pantry challenge

[alison]

I'm so tired of wasting money and food. I go grocery shopping every day, because we have a great grocery store just two blocks away. I buy what I need to make dinner that night, and by doing this almost every day, we waste so much food. It gets pushed back to the back of the fridge or pantry.

So--I'm not shopping for a week. If that means we eat cans of tomato sauce with almond slices so be it!

Has only else done this?

[SuzySunshine]

Not for a whole week but for several days - I try to do it every month or two, just depends how bad the pantry gets.

I do usually still buy fresh fruit though.

[Phoebe]

I did it two weeks ago. I do it occasionally as a way to save money.

[HouseofWool]

My pantry is fairly lean. But, I can usually find *something* to eat in a pinch.

[ides]

I've done it before moves but I try to keep my pantry with just what I use regularly. I also try hard to eat all leftovers and clean out the fridge weekly. I have a lot of basic items stocked which makes up the base of our meals.

[medpedspouse]

We are moving in 1 1/2 weeks and the pantry, freezer, fridge & cabinets are packed with food. Since showing the house, I will not cook because I did not want to have food smells or clean up. Also, with DH gone, I just assume eat cereal and call it good.

I am hoping to be able to move stuff but I am afraid that we will be throwing away a ton.

[alison]

We have at least a week's worth of fresh fruit (hard as rock kiwis, peaches, bananas). I also make smoothies, so I have frozen fruit as well. We will survive a week! Our main problem is leftovers. Another problem is Trader Joe's snacks that we try out and after realizing that they're not so great, we push them to the back of the pantry and forget about them.

We have a tiny kitchen and a small fridge. I've gotta figure out a better way of managing the space!

[ladymoreta]

Good plan! I haven't done it for that long, but like others, I do it before a move. Start by going through the pantry and checking expiration dates. Even pantry staples have them. Also, throw out all the snacks you don't love and anything that's been open long evough to start going stale. That should get it to a more manageable amount, and you can see what you have and plan the week's menu. Good luck! I hate it when my pantry becomes too full to use. Gotta love living in the first world, huh?

[GrayMatterWife]

I'm so tired of wasting money and food. I go grocery shopping every day, because we have a great grocery store just two blocks away. I buy what I need to make dinner that night, and by doing this almost every day, we waste so much food. It gets pushed back to the back of the fridge or pantry.

So--I'm not shopping for a week. If that means we eat cans of tomato sauce with almond slices so be it!

Has only else done this?

Um...every single week. Is it unusual? I'd go broke if I shopped only per day for that evening's dinner.

I shop once a week for groceries and I plan out five dinners ahead of time.

But I do not shop at those warehouse club houses, like Sam's. I do not overbuy, even if--per fluid ounce or whatever--it would be cheaper to buy more. I don't save any money by buying $12 for a gallon of mayo when it goes bad before I can eat more than 12 ozs, and I could have spent $3 for 12 ozs.

If I planned poorly or we consumed more than I thought we would at the beginning of the week, then our end-of-the-week meals tend to be pretty weird...scrambled eggs, spinach salad, and canned mandarin oranges or something like that. Whatever is around.

[Michele]

We also only shop once a week. We do buy in bulk at Costco once a month. We use up all the perishables in the week. But we could easily get by for 2 weeks on the pantry and freezer supplies. I think of it as hurricane preparedness.

[HouseofWool]

Um...every single week. Is it unusual? I'd go broke if I shopped only per day for that evening's dinner.

I shop once a week for groceries and I plan out five dinners ahead of time.

But I do not shop at those warehouse club houses, like Sam's. I do not overbuy, even if--per fluid ounce or whatever--it would be cheaper to buy more. I don't save any money by buying $12 for a gallon of mayo when it goes bad before I can eat more than 12 ozs, and I could have spent $3 for 12 ozs.

If I planned poorly or we consumed more than I thought we would at the beginning of the week, then our end-of-the-week meals tend to be pretty weird...scrambled eggs, spinach salad, and canned mandarin oranges or something like that. Whatever is around.

We also tend to do pancakes a lot at the end of the week... Last night was french toast.

I also grocery shop just once a week and make out a list and stick to it pretty well. For my family of 3, our household consumable budget averages roughly $100/week. Occasionally it goes over, but this week we were 30 bucks under. *shrug* It all averages out in the end. Twice a year, I do a big purchase of meat from one of my uncles who owns a small grocery store with an in-house butcher service. So, then I stock up on things like burger, pork chops, and a couple of roasts. That typically runs a couple hundred dollars, but then I don't purchase much meat for several months. Again, it all balances out.

[alison]

We have a tiny freezer (3 small drawers in it), so we can't stock up. I have chicken breasts, ground beef, a small frozen pizza, 3 TJ tikka masalas, 2 bags of frozen fruit, and it's busting at the seams. My pantry is probably a joke to most of you--it's a small cabinet!

[poky]

We have a tiny freezer (3 small drawers in it), so we can't stock up. I have chicken breasts, ground beef, a small frozen pizza, 3 TJ tikka masalas, 2 bags of frozen fruit, and it's busting at the seams. My pantry is probably a joke to most of you--it's a small cabinet!

Is there room in your garage for a chest freezer? Might be worth it if there is. We have one, plus a pantry area for non-frozen bulk stuff, in our basement. I just looked back on Mint, and see at least one stretch of over 2 weeks with no grocery charges at all in the last few months (of course, some weeks I'm at a different grocery store every day because we're running low on staples that we get at different places). When we get fresh food, we eat some, then prepare and refrigerate/freeze the rest, and eat it later.

[alison]

Yes! We're looking into a small freezer chest! I think once we get through this week of eating what we have, we'll go that route.

[HouseofWool]

My sister is the queen of the pantry challenge. But, even her meals get pretty weird on the last day before a vacation.