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 →

Pantry Challenge: Enchilada Helper

Well, we finally have a move date for our new home! It will be sometime in mid April. Buying and selling homes has really put a strain on our finances. Because of this strain and the fact that we will be moving, I decided that I really need to do a pantry challenge. A pantry challenge happens when you challenge yourself to use up items in your pantries for your meals. To learn more about having a pantry challenge, click here. For the start of my pantry challenge, I am going to be a little lenient. Honestly I have had … Continue reading →

Pantry Meals: Lemon Chicken with Capers

Looking for some meals for your food storage? Or would you just like a tasty meal made with only nonperishable foods? You can keep all of the ingredients on hand for a last-minute dinner without having to rush out to buy anything. This dish, lemon chicken with capers is very tasty. Everyone in my family, including my two-year-old son, loved it. Though I did take the capers out of his portion, but that was easy enough to do. The trick to making a tasty chicken dish out of canned chicken is browning the meat in a skillet. After browning my … 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 →