Freezer Pantry Challenge – Day 2
January 2, 2010 by christine
Filed under Freezer / Pantry Challenge
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Toast, Yogurt, Cheerios, Banana Cake, Toaster Strudels, Apple Juice – depending on which family member you are
Lunch: Frozen Pizza (cooked, obviously), Apple Slices, Water
Dinner: Leftovers from last night – Ham, Potatoes, Rolls, Green Beans & Oranges, Egg Nog & Water
Kind of a boring day! (in the food department anyway…)
C-
I agree! It won’t be a challange unless you do the 3 months with all the stuff you have! We’re a famly of 9 (2 at college), and I have basically lived out of my “stock” constantly, because I generally do not cook what I bought that week (i.e.20 lbs of hamburger gets turned into different things, some of which don’t get eaten for a few months). Snack ideas… fresh fruit, celery w/ peanut butter (and a few raisins or chocolate chips), peanut butter spoons, popcorn, oatmeal cookies,animal craackers,gorp (I just do P&R, no m&ms), ritz crackers w/ cheddar (and sometimes an apple slice) broiled, honey bees (recipe at Skippy pb, I think).
The easiest way I have found to do the storage living is to keep a running list of the meals I can make of what I have, including snacks. I personally make my menus up a month at a time, on weekly print outs, and list what I will need for that week (i.e. fresh zuchinni or sour cream). I keep a few “emergency meals” at all times (frozen pizzas/ animal crackers/ TV dinners with veggies in them), so that if I am unable to make the nights meal because of a hard day, I can pull one of them instead of hitting McDs.
What I haven’t told you is that I function out of 4 cookbooks, but the one I use the most is a 3 ring binder that has page protectors full of recipes from the internet, especially hillbillyhousewife.com and frugalabundance.com. I regularly search using a product I have (like round steak),and store the recipe on the fridge for the next week. I always try the recipe before placing it in the book. If it’s not a keeper no reason to keep it!
One last comment. Sundays are always, always (okay, maybe we don’t 4 times a year..)leftovers for one meal. I round up everything we’ve eaten all week, and supplement as necesary. No food wasted, and one less meal I have to think about!