Week 2 of pantry clean out!

Lets sum up week #1....

We spent a total of $43 at the grocery store on Monday and $5 yesterday!  I'd say we did pretty well. 

Now, if you look into my pantry, you will see very few items!  I mean VERY few items!  But we are making due...

Today, I did another brief inventory and made another grocery list for the week.   If your wondering what we are eating this week..here's a peak..

Monday: Meatballs with sauce
Tuesday: Sloppy joes (without the bun) and applesauce/homemade fries
Wednesday: Ham and potatoes with broccoli
Thursday: Rotisserie chicken with seasoned rice and roasted veggies
Friday: Meatloaf with roasted potatoes

I also made a batch of sauce, fruit leather, gf bread, smoked ribs and ground up some beef.

It smells delightful in here.

 My kitchen was mass chaos! 

 YUM!!!

Day number ??

How's it going you ask?  Well my pantry is starting to get bare but we still have food.  I have used up so much of what is in the freezer it makes my heart smile.  Yesterday, I found pizza dough I had froze a while back along with some cookie dough.  Thus, we had pizza and ABC cookies for dinner while daddy and Ky skied!

Tomorrow I will set our weekly food menu and hope we can stick close to the $43 we spent last week.  Tonight we are having southwestern egg roll dip with tortillas which will cost us $5 tonight at the grocery store.  Sorry folks, but we don't have any essential ingredients right now...

Off to make some more gluten free bread! 

Day # 3

What we had:

 Tacos....

(Sorry no pictures) but it was devoured!

 

Baking Update:

As part of cleaning out the pantry/freezer, I have come across a lot of frozen rhubarb/zucchini/blueberries.  What else to do with them but BAKE!  

 

First we made rhubarb bread (GF style).  Not going to post the recipe because it was so.so :/  The kids ate it but it does not have the best aftertaste.  Still half a loaf to go (I made 2 yesterday) so it wasn't a complete waste. 

 

Next I made english muffin bread!  It just came out of the oven, so I cannot comment on how it tastes.  It's also not GF so I cannot give a personal testament as to how absolutely delicious it may be.  The hubby will have to be my taste buds on this one.  

Empty the shelves day 2

Black Bean and Cheese Burritos

What we had:

1 can of black beans

some tomatoes

cheese (colby jack)

red onions

a half of a bell pepper

garlic

mild jalapeno peppers

and burrito shells/corn tortillas

Saute onion/pepper/garlic (minced)/peppers until tender

Add black beans (rinsed)

remove from heat and add cheese

spoon into warm shells

top with diced tomato (or salsa) and some sour cream.

I added rice to our meal!

Food clean out day 1

So snacks...

My kids are grazers.  They love their snacks so I try to make them healthy.  I plan on making lots of bread from shredded zucchini I found in the freezer and applesauce I canned in the fall.   BUT...what about on the go?  School lunches?  When mommy is just too busy blogging to stop and get a snack ready....

Well my wonderful Sister In Law made us fruit strips for Christmas this year.  Let me just say they were de.licous!  The kids gobbled them down within a few days.  Now, I don't have a dehydrator yet so I needed to figure out a way to make them without one.  AND.THEY.WORKED.OUT.GREAT! 

Yesterday we made strawberry ones and today I have apple in the oven. 

And did you know it is ever so easy!  And healthy! And frugal! 

Since I love to can, I had an abundance of jams and unsweetened applesauce in the Hoosier. Simply, spread a thin layer of jam/applesauce on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap and bake at 170 for 6-8 hours.  It doesn't take up energy and works great.  Then flip the dried fruit on some wax paper, cut, and roll.  Wallah!

*WARNING:  These will be gone within seconds if left unattended! 

Enjoy!

Frugal mama

This is the month to be frugal.  To be VERY frugal!  So lets give this a try. 

First on the list...MEAL!

I already spend near nothing on groceries but we always seem to have a lot in our cupboards.  That being said, we are eating it ALL this month.  Yes, we are going to clean out our pantry which will require a bit of creativity from this mama.  I am very open to any suggestions on simple meals (kid friendly of course) so please comment with any you may have. 

A few meals we may start with...

1. Bean and cheese burritos (and whatever salsa/sour cream we have in the fridge)
2. Tacos (I make taco seasoning, canned a lot of tomatoes this fall, and have a freezer full of meat)
3. Breakfast for dinner.  Potato pancakes, bacon, and eggs from our chickens
4. Meatloaf
5. Roast with veggies
6. Ham (and leftover for soups and lunch meat).
7. Lots and lots of stew...
8. Cheeseburger Quiche (GF of course)
9. Skillet meat supper
10. Pasta with homemade meatballs
11. Whole chicken in rotisserie cooker (leftover for soup)
12. Texas chili
13. Mexican style beef tacos
14. LOTS OF SOUP...and did I mention soup?
15. Hashbrown Sausage Casserole
16. Herb rubbed sirloin tip roast
17. Daddy's favorite!  (Chicken pan fried in State Fair Sauce)
18. Shepherds Pie.
19. Sloppy Joes

And PLEASE give me some more suggestions!

Lets see how much $ we save this month doing this!  

Merry Christmas

We had an amazingly simple Christmas this year minus the traveling from one place to the next. The big news being.....WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!! Yes we are and the kids are more than ecstatic! Hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did!