Oct Pantry Challenge Update 1

     Well, I've reached the end of week 1 and I totally forgot how hard this was to do. Also, there were some amazing sales on bulk items I love and I just couldn't resist. While this is definitely bending the rules, I decided I couldn't pass up some of the bulk buys and am only going to count the things we use towards my total spending money. It's cheating, I know. But how do you pass up 8 pounds of organic local strawberries for $20?!


Menu Plan for October 8th- 14th

I don't plan for breakfast & lunch because we generally eat different things for breakfast, and Brad buys lunch at his work. 

Wednesday: Grilled Cheese with Peaches

Thursday: Homemade Pizza with Fruit Salad

Friday: Chicken Noodle Soup with Rolls (This didn't happen last week)

Saturday: Quesadillas with Rice and Beans (Hoping to make extra tortillas to freeze)

Sunday: Ravioli with Green Beans and Rolls

Monday: Sweet Baked Kielbasa with Rice (I also want to cook up a batch of Honey Baked Lentils to keep in the fridge for my weekday lunches)

Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner


Money Spent: $74
Money Left: $26

     I bought strawberries, as mentioned earlier, and whipped up a few batches of freezer jam this last week. We've eaten about $6 worth of fresh strawberries and some jam. I also was able to purchase these awesome new organic lunchables made by Applegate farms in bulk. They came out to be only $2 a box! Retail for those suckers is over $5 each! We've eaten 4 so far, so I added that number into the total as well. Then, at the same store, Utah CoOp, I snatched a 5 for $20 deal on some meat and we have used two of the packages of bacon already. We love bacon around here! The last $3 I spent was on 3 boxes of Barbara's Cereal on clearance for $1 a box. :)

     Also to note, we got TONS of Italian Prune Plums from a neighbor, so I froze most of those and plan another freezer jam making sesh in the near future. Plus, pie. And maybe some Plum Applesauce.

     Three-Quarters of my moolah gone and still 3 weeks to go! Ahh! Luckily, my freezer is packed, I'm still getting a few things from the garden and grapevine, and we have quite a bit of food storage saved up from the last few months, so we should be good. I do need to pick up some cheese and peanut butter soon, but hopefully my kids will just learn to love the crunchy peanut butter and fancy cheese we already have.


Things to Make and Freeze This Week

• Tortillas
• Carrot Spice Muffins
• Dinner Rolls
• Zucchini Bread
• More Plums
• Carrots