Search Results for: blog pantry challenge italian

Cooking by Numbers Makes Pantry Shopping Easy!

Imagine being snowed in and not knowing what to cook? This great resource makes it easy to just whip something together from items in your pantry. If you have been following my blog, you know that I have been trying to use up some of my food stockpile before I move. I have been doing this through a self-imposed pantry challenge, well, one of my good friends, Kelly, who has been reading my blogs has just alerted me to a great website that will make my life a lot easier, when it comes to pulling ingredients from my pantry. The … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: Falling Off of the Wagon

How many individual packets of sugar does it take to make a half a cup? I’m proud, well, almost proud, to say I now know the answer. I officially ended our pantry challenge when I asked my husband to bring home a bag of sugar (and cold cuts and bread and milk and diapers). My moment of defeat came yesterday when I was faced with fact that it is already February, and we haven’t brought in the class snack for Andrew’s Kindergarten class. Not a problem, I thought, I’ll just make some sugar cookies. I got out the cookie cutters, … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: What You Can Do with A Box of Potatoes

From the back of the pantry, hiding from the warm yellow light of the kitchen sits a lone box of instant mashed potatoes. How this box of potatoes got there is a bit of a mystery. I always make mashed potatoes from scratch, since real potatoes are so inexpensively frugal, especially when they are on sale for buy one bag and get one free. It is not unusual for me to have two 5- or 10- pound bags of potatoes available. So where did the…gasp…instant potatoes come from? My best conclusion is to blame it on my husband. No, no, … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: Campbell’s to The Rescue!

What do you do when you have a ton of canned soup? Visit the Campbell’s recipe site of course! Another day of my pantry challenge. We are still doing pretty well with using our stock. One of the things I forgot to mention is that we very rarely eat red meat in our house, so you will see a lot of chicken, bean, pasta and vegetables dishes. Although with not buying any produce, the vegetables are scarce. I may break down this week and get some fresh fruits and veggies, because of the health factor. For breakfast, we had some … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: Baking Day

Today is turning out to be a baking day. I normally feel more comfortable baking than actually cooking things on the stove. Put it in a dish and stick it in the oven is my philosophy. But today seems to be a real baking theme in my pantry challenge. (What is a pantry challenge? Click here to learn all about it.) For breakfast I made some baked oatmeal, using up rolled oats and raw sugar from the pantry, as well as some milk and eggs. This is a treat whether eaten hot from the oven or cold from the refrigerator. … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: How Have I “Bean?”

What is a Pantry Challenge? Click here to find out. It is Sunday today. The pasta with tomato soup went over really well on Friday night. I’m going to put that recipe down as very easy to make and kid-friendly. For yesterday, there was nothing much to report. We did make breakfast from a pantry item. it was a box of Vermont organic pancake mix. I bought this mix on clearance for 50 percent off of $1.57. I used the mix to make a double batch of pancakes (leftover pancakes make great snacks, especially when you put peanut butter on … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: Using Allrecipes.com

Brrr. It is absolutely freezing out today here in Pennsylvania. I am definitely not looking forward to taking the babies out for a walk to school to fetch Andrew. The theme of the day will have to be layers. Fortunately, since I am still in my pantry challenge, at least I won’t be going to the grocery store. If you are just starting to read the frugal blogs and want to know more about a pantry challenge, click here. Our cereal is running a bit low. I did stock up a couple of months ago when sales and coupons were … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: Making My Own Boxed Bake

Today is day three of my self-imposed pantry challenge. I must use up items in my pantry, refrigerator and freezer for meals and not shop at the store for anything but milk. I might add eggs to my allowable list, but I haven’t caved, yet. To learn more about what a pantry challenge is, click here. Yesterday’s lasagna meal turned out wonderfully. My picky two-year-old ate four helpings. Yup four. Plus she finished her salad and had a serving of ice cream from the freezer. I don’t know where she put it all. Andrew left a little bit on his … Continue reading →

Pantry Challenge: Italian!

It is day two of my personal pantry challenge. Last night, the helper enchiladas went over pretty well. In my pantry challenge, my goal is to use up items in my pantry and freezer for our family meals. To learn more about what I’m doing, see my earlier blog, What is a Pantry Challenge? Here is what we are using up today. Breakfast was english muffins thawed last night from the freezer. I toasted them and topped them with peanut butter, and we had some very ripe strawberries on the side. I’m glad of this challenge, because the strawberries might … Continue reading →

What Is A Pantry Challenge?

You may have heard the term “pantry challenge” come up a lot on frugal websites and forums. But what exactly is a pantry challenge? A pantry challenge is using your existing food stores and resources, your pantry, to make all of your meals. It is a challenge to not buy anything new from the grocery store to complete dinner. A pantry challenge can be anything you want it to be. You can do the challenge by yourself or as part of a group. A group challenge can be a lot of fun. The members tend to keep each other motivated, … Continue reading →