2024 pantry challenge week one

january 1st and 2nd i was sick. thankfully we had leftover ham from christmas and bread in the freezer. bruce had sandwiches with the ham and peanut butter and jelly. i didn't eat much of anything. 

january 3rd: i had a whole roasted chicken, so will be using it in meals until used up. 

lunch: chicken/veggie soup 

supper: chicken pot pie (i just thickened the left over soup, added peas, and made some biscuits and dolloped the biscuit dough on top. there was enough dough to make 3 biscuits 

january 4th: national spaghetti day, so made chicken alfredo bacon spaghetti squash for lunch 

supper: only used 1/2 of the squash for lunch, so made traditional spaghetti sauce for the leftover squash and made garlic butter for the 2 remainder biscuits 

january 5th: 

lunch: leftover chicken pot pie 

supper:

no spend january, last 3 days

meals:

sunday, 29th

lunch: texas chili, cornbread

supper: leftovers

monday, 30th

lunch: leftover pot pie

supper: leftover chili

tuesday, 31st

lunch: leftovers

supper: 

no spend january, week 4

only 3 days left for this month. 

money spent this week : prescription, fuel for the car, and dentist bill-i had to have 3 teeth filled (ouch! financially and literally) *note to self: do NOT advise having 3 teeth filled on the same day

meals:

sunday, 22nd

lunch: steak salad (recipe below)

supper: leftovers

monday, 23rd

lunch: leftovers

supper: homemade spaghetti o's with hamburger (ring pasta, tomato soup, velvetta or american cheese, then add hamburger or not)

tuesday, 24th

lunch: leftovers

supper: bacon tortilla wraps

wednesday, 25th

lunch: leftovers

supper: spaghetti

thursday, 26th

lunch: leftovers

supper: sausage gravy and rice

friday, 27th

lunch: meat pot pie (i had a little sausage, hamburger, and chicken that needed used up, so added some veggies and made a pot pie)

supper: spinach artichoke dip, homemade tortilla chips, cottage cheese

saturday, 28th

lunch: roast and baked potatoes

supper: leftover roast, rice and gravy

steak salad:

cut steak in strips, marinate in soy sauce and oil

stir fry california blend veggies and then remove from pan and stir fry the meat

mix together with cooked tri color pasta

mix 1/4 cup each: soy sauce, zesty italian dressing, canola oil and add to pasta/veggies/meat

can eat warm or cold

no spend january, week 3

 this month is going by fast. only 1.5-ish weeks left. no money was spent this week. we had a big snow storm come thru and were home from wed to the end of the week.

sunday, 15th

lunch: elk (gift from son and daughter-in-law), mashed potatoes/gravy, green beans

supper: rice and chicken, cucumber cinnamon pickles

monday, 16th

lunch: i didn't eat lunch. i was working all morning and didn't take time to eat. bruce had toast with peanut butter and dried apples

supper: we got to babysit the grandkids and my daughter-in-law had the makings for french toast and fruit

tuesday, 17th

lunch: i didn't eat lunch again as i worked and didn't take time to eat. i did make myself an ice blended with almond milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and honey. it was yummy

supper: prime rib and cottage cheese (DH had a prime rib sandwich). 2 slices of prime rib was a gift given to us from my son and daughter in law. we shared one slice

wednesday, 18th

lunch: rest of elk, mashed potatoes and gravy, angel food cake

supper: various small amounts of leftovers in the fridge

thursday, 19th

lunch: cheesy beef and homemade noodles, jalapeno poppers

supper: rest of prime rib, jalapeno poppers

friday, 20th

lunch: sausage stuffed acorn squash (recipe below), boiled egg yolk cookies (recipe below)

supper: leftovers

saturday, 21st

lunch: tenderlion on the grill, pasta salad, sweet potato fries

supper: spinach artichoke dip with "homemade" chips...aka fried corn tortillas.

recipes:

sausage stuffed acorn squash

boiled egg yolk cookies

no spend january, week 2

for this week's meals we ate a lot of leftovers. i was working several days and longer than normal hours.

money spent: filled car up with gas and allergy meds (anyone else having to take more allergy meds than before?)

sunday, 8th:

lunch: beefy potato nacho casserole, cornbread (leftover from last week), donuts

supper: leftovers

monday, 9th:

lunch and supper: leftovers

tuesday, 10th:

leftovers: chili, broccoli soup, bread

wednesday, 11th:

lunch: leftovers

supper: zuppa toscana soup, foccacia bread stick, chocolate cheesecake eclair dessert (i used chocolate pudding for the bottom layer and cheesecake pudding for the top layer)

thursday, 12:

lunch: leftovers

supper: mac and cheese, baked beans and hamburger, donuts

friday, 13:

lunch: chicken noodle soup, cottage cheese, toast

supper: leftovers - chicken noodle soup and cornbread

saturday, 14:

lunch: taco rice bowl (rice, taco meat, kale, cheddar cheese, green onion, sour cream, taco sauce)

supper: homemade noodles on mashed potatoes

beefy potato nacho casserole: this was a recipe i found on facebook, but i changed it to fit me and what i had on hand, so i am posting my version of the recipe below

1 lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic minced

1 oz packet taco seasoning (i used homemade taco seasoning i received from my daughter in law for christmas)

1 cup beef broth (i used our homemade beef bone broth)

4 cups potatoes sliced

10.5 oz cheddar cheese soup (i never buy this, but found this recipe to use)

1 bag shredded cheddar cheese (i used sharp. i used 1/2 cup for the homemade soup recipe and then the rest of the bag on top of the casserole)

Brown your ground beef with garlic and drain. stir in taco seasoning and broth.

Place your potato slices in the bottom of an 8 x 8 inch pan and layer beef mixture on top

spread cheese soup on beef layer and sprinkle with cheese. cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375° for 1 hour or until potatoes are done.

remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.

no spend january, week 1

 here is a recap of week 1 of "no spend january"

money spent was to pay the bills, fill one prescription, fuel for the car

here is what i made for meals with food we had on hand. i will post links to recipes or the recipes i used from my recipe box below.

sunday, 1st:

lunch: texas chili, cornbread

supper: leftovers

monday, 2nd:

lunch: zuppa toscana, foccacia, italian donuts

supper: leftovers

tuesday, 3rd:

lunch: leftover zuppa toscana, foccacia, italian donuts

supper: creamed chipped beef on toast, dried apples (we have apple trees and dry our own apples as well as make our own apple cider)

wednesday, 4th:

lunch: liver & onions, mashed potatoes, green beans,  cinnamon cucumber pickles

supper: leftovers

thursday, 5th:

lunch: bacon wraps (bacon, low carb tortilla, cheese, honey mustard and kale)

supper: liver, green beans, mac and cheese

friday, 6th:

lunch: chicken tortilla soup (recipe below)

supper: leftovers

saturday, 7th:

lunch: chicken enchiladas made with leftover chicken tortilla soup, homemade donuts

supper: leftovers from lunch

recipes:

texas chili, cornbread see below 

cinnamon cucumber pickles

zuppa toscana, foccacia, italian donut

cinnamon cucumber pickles

chicken tortilla soup:

1 can red beans

1 can black beans (i didn't have a can, but had dried, so cooked those up)

1 can corn

1 can rotel (i didn't have this, but had petite tomatoes. added diced jalapeno)

1 pkg taco seasoning (i used homemade that i received from my daughter in law for christmas)

1 qt chicken broth (i didn't have this, so used homemade bone beef broth)

1-2 chicken breasts

cook until chicken is done, shred chicken. serve with tortilla strips. (i didn't have these, but had corn tortillas, so cut them in strips and fried them)

i like to serve with shredded cheese and sour cream.

tip: for leftover use, you can drain the liquid and use to make enchiladas or tacos, or as a tortilla chip dip or nachos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

cornbread

1/2 c. cornmeal

1 1/2 c. flour

2/3 c. sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 c. oil

3 Tbs melted butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

mix dry ingredients together. in a separate bowl, mix oil, butter, eggs, and milk. stir in dry ingredients until well blended. pour into greased 8 x 8 inch pan and bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

no spend january

have you heard of "no spend january"? this is a trend on some blogs i have read in the past years, watched on youtube, and i've even seen it on facebook and pinterest.

the ideas are mixed as to what defines "no spend", but the gist of it is to spend as little as possible and use what you have.

for some it may mean don't eat out, buy new clothes or gadgets, travel less, etc. but i plan to take it a little more "extreme" than most i have read or watched. i rarely eat out, buy new clothes or gadgets, so those aren't challenge for me.

my goal is to only spend money by paying the monthly bills and prescriptions.

we live on the "envelope system" and have since we first heard of it as a newly married couple. the idea is that you budget for misc, food, fuel, etc. and put that amount of cash in an envelope and only spend what you have budgeted for that month. when the envelope is empty, you can't spend anything more or add money to it.

as we are now empty-nested, some of the categories have changed, but we still have a misc, food, and fuel envelope. plus we each get a small personal amount every month (and i do mean "small"!). we use this for clothes, snacks, personal interests. christmas and birthday monies are added to this, so we've never been lacking in that area.

we do our own butchering and have some beef (though we are very low at the moment) in the freezer as well as some chicken i had purchased a few weeks ago when it was 1.88/lb on sale.

we have canned goods and frozen fruit from our gardens as well as lots of dried fruit and full cupboards and pantry.

i will be making meals from what we have and not spending any money on groceries (i hope) or misc items as we are stocked for a month or more on those items...toilet paper, toiletries, laundry detergent, etc.

so i thought i would take you along with me and post what we are eating from the pantry/cupboard/fridge/freezer and let you know how it goes.

i am hoping to take the money that we would have normally spent for these two categories (food and misc) and use that for things we need to get done around the house (repairs, replacements, etc). our budget is very low, but i'm hoping that maybe i can do this challenge for more than just one month this year.

one allowance i will let myself have and that is if there is a super "cheap" (i use that term loosely as nothing is cheap anymore) deal on food that hasn't been for a long time. this would be less than a dollar a lb on pork and/or less than .69/lb on chicken hindquarters, less than $3 for butter, and if i can find whipping cream at walmart when i go out of town on the 25th of this month (i use a lot of cream and butter for my baking business and haven't been able to get any and it's too expensive locally).

in the case above, i would stock up for future months. not use in january, but it wouldn't be frugal of me to let those kinds of deals (should they exist) pass.

i think i will post each sunday how the week went and what my menu looked like. i will tell you we don't eat breakfast. i have tea and bruce drinks coffee or chicory (that he roasted using what grows wild on our place) and has toast and/or dried apples. the bread i made and the apples are from our trees and we have LOTS of.

happy new year 2023 and my word for the year

happy new year!

i am looking forward to this year and wishing you all a very happy new year.

each year i like to choose a word/phrase/song, etc to claim for the year. i didn't share my word last year as it was so personal with all i was going thru at the time. it was "self-care". it felt selfish and i was afraid to share it. which goes to show, it was a word i needed to claim. it's easy for me to care for others, but i struggle with self worth and taking care of myself.

i lacked in a lot of areas, but also feel like i grew and was intentional in caring for myself mentally, physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and about any other "ly" words.

as i reflected over the past year and thought about a word to claim for this new year, "reset" kept coming to mind. at first, i thought "that's dumb" LOL, but it just kept coming to mind when i tried to think of something different.

and now, i'm exciting to claim this word. my thought process for this word is to take everything i have learned from last year and before and "reset" or apply to my life. so even using the word "self-care" from last year, i can reset my mind, body, thoughts, life, etc

there are so many areas i can see where i need to "reset" in my life...my thoughts, boundaries, diet, craft/baking business, home, health, and the list goes on. i would like to "reset" to a place of simplicity and the feeling of hygge (my 2018 word of the year). hygge is a scandinavian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. what a wonderful word to "reset" to!

i am hoping to use this blog platform to keep track of this goal for the year and write about ways i am resetting parts of my life this year.

a verse from the bible that spoke to me for this word is from the first book of peter 5:10 (esv)

"and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."