Though the banner says Pantry Freezer Challenge, this is just a FREEZER Challenge only. My pantry is looking a little limp in spaces, but my freezers are burgeoning with food. I need to make a bit of room for turkeys when they go on sale (or at least turkey breast). We will only need three whole turkeys or about four whole breasts but I have to be able to put them somewhere and right now there's really no space to be had!
There are things we just plain need to use up and free the space. There are 12 quart jars of chicken broth, for instance. That takes up a bit of space. There's a big bag of bread slices and end pieces. I can use those for something. There are dibs and dabs and odds and ends, all saved for good reason and now's the time to use them up.
I plan to use my freezer to pretty much make our meals. Of course, I'll be using some fresh produce along the way, some dairy and eggs, but the bulk of the meals can most certainly be made with foods that are in the freezer. I have a handful of pantry items that have just or are just about to expire that I've set aside to use in this challenge, too, but the bulk of my pantry items don't expire anytime in the next year, so I'll just hang on to those.
Any savings I make this month will be put to good use: restocking those low areas of the pantry, replenishing canned goods and baking supplies.
Anyone care to join me? And if you feel you need to make it a pantry challenge too, just go right ahead and say so!
7 comments:
i'm in. I have been on this long journey for months. :) Slow going here. Thanks for the reminder about the holiday meals and sales coming up. The days and weeks go so fast the holiday grocery sales will be here faster than we think! I pulled several things aside in part of the freezer and looked up recipes to use them up. From now on I am not going to buy so much ahead for the freezer. I will use the extra space for more flour and such to keep in there. If space is needed for a short time in the freezer a bag or two of that can come out temporarily. Can take some of the broth and pressure can it? Do you make bread pudding, croutons,or french toast with the left over bread pieces? I just made a bag of bread crumbs to later put herbs in from a bit of my frozen bread pieces. I found a bag of chocolate chips in my freezer I did not know I had! Yummm! A bag of chocolate chips is cheaper than several candy bars anymore! :) We stopped getting bars several years ago . :((( :) Sarah
Hi Terri, I am working on a similar freezer challenge, I am trying to use up the older freezer things though I may continue to buy or add frozen things to the freezer, but I do have quite a bit of older stuff to use up.
My goal this month is actually to fill in the freezer to prepare for the little guys coming some time in November. Just made some teriyaki pork chops tonight :)
I'm in, also. We are moving the end of the month and I've been telling myself we should be eating up some of the freezer items and pantry stockpile.
I wasn't that motivated until I saw your post. Joining the challenge will keep me accountable :).
I literally just posted the same challenge on my blog yesterday, so I am definitely with you!
http://marandamoreorless.blogspot.com/2014/10/no-spend-october.html
I only have a small chest freezer and it is now chock full of meat and odds and ends. I am hoping to work through the odds and ends this month. Good luck!
I had already decided to do a pantry challenge because we have garden produce aplenty that has been going into the freezer and jars AND I made a mistake in my checkbook last month : 0( that calls for a no-extras month. I'll buy fresh produce and dairy but not much else. We will not be hurting in any way! God has really blessed our garden this year and the apple trees were loaded this fall. I juiced apples and froze the juice and froze apples for pies and canned applesauce. I need to make menus so I use what we have. That will take some planning. Pam
I am late to the party but I have been doing this since the first of the month. I have a brand new pressure cooker, so my habit this month has been to cook, cook and cook some more. This has to stop because when we were cleaning out our freezers, I found all manner of good things! So, my focus is not to cook another thing in my dream machine until there is room in the freezer to stash the leftovers! My question for you is, how do you store your chicken broth? Store bought is so expensive, and making it yourself is NOTHING! Guess which way I want to go? But so far, I make it, and use it right away. I would like to have some to use without having to cook a chicken first! Thanks for all of your good ideas! Hugs, Linda
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