Eating Through the Pantry, Day 1

It's near the end of the month. As any other military families know, we get paid on the 1st and the 15th. Therefore, that paycheck on the 15th sometimes has to stretch close to three weeks before we get paid again. However, a good portion of my monthly food/entertainment/other budget is made up of the check that comes every month from the people renting our house in Spokane. It's due the 1st of the month also. So, these last few days of the month are sometimes tight on money, especially since this month consisted of my oldest daughter's birthday and party, too.

So I decided it's a good time to "eat through the pantry." Use up all the leftover things in the pantry, and the freezer, and the refrigerator. We buy beef from a natural farm near us once a year, but as the kids get bigger, the beef is not lasting as long. In fact, we're almost out. But, it's fun seeing what I can scrounge up and create for meals. Today was fairly easy. We had cereal for breakfast, scrambled eggs and avocado for lunch for me, peanut butter and jelly for the girls, and hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes and corn for dinner. However, I used up the last of the bread and potatoes today. I do make homemade bread quite often, so I think that will have to be a task to tackle tomorrow. I really love creating new bread flavors, so I'll post some pictures and recipes when I get it done (I don't use a bread machine, so it's rather time consuming).

As I look, though, we really have a lot of stuff. I'm going to budget just $50 for food this coming week, and spend that on just fresh produce and milk, and a few extras to make meals out of what we have stored up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Look around...I bet you have more in your pantry and freezer than you thought you did. Comment if you come up with any good new recipes out of leftover odds and ends!