January 2010 Eat from the Pantry Challenge

Money Saving Mom is hosting an "Eat from your pantry Challenge" during the month of January and my mom and I decided to participate. Its perfect timing for us as the freezers are full and the pantry is exploding with so much stuff that if we don't start eating it down it is going to go bad and that would simply be criminal. I didn't work so hard to get so much for so little money just to throw it away!

We have 2 primary goals in this challenge:

#1 - Stay out of the grocery stores as much as possible, purchasing only what is required fresh, i.e., milk, eggs, cheese and produce.

#2 - Spend no more then $30.00 per week on those fresh items.

Now, if we do happen upon an outstanding deal for something that we know for a fact will be used in future months, we will go ahead and purchase it for future use, but from January 1 through January 31, all of our meals made at home will be made with what is primarily already in the house. It's out with the old!!

Considering what all we do have, I don't foresee this being a problem. At least not for my mom and I, but my dad is carrying on a luv affair with the Franz Bread Outlet store right now - it's those dang Cyrus O'Learys pies for $3.99 on Saturday! As a peace gesture toward my father, we will be baking his pies and precious Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Not that I really care to bake that much, but we have everything that is needed and my mom does make a very tasty pie crust.

My husband has been known to sneak meat home from work. It will be a lot harder for him to get away with it this month because I just inventoried the freezers and I know EXACTLY what is in them so he won't be able to tell me that those extra steaks have been there for a few weeks. Yeah - he's done that...and I believed him!

There are no set rules for participating in this challenge, in fact, you are encouraged to do what ever works best for you and your family and you can do it for as little as 1 week or the whole month. We are shooting for the whole month :)

Many thanks to the Money Saving Mom for hosting the challenge and providing the inspiration needed to get the freezer and pantry cleaned out!