Today marks the end of the pantry challenge! I am excited that it was so successful! We managed to only spend $63.92 on groceries this month which left us with $96.08 in our home improvement budget! We’re really excited about this!

This was a challenge at times but really wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be! It is amazing how much food we did have in the freezer and pantry! I learned to be creative and put some new spins on meals but really we didn’t notice much difference than a regular month when I go grocery shopping! We did notice that we didn’t have as many convenient snacks on hand but I made some homemade snacks like spicy crackers, cinnamon bread, granola and “Cheerio” Krispie Treats!

Cheerio Krispie Treats! I got this idea from Jen at  Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. I used Cheerios in place of Rice Krispies! They were delicious!

Here’s my pantry tonight! It’s getting pretty bare but it’s also great knowing that it is pretty cleaned out and there are no out of date foods in there!

Now, you’re probably thinking, won’t your February grocery expenses be really high because you used up a lot of your food? I honestly don’t think it will be! I am sure I will probably spend the entire $160 on groceries but considering I’ve learned to be more creative this past month and haven’t spent more than $25 during any trips to the grocery store in a month I will be approaching my shopping differently! There are some things I’m running low on (like chicken) but I’ve got plenty of deer and pork in the freezer so I can begin slowly stocking my freezer and pantry back up!

Here are the meals I came up with this week:

Monday: Chicken, Rotel & Rice

Tuesday: Taco Salads using leftover taco meat from Sunday!

Wednesday: Spaghetti

Thursday: Homemade Cheese Bread & Sausage Pizza

This sausage pizza was absolutely amazing!

Friday: Breakfast for dinner! Homemade Biscuits, Sausage, Gravy, Cinnamon Bread & Cinnamon Applesauce. A delicious dinner!

Saturday: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup…perfect on a snowy evening!