Just over a week ago I was taking inventory, making my meal plan and writing a list as usual. As I was looking through my pantry, freezer, and fridge, I realized we still had a lot of food that needed to be eaten. So, I decided to do a pantry challenge.
What is a pantry challenge?
A pantry challenge is when you choose not to buy groceries for a set amount time. Instead, you use up the food in your house until there isn’t much left to eat. Basically, it’s a chance to dig out the food in the back of the pantry and freezer.
Because I like to serve fruit at every meal, I did purchase bananas and apples. We have some frozen fruit to eat, and that will either be thawed and given as a snack or put into smoothies.
And I also bought eggs, milk, butter, and heavy cream because, well, I NEED those things. But that’s it.
Other than those few fresh items, I didn’t buy anything else.
So what are we going to eat?
Several days ago I shared on my Instagram story the progress I was making on repurposing foods and getting creative.
I ended up with several batches of pumpkin and banana bread, five baggies of homemade red sauce, a 9×13 pan of pork friend rice that went into the freezer, some leftover cooked chicken that I put in chicken salad, and some cooked bacon.
I went through everything to see what all we had and what could possibly be made with those items.
Check out the video below to see what I have to work with.
Here’s another look at my quick list of ingredients and food ideas.
My Meal Plan For This Panty Challenge
Breakfasts: eggs, bagels, sausage gravy, pancakes, waffles, fruit breads in the freezer (5), granola cereal
Lunches: pizza bagels (x3), mac and cheese (2), peanut butter and jellies, omelets, burrito in a bowl, brats and beans, burritos
Suppers: chicken alfredo, spaghetti, pork fried rice, pizza, sausage pepper ziti, burritos, baked potatoes
Snacks: graham crackers dipped in almond milk (they LOVE this!), hot chocolate and graham crackers (yes, we have an abundance of graham crackers around here), yogurt and granola, frozen fruit, fruit breads, smoothies, ranch crackers
So that list isn’t everything possible, but it’s a good start. We’ve already been doing this for over a week and I bet I can get another week and a half out of the food in this house. I can’t believe how much we store and then buy more of each month.
I need to be more aware of that.
By the way, if you’re looking for some cute summery meal planning pages, I’ve got you covered. Click here or the image below to grab your pretty meal planning pages.
