Postscript to Not Quite Bare Cupboard Challenge

Kathy was a sport and tried the current challenge.  I got her email reply last week but as you all know I've been rather busy and away from home.  Not much time for blogging!  However, I wanted to share a few things with you and most especially her menu/shopping since she did take time to plan it out:
Thanks for another challenge. I found this one easier than the first since I had some things that would carry over to the new menu. I think that I could feed my family(2 adults & 2 teens) on $30.26/week. Now my son would not be pleased as there are more beans than he is used to eating in a week. :D
Carryover foods: tea, sugar, pb, jelly, salt, chili powder, onions, carrots, ranch dressing

breakfasts: oatmeal, $1.59 milk gallon, $2.59, 18 eggs, $1.59, butter, $2.50, blackberries .99, baking powder, $1.59, flour, $1.89
So I could make pancakes and baking powder biscuits too. Love having more variety with buying baking powder.

lunch: Rhonda's bread recipe: eggs, pb&j, baked potatoes 5lb, $2.99

Supper:
pinto beans and cornbread
$1 dry beans, $1.59 cornmeal
bean and cheese burritos, salsa and tostitos
tortillas 1.39, roma tomatoes $1, jalapenos .20 cheese $1.88, lettuce .99
taco soup x2
canned tomatoes 2x.59, corn .59, dry black beans $1 generic tostitos $1
black bean burgers
from black beans cooked earlier, make buns, oven fries
nathan hot dogs $1.99 make buns, baked potato, salad
chili and cornbread
from leftover pinto and black beans, cornbread, cheese
tomatoes 2x.59

snacks: can make sugar cookies, nachos,

Chef Owings shared her family recipe for egg noodles.
Heavens, my family makes noodles all the time and don't do all that. Usually it's one egg to one cup of flour...you might need to add a bit(half egg shell ?) of water if it's not moist enough. I have a friend that adds oil instead of water. Mix it well , let it rest for 15-20 min this is so it's easier to roll out due to the gluten it is forming. I usually toss a bit of Easy Roll from King Arthur Flour so I don't let it rest as long. Cut it and either toss it in the pot (cooks in 2-4 min ) or dry it. Nonna came from Northern Italy, they used fresh pasta always and my other side is from the Appalachians, they used dryer noodles. I have dried my in the dehydrator and stored in jars in the pantry.  

Sarah shared this in the comments on the final post.  If you haven't read the comments, I'd hate for any of you to miss this woman's blog.  I read the $20 challenge post she did but have saved her blog to take time to read through later when I have more time.

I don't know if you follow the blog hopeandthrift.blogspot.com but Jane decided recently to do a $20 a week challenge too. She only used salt and pepper from her pantry doing like you buying everything from scratch. If you haven't been following her you might like to go and see if you can get any new hints

Carole  wrote:  You can buy yeast in a jar at any supermarket and in bags at a bulk food store such as an Amish run store or health food type stores. It keeps indefinitely in the freezer. By doing that, you would not have to be so sparing in your use of yeast. You probably already knew that, but you mentioned using packets.
I do, Carole!  I only bought the three packets for this particular challenge because it was all I could afford and stay with in budget and pay taxes on my foods, too.