Eating From the Pantry and Freezer Challenge: Week 2
Posted By Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home On May 28, 2012 @ 3:00 am In Frugality,In the kitchen,Menu Planning | 19 Comments
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Welcome to the second week of the Eat From the Pantry and Freezer Challenge! Find out what it's all about [2] or read my post from Week 1 [3].
My update as I head into week two:
The first week of these challenges are usually the easy ones. Last week it just felt like I was trying to focus a bit more on using up some things we have a lot of.
My meal plan still came together easily for this second week, although I'm starting to get just a little bit more resourceful. We've already eaten most of the fresh fruit I bought last week, which I thought would last two weeks. Guess that means we'll be having lots of smoothies using frozen fruit! I also thought we had more rice than we did when we began, so I'll be coming up with some creative side dishes in place of rice pretty soon.
Several people have asked, "What if I want to do the challenge differently?"
That's just fine. This isn't meant to be something that pressures you into running your budget and menu a particular way. It has to work for you and your family.
For some, that will mean just cutting back on what they buy, but still going shopping every week. Some might not want to shop at all, unlike my own plan which includes fresh dairy, eggs and produce within a limited budget. Others might love the idea of doing this for a week or two, but find four weeks a bit too long.
At the end of the day, it's simply about saving money and making good use of what you already have. That's it!
What our family will be eating this week:
Monday
- Breakfast- Soaked oatmeal [4] with raw milk or cream and honey
- Dinner- Dinner- Roast beef, made with this recipe [5] (later in the week, I'll turn it into shredded beef for fajitas, etc.), with a recipe I've made for roasted root vegetables like carrots, beets and sweet potatoes. (This was supposed to be yesterday, but my husband took our 5 yr old son for birthday fishing trip and we ate trout instead. :)
- Prep- Soak muffin batter.
Tuesday
- Breakfast- Soaked blueberry muffins [6] (a variation on this recipe)
- Dinner- Beef fajitas, using leftover roast meat.
- Prep- Soak black beans.
Wednesday
- Breakfast- Scrambled eggs and toast (options of butter, peanut butter [7], or homemade jam from last summer)
- Dinner- Addictive sweet potato burritos [8].
- Prep- Soak oatmeal. Thaw fish.
Thursday
- Breakfast- Baked oatmeal [9] with raw milk [10]
- Dinner- Almond Encrusted Fish with Beurre Blanc Sauce, with baked sweet potatoes and carrots (I got this recipe through someone's shared recipes on Plan to Eat [11], I think)
Friday
- Breakfast- Yogurt [12] or milk, homemade granola (I've been using the Granola Bar recipe in Healthy Snacks to Go [13] and making it into granola instead), fresh or frozen fruit.
- Dinner- Whole chicken in the crockpot all day, while we're out all day (see below). I'll ask my sitter to start prepping some rice and veggies before I get home.
Saturday
- Breakfast- Kids are at Grandma's house, while my husband and I are running a booth for our music school [14] at the local homeschool convention all day Friday and Saturday. We'll grab some toast and cheese before running out the door, most likely.
- Dinner- At Grandma's house.
Sunday
- Breakfast- Scrambled eggs and toast (options of butter, peanut butter [7], or homemade jam from last summer)
- Dinner- Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken [15] (I add broccoli or cauliflower to this).
Don't forget...
During this month-long challenge, all of my ebooks [17] are on sale. Use the coupon code CHALLENGE25 to take 25% off any single ebook, OR use code BUNDLE50 to buy all 3 of my ebooks at 50% off!
*Note, when you go to purchase the bundle, if you put all three books into the cart separately, the code won't work. You need to choose the ebook bundle option at the bottom of this page [17] to use the bundle code.
It's your turn to share your money-saving meal plan with the rest of us!
We would also love to read your savings goals and your progress with those goals as the challenge goes on! Are you starting to get really creative? Please share!
Article printed from Keeper of the Home: http://www.keeperofthehome.org
URL to article: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/05/eating-from-the-pantry-and-freezer-challenge-week-2.html
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/pantryandfreezer-1.png
[2] what it's all about: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/05/lets-save-some-money-the-eat-from-the-freezer-and-pantry-challenge.html
[3] Week 1: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/05/eating-from-the-freezer-and-pantry-challenge-week-1.html
[4] Soaked oatmeal: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2008/04/soaking-oatmeal.html
[5] this recipe: http://goodcheapeats.com/2009/06/shredded-beef-filling/
[6] muffins: http://www.suegregg.com/recipes/breakfasts/blenderbattermuffins/muffins.htm
[7] peanut butter: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/06/how-to-make-nut-butter.html
[8] Addictive sweet potato burritos: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Addictive-Sweet-Potato-Burritos/Detail.aspx
[9] Baked oatmeal: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2009/04/a-nourished-start-peanut-butter-smoothies-and-baked-oatmeal.html
[10] raw milk : http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/04/whats-so-great-about-raw-milk.html
[11] Plan to Eat: http://www.plantoeat.com/ref/wjhxcos7hp
[12] Yogurt: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/04/making-homemade-yogurt-2.html
[13] Healthy Snacks to Go: https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=689057&c=ib&aff=57593&cl=114298
[14] our music school: http://www.resoundschool.com/
[15] Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-cream-pasta-with-chicken/detail.aspx
[16] so many different styles and ways to do it: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/my-books/plan-it-dont-panic-a-complete-meal-planning-resource
[17] all of my ebooks: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/my-books
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