No Grocery Shopping For A Month
During our move, we were shocked by the vast amount of food we had stored away in our cabinets. In addition to staples like flour, sugar, and coffee, we have canned food galore, dried pasta, jarred sauces, rice, stuff like Rice-a-Roni; it was like we were stocking up for Armageddon! In addition, we always have a freezer full of ground beef, chicken breasts, Trader Joe’s pizzas, and various home-cooked food from the in-laws. Which is why I still haven’t tried out Dream Dinners. To the right is an actual picture of our cupboard.
So, other than milk and juice, we decided not to grocery shop for an entire month. Here’s our planned menu so far, along with main ingredients:
Tonight
Meatloaf: Ground beef, ketchup, bread crumbs
Mashed potatoes
Corn
Thursday
Split Pea and Ham Soup: Easter ham bone, peas, onions, carrots
Corn
Friday
Trader Joe’s Margherita Pizza (hey, it’s Friday)
Saturday
Minestrone soup (from a can)
Linguine with white clam sauce: Pasta, clams, white wine, garlic
Oatmeal cookies: Oatmeal, flour, butter, sugar
Sunday
Fried Rice: Spam(!), eggs, rice, soy sauce
Corn and Ham Chowder
Monday
Chicken Parmesan: chicken, breadcrumbs, eggs, canned tomato sauce
Corn
Tuesday
Tuna Fish Sandwiches: canned tuna, mayo, capers, lemons
Corn
Did I mention that we have over 15 cans of corn?!
Right now the recipes are pretty standard, but I’m sure by the end of the month we’ll be eating Pickle and Breadcrumb Soup or something. Still, I think it will really help us out by planning ahead so we can avoid saying “I’m hungry and I can’t think of anything to make, so let’s just go eat out”. If I have to cheat a little, it’ll be for supplementary ingredients to complete a meal, like fresh vegetables.
Some random items that need recipes:
Canned beets
Cranberry sauce
Imitation crabmeat
Six different half-used jars of jelly
This is very similar to Jose Ane’s successful Pantry Challenge last month, except that we do have a can of Spam in our pantry. Spam rocks! It just has to be eaten in moderation. =)
And yes, it would have been smarter to do this before we moved. But whaddya gonna do?
Find more in Frugal Living | 4/26/06, 6:33pm | Trackback
April 26th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
We’re preparing for and assault on our freezer and pantry as we get ready to move at the end of next month. You’re right… It’s amazing how much stuff you can accumulate.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
a zillion half used jams and jellys:
1. mixed fruit glaze for ham or pork.
2. thumbprint cookies - jam goes in the thumbprint.
April 26th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Ok, you’ve gone way too far, maybe add a little freshness to your goods. $30 of vegetables would go a long way to make your menu snazzier. I go to the farmer’s market but go later before closing, often my regular vendors add on freebies since the day’s end is near.
Reminds me of living in Alaska in the Aleutian islands! You’re in Portland for goodness sake, a foodie city. Budget isn’t worth trailer park cooking — except spam does rock, here we get it wrapped in nori (seaweed) on a perfect rectangle of sushi rice —perfect breakfast, at 7-11 no less….
April 26th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Great idea about the cookies!
Spam musubis, I know them well
April 27th, 2006 at 5:33 am
Cranberry Mustard chicken:
Season 2 chicken breasts w/ salt, pepper, thyme. Sear a couple minutes on each side. Remove from pan, and put in the following concoction…
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons mustard (i tend to add more mustard than this, but I’m a mustard fiend)
Cook that for maybe 5 minutes, then put the breasts back in the pan and cook until done (maybe 4 minutes on each side), basting with the sauce as you go.
I always serve this with rice, as there’s a lot of extra sauce, which goes great on the rice. I’ve found a can of cranberry sauce contains 2-3 recipes worth of sauce, depending on how cranberryie I’m feeling.
April 27th, 2006 at 6:11 am
Ditto on the thumbprint cookies and glaze for ham/pork. For some reason beef isn’t quite as good glazed. Chicken does ok, but it’s traditionally put on hams. Depends on the flavor too. I wouldn’t use grape jelly or berry flavors. Use orange or apricot if you have them.
Spam. The food of peoples overrun by the US Military. I love it ‘down-home’ style, on white toast with maple syrup and a fried egg.
April 27th, 2006 at 6:17 am
Referenced your post in our site.
Original Pantry Challenge Entry
March’s results of the Pantry Challenge
April 27th, 2006 at 6:45 am
I’m not a huge fan of jelly, but we use it to make tasty french toast sandwiches — we spread cream cheese on one slice, jelly on the other, put them together and then dip and fry.
The other way we use jelly is to take refrigerated crescent roll dough and spread each triangle with peanut butter and jelly and then roll them up and bake them. Very tasty.
April 27th, 2006 at 7:14 am
I heard about this lady on the radio who did not purchase a single discretionary item for her family for an entire year..no new clothes, new toys, no eating out, no trips ..she ended up paying off $8000 of her credit card debt , saved up an extra $1000 and now has a book out on the same topic!
April 27th, 2006 at 7:34 am
I’m a little concerned about the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in your planned menus for this month. Rather than considering it “cheating” or “extravagant” to buy them, maybe you should look at them as necessities on the same level as milk and bread. Like my dad says, they’re cheaper than angioplasty.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:02 am
I shared your overstuffed pain when we moved last year. Over the years I’ve done the same, but for a different reason — companies quit making the stuff I like so I bought tons of it pre-emptively! (Details here)
I’m still working on my food hoarding habit, but it’s hard when canned goods go on sale for 40 cents a pop!
April 27th, 2006 at 9:35 am
Being in college is hell when it comes to stocking up food. The roommates and myself worked out a plan: each week we’d go to the Super Walmart Store in town; we’d each (out of 6) will put up $50 bucks each; and whatever we eat of someone else…we must replace. Now this seems cool and everything…but after a month or so…half the roommates decided this was very expensive and bought meal plans and spent the rest of their money where it would gain most value - in alcohol.
So our fridge is no longer stocked. It hasn’t seen a stocked day in ages. It may never regain its glory. Instead, it will fade away in shame and half empty bottles of you know what.
On the bright side, I’ve seen so much alcohol during my first year of college that I hardly binge drink anymore. Most of my old drinking buddies believe I’m headed towards undeniable sobriety - or - I’m just getting really old (hitting 21 in a few weeks, ahh meh, still pretty young).
April 27th, 2006 at 10:53 am
I like to make seafood stuffing with imitation crab meat!
April 27th, 2006 at 11:23 am
Crepes and Pilaf! Best way to get rid of everything! Check out the wild oats website.
April 27th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Throw out the jelly, that just sounds gross! If I had to stare at the stuff for a couple of weeks, it would make me depressed. I’d just do the few meals you’ve planned and toss the rest out. You’re worth it
April 27th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
For the imitation crab meat, make wraps:
1 avocado (cubed)
Wasabi (to taste)
tortilla shells
cooked rice (enough for each wrap)
1/2 cucumber peeled and cubed
soy sauce (to taste)
Take tortilla shell. Lay a bed of rice. Add the avocado, cucumber and crab meat. Top with Wasabi and Soy Sauce to taste. Roll tortilla shell. Eat.
April 27th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
For the canned beets, you could make a salad with arugula, goat cheese, and candied walnuts. I realize that will probably involve going to the store though, so maybe you should save the beets for next month.
You could also take whatever of this stuff you still haven’t eaten by the end of the month to a food pantry. Or keep some of it as desperation food in case of a natural disaster.
April 27th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
I have been going through the same process for 2 weeks, but what I noticed right away is that you need fruits and veggies! I buy almost all mine fresh and once I went through all my frozen veggies all I had left was canned tomatoes and corn (6 cans??!!).
I’ve modified my plan a bit by picking up some things for salads and fruits for snacks, and a bottle of Shiraz as reward for being half way there.
April 27th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
It’ll be interesting to see how well you do on your personal challege. I stopped buying groceries after I finished graduate school and right before I relocated. On moving day, I ended up with only pancake syrup, hot sauce, and a pack of Ramen!
April 27th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
The cranberry sauce could be added to a quick bread recipe, here’s one such recipe, but I’m sure you can adapt any qucik bread recipe:
Cranberry Sauce Bread
It’s going to be hard, though, to do any baking if you’ve restricted yourself not to do any new food buying, most baking recipes are going to call for eggs.
May 2nd, 2006 at 9:10 am
I would use the imitation crab as a salad topper. Make an Asian dressing with soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar.
May 3rd, 2006 at 6:32 pm
An eco and money saver along this line - CNN money just announced that laundry is no better washed with hot water than cold in a washing machine but cold uses about 20% of the energy of hot.
May 5th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Hubby assures me I’m weird, but I love canned beets right out of the can.
May 9th, 2006 at 5:54 am
I am a loyal believer and eater of spam fried rice. Throw some corn in there and some sesame oil if you got it, it’ll work wonders!
July 2nd, 2006 at 6:10 am
For leftover cranberry sauce, I use this recipe from Alton Brown:
2 cups Cranberry Sauce
4 ounces ginger ale
1 cup sugar
Combine all the ingredients into a small, non-reactive saucepan.
Bring to a simmer and reduce by two-thirds or until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of a loose jam. Remember to keep the heat low to prevent the jam from burning.
You can then take some of the jam (or any jam) an mix it into a soft stick of butter, roll it up in some waxed paper and stick it in the freezer to harden into a log. If you want a recipe, look for one that uses strawberry jam and butter and replace with your cranberry jam. Tastes delicious with breads!
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
[…] fresh shipment from my parents that consists of chorizo, cheese, and membrillo. I know other people other people challange themselves to not shopping for a month. Considering we don’t have much storage […]