Pantry Challenge Success or Fail?

This actually depends on how you are determining success or failure.

The quickest way to look at pantry challenge is based on money.   I completely failed at this as we spent $771 on groceries in the month of January. But wait this is still almost $50 less than our budget of $820.  But significantly more than my goal of $300.  I actually spent some time researching and checking out numbers today.  The only other time that I have spent over $500 during a pantry challenge was in 2019.   The year the world imploded so this does concern me a bit!

I also did some checking into what the US government is using as a standard.  Based on the numbers from December 2024 we should be spending $1309 on food. Or this is what food stamps would be based on for our family of five.$1309 is considered the “thrifty” amount so this is the lowest amount that the government thinks we could survive on.   Looking a bit deeper this amount indicates an increase from December 2023.  Another interesting fact is that for the year 2020 to 2023 the amount stayed the same! I had thought and even mention increased the amount to $1200 for grocery spending for the first three months of the year.  Now I am leaning toward using the $1309 amount.  Can I feed our family of five for 3 months for the thrifty amount that the government has set? In reality between some stops  at the grocery store already this month and our Amazon subscribe and save our current total for both January and February would be $984, leaving $325.   That may definitely work, I think I just talked myself into this amount.

The other method I could look at the success of the pantry challenge would be to look at the goals I have set.

1.Purchasing items that we are completely out of that are staples such as diary as well as buns or other items that will help use items we already have. Total spending for the three months of the 2025 will be less than $1309.  Discussed above!

2. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are)  have been consistently doing this and I can start to see a difference and the ability to re-organize this freezer prior to the summer stock up period.
3. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry. I am beginning to see several lines of empty shelves and I am thinking about ways to use items. I currently have enough empty jars that I could use up pears that have been vacuumed sealed to make pearberry sauce and do a large batch of beef broth.  Again this has been a success!
4. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room. This is also starting to show. My goal would be to completely empty this freezer prior to May in order to organize and use it more efficiently this summer.
5. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  This also has been consistent.

So based on goals I am successful with the pantry challenge to date!   I am going to continue with this challenge using the same guidelines except for increasing the spending for the month of February.  I may need to re-evaluate at the end of February to determine if it is sustainable for the month of March?  Only time will tell but I am at least seeing a benefit.

Monday Menu Planning

This week the focus is on cleaning out the refrigerator in preparation for Junk Food Sunday.  I will be continuing the pantry challenge this month and plan a separate post tomorrow to discuss the results in January.  I am excited that Lily wants to help with cooking on the weekends.  This should also be the least busy week for the remainder of the school year.

Breakfast- Saturday-  Biscuit King . Sunday- Beef and Egg casserole (my recipe, not a hit but it used up several items from the fridge. . Monday-  Apple sauce cake/bread. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs, My goal is to make a baked oatmeal at least once this week but we shall see.

Lunch- Bad Daddy’s   Sunday- Kiminons    Monday- Corn chowder   Tuesday,- soup   Wednesday- eat out or leftovers Thursday- left-overs.  Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Lily cooked    Sunday- Left-overs with cheddar bay biscuits and Peanut butter pie. Monday-Gyros Tuesday- Taco Bombs in the Air Fryer   Wednesday- No peek beef stew and rice  .  Thursday- Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza  Friday- Sloppy Joes on Hawian rolls

Pantry Challenge
1.Purchasing items that we are completely out of that are staples such as diary as well as buns or other items that will help use items we already have. Total spending for the three months of the 2025 will be less than $1200   Current total $11.30   I will have more thoughts on this tomorrow.
2. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are) I pulled out a pack of beef tips for Wednesday and the Pizza filling for Thursday was pulled several weeks ago.
3. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry.  Sloppy Joes on Thursday are from the pantry. I also will be using broth and salsa for Junk Food Sunday. Last week we used a total of 7 jars so this is actually going well.
4. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room. Hawian rolls are out of this freezer.
5. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  Done!

Saving On Saturday

We spent over half the day in Greensboro for the Swim Regional watching both Zach and Kendall.  The weather has changed significantly with the start of February. It was so nice that I was able to work outside with just a light sweater.

I am starting to think about and plan for the garden this summer. I have decided to try and grow cucumbers on a old chain link fence panel that was in the back yard. This meant we needed to move the panel and also secure it to the garden bed.

Next this particular bed was starting to warp really badly so we try to add a couple of pieces of wood to help straighten and prevent huge gaps that dirt can be lost thur.

We also removed a piece of cattle panel from the front that I am bending to use as an arch between the tomato beds. Total cost of garden repair was ZERO!

I was also able to plant some onion seeds and radishes in the container in the side year. I am hopefully to get an onion harvest this year. The radishes are going to the chickens, but I want to use the seeds I have and if they grow 3 or 4 radishes great if not then no harm done. If the weather stays really nice, I may go ahead and plant out some broccoli, lettuce and spinach in the next week or so just to see what we can grow.  It is currently about 11 weeks till our last frost date.

Zach and Matt have been working very diligently on building a bar on the back deck.

I am unsure of how often this will actually get used so I did not want to spend any money. So far they have been able to accomplish this!  All materials are from other projects!  Even the Blackstone is from Luzader’s in Florida. It will require some cleaning and oil before it can be used.

This Saturday was a success!

January 2025 in Review

This has been an extremely long stressful and expensive month. I am so thankful to be finished with it!  Weather has been a major factor!   This last week is the first week that kids have gone to school the entire week!  The beginning of the month started with lots of illness and injuries. We ended with Matt having multiple surgeries to remove skin cancer spots. I am glad we survived!

Emergency Fund- Goal is $1000- We currently have $300 in this fund which is $200 less than December.

Groceries- Goal $820 per month.  I was supposed to be way under this amount this month but instead I am 877.71.  This does include the majority of our junk food Sunday purchases.  My goal for February is $400 or less.

Gas- Goal is $500. January $401.15 This does not include the end of our Florida trip.  I am also giving Kendall one tank of gas a month to help me with picking up and dropping off.

Blogging- For 2025- the goal will be 10 post per month.  Woo HOO This is post number 12 for the month!

Debit- Goal is 200000 for the end of the year! This actually increased for the month of January but hey the only place it can go from here is up!

Health/Exercise-  I ended up losing 26 pounds in 2024 which was in part due to controlling my health more. I would like to set a goal for 175 for 2025 but staying on track with my health is more important than the numbers. I need to develop a better system to get in some exercise.

Reading through the Bible this year- Our church and myself are following “The Bible Recap” program and I have currently managed to stay on track for 31 days!

Monday Menu Planning

This should be as close to normal as possible, at least that is what I am hoping!  The kids started a second semester at school. I actually have to work 5 days with Tuesday a a workday.   I am planning to have dinner every night this week and hopefully this is a good and lasting change.

Breakfast- Saturday-I had French toast from the freezer. Sunday- I had grits Monday- Zucchini bread Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. We are really low on eggs, so I have purchased some instant oatmeal and grits to add to breakfast. My goal is to make one breakfast a week. This week was easy.

Lunch- Saturday-Brunch out.   Sunday-Dinner out with Friends (Olive Garden ) Monday- leftovers Tuesday, – eating out   Wednesday- leftovers Thursday- soup. Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday-Ritz Cracker Chicken   Sunday- Left-overs    Monday- Steak and potato soup (new recipe) Tuesday- Mini Tacos   Wednesday-KFC bowls   Thursday- Kielbasa and Rice Friday- Corn Dogs and French Fries

Pantry Challenge
1.Purchasing items that we are completely out of that are staples such as diary as well as buns or other items that will help use items we already have. Total spending for the three months of the 2025 will be less than $900   Current total $746.15. We ended up at Costco because we were out of several things. I also purchased a couple of items for Junk Food Sunday.  I know that I will not stay at 900 for 3 months but I am going to say $1200 for three months
2. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are) I pulled out a pack of beef tips to use in the soup on Monday.
3. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry.  This is actually a challenge this week. I have 1 jar of broth for the soup, and at least one jar of spaghetti sauce for Kielbasa.  I may make another desert and use a can of fruit?
4. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room. Both the corn dogs and French fries are coming out of this freezer.
5. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  Done!

Garden Plans!

The weather is so cold and miserable that I need to start dreaming of my garden in order to get warm.  But seriously, I am actually right on time to start these plans.

The first thing I did was look up last frost dates again. The last frost day is between April 17th and 24th.  But I will say that I remember years that we have had frost up till and even in May.  My best advice is to use a 10-day forecast on either of those dates before planting outside.  Eight weeks before April 17th is February 21.  This is when I plan to start my pepper plants inside. Six weeks before April 17th is March 6th. This will be my plan date to start my tomatoes.

I feel comfortable using the earliest possible date because of a couple of reasons, first April 17th falls on a Thursday this year. I seriously doubt I will be planting outside on that day. The following week including April 24th is my Spring Break. There is a strong possibility that I will have time to plant outside that week.  The second reason is that both my peppers and tomato plants usually take more time to grow than what is expected. I can’t explain why but that is usually the case.

Now on to my plans!

I want to try and plant a area of corn behind the chicken coop. (This will be my only in ground crop).
I will plant garlic as soon as it arrives in front of where I plan to plant squash and/or zucchini.  Ideally, I would like 2 squash plants and 10 zucchini plants in the 12-foot bed at the back of the building.
Tomatoes will be in the front 2 beds. The bed closest to the road will be slicing tomatoes and the second bed will be Amish paste tomatoes.  I am not planning to plant any Cherokee purple this year as they are slow to produce and not great!   I will be planting a cherry tomato in the short bed across from the deck. I am planning to add a cattle panel to the center of the second bed to make things neater and more organized. The other thing I would like to add is an arch over the top between the two beds to grow loofah sponges on.
Beside the new deck, I am planning to purchase new bags of dirt and cut the sides and tops off. I already have a layer of paper there. This will be the area for watermelon to spread and grow.  I somehow ended up with 3 types of cantaloupe seeds. My plan is to plant one in the round barrel that are on the ground. I may take a chance and plant a second kind in back of my cucumbers to see what they taste like.  I will be planting onions as soon as they arrive in the next week or so. I am hopefully we will have enough cold days to support them.
The other items I want to grow are cucumbers and green beans.  I am going to plan to plant a 10-foot bed with green beans.  I think I will plant cucumbers in the front of my office as we already have a panel for the front of that bed. I may plant some lettuce, and radishes in one of the beds followed up with either cantaloupe or more of what I think we need after the heat kills these plants off. I have a ton of radish seeds so I may attempt to grow this as supplemental food for the dog and chickens.

I am hoping to start some dill and basil in the greenstalk vertical   planter in the front of my house. I also have some lemon balm and Chamille seeds that need to get used. I am hopeful that strawberries will survive the winter and return in one of my planers but buying flowers to fill the planter is always an option as well!

Finally, I have some morning glory seeds that will be thrown in the side flower beds.  I am struggling to find shade plants to fill this area!

So far this year I have purchased 2 new starting trays from Greenstalk and a bunch of seeds from Hoss and some seeds from SheperdingPeppersFarm.com . I still need to purchase basil seeds but hope to not purchase any plants this year!  I will also need to purchase probably 10 bags of soil for the watermelon area.

Monday Menu Post

Last week turned out to be different than expected with lots of weather involved.  I did not cook on Thursday, so the Bacon Cheeseburger pizza is moved to this week. I wanted to use up more of the leftovers so we could stay on track.  Both the kids and I are out of school today for the holiday, so I did a bit of extra cooking today.  I also went to the grocery store this weekend and started to purchase food for our annual junk food Sunday.

Breakfast- Saturday-Lily brought home bagels from Panera. Sunday- Dad’s Breakfast Casserole Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal, cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. We are really low on eggs, so I have purchased some instant oatmeal and grits to add to breakfast.

Lunch- Saturday-leftovers   Sunday-Dinner out with Friends (CHRISTOS) Monday- corn on the cob and bacon Tuesday, – soup Wednesday- eat out or leftovers Thursday- soup. Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Copycat Olive Garden Chicken gnocchi soup and breadsticks.   Sunday- Left-overs    Monday- Corn chowder (using frozen corn from our freezer) Pear sauce cake in the crockpot.  Tuesday- Burritos using Taco Rice in the fridge.    Wednesday- Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza (everything from the freezer) Thursday- Eat on the way to swim meet Friday- Parmesan Chicken (we have an excess of chicken in the connivence freezer)

Pantry Challenge
1.Purchasing items that we are completely out of that are staples such as diary as well as buns or other items that will help use items we already have. Total spending for the three months of the 2025 will be less than $900   Current total $514.46. This week we received an Azure order (first one in 18 months) and I started to gather items for our Junk Food Sunday. I also pulled out cash to use for groceries for the remainder of the challenge. I currently have $220 left to meet the goal of $900. Not sure this is entirely possible but even keeping that budget for 2 months would mean $800 in savings.
2. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are) Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza. I also pulled out 3 packs of frozen corn on the cob, 2 of which I will use this week for meals. This corn is from at least 2 years ago so I am very proud to be using it up.
3. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry. I pulled a pint jar of pear sauce and will be using at least 3 jars of chicken broth this week for cooking. My plan is to also use a jar of spaghetti sauce for the chicken parm on Friday.
4. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room. I ended up giving my mom a bag of Chicken nuggets this week and I hope to use some of the chicken patties to make the chicken parm. on Friday.
5. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  Done!