2012 Pantry Freezer Challenge for January



One of the ways I like to start off a New Year is bringing my budget (which is stretched out of shape in December) back into alignment in January.  And it seems to me a good old fashioned pantry/freezer challenge is a nice way to do just that.  I like to sprinkle these challenges to myself all throughout the year, but most especially in January. So for our first challenge of the year, here are my 'rules':

#1  All meal planning starts with pantry/freezer items first.  I try to plan meals that will use only what is on hand.  If a recipe calls for an ingredient I don't have I have two choices: substitute or use another recipe. 

#2  Try to limit purchases to fresh fruit/produce/dairy products (bread too if you're not a baker) but truly try to use only items you already have on hand to make meals.



#3  Other purchases may include really good sales on items you are out of, or ridiculously low prices on standard pantry/freezer foods.

My pantry includes paper products, laundry/dish items and pet foods too.  Yours may not.  But we won't be buying new items of anything except necessities.

This is not a NO SPEND challenge, but you can certainly make it one if you choose.  My goal is to save as much of the grocery money I normally would spend as I can to use for future stocking up.

And that's it.  Just those simple rules....So who wants to join in?  We'll start January 1, 2012...


5 comments:

Tammy in NE said...

I'll join in the pantry/freezer challenge, Terri! Having my honey home for two weeks (paid, but no OT)is great, but definitely tightens the budget.

Rhonda said...

You know I am joining you. We pretty much did our shopping for the month today. Still need eggs, milk, and a few items that I want to get almost free with coupons. We did find some good food and some very good deals on some of it too.
We will also be adding at least 1 no-meat meal to every weeks menu, maybe 2.

I am also hoping that less shopping will save me time in addition to the money saved.

Dawn said...

I am definitely in for this challenge. My freezer is packed, and I need to get it under control. The cold makes me not want to shop too. Like Rhonda I want to add in one or two meatless meals per wek.

Anonymous said...

I sure need to do that! I have an old freezer and need to empty it before spring so I can get a new one. I have been promising myself a new one for I don't know how long now, and never do get it empty. Have a lot of stuff on the shelves that needs to be used up to. I'm in! How about a challenge to see how many new recipes? Grandma D.

Nancy said...

I'm in. I'm scheduled to do the regular shopping tomorrow. I need to do this so that I can get my freezer and pantry more organized. I also need to move some of the stuff out of the pantry so that I can put recent purchases in there.