Eating from the Pantry

About two weeks ago, Crystal at Money Saving Mom, challenged us to eat from the pantry for a week and skip shopping all together for the week. Since I was gone last Thursday (my grocery day) I decided that it was a good time to eat from the pantry for the following week. I had had meals planned and made from Monday to Friday evening and in the fridge before I left.

It's our Saturday tradition in our house to have a big brunch. We did this again on Saturday as we had enough eggs, some breakfast meat, I made biscuits and gravy from scratch as well. We also had some cinnamon rolls that I had made previously in the freezer. Saturday dinner was sandwiches, fruit, and granola bars.

Sunday, for brunch, we had oatmeal and fruit salad. For dinner, having some soup bones in the freezer, along with peas, corn, and potatoes, we had beef stew.

Monday, for breakfast, we had green smoothies using the left over fruit from Sunday's fruit salad, as well as the spinach we had left from the previous week's grocery run. We ate out for lunch as O'Charleys (as a side note, for those of you who don't know, kids eat free every day, every meal at O'Charleys. It's two children for each adult.) For dinner, we had left overs from when I was gone.

Today, for breakfast, we had waffles that I had frozen. When I make waffles for brunch, I usually double the batch and freeze what we don't use. Instead of using syrup, which is either expensive if you use the real stuff or not very good for you if you use anything else, we sprinkled a very light dusting of powdered sugar on top. Talk about delicious! We had mac and cheese for lunch. I'm making crockpot lasagna for dinner. Whenever I can get Campbell's soup for free or next to free, I always buy tomato because, I made our spaghetti sauce with tomato soup as it's much creamier. I had a partially left over box of lasagna noodles, cheese, 3 cans of tomato soup, ground beef, and spaghetti mix in the house. If anyone knows a good recipe for your own spaghetti mix, please pass it along.

Wednesday, we're planning eggs with cheese and toast for breakfast. Lunch will be black beans (cooked overnight in the crockpot), rice, and cheese, mixed with cumin and chili powder. Healthy, tasty, and vegetarian - so fairly inexpensive. For dinner, we're going to have honey and curry chicken, boxed mashed potatoes, fruit salad.

Thursday, we'll have cereal (I've been stocking up when I can get it for free or nearly free). For lunch, we'll have left over beef stew. Since I go grocery shopping on Thursday, we'll start another grocery week. We'll have eaten from the fridge and pantry without shopping for one week.