Eat From Your Pantry Challenge

Our last Christmas family celebration was here at our home yesterday.  Boy, did we have fun!  We had a “come wearing a silly hat theme,” a pancake bar, games, an insane amount of gifts from Grandpa John and Grandma Pam, a Christmas craft with Grandma Sheri, a Christmas movie, and constant food consumption from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. —  We made such great memories!   Everyone came nicely dressed in normal clothes, and within a few hours most of us were in our new pajamas that we had just unwrapped.  Time with family was extra sweet, because a blizzard kept us from seeing each other on Christmas day.

I spent some time in my kitchen today, clearing out the Christmas decorations (I am REALLY excited to get the house back to its simple self!) and organizing my refrigerator and freezer.  I could not tell what- was- what when I opened the refrig this morning, and I knew if I didn’t get in there and figure it out, that all those great leftovers would go to waste.  I now have leftovers that won’t get eaten today or tomorrow, packaged and into the freezer (shredded cheese leftover from nachos, bacon leftover from making quiche, pancakes leftover from our pancake feast, cookie dough that didn’t get baked, etc).
I know what I have, and feel confident that we won’t waste all that good food!  Tomorrow I will tackle the pantry, it is so disorganized right now that it is hazardous to open the door! Holidays have a way of reeking havoc on my kitchen in more ways than one!  I am so very eager to get back to simple and healthful eating, to get as much processed sugar and foods out of my house as I can, and fill my pantry up with ingredients from my little neighborhood health food market.

Today I stumbled upon this post and it really excited me.  “Eat From Your Pantry” is a concept that I love and have tried before.  We did it for 2 weeks in the month of October.  It was so rewarding to see how much money we could save by just paying attention to food we already have.  I loved seeing my cupboards become bare, and I loved filling them back with only healthful, necessary foods.  I only spent $40.00 the first week, and $48.00 the next week.  We usually spend about $120.00-$130.00 a week, so that was a substantial amount saved!

I am a bit apprehensive to commit to a whole month, but it seems like they are a bit flexible with the challenge.  I think the goal is just to be extremely thoughtful about what groceries you do buy, all the while using up what you already have.  This came at a perfect time for me, here is why:

* I have lots of leftovers hanging out in my freezer

*I am VERY MOTIVATED to get our kitchen back in order

*I miss shopping at my health food grocer

*My husband is back on track with healthful eating (as of today) & I want to support him in that

*It is soon-to-be a NEW YEAR, which gives me motivation to start anew with food.

I will occasionally post about our progress and experience.  Let me know if you think this is a good idea and if you want to do it, too!