Even though the Pantry Challenge was a huge success, I failed miserably by the end of the month in having meals, snacks and creative cooking ideas ready and implemented. Even with adding on the Super Doubles week, where I shopped every day, we stayed at $200 for the month.
With our God Watch still in full swing, this was an amazing way to save money, use what we have and realize that there’s so much more to be done.
Admitting that I talked big and scrounged with out a plan this past week, I need to get my act together by having one bulk cooking day before I leave for the Blissdom Blogging Conference next weekend (yes, I am speaking…AH)!
We’re expecting snow in NC tomorrow, which is a perfect time to get a lot done. Life literally shuts down.
My plan? (Now, Jen, the key is to implement this plan…make it happen with or with out the snow).
- My PRIORITY – Whole Wheat Bread in bulk for bread, pizza crust and sweet rolls
- Waffles without Butter (quadruple the batch and freeze a few)
- Baked Apple Oatmeal
- Shepherd’s Pie (double batch of potatoes for freezer mashed potatoes)
- Pork Tenderloin (the ones I stocked piled)
- Baked Turkey Breast
- But mainly I am focusing on doing this……meal planning with a twist. How much can I get done in one hour? (Off to throw 4 pounds of chicken in the crock pot right now! 🙂
What are your plans for the weekend? I need to use my time wisely, and feel like I’ve been spinning this last week, so it’s good to get some kind of tentative plan going. Would you like to join me? Even if you have one hour, start with my meal planning with a twist post above.
I need to do this badly!! I’m still participating in the challenge till next Friday, but I can start planning now!! We, too, stayed under $200 this month for a family of 6. I’m quite impressed and I have a clean freezer to boot!! 🙂
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I’ve been sitting around all morning thinking “I need to use my time wisely”. haha I need to get on the ball and do something around the house.
I have always wanted to try bulk cooking. That would solve my problem of getting take out or running to the store for something easier when I don’t feel like cooking dinner.
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Isn’t it amazing how much you can get done on a snow day? I’m using our snow day to get a few things made today.
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Do you freeze the baked apple oatmeal, and if so how? It sounds so good! 🙂
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My plan for the weekend is to scrapbook and do inventory for my business. Tonight we had the best lasagna ever, especially since I made two in December, and this one came out of the freezer. Easy & yummy! I also did a post today about how I didn’t have to run to the store because of the snow, not with a fully stocked pantry and freezer. Blessings!
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I have been doing a little of this over the last six months. I make spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, and lasagna to freeze already cooked. I do a lot of “dump container of meat into freezer bag and add marinade” prep ahead so all I have to do is grill it or saute it up. I would like to try finding more things to actually “cook” ahead.
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How do you store the apple oatmeal? I usually try to make a batch of something similar at the beginning of the week. I bake it Monday morning and then just scoop out some the rest of the week, but I’d love to have something I could store for longer than that.
I suppose I should be more productive than just making cookies on this snowy day…
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I cooked a crockpot of black beans today, does that count? Not much, but something. I used some in tonight’s supper (mexican lasagna), and froze two can-size baggies, and have one bowl of black bean soup to have for lunch tomorrow! Cooking my own beans is SO much cheaper than buying canned.
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Hey Jen,
I’m making your homeade whole wheat bread today. We’re snowed in, church is cancelled, so I’m tackling both homeade bread and homeade pasta today! I’ll let you know how it all turns out. Can’t wait to see you Thursday!
hugs,
edie
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I love your idea of cooking ahead but because of a medical condition my husband avoids recooked food. Our university student takes lunch and dinner with him in the morning. I prepare enough for all of us and his portion is refridgerated for the next day. Baking ahead is a must, having extra cookies, bread, etc. in the freezer is a life saver.
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Our Pantry Challenge is still going and it has been a great inspiration to get creative in the kitchen! We have one week to go and I wanted to say thanks for the idea and inspiring lots of new posts for my blog!
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