Comments on: Pantry Challenge Progress-Week 3

By: vege meat

vege meat — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:37:36 +0000

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By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:44:40 +0000

At the beginning of the month I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it and still eat well! I’ve been almost shocked at how much food we had in our freezer and pantry! I also have been amazed at my creativity during the past month…it’s been fun to see what I can make using just what I have on hand!

By: Bridgette

Bridgette — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:31:19 +0000

You’re meals looks so delicious. You’re making me hungry!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:36:39 +0000

Thanks for visiting my blog! I like your new title and look! I’m bookmarking your blog!

By: Cara @ Health Home and Happiness

Cara @ Health Home and Happiness — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:36:48 +0000

Those meals do look great! Sometimes something like a pantry challenge inspires us to push our creativity. Yay for the building fund!

By: Tracey

Tracey — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:56:11 +0000

Great job on the shopping! My husband is a huge fan of greens and would absolutely love that first meal! On the other hand, I, like you, would eat the meal minus the greens!

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:26:16 +0000

A couple of hints…
When making Spaghetti, always serve the sauce separate from the noodles. The preplanned leftover sauce (I do ground beef rather than meatballs) can then be used later in the week as the sauce for the pizza. When you use cresent rolls (or from scratch pizza dough) pat out on the pizza or jelly roll pan, (cresents pinch together the seams–it makes for a rectangle pizza, but who cares–my kids thought that a rectangle pizza was the only “real” homemade pizza, even if I made a round pizza from scratch!). On the dough BEFORE adding the sauce and baking…sprinkle parmasean cheese OR melt a tablespoon of butter, add a bit of garlic powder and brush on the dough…bake this (yes, without toppings) for 7-8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. This creates a partially baked pizza crust that you put the left over spaghetti sauce on (adding cheese and any other toppings you like–read clean out the veggie drawer). Bake the now topped dough for the remaining 10-15 minutes (I eyeball it) and your crust will not be soggy in the center like homemade pizza sometimes can be. Next spaghetti week I am going to try a bit of ranch salad dressing mix in the pizza crust mix (I got a pizza dough mix on sale for 50 cents)…several pizza parlors are now advertising Ranch crust…and the wheels began to turn…
Preplanning leftovers like this is a great timesaver on busy evenings. My family only THINKS they don’t eat leftovers Yes, I admit, I get my giggles from faking them out.

By: Kellie at The Link

Kellie at The Link — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:38:05 +0000

Great work….the pizza looked really good…I did a similar move with the crust, but used pre-made crescent rolls, we thought they were a little sweet too. One week to go!

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:35:22 +0000

Rachel,
I thought I might share with you how we do things a bit around here. John and I have been married for 9 1/2 years. His two daughters friom a previous marriage have lived with us since they were 10 and 12. They are now 18 and 20-and they still live at home. We have a four year old daughter together, who will obviously be here for a while. I quit working to stay at home with the two older girls when they came to live us. They needed extra guidance and love,so we thought it was best. We were used to spending money whenever(with plenty left in savings) and had to change gears when I quit working. We also had a part time business.Since I quit, we’ve added the last child & my husband quit his full-time job to go full time with our business. The only debt we have is our mortgage. We live quite comfortabley and even have a pool!!! People wonder how we do it……We simply explain……lot’s of prayer and guidance from God.
Here is how we look a the grocery side of things……
I used to buy a lot of prepacked stuff like frozen fries, creamed soups, burritos, corn dogs, etc. My two oldest girls are not gifted in cooking and they need quick foods to pop in the micro. Our grocery bill was low, but we had sickly folks in the house from all the yucky things we ate. I then began researching the best way to live frugally and eat healthy. Here’s what I do…..I shop the walls of the store. That would be the dairy, some meats(chicken and fish-we have our hogs and beef processed by the mennonites), and produce. We purchase beans, rice, flours, assorted sugars, etc. for homemeade cooking. Because we have a large garden every year, our produce budget evens out. Sometimes We can spend quite a bit on groceries during the winter months. But over all things even out. We leave little room for illness due to only eating freshly made food items. So that cuts the illness budget to save more room for the grocery budget-if you see what I’m getting at. Remember, My husband works from home, I stay at home, we homeschool two girls, only eat the best for us,have minimal debt(mortgage), have retirement savings, a college fund for the Reagan, all with FIVE people residing in our home. I applaud you for taking part in the pantry challenge. I think you are doing an awesome job. We are all here to inspire and be inspired. Therefore, I though I might share what I’ve learned over the years……
God Bless and we’ll continue to keep you guys in our prayers!!!!
Christina

By: Amy Lynne

Amy Lynne — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:20:59 +0000

You did great!

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:03:25 +0000

that’s pretty thrify. and the meals looked great.