Eat from the Pantry Challenge - Week 1

The first week of the Eat from the Pantry Challenge is going great-guns! We've had some great meals this week from roast turkey and mashed potatoes, to turkey noodle soup, from homemade pizza to falafel.

The pantry challenge just happens to coincide with a challenge I've given myself to make all our own breads this month. Whew! That uses a lot of yeast and flour, but fortunately I started the month with a pantry well-stocked with nearly 60 pounds of white flour and 20 pounds of whole wheat. I bought the white flour last fall when it was on sale for 99 cents/5 lb. bag. The bags of whole wheat flour were full-price - it never seems to go one sale! I bought 10 jars of yeast early last fall when a small store was reducing it's inventory - I believe they were less than $2 a jar. I still have two or three jars left, which should see me through the month.

Above you see but one tray of a double-batch of pitas I made, half of which went directly into the freezer for a later meal. I find that whenever I can double a batch, whether it's bread, muffins, waffles, or even main dishes, it's well worth the effort since it saves me so much time down the road.

My oldest son, Stephen, has spent a lot of time living in foreign countries, especially when you consider that he's only 21! One night this week he made us falafel, using dried garbanzo beans I had on hand, to go with the pitas.

Oh, my, was it ever delicious!
I must also comment on the gorgeous bowl it's in - one of a set of three nesting bowls I received for Christmas this year. I absolutely love the color! In addition to being 50% off full-price, we were able to use a special one-day coupon for another $10 off, making the present even sweeter!

I gave myself $200 to spend to get through the month, which isn't a lot for a family of 6, three of whom are adult males and two teenage girls to boot. Saturday Hy-Vee had a one-day sale that I couldn't pass up. Milk was only 88 cents a half-gallon and grated cheese was $1/8 oz. bag, making it $2 a pound. We drink a ton of milk here and had just run out. Last fall I started buying grated cheese whenever it hits that $2 a pound (or less) mark and freezing it. That way, I always have the cheese I need on hand and I never have to pay an exorbitant amount due to lack of planning. I also had just run out of cheddar, though we were still well-stocked with mozarella.
So... the very first week I spent $78.50 of my $200 budget stocking up. I bought two weeks of milk, about 10 gallons of skim and 2 of whole, and 30 packages of cheese. Add to this several cans of green beans on sale, of course, 1 bottle store-brand ketchup, 1 jar of garlic-stuffed olives (believe me, this is a staple in my house!) and 1 pint of cream.
Add to that total $6 I spent at another grocery store on reduced-price fresh produce. I've discovered one of the local stores regularly marks down perfectly good fruits/veggies for 99 cents a package. Saturday I found a package of 6 pomegranates (only 3 turned out to be good); a package of 5 zucchini, which my daughter promptly turned into two loaves of zucchini bread; two packages of mushrooms, porcini and button; and two packages of mesclun salad mix.



We used the mushrooms in an omelet for lunch that day and for homemade pizza, the salad was huge - and beautiful - and lasted for two meals. We've also discovered a love for pomegranates!



Here you see the falafel in pitas ... we topped them with ripe avocado slices I had on hand in the fridge. Yum!
So, now at the start of week 2, I have $72.50 left and three weeks to go... gulp.
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...