Pantry Challenge - Final Week

 



The end of January brings us to the official final week of the Pantry Challenge.  Overall, I would say it was a good thing.  It made me stop and think about how much I spend on groceries, what we are eating, and involving the kids in the process of food preparation!  Here are the final results:
Goal #1: Spend less on groceries.  Goal accomplished!  I did have to make a trip to the local grocery store this week for sugar and a few other items.  We happened upon some overripe pears that were in small bags for 99 cents a bag.  We bought all 4 bags and there were some really nice pears in there.  We ate quite a few, made pear bread, pear crisp, and tried baked pears!  We also decided to buy lettuce, tomatoes and tortilla shells because we haven't had tacos in months!  So my total spent this week was $35.25.  That brings my January total to $109.61.  I wasn't far under my $125 budget, but I'm pretty happy with how I spent my money this month.  I got several really good deals on fruit, and still have enough to last most of February.
Goal #2: Make more room in my cupboards.  Besides one lonely box of Jell-o and a small can of diced black olives, I don't have any items in my pantry that we don't use on a weekly basis.  Goal accomplished!
Goal #3: Reduce the stuff in my freezer.  Still a work in progress!  I greatly reduced the amount of frozen vegetables, made a nice dent in the meat supply, and almost cleared out the frozen milk.  We still have quite a bit of stuff left, but considering it has to last until mid-summer, that's probably a good thing!
Goal #4: Have fun!  We did have fun this week in the kitchen.  We tried baked pears and pear crisp this week, which we have never had.  Both turned out really good.  I also did a lot better this week in letting making the kids help more with meal preparation. 

I enjoyed this month, but I also realized that I already do quite well when it comes to eating from our pantry.  We don't buy a lot of things we don't use.  We do need to work on eating out less though.  We spend a lot of money in that area because it costs so much to eat at a restaurant.  Eating at home is so much cheaper and better for you, I just need to make myself do it.  I am hoping by teaching my kids to cook, that they can cook when I don't feel like it, avoiding eating out due to pure laziness!  I will be continuing on my quest to get my freezer emptied out for defrosting!  I hope you have been inspired to eat from your own pantry by all the great bloggers who participated in this pantry challenge.  Be sure to stop over at Good Cheap Eats and see how the month went for everyone else.