broth!

Waste not, want not! 

Sunday Afternoon Food Prep

Happy Sunday!

I hope you all have had a relaxing Lord's Day. We were at church this morning then came home to pork loin in the crockpot, coleslaw, rolls and veggies for lunch. After cleaning up lunch, I took my traditional Sunday afternoon nap.

I love to nap on Sunday afternoon, do you?

When I got up from my short nap, I whipped up a pan of homemade brownies for a yummy treat. Then it was time to work on prepping some veggies for the week.

I love having produce all washed and chopped. It makes meal prep so easy! Just grab the prepped veggies and go. We like to eat fresh veggies with our meals. Having them ready means I can grab the container from the fridge and set it right on the table.

Today, I had some carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, radishes, grape tomatoes and bell peppers to use. Most weeks, I'll also prep fruit but the fruits I have on hand right now are bananas and apples and I don't cut those up ahead of time. So just veggies to work with today!

While I worked, Willie found a sunny spot to take a rest. He is pretending to rest but really was in a supervisory role, waiting to scoop up any veggie bits that may drop. He likes most veggies. So healthy. LOL

When cutting the tops off the bell peppers, I discard the stems and set the rest aside. Then I chop the tops up to add to scrambled eggs or on salads. I've seen some people throw them away but I don't. Waste not, want not!

I love using Mason jars as storage containers. The produce stays nice and fresh. And they look pretty all lined up! The jars don't take much space in the fridge either.  Some folks report that it stays fresh really long this way but we usually eat it too fast to find out. Most of this will be gone within 4 days. By then, it will be time to shop for more fresh produce and start the process all over again. ;-) I use plastic Mason jar lids for my jars as you can see in the next picture.

The carrots and zucchini will be cooked as sides for dinners in the next few nights. I may use some of the peppers for fajitas this week since I have all the ingredients for that. The chopped peppers will most likely show up in eggs or on salad. I already have washed lettuce in the fridge.

This afternoon, I also hard-boiled some eggs and made egg salad for lunches. Since I'm working all day tomorrow instead of my usual part-time hours, I went ahead and packed up a lunch for me while I was at it. It's nice to have something ready to just grab really quick!

Prepping fresh produce definitely makes my life easier and helps to start my week off on the right path!

July Pantry Challenge

As I mentioned last week, one of the ways we're saving money right now is by doing a Pantry Challenge this month.

We don't really have any rules for our pantry challenge except to spend as little as possible! We're utilizing the contents of our freezers(one upright and two refrigerator freezers) and pantry shelves and coming up with as many meals as possible.

So far, I've cooked a turkey, baked bread, made several bean dishes, cooked some split chicken breast bones(with lots of meat still on them) and made broth, soup and some diced chicken, made pancakes and corn muffins. Plus much more!

Our freezers aren't that well stocked right now since I've been cleaning them out and using up random items for the past several months. But there are still many good things to eat in there!

This week's supper menu looks like this:
1. Tomato soup, cheese melts, leftover coleslaw
2. Salmon patties, green beans, bread
3. Pork chops, broccoli, rice
4. Barbecue turkey sandwiches, applesauce, celery sticks
5. Black bean and rice dish
6. Turkey and gravy, rice, peas
7. "Eggroll in a bowl" with chicken instead of beef, rice

Not fancy,  but we will still get plenty to eat!

Breakfasts will be pancakes, pumpkin and zucchini bread I found in the back of the freezer, toast, eggs, etc.

Lunches will be leftovers, canned soup, split pea soup from freezer, peanut butter sandwiches, popcorn, canned fruit, etc.

My total spent so far for grocery/household items this month is $28.15. I'm planning an Aldi trip later today so will probably double that amount.

What are you eating this week? 

*Food pictures from the last couple of months. From top to bottom, ham and broccoli frittata, pumpkin bread and some goodies from the Farmer's Market!

Pinterest Try: Homemade Dog Treats

Recently, I tried a recipe for peanut butter dog treats that I had pinned on Pinterest. These were super easy and called for just a few regular pantry ingredients.

I tweaked the recipe slightly for better dough consistency but can't remember now what I did. I'll take notes next time and then update this post. It was either more flour or more water. ;-)

I keep the treats in a freezer container and thaw a handful every so often. When thawed, I put them in the "doggy treat" jar. I don't want them to mold before we can use them! So far I've had good success with the treats staying fresh in the jar for up to about 10 days. None have molded yet.

Rock loves these treats and they are so simple to make!

Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treats from Life Your Way

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon powdered milk
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3-4 tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine peanut butter, egg, salt, powdered milk and flour. Add water one tablespoon at a time until you have a doughy texture. It should be easy to form but not sticky.
Roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness and cut out with a cookie cutter. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Enjoy!
 

Drying Apples and Tonight's Supper

While supper was baking tonight, I took the time to get a bag of apples ready to dry.

We love dried apples for a little snack, especially for travel. They're like candy--so sweet--but with no added sugar. Just one ingredient: apples! 

I just peel, slice and core the apples and place them on the dehydrator trays to dry. Usually takes about 8-10 hours or overnight. 

So easy and much cheaper than buying a little bag of dried apples from the store. 

For supper tonight, I made a Ham and Cheese Puff Pancake that I had pinned on my Breakfast board. 

It. was. delicious. So so so good! I had to exercise great self-control to save some for tomorrow's breakfast and not gobble it all up tonight. I served the puff pancake with veggies & dip and clementines. 

Seriously, if you like cheesy hammy food, you must try it! 

What I Did Today

I always enjoy homemaking posts that detail what that person did in her home that day. These are not boring at all to me. In fact I often learn something new that I can put to use in my own home.

So this post is one of those-- what I did today. 

I went shopping late last week so there was meat in the refrigerator that needed to be dealt with before it went bad. I like to go ahead  and prep most meats ahead of time and then freeze them. 

So today was definitely a cooking day! 

First off, we were out of granola so I made a double batch. We don't eat much cereal-- we don't really care that much for it and it takes several bowls to fill us up! We do like homemade granola though and it's been nice to keep on hand this summer for a cooler breakfast with yogurt and fruit. We've been eating it once or twice a week for a change of pace. 

While the granola was baking, I quickly made a freezer crockpot meal-- Italian Sausages with Peppers and Onions. This meal takes just minutes to put together. It's so nice to pull out on a busy day and throw into the crockpot. 

We prefer pork sausage but Aldi only had turkey when I was shopping last week so we'll use turkey sausage this time! 

Next up was some ground beef to take care of! I made 8 hamburger patties to freeze. We'll be grilling half of these this weekend and then will have enough ready for another meal later. 

Hamburger patties are super easy to make so it may seem silly to make them  ahead. But to me it makes sense to go ahead and quickly make them up so they're ready when I need them. 

We like to eat supper within about 30 minutes of me returning home from work so any prep work I can do ahead makes supper prep and the evening go that much smoother. 

I do a load of laundry pretty much every day plus other routine homemaking tasks so those things were also completed this morning.

I also was able to hard-boil a dozen eggs and then run the dishwasher before leaving for work this afternoon.

When I made dinner tonight-- Pork and Veggies-- I doubled the recipe and froze one portion for dinner one night next week. 

Andy is working the run-off election tomorrow so after dinner, I packed a lunch for him.  

In a nutshell, that's what I did today. 

What did you do today?

Crockpot Hamburger Vegetable Soup

Needing a simple nourishing meal to offset the rich holiday foods?

This soup is perfect! Simple, healthy and nourishing plus it can cook for 10 or more hours in the crockpot. It's a great recipe for those long days at work.

1 pound ground beef, crumbled and browned
1- 16 ounce package frozen mixed vegetables
1 quart canned tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped
2-4 cups water
Salt and pepper, other seasonings, to taste

Combine all ingredients in 3.5 to 5 quart crockpot. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 10 or more hours.

Thanks to my mom for sharing this recipe. We've been making this soup at least once a month lately. It makes about 3 meals for the two of us. 

Menu Plan Monday and Eat from The Pantry Progress #4

We've finished the third week of our pantry challenge. I only spent $4.00 this week and that was for a pound of butter and some cheese. This is only a partial week on the challenge since we were out of town for the weekend.We just returned home yesterday!

The last week of January signals the end of the pantry challenge, but I may extend it one more week. While some items are low or gone, we still have plenty to choose from. I feel like we really haven't gotten to "scrounging around to find a meal" yet. Not that I want to get to that point, I'm just saying. :-) The savings has really been nice. I've already used a little for some grass-fed beef.

Here's what we ate this week:

Sunday:
Breakfast-peanut butter toast, apples
Lunch- beef stroganoff and peas were my contributions to our fellwoship's potluck.
Supper-leftover stroganoff, peas and homemade bread

Monday:
Breakfast- eggs and toast for him, leftover millet for me.
Lunch- leftover stroganoff, bread, peas
Supper- ate at church meeting. I took some French bread.

Tuesday:
Breakfast-  muffins for him, toast for me, apple slices for both of us
Lunch- leftover bean soup, pizza bread( slices of French bread topped with tomato sauce, sprinkled with Italian spices and Parmesan cheese and broiled for a few minutes), grape tomatoes and green pepper slices
Supper-Rotisserie-style chicken, baked sweet potatoes, mixed veggies

Wednesday:
Breakfast- cold cereal, milk, banana
Lunch- BK chicken sandwiches with coupon
Supper- chicken pot pie, salad

Notes: I ended up with enough extra pot pie mixture for a small one for us when I was cooking for a friend. So we had that tonight instead of the chicken and gravy that I had planned. It worked out well since I'd used the last of the milk on my cereal at breakfast and didn't want to buy more milk (to make the gravy) before we left for the weekend.

Thursday:
Breakfast- green smoothies, toast for me, pumpkin bread and cream cheese for him
Lunch- pasta salad with leftover cooked pasta, grape tomatoes, chicken, green peppers, mozzarella cheese, and oil, vinegar and basil, fresh homemade bread
Supper- leftovers(mixed veggies, chicken, sweet potatoes)

Friday:
Breakfast- green smoothies, toast
Lunch- pb sandwiches, carrots and green peppers, oranges and cookies while traveling

The rest of the weekend until we got home yesterday was spent either eating out(while visiting friends) or eating my mother-in-laws delicious meals while visiting Andy's parents. She makes very delicious spaghetti with spicy sausage that I love and this time she also made a wonderful vegetable pizza. I brought that recipe home with me and can't wait to make it here! I always feel so spoiled when we visit my in-laws since my MIL cooks such wonderful meals for us!

For more pantry challenge updates, visit Money Saving Mom!


We were out of town until Tuesday evening but this is what we're eating from then on.
** denotes freezer meals.

Tuesday- spaghetti pie**,green beans
Wednesday- fish packets**,  brown rice
Thursday-Chicken, veggie and rice soup, homemade bread
Friday-lasagna**, french bread**, roasted garlic, salad
Saturday- chicken gravy on toast, veggies, fruit smoothies

**Visit Organizing Junkie to read more menu plans!

Eat From The Pantry Report #3 And Menu Plan

We've been eating from the pantry for 2 weeks now. We still have plenty to eat in the house. I went out for a small amount of fresh produce, sour cream, a box of spaghetti and a few cans of diced tomatoes. (I'm making a couple of freezer meals for a friend who's going through a very stressful time right now. I needed the pasta and tomatoes for one of the meals.)

Grocery costs for the week: $14.43.
Grocery spending for month so far: $29.31.
My goal is to spend only $50 on groceries this month, so I have $20.69 left. We'll see if we can make it!

What I bought: green peppers, bananas, tangerines, spinach, grape tomatoes, spaghetti, 4 cans diced tomatoes, and sour cream. I got a free bag of frozen blueberries at Earth Fare.

I didn't keep any detailed notes from last week. I fought a headache all week and really didn't have the energy to think of one more thing! It turned out that my very simple menu plan was just perfect for the week. We stuck to it almost to the letter with very few changes.

Breakfasts have been very simple. I'm still not eating eggs due to a rash I've been wanting to clear up. Not sure if eggs were the culprit or not, but the rash is pretty much gone! I've eaten a few things that I'm pretty sure included egg ingredients(it's difficult to know exactly especially with processed foods)  while we've been with other people but have stayed away from all eggs or any recipe with eggs in it at home. Breakfasts have been the most difficult because not only can I not have a simple meal of eggs and toast but all muffins, pancakes and baked goods include eggs. In the future, I will try making some things with an egg substitute if I continue to avoid eggs, but for now I've been trying to clear out the breakfast items I already had in the freezer. Anyways, all that to say, I've been eating a lot of oatmeal, millet, or toast for breakfast along with some fruit. I've been giving Andy his choice of pancakes and muffins for a little variety for him and some days he eats the same breakfast as me.

Lunches have been mostly leftovers. Last week we had peanut butter sandwiches and salmon salad sandwiches when there were no leftovers. I made the salmon salad based on a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens. It had an oil dressing rather than mayo (eggs) so I thought I would try it. I changed a few things that I didn't have and it was very good! I know I'll be making this again. I cooked a large pot of bean soup on Thursday. Normally, I wouldn't serve a bean recipe  for too many days in a row, so I had planned to freeze some. But since I wasn't feeling well, it just worked so well to heat it for lunches instead of trying to scrounge up something else! We'll eat the last of the soup for lunch today, getting 4 meals out of it. I also gave a container of the soup to some friends. Just sharing the love! LOL!!!!

For more pantry challenge updates, visit Life as Mom.


This week's menu plan will be short since we'll be visiting friends and family over the weekend. But here's what our suppers will be...

Sunday- leftover beef stroganoff  from lunch, peas, bread and butter

Monday- church meeting. I'm baking some bread to take.

Tuesday- Rotisserie-style chicken, baked sweet potatoes, mixed veggies

Wednesday- chicken and gravy over toast, salad

Thursday- chicken, veggie and rice soup, bread

Friday- Picnic lunch while traveling; eat out for supper or I'll bring some food along.

 For more menu planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie!

The Pantry Challenge Progress Report #1

 January's Eat From The Pantry Challenge started January 1st in our household. Today, Jessica from Life As Mom is asking us to post our progress thus far.

 Over the weekend, I took inventory of all the food in the house and I'll be crossing things off the list as we use them. My general goals are here. 

I'll be making  a supper menu plan weekly and lunches and breakfasts will be planned a day or two at a time to make the best use of my resources. Keep in mind that I am feeding 2 adults with these menus and not a large family, so my goals, recipes, and amounts of food may look vastly different from yours!

With each week's progress report, I'll be sharing the details of what we're eating each week, changes I've made to accommodate the pantry instead of going out to buy more and how much I spent at the store that week.

Being that this progress report is only from Friday through Sunday, there is no grocery shopping to report. But here are the juicy details along with a recipe or two.

Friday:
Breakfast: toast, clementines
Lunch: lasagna, salad, french bread, roasted garlic for spreading on bread, marinated mushrooms
Supper: Football Snacks while watching the Rose Bowl with friends. I took chocolate peanut squares and some stuffed mushrooms.

Notes: I found 12 ounce boxes of mushrooms at Bi-Lo on Wednesday marked down to 89 cents. I purchased four of them, immediately thinking of sauteed mushrooms and stuffed mushrooms for a football snack. That night, I added one box of mushrooms into the stir-fry. I had found a recipe for marinated vegetables that called for mushrooms, so I used only mushrooms and used 2 boxes in the recipe. The last box I made into Stuffed Mushrooms for the game. I had never made them before so I did a quick Google search for a recipe. After browsing several recipes, I came up with my own:

Mary Ann's Stuffed Mushrooms

12 ounce box mushrooms
3-4 slices of whole wheat bread-used leftover day-old slices I'd stored in the freezer
Italian spices-garlic powder, basil, oregano
1/2 can tomato sauce-leftover in fridge
about 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese- keep a little out for topping

 Wash and dry mushrooms. Remove stems and place mushrooms(stuffing side up) on a greased baking sheet. Make breadcrumbs by pulverizing bread in food processor. Mix in remaining ingredients, being careful to keep a little cheese out to sprinkle on top. I just sprinkled the spices into the mixture-just do what looks about right or tastes good to you. I mixed it really well to allow the tomato sauce to moisten the entire mixture. Spoon the mixture into each mushroom, mounding it up a little. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.

**These turned out really good and our friends loved them!  Not bad for something I just whipped up! My mushrooms were on the small side so I had a good amount of filling leftover. Look for that showing up on this week's menu!

I was browsing through my What Would Jesus Eat Cook Book the other day and a recipe for marinated vegetables caught my eye. I was excited to try it with my good deal on mushrooms. I adapted it slightly by using only mushrooms and by changing the ingredients a little.

Marinated Mushrooms
2-12 ounce boxes fresh mushrooms

1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar- I did not measure this but it added so much to the flavor!

Pour mushroom into a plastic bag. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour marinade into bag with mushrooms; seal bag. Turn and mash bag to coat mushrooms. Let marinate in the fridge for 8 to 10 hours, turning occasionally.

**These were very good and reminded me a lot of the jars of marinated mushrooms that we used to get at Sam's Club. We ate some after about 2 hours of marinating and they were good but the ones we ate the next day much better because of the marinade having time to soak int the mushrooms. We still have quite a few left. I can see myself making this recipe with lots of of different veggie combinations. For our New Year's dinner, I threaded the mushrooms on small skewers for a nice presentation.


Saturday:
Breakfast: oatmeal, grapefruit
Lunch: leftover odds and ends from this week
Supper: leftover lasagna, roasted garlic, French bread, salad

Notes: Easy cooking day! My fridge was pretty full of leftovers so we ate those instead of making anything new.

In an immune-boosting frenzy, I picked up a 2 pound bag of fresh garlic on my last trip to Costco. Not until I returned home and began to use them- and used one garlic in over week's time- did I realize just how many garlic bulbs are in a 2 pound bag. I cook with a good amount of garlic and we've been eating some raw for it's immune-building properties, but a little goes a long way. I began looking for ways to use more garlic. I had never roasted garlics before and that sounded yummy so I tried this recipe. It was very easy and quite delicious. Roasted garlic has a more sweet and earthy flavor than fresh garlic and doesn't make your breath stink as much as fresh. I didn't know how many garlic bulbs to roast for the two of us, so I did two. We ate about 1 1/2 at the first meal spread on fresh French bread. I'll definitely be roasting garlic again.

Sunday
Breakfast-buttered bread, clementines
Lunch- beef stew in the crockpot. We eat with our church fellowship each Sunday and this was my contribution today.
Supper-Chicken chimichangas with salsa and sour cream, rice with salsa and cheese

Notes: Another easy cooking day. I typically keep it pretty simple on Sundays. The chimichangas were a freezer meal. I had leftover rice in the fridge which I mixed with a little salsa and shredded cheese for a simple side dish.

So far the challenge is going very well. No spending so far. I have seen some great grocery deals and have had to say 'no'. This will take some discipline since I am so trained to jump on good deals! I'm still doing a little non-food drug store shopping but am being careful to buy most items that end up being FREE or are needed items that will not cost me a lot out of pocket.

The deals will be there again when i start back to regular shopping in February!

**Check out Life As Mom for more Eat From The Pantry Challenge Progress Reports!

The Pantry Challenge: Inventory

 The Pantry Challenge has begun! To start with, I took inventory of all the food that I had in the house: the pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  This helped me to see exactly what I had to work with. Having it all written down will assist with meal planning. On one hand, I don't feel like I have that great of a variety but on the other hand, I found out I had more than I thought. After doing the inventory, I feel more confident that I can do the challenge for a full month. Time will tell!

Each person gets to set their own rules for The Pantry Challenge. I'm aiming to only purchase dairy, eggs and produce and therefore would like to keep my grocery spending to $50 or less for the whole month. This may be a bit unrealistic, I don't know. But I'm willing to give it a try! In fact, I went ahead and took out $50 to put in my grocery cash envelope and stashed the rest away so I'm not as tempted to overspend. The money I save this month will be put aside for bulk food purchases.

I will still shop at CVS at least once  using ECB's and as little as possible out of pocket expense. Most of that will not be food purchases. But it will still come out of my monthly goal of $50. I have yet to decide if I will take advantage of any coupon sales.

My goal is not to use everything up that's in my pantry but to create as many meals for a month as I can from what I have on hand to minimize shopping and spending.

So without further adieu, here's my pantry, freezer and refrigerator inventory and the main cast of characters in what we'll be eating this month! I'll be crossing things off as we use them.

I'll be posting about what we're eating and how I'm doing with the challenge and my goals at the end of each week during the month of January, so stay tuned!


Refrigerator:
1/4 gallon milk
1 pound Parmesan cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese
2 1 pounds and 4 oz. cheddar cheese
2 1- 16 oz. sour cream
ground flax seed
yeast
gluten
1/2 bag coconut
1 1/2 bags chocolate chips
1/4 bag white chocolate chips
3 2 boxes cream cheese
1/2 dozen  4 eggs
2 1 pounds butter
1/2 head cabbage
3 celery stalks
Most of 10 pound bag carrots
3 broccoli stalks
1/2 green pepper
1/4 onion
1/2 jar applesauce
peanut butter

Condiments
ketchup
mustard- several kinds
3 2 salad dressings
pickles
apple butter
hot sauce
soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce
mayonnaise
maple syrup
horseradish
salsa

Leftovers
oatmeal
stuffed mushroom filling
lasagna
roasted garlic bulb
mushroom stems
baggie of carrot/celery sticks
1/4 package of bacon ( cooked and put in freezer)

red pepper hummus
marinated mushrooms
1 cup cooked rice
salad
chocolate peanut squares

Pantry (includes contents of kitchen cupboards):
Loaf of French bread
Basic baking/ cooking ingredients including vinegars, spices, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, etc.
2 containers honey
olive oil
coconut oil
unbleached flour
dried elderberries
fruit basket- apples, oranges, lemons
pumpkin seeds
raisins
millet
bag of garlic
2 1 onions
sunflower seeds
popcorn
kidney beans, white beans, lentils- approx. 1 pound of each
10 6 3 potatoes
3 1 sweet potatoes
sucanat
mashed potato flakes
rolled oats
brown rice
whole grain pasta- approx. 2 1/2 boxes
2 boxes lasagna noodles
brown rice
arborio rice
bucket of hard wheat berries
bucket of soft wheat berries
1 box chocolates
variety of teas
2 sea salts
2 baking cocoas
6 boxes gluten
baking powder
cornstarch
2 cans coconut milk
1 can pumpkin
2 Worcestershire sauce
3 mustard
2 cans mushrooms
2 hot sauce
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 bean soup mix
3 A1 sauce
3 tomato sauce
5 4 diced tomatoes
instant cappuccino mix
microwave popcorn
saltine crackers
3 cans pineapple
1 can mandarin oranges
2 peanut butter
open package pretzel rods
8 7 tomato paste
3 cans salmon
3 2 pouches tuna
Ritz crackers
mixed nuts
Betty Crocker Warm Delight
graham crackers
7 boxes cold cereal

Freezer

Freezer Meals/ prepared foods
1 lasagna
1 chicken pot pie
1 hummus
1  meal chicken chimichangas
1 meal fish packets
1 bag cooked kidney beans
1 spaghetti pie
1 spinach quiche
1 meal chili
3 bags spaghetti sauce
1 sweet cheeseball

Meat
chicken bones for broth
chopped ham
6 burger patties
2 sirloin steaks
2 strip steaks
2 filet mignon
2 1 stew meat
1 ground beef
2 1 meals pork chops
ham bone
1 beef ribs
1 whole chicken
several containers chicken broth
pepperoni-enough for 1 pizza
1/2- 5 pound bag white fish
1 eye of round roast

Baked Goods
container Christmas cookies
2 bags pancakes
2 bags pie dough(approx. 2-3 crusts each)
3 pizza crusts
3 slices chocolate truffle cake
3 1 bags homemade tortillas
6 dinner rolls
2 mini pumpkin bread
3 mini whole wheat bread
3 2 whole wheat bread
10 unbaked biscuits
1 dozen 6 muffins


Produce
fresh lemon juice
2 1 bags broccoli
3 bags peas
1 bag California blend
1/2 bag corn
2 bags green beans
1 big bag mixed veggies
2 baggies mashed sweet potatoes
2 cups pumpkin puree
3 baggie shredded zucchini
3 baggies chopped celery
cranberries
strawberries
blueberries
peaches
bananas

Misc.
tiny bit of ice cream
2 cans o.j. concentrate
container veggie broth
2 cups freshly ground pastry flour
1/2 gallon milk
lots of spices
buckwheat flour
pecans
rye flour
cracked wheat
brown rice
rolled oats
yeast
cornmeal
sugars

Eat From The Pantry Challenge: My Plan

For the month of January, I'm joining in with Life as Mom and Money Saving Mom for their Eat From The Pantry Challenge.

Today Money Saving Mom is asking those of us participating to link up with our goals and plans.

I've never done this before, at least not to this extent, so I'm really not sure what to expect. I would like to do this for the whole month, but am definitely shooting for 2 weeks and then seeing where I stand food-wise.

My "Eat From The Pantry Challenge" plan will go something like this:

• Plan meals from my freezer, pantry and refrigerator with very few new purchases. I still have around 10 meals left from my Freezer Cooking Day in November as well as a good amount of meat, veggies and grains so I will focus on using those things up. 
• Spend no more than $50 on groceries for the whole month. This will be mainly fresh veggies and fruit, eggs and dairy products. I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach this goal but I'm aiming high. 
• Save the remaining money and put it aside for bulk grocery purchases throughout the year. I was already planning to set aside $50 each month during 2010 to enable me to purchase more items in bulk such as grain, grass-fed beef,  local in-season fruits and veggies to can and freeze, coconut oil and other hard-to-find items that I cannot find at good prices locally, and maybe even help with some of the costs of garden plants and seeds.  We want to order a 1/4 beef this spring so that is a large sum of money coming up rather quickly. Saving  more money this month would surely help towards that purchase! A 1/4 cow would last us for about a year!
• Be creative and stretch what we have to feed us for a month. I thrive on creating dishes out of what I have on hand and I love to try new recipes so this is the part of the challenge that I'm looking forward to the most!
• I'll be posting each week on how it's going, what we're eating along with some recipes, and how much I've spent that week on groceries.

 Edited to Add: I went through and listed all the food in my house to help me with the challenge. If interested, you can see my pantry inventory list here. 

Want to join me? Read all about it here!

Menu Plan Monday- Freezer Meals To The Rescue!

 
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends. We just finished eating all of our leftovers today!

The turkey carcass is simmering on the stove as we speak, turning into yummy homemade broth. I got to bring it home since I was the only guest who expressed an interest in it.

Imagine that.

We have a very hectic week ahead. On Saturday, I'm running my first 5k and hosting a Gingham Cottage open house at my home. The open house will give some of my local friends a chance to see my products.  I've been sewing and creating up a storm and setting up at  area shows almost every weekend this fall. My little business venture has been successful so far, with many private orders and sales. Be looking next week for lots of new items in my Etsy shop! I have lots of fun and different things to post for sale there.

We also need to get our tree and decorate the house for Christmas. We're doing a small tree again this year and we really don't go all out with the decorations; we both prefer the simple touches over the elaborate. 

Thankfully, I still have a freezer stocked with ready to heat meals which will come in so handy this week! I really really love having all those foods prepared and at the ready. So worth the effort! I've been using several of the freezer meals every week; they have been great!

Compliments of my freezer, here's what we're eating this week:

Monday-leftovers
Tuesday- Fish and veggie packets, brown rice
Wednesday- Chicken Pot Pie, veggie
Thursday- Cheesy Beef and Rice, veggie
Friday- Chicken Fajitas, beans, possibly rice
Saturday- Something easy or eat out

If you're in need of menu planning inspiration, be sure to check out Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday for lots of meal ideas!

Soaked Cranberry Muffins

I made my first soaked muffins today! I used this basic recipe and added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1 cup of fresh cranberries(FREE at Earth Fare) as my spices and add-ins. I used yogurt for soaking instead of apple cider vinegar or kombucha that was called for in the recipe and it worked great!

They were delicious! I can see myself  using this basic recipe again and again and tweaking it to our tastes.  It's easy to follow and make. The only difference is planning for and adding the soaking step.

Why am I "soaking", you ask?  Simply put, soaking grains and flours with an acidic ingredient before cooking breaks down the phytic acids, maximizes nutrition and makes them more easily digested. I've been making a soaked whole wheat bread since the first of the year and it turns out wonderful! I also am pretty consistent with soaking my brown rice, oatmeal, millet(for cooked cereal) and dry beans. We honestly have not really noticed that much of a difference with the taste of the finished product. I have found that brown rice and oatmeal cook faster when they've been soaked, which is an advantage.   These muffins are my first attempt at soaking a non-yeasted baked good.

Next step: making soaked pancakes!

You can read more detailed explanations of the benefits of soaking and sprouting grain here, here, and here.

Menu Plan Monday

I survived my big cooking day last week! Having so many yummy meals in the freezer should make meal planning a snap!
A freezer full of food is like having money in the bank. But just like our savings account, I don't want to use all the food right away if we can help it!

I'm spreading it out and planning to use frozen meals about 3-4 times a week. Some weeks, I may use more or less depending on our schedule. This is a rather hectic time for us(as for many folks) which is why I chose to do the big freezer day and the meals are really going to help me out!

I'm planning to do a baking day tomorrow which will stock our freezer with bread, pizza crusts and a few other baked goods. I hadn't done much bread baking in the past few months because I was waiting for my grain order to arrive, but now that I have plenty of grain on hand, I'm ready to do some baking again! This won't be a huge baking production; just some baked goods to keep us going for a few weeks.

Here's what we're eating for supper this week. All frozen meals are marked with **.

Monday- Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole**, green beans

Tuesday- Pinto Beans**, cornbread

Wednesday-Fish and Veggie Packets**, homemade bread

Thursday- Baked Potatoes (with cooked ground beef, cheese, sour cream), steamed carrots

Friday- Chicken Fajitas**, Spanish Rice

Do you have trouble coming up with menus each week?  Would you like to start  with meal planning? Head on over to Menu Plan Monday to read menus from hundreds of kitchens and get inspired!

Freezer Cooking Day: Completed Meals and My Thoughts

I survived my first Once-A-Month Cooking Day!

Here's the list of completed meals and foods:

• 2 Chicken Fajita Kits
• 2 meals of Chicken Chimichangas
• 3 quarts of Chili 
• 3 meals worth of Fish and Veggie Packets : My first time freezing these so it's an experiment!  I don't see a reason why these wouldn't freeze well, though. 
• 1 container of Hummus
• 1 container of Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
• 3 Chicken Pot Pies
• 2 Spaghetti Pies
• 2 Spinach, Mushroom, and Bacon Quiches
• 2 Cheesy Beef and Rice Casseroles
• 7 dozen Meatballs: 1 recipe; depending how I use them and how many people I'm serving should end up being about 6 meals. 
• 3 quarts Spaghetti Sauce
• 1 bag cooked brown rice
• 1 bag cooked and cubed chicken
• 2 bags cooked kidney beans
• 5 bags cooked pinto beans

Whew! That's  a lot of food!

My thoughts:

• The biggest hurdle to overcome when starting is to stop thinking about it and just do it. I dreaded making the lists and making it work with my recipes but once I got started it was not as difficult as I originally thought. I had read a lot about freezer cooking online and learned from my sister which helped a lot. I have also done a lot of freezer cooking in small increments over the years. Ultimately though, reading through Once A Month Cooking and seeing how they orchestrated the cooking days with their recipes and then following the tips in the book for adapting the process to your own recipes was my biggest motivation.
  
• This didn't cost a lot of money. I planned the meals based on what I had on hand in the freezer and pantry and spent about $40 more to get the rest of the ingredients, which also included fresh produce and other things we needed that were not included in the cooking day.
• Next time, I would like to plan ahead a bit better and have fresh meat to marinate and throw in the freezer, ready to cook. Some ideas would be roasts or whole chickens with a marinade or spice rub or any of these Dump Chicken recipes. ( The Lemon-Garlic chicken is good and I have the cranberry chicken in the freezer but haven't tried it yet.)The reason I would do more of this is that these would be less time-consuming than doing mostly casseroles. Because I used already frozen meat, I didn't want to thaw meat and refreeze it without cooking it.
• All the planning was good. My personality loves checking items off lists and knowing exactly what comes next. Knowing this about myself, my list was made up of lots of small tasks rather than large chores, so I could cross things off more quickly. It was motivating to be able to cross things off relatively quickly. There's nothing more discouraging to me than working half a day and only crossing a couple of to-do's off my list!
• While doing all the prep work the day before actually turned my cooking day into 2 cooking days, it was well worth it! My work space is quite limited and doing all the prep and cooking everything from scratch in one day would've been very overwhelming. Pulling prepared meats, veggies, rice, beans, ad cheese out of the fridge was wonderful! The assembly was pretty easy.
• Next time, I will not plan to away from home the day before!
• The Spaghetti Sauce is not my favorite. It has added cinnamon and cloves so is a sweeter type sauce. While good and certainly edible, I doubt I'll use this recipe again. Or if I do use it again, I'll omit the cinnamon and cloves.
• This is not all we will eat for the next month. I have other meats in the freezer and I will still want to cook some nights to give a little more variety. That being said, I won't be surprised if this stash lasts us about 2 months. Most meals are enough for supper and lunch the next day for the two of us. My family will be visiting for Christmas and I would love to still have a few meals left by then to serve them! (If not, I'll have to make a few more.)
• I'm planning a baking day for next week. I purposely did not include any baked items on the list because of previous attempts of making pizza dough, bread dough and casseroles at the same time. Too varied and time and space-consuming. The pie crusts for the quiche and pot pies was enough this time around!!!
  
• As well as journaling my experiences here, I need to create a notebook or document on the computer with my recipes and lists that I used for reference for next time. Each time should get easier as I fine-tune the process to what works for me. 
• If you're wanting to stock your freezer, do what works for you. You could do a  whole full-blown cooking day like I did, or simply double or triple your supper recipes for a week and freeze the extras. There's really no right or wrong way to do it. 
• I'm not that terrrified of a little freezer burn, since we use stuff pretty quickly. My previous experience with freezer meals has been good. I do double wrap most items. All pans are wrapped in plastic wrap and then in foil. For Ziplocs, I use only freezer bags.
• Standing a Ziploc bag in a quart jar and using a canning funnel is an easy and mess-free way to fill bags with soups and sauces. 
• I laid all filled bags on cookie sheets so that they froze flat. After frozen, they can be stacked on the shelf or in a  basket.
  
• I label everything. For pans, I just write the name, date and cooking instructions on the foil or on a sticky note which I tape to the pan. Labels are nice but I had run out of them. some day, I'll get all fancy and print some custom labels on my computer. Writing full instructions is important in case my husband is cooking the dish or if I use it for hospitality. I know where to find the recipe to see how to cook it but someone else may not. 

For easy reference here are all my posts about this freezer day:

Freezer Cooking Day- Menu and list of prep work.  (Recipe links.)
Freezer Cooking Day: Preparation
Freezer Cooking Day: My List and Progress
Freezer Cooking Day: Halfway Home
Freezer Cooking Day: Done! 

Food in the freezer is like having money in the bank. I can't wait to use it!

Freezer Cooking Day; Done!

Three chicken pot pies, two spaghetti pies, and two spinach, mushroom and bacon quiches ready to freeze. Obviously, we like pie!

The cooking day is over. I called it quits around 5 pm when I didn't have the energy to do another pot of anything! I got everything marked off the list except for the Israeli Spice seasoning blend and the mashed potatoes. I can easily do these another day.

The kitchen is clean, except for the floor which is pretty gross, but it's cleaning day tomorrow so I'm leaving it until then.  For now, we're going to heat up some spaghetti sauce and pasta that I saved from the freezer today and then head out to shop for our shoe boxes tonight after supper. It should be a fun ending to a very busy day!

I'll post a summary of the day and the final amount of meals tomorrow.

Cooking Day: Halfway Home!

It's 1 pm and I think I'm about halfway home.

Here's what I've accomplished so far today. The freezer is filling up!

1. Marinate chicken for fajitas.
2. Start chili in crockpot.
3. Start spaghetti sauce cooking.
4. Saute chicken for fajitas.
5. Assemble fish and veggie packets. **Foil packets in gallon Ziplocs. 
6.Assemble Chicken Fajita kits. **Sandwich, quart and gallon Ziplocs.
7. Assemble Cheesy Beef and Rice casseroles. **Pyrex pans.
8. Make meatballs.
9. Assemble quiches. **Quiche pans.
10. Bake quiches and meatballs.
11.Cook chimichanga mixture.
12. Assemble chimichangas. **Tortilla bags.
13. Make hummus. ** Plastic containers or quart Ziplocs.
14. Mix Israeli Spice Seasoning blend. **Sandwich bags.
15. Cook pasta for Spaghetti Pies.
16. Assemble Spaghetti Pies. **Pie pans.
17.Bag remaining spaghetti Sauce in 4 cup portions, keeping enough out for supper. **Quart Ziplocs.
18. Dice potatoes for pot pies.
19. Make sauce for pot pies.
20. Assemble pot pies. **Pie pans.
21. Peel and cook potatoes.
22. Mash potatoes and bag. **Quart Ziplocs or Pyrex pans.
23. Bag meatballs. **Gallon Ziploc.
24. Bag chili. **Quart Ziplocs.
25. Bag extra rice and beans.  **Quart Ziplocs.
26. Clean kitchen and dining room.
27. Admire prepared meals in freezer!

The kitchen and dining room continue to look like a war zone!

Meatballs are flash-freezing  now. I forgot that step on my list. :-) I've also baked two spinach quiches which are now cooling before they go in the freezer. Two meals worth of chimichangas are done as well as 2 containers of hummus-one regular and one roasted red pepper.

We just got a call from some friends who are in the area and want to stop by so I'm bringing the food factory to a screeching halt for a bit so I can enjoy their visit!

Coming up next:

--Spaghetti Pie

--Chicken Pot Pie

--Mashed Potatoes

--Israeli Spice Seasoning Blend

Cooking Day- My List and Progress

It's cooking day! I woke up and got ready early, eager to get started. It's a blustery rainy day so it feels nice and cozy to stay in and cook.

Here's my kitchen ready and waiting for some activity at 7 am this morning.

 Here's what my kitchen and dining room are looking like at 9:30:

I already have 7 meals in the freezer: 2 pans of Cheesy beef and Rice, 3 meals of Fish and Veggie Packets (what you see on the foil above), and 2 Chicken Fajita kits.

Here's my complete list of order of assembly and operations for the day. I've crossed off several completed items already and have already have done a few things "out of order'. It's hard to tell just how everything will play out when you make a list. I'll be making notes as to what does and does not work to have for my next cooking day!

1. Marinate chicken for fajitas.
2. Start chili in crockpot.
3. Start spaghetti sauce cooking.
4. Saute chicken for fajitas.
5. Assemble fish and veggie packets. **Foil packets in gallon Ziplocs. 
6.Assemble Chicken Fajita kits. **Sandwich, quart and gallon Ziplocs.
7. Assemble Cheesy Beef and Rice casseroles. **Pyrex pans.
8. Make meatballs.
9. Assemble quiches. **Quiche pans.
10. Bake quiches and meatballs.
11.Cook chimichanga mixture.
12. Assemble chimichangas. **Tortilla bags.
13. Make hummus. ** Plastic containers or quart Ziplocs.
14. Mix Israeli Spice Seasoning blend. **Sandwich bags.
15. Cook pasta for Spaghetti Pies.
16. Assemble Spaghetti Pies. **Pie pans.
17.Bag remaining spaghetti Sauce in 4 cup portions, keeping enough out for supper. **Quart Ziplocs.
18. Dice potatoes for pot pies.
19. Make sauce for pot pies.
20. Assemble pot pies. **Pie pans.
21. Peel and cook potatoes.
22. Mash potatoes and bag. **Quart Ziplocs or Pyrex pans.
23. Bag meatballs. **Gallon Ziploc.
24. Bag chili. **Quart Ziplocs.
25. Bag extra rice and beans.  **Quart Ziplocs.
26. Clean kitchen and dining room.
27. Admire prepared meals in freezer!

I'm back to the kitchen. I'll do another update  around noon. See you then!