Pantry Challenge - take 2!

Yay, a challenge! I want to see how long my family of 2 plus 1(large 90 pound beast) can last with just some essential groceries and the basics in the pantry. Last month we were able to cut our 500-600 dollar a month grocery habit in half due in large part to an unexpected snow storm that trapped our car in the garage. This month I want to bring that bill down to $250 or even $200 if I can.



Just doing my part to kill the U.S. economy.

What do you expect from the daughter of an immigrant?

So, 12 days in - $95 bucks down (including dog food) we have left:

In the Fridge:

2 heads of cabbage
condiments galore
3 carrots
4 celery stocks
2 pints of yogurt
1 pint of ricotta
half a red onion
12 day old bunch of parsley
yeast
1/2 bottle of white wine
beer

In the Freezer:

2 bags of frozen broccoli
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
vodka
1 bag of frozen spinach
1 box gardenburger breakfast sausages


In the Pantry:

1 bag of dried beans
2 small bags of lentils
1 can of black beans
rice
1 box of spaghetti
canned tomatoes
oils, spices, salt and sugar
little bit of whole wheat pastry flour
honey
can of sweetened condensed milk from like 2005?
half a box of dried cereal
tea and coffee
.5 oz of dark chocolate
vinegars


I figure we could last another week, maybe even two if we tried REALLY hard. I'm going to try and push us to get through Sunday. No soy milk makes breakfast pretty tough. We ate the last of our hot cereal this morning. I'd bake us something if we had enough flour left. Breakfast sausages don't fly for Jason.

He may not make it. He needs his cereal.

"Come on man! Don't wimp out on me now!"

Lentils for breakfast, anyone?

Pantry Challenge

Have you come across these Pantry Challenges online? It sounds like an awesome idea to me; try to survive for as long as you can on just what you have left in the pantry.

I suppose it depends a lot on the size of your pantry. I've checked out a few pictures of these pantries from folks who have lasted a long time. These pantries are stocked with enough food to make it through a good 6 months! We're talking HUUUUUUUUGE. So it isn't exacly what I would call an equal opportunity challenge.

Our pantry is one top cabinet in our galley kitchen. Modest to say the least. But it does the job.


However, we inadvertently entered a pantry challenge of our own when the snow fell and completely blocked our driveway this last week. Being wimpy west-coasters we were not prepared for that much snow! Also, big J busted a window in the car that we had recently equipped with studded tires. So we were stuck.

We could walk to the main places we needed to get to during the week, but we couldn't get to a proper market and back with all the weekly groceries in the snow.(I can just picture us hiking up the hills in the slushy snow with our stolen grocery cart!)

So we were forced to make it through the week on just the leftovers in the pantry. I was pretty impressed with the outcome. Breakfast was interesting since we were out of cereal and milk and it turns out J isn't a fan of old-fashioned oats. But he toughed it out. We drank Tetley tea in the mornings since we were out of coffee by Monday and I had to soak a ton of dried beans for pantry soups and improvised supers.

But we did great!

I'll bet we could make it another week or so. But I need me some coffee!

I think we'll do a proper pantry challenge after we restock the anemic pantry with some of the basics like yeast and sugar, canned tomatoes and the aforementioned heavenly brew.


We'll be living it up pioneer-style!


Well, pioneers with in-door plumbing and heating, spendy dog food, and organic dark roast of course!