Life has thrown us a few curve balls (and then a few more) so I have decided that December is the perfect month for a pantry challenge. It might even extend into January depending on the state of our freezers and pantry after December.
So what is my goal here? Use up all of the odds and ends that have been stashed in the freezers and cupboards and been forgotten. Use the meat in the freezers and eat up all of the freezer meals. Find some creative recipes to use up the canned beans and peanut butter. And, of course, save some money and spend as little as possible on groceries. Our pantry is looking rather empty for us already so this is going to be a bit more of a challenge than I would prefer.
The first step to an effective pantry challenge is to inventory EVERYTHING edible in the house so you know what you have (and what you don't). Then you need to plan out everything on the menu for the week including snacks. Around here this will also require that one person really take back over the cooking because my kids are have amazing kitchen skills but don't quite understand all of the concepts of frugal cooking. We're working on that one.
Of course, we have 4 birthdays in December so those days are going to be a bit different. And Christmas as well will not entirely be pantry inspired although I do already have most everything we need in the house.
So here's the beginning of the plan for the month. This month I am feeding 12 most days, up to 17 other days.
S: cereal (B), donuts and leftovers (L), leftovers (D)
M: monkey bread, sliced oranges (B), FFY (L), Chinese food (D), cake and ice cream for Ellie's birthday
T: bagels with cream cheese or peanut butter, sliced oranges (B), deli sandwiches, carrots (L), ham and potato casserole, peaches, peas (D)
W: cereal (B), pbj, sliced apples (L), taco bake, veggies (D)
T: breakfast casserole, orange juice (B), leftovers (L), out to eat for Kieran's birthday (D)
F: oatmeal, sliced fruit (B), pbj, carrots (L), tuna of some sort (D)
S: eggs, toast, sausage (B), leftovers (L), frozen pizza (D)