Pantry challenge

itsthelittlethings

I have about a month’s worth of food in my cupboards and freezer. I should probably keep it in case I loose my job but in the interest of food hygiene I’m going to eat it all up so my cupboard is bare.

For people who don’t know how to do a pantry challenge the challenge is to save money on your food bill by only buying fresh ingredients and eating up what’s in your cupboard and freezer. It helps with stock rotation. Don’t try this if your cupboards are already bare.

kimwp

itsthelittlethings said:

I have about a month’s worth of food in my cupboards and freezer. I should probably keep it in case I loose my job but in the interest of food hygiene I’m going to eat it all up so my cupboard is bare.

For people who don’t know how to do a pantry challenge the challenge is to save money on your food bill by only buying fresh ingredients and eating up what’s in your cupboard and freezer. It helps with stock rotation. Don’t try this if your cupboards are already bare.

If you lose your job, you'll have the money that you didn't spend on groceries to buy new groceries.

I think this is a good idea, otherwise we end up with lots of out of date food. I had to throw away quite a few things recently as well, when some flour introduced weevils to my cupboards, v annoying. All new flour now goes in the freezer.

cybertortoise

I'd like to join your challenge. My grocery budget has taken a hit due to income going down and I don't have much wiggle room with my bills. 

I've not got loads of food in, lots of ingredients, spices, flour, etc that need to be put together to get anything out of. I'm very aware if there was a sudden apocalypse we'd starve quite quickly. 

But I'd like to be much more mindful, actually use the things we have, and shop more appropriately. I hate grocery shopping more than anything else, probably because I rarely have any kind of plan. I often end up with a random combination of stuff that doesn't really go well together, then struggle to figure out what to cook for dinner.

itsthelittlethings

My problem is that I resent spending time cooking yet all the meals I really know how to cook take about an hour to cook.

I did an excellent supermarket shop for the second half of the month, really thought about what I was buying and what I needed. I may have forgotten mozzarella for PASTA BAKE but I can always go to a nice deli and spend 4 or 5 pounds on a ball.

itsthelittlethings

First activity for pantry challenge is to make a list of all the ingredients in your cupboard. Then you know what meals you already have in, fully or partially.

itsthelittlethings

Have tidied my cupboards and I have a much better idea what is in them. I have enough rice to keep me going for months, baked beans for beans on toast, dried mushrooms for risotto, albacore tuna for pasta bake. I also found a tin of my favourite posh tinned fish, some decaf coffee (which I was going to buy some of) and some coffee left over from my coffee advent. Also a tube of tomato paste, which I put with all the others in the fridge.

It’s good to have other people on this journey with me.

itsthelittlethings

I got some burgers out of the freezer to have with chips as I remembered my delivery isn’t coming until latish tomorrow. I also have a courgette so will steam that for health. I want to empty my freezer.

I also remembered that I have a red and a yellow pepper so I can make roast peppers for Sunday lunch.

itsthelittlethings

My Waitrose delivery came yesterday. I didn’t get a lot of food for £60.

I have salmon for a salmon and yoghurt dish and the ingredients for squash and fennel agrodulce.

mlz1413

Since living on my own I've been very good about using up what's in the freezer and ensuring cupboards aren't stuff to the gunnels

I do love a yellow sticker so I do put food in the freezer but so far it's been rotation.

I live planning a weeks food in advance and have to say one of the best things about living alone is I get to stick to the plan!  No agreeing to a takeaway just because it was mentioned. 

Reading through the comments I've remembered I have a courgette in the fridge which I was going to do a salad with so I must put that on the list. 

Good luck to everyone having a clear out and I hope you have some meals

silverwhistle

Clear out!? It's courgette season down the allotment.. :-)

RipleyG

Indeed @silverwhistle! Added 3.5kg of blacurrants and 1.2kg of cavalo Nero to the freezer today, snugly packed in next to the kilo of gooseberries and 2kg of rhubarb from last month. Our courgettes are making a slow start, but the cucumber is making up for it with 7 that will all be ready tomorrow 🥒😱, and I'm picking a kilo of French beans every 4 days. 

Still, it achieves the same objective of reducing the food bill, and finding interesting recipes for the various gluts gets me hunting through the store cupboard!

Anyone got any good cucumber recipes...? 🤣