Pantry Challenge at the Nourished Kitchen

Now that winter's winds are blowing and our pantries are (hopefully) stocked, Jenny at The Nourished Kitchen is challenging us to use those pantries for what they were intended - eating! Check out the link and then come right back, k?

Ok, for those of you that don't want to click away to check it out:

The Rules:

• The Pantry Challenge Begins at 12:01 a.m. on December 1st and ends at 12:01 a.m. on January 1st.
• Post your progress by Wednesday of each week.
• Check-in here every Wednesday after you post for that week’s mini-challenge (i.e. Pantry Inventory, Meal Planning etc.) and to let us know your progress and share any tips you might have.
• Use only what’s in your pantry, freezer and cupboards. Be inventive and creative.
• If you desperately need to head to the store, keep your tab under $10 per week per person over 13 and $5 per week per person under 13 not to exceed $50 per week.
• Keep a running total of any money spent on food in each of your Pantry Challenge blog posts.

Tips:

• Inventory Your Pantry, Cupboards, Cellar and Freezer
• Do some bulk shopping now to prepare for December
• Meal Plan, Meal Plan, Meal Plan

So who's in? Now you really do have to follow that link and go sign up. You'll be entered for the prize (a vintage cookbook) when you do and if you mention it on your own blog you'll get more entries. Then there's another vintage cookbook that you could become eligible for by going back every week and playing along with the mini-challenges.

Come on! It'll be fun-- I promise.

And if anyone wants to de-lurk long enough to tell me that they're playing along, I might even consider a prize during one of the mini-challenges of the month.

I'll be posting meal ideas and photos of my bulging freezer in the next week to show you where I'm beginning from and we'll see how much progress we make....

Can't wait to have you join in the fun!

FW

Coming out of the Fog

Lighthouse in Fog
Originally uploaded by *clairity*

I woke up after a month of the fog of illness. A virus turned sinus infection has sapped my strength, energy and drive for the last 4 weeks and I am so thankful it's over.

Unfortunately, I find that most of my coupon stash and all my CVS ECBs have expired while I was hibernating. During my illness, shopping was a low priority and the few trips that we made were emergency trips for milk and not much more. Eating out has also been higher than normal since no one has felt like cooking. Our neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant knows our order by heart now.

Yesterday I made a tentative meal plan and a monster grocery list. We need to get back into the habits of taking our lunches to work/school and cooking at home. Our pantry and freezer are filled to the brim and I'm ready to get back into the kitchen. Last night we made a big pot of beans and a pan of cornbread (yummy!), and this morning lunches were gathered up -- I really need to get on the ball with making lunches at night. Mornings are not my strong suit.

Finance Fiesta!

My article on Hillbilly Housewife's $45 Menu - Revisited was included in the Finance Fiesta at BrokeGradStudent. Go check out all the other great articles that were submitted!

Good Links Monday

Have you ever noticed there are some days when every article in your feed reader is great? Here are some interesting items I found this morning.

With the current financial meltdown and subsequent bail-out, many people are starting to realize that getting out of debt and living within their means is a smart thing to do. If you're one of those people, here are some tips to getting started at Paid Twice.

The Frugal Duchess brings up points that the financial stress of the times may lead us to make less than intelligent decisions.

Celias points out an interesting corrollary to the sub-prime lending meltdown to the current environmental concerns.

And $ out of 15 cents wonders if it's possible to live on half your income, in case you had to. Make sure you read the comments as well.

JD at Get Rich Slowly posts an interesting exchange from Ask Metafilter about finding your passion in life and whether you should try to follow that passion into a career or not.

And finally, Daily Writing Tips posts a wealth of information on finding inspirations sources online. This looks like a fabulous bunch of links that I'll have to explore the next time I have writer's block.

Menu Plan Monday 10/6-10/12

Ahhhh.... another Monday. I'm not the best at the 'get up and go' portion of the morning, especially on Mondays, but I've found that the more prep work I've done the night before the easier it is to get everyone out of the house on time. Laying out our clothes, packing lunches, and thinking about what to have for breakfast is tons simpler at night when my mind is clear.

I usually do my menu planning on Sundays as I'm prepping the grocery list. Sometimes the menu plan includes specific recipes, but mostly is just a general idea of what we'll be cooking. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants chef unless I'm trying something new.

This week, here's what we'll be having:

Breakfasts:
oatmeal x2
cereal x2
eggs/toast
pancakes

Lunches:
varies per person

Dinner:

Monday: Breakfast for dinner (probably eggs/toast)

Tuesday: Chicken & veggies

Wednesday: Mac & Cheese

Thursday: Garlic Chicken & Spinach over pasta

Friday: Turkey tacos

Saturday: Cod fillets & veggies

Sunday: depends

Um... okay, usually I don't plan out 7 dinners a week. I've found 5 works out the best, as sometimes there are leftovers that don't get taken in lunches and we occasionally go out to dinner on Fridays as a date night. And dinners can also get switched around depending on schedules. Mondays and Wednesdays are school nights for G, so E and I are on our own for dinner. Usually we have something easy or kid friendly. Having things planned out so we can keep to a schedule is crutial on those days so we don't get distracted and forget about dinner completely.

Usually more menus can be found weekly at Org Junkie but today I'm not seeing the Mr.Linky... maybe she'll get it fixed soon.

What are you having this week?

Hillbilly Housewife - $45 Menu Revisited

How much would it cost for a bare-bones menu for one week if you had absolutely no food in the house?

The Hillbilly Housewife answered this question twice, once with her $45 menu in 2006 and again with the $70 menu. In fact, her entire site is a fabulous resource because it has all the recipes you need to cook the menus and has all sorts of ideas for how to cope with hard times.

But I wondered, how has the costs of her menus changed with the higher food prices we've been dealing with lately? In July, Living Almost Large did a comparison with the $70 menu in a high Cost of Living Area, and last week I compared prices at my area (Texas - a medium cost of living area I think) grocery store for the items on the $45 menu.

Item	HH's Price	My Price
10 lbs all purpose flour	1.92	3.76
3 pack yeast	0.62	0.89
Baking Powder	0.77	0.84
Oatmeal	1.77	2.28
3 lbs long grain white rice	0.99	1.95
2 lb bag of cornmeal	0.88	0.99
5 lb sugar	1.88	1.99
Vegetable Oil	1.50	2.49
2 cans frozen o.j.	1.76	2.68
20 qt box instand nonfat dry milk	8.87	13.99
2 lb lentils	1.20	1.38
2 lb pinto beans	1.20	1.38
1 lb black beans	0.60	0.89
1 lb lima beans	0.60	0.99
3 boxes Macaroni & Cheese	1.00	1.08
3 packs Ramen Noodles	0.30	0.51
2 dozen eggs	1.38	2.14
2 lb margarine	0.96	1.28
1 lb hot dogs	0.89	0.73
1 28oz can tomatoes	0.89	1.09
1 15oz can tomatoes	0.50	0.75
1 15oz can green peas	0.42	0.69
1 15oz can corn	0.45	0.50
1 15oz can greens	0.40	0.49
1 15oz can spinach	0.42	0.49
5 lb bag carrots	2.00	3.95
3 lb bag onions	2.00	1.50
1 bunch celery	1.20	1.59
6oz can tuna	0.44	0.66
18oz jar peanut butter	1.50	1.39
Jelly	1.00	1.29
Pancake Syrup	1.00	1.34
Vinegar	0.50	0.59
Cinnamon	0.50	1.13
Garlic Powder	0.50	1.13
Chili Powder	0.50	1.13
Salt	0.25	0.33
Pepper	0.50	0.86
Bouillon Cubes	1.00	0.54
100 Count Box of Tea Bags	1.00	1.69
Total	$45.16	$65.15

Notes on my costs: On several items, HH didn't specify what size or amount she purchased, so I made my best guess as to how much we would use in a week and priced accordingly. Also some packaging had changed (i.e. my store sells 4 lb bags of sugar, not 5 lb), so I adjusted my prices to reflect purchasing the amount HH specified.

Mostly our prices were a little higher due to rising prices, but on a few items (hot dogs) I got the better price -- I don't know if this is a discrepency because I priced the cheapest, but overall, I think the menu and grocery list are a good starting point.

Certainly, following this menu would be a good idea if you were completely out of food and were frankly a little panicked about what you were going to buy and feed your family that week. It doesn't require a lot of thinking or worry about what to fix when. It even has a to do list attached for each evening to prepare for the next day.

However, I don't think I would follow the list blindly for my family. Some of the items on the list I don't think I would buy or I would change their amounts. We have plenty of cinnamon in the cupboard and I don't think we'll be running out anytime soon. We also don't really eat canned peas or greens. And I think we'd use the 13.99 cost of dry milk to buy 2 or 3 gallons of milk and use the remaining money on some fruit, such as bananas, or some fresh veggies or potatoes.

Also since we've been stockpiling things as they go on sale, we've gotten some of these items at better prices in the recent past, and stocked up on the items we would use.

But this does help make a valid point. If your resources are strained, a plan like this would most likely be within your budget with maybe a few adjustments (don't buy things you won't eat).

Then the next week, you will have a little extra in the budget because you won't need to repurchase salt, spices, and whatever else you have leftover. You can purchase other items to supplement the basic list and stock up on a good sale if you see one. Even on a strained budget, it's possible to start a stockpile and start reaping the benefits of eating foods bought at the lowest possible price.

Menu Plan Monday - August 25th

This week is going to be extra busy because G and E are both returning to school, so our dinner schedule may be up in the air until we get our routines down. Also we will now be packing 3 lunchbags every day and eating a healthy breakfast before leaving the house in the mornings.

Here's the plan:

Breakfasts:
Oatmeal w/ brown sugar
Cereal
Toast w/ peanut butter, yogurt
Eggs and toast

Lunches:
Leftovers from dinner
Lunch meat sandwich
Mac and cheese
Salad
*lunches usually have 2 or more of the following: carrot sticks, goldfish crackers, pretzels, dinner rolls, trail mix, grape tomatoes, banana, plums, pudding, cookies.

Dinners:

Sunday: Ravioli (frozen) w/ tomato sauce
Monday: Salad
Tuesday: Rice with stir fried veggies
Wednesday: Soup (veggie with beans)
Thursday: Spaghetti Cups
Friday: Pizza (probably this crust with leftover sauce from Sunday and ground turkey)
Saturday: Pinto beans and cornbread

I try to plan a different dinner for each night, but if one night turns out to be extremely busy and no time to cook, there are usually leftovers from an earlier night. We typically eat at least 5 dinners off our plan, and the dinners we don't get to get merged into the next week.

For more menus, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie - plus there's a giveaway! You might get lucky...

Have a great week everybody!