Comments on: The Benefits of Eating Down the Pantry

By: Weekend Round-Up 4-20-13 | Fan of Stuff

Weekend Round-Up 4-20-13 | Fan of Stuff — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:14:39 +0000

[...] The Benefits of Eating Down the Pantry [...]

By: Eating from the Pantry Inspiration and Links

Eating from the Pantry Inspiration and Links — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:13:03 +0000

[...] I plan to eat from the pantry this week, Jessica’s guest post on The Benefits of Eating from the Pantry was a great reminder of why I am doing this…and all I hope to [...]

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:18:35 +0000

By eating from the pantry you do lighten up your stock and will have to restock at the end of the month. Thus spending the same amount, or at least close to it restocking... but what you have done, is cut down on what is in your pantry so you are not wasting food (wasting food is wasting money) and it also lets you evaluate which foods you really use the most and which foods you could live without. By doing it every 3-6 months you could really simply your grocery list and budget.

By: Cutting Your Kitchen Prep Time in Half — Or More!

Cutting Your Kitchen Prep Time in Half — Or More! — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:00:30 +0000

[...] to what you have on hand. Save money (and reduce waste!) by starting your menu plan based upon what you already have in your refrigerator and freezer. I like to use the Ingredient Search Feature on AllRecipes.com to generate a list of [...]

By: FishMama

FishMama — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:20:14 +0000

I'm going to agree with Stephanie. Doing a Pantry Challenge is like putting a governor on our spending. It helps me to ID areas of overstocking as well as things-not-to-buy-ever-again. I also find that the months where I eat from our stores help balance the other months when things go crazy.

By: Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:38:55 +0000

Well, it's not something I would do really frequently, because you're right, then I'd need to go and stock up all over again. But, when I do it once or twice a year, I find that it helps me to stay in control of the stock that I have, and making sure that I'm using everything I buy. It's easy to forget about things that we have, or for items to get a bit buried in the pantry or freezer, and then they don't get used up before going bad. I find that I can also sometimes stock up beyond what I need, and so it's good to really assess what I have and how I can use it every once in a while, to make sure that we really eat everything we buy and that I don't stock up unnecessarily. Doing it this way, just as needed, definitely helps me to save money.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:50:30 +0000

Sounds like a great idea to go through all your accumulated dry goods, but at the end of the month, don't you have to go and spend $ to re-stock? Do you really end up saving money?

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:15:32 +0000

Sounds like fun to me! I noticed about a year ago that we were throwing alot of food away both from the pantry and fridge/freezer as well, so I made a dedicated effort to stop the wasting. I actually do a mini-challenge every week! I go through the fridge, freezer and pantry (usually on Friday evening while cooking dinner) and take out everything that needs to be used, then make a point to cook it all that weekend. I also keep a running supply so to speak of veggies/produce in the freezer. When I see at the end of the week that there is an excess of some fresh fruits or veggies around that I know we aren't going to eat and are destined for the trash (maybe I bought apples which weren't too tasty, or we ate too many and got sick of them) I sort them into 2 different freezer containers/bags in the freezer: 1: fruit which will get used in shakes and smoothies 2: full veggies, which I wash, peel, chop etc to be used in soups or some other dish. Especially since I always have homemade stock on hand in the freezer I can whip up completely homemade soups from scratch at any given time simply by thawing the stock and tossing in the veggies to cook! It's also handy to keep out of the ordinary stuff around and convenient to eliminate trips to the store which as you say, cost more in the long run for example, you just HAVE to have some gumbo but no fresh okra? Oh, theres a bag ready to go in the freezer....I also do this with my meat and veggie "scraps" to make the stocks in the first place. I've got little bags saved up of chicken, beef trimmings, bones, etc and the somewhat non-usuable, but still flavorful pieces of the veggies, such as the ends of green onions, or corn cobs (only when you cut the corn off though, I DON'T mean when you bit it off!!), stems from herbs you've cooked with and so on. I will tell you, everyone says I make the best soups, so there's gotta be something to the method I think! :)

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:35:23 +0000

#5 is my favorite reason. I also must admit that I feel proud of my cooking and planning skills when the end of the month comes around and my fridge and pantry LOOK empty, even though I know I have a few full meals left to conjure!

By: wannabe1987

wannabe1987 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:33:43 +0000

While this is a good idea, money HERE is tight, so when i do have some i overbuy and then when its uberlean, i have food to eat. If i ate down my pantry i'd go hungry some times. Maybe when money isn't as tight.