I'm In: Eating from the Pantry Challenge

Crystal from Money Saving Mom and Jessica from Life As Mom put a challenge out at the begin of January to join them in their, "Eating from the Pantry" month. Considering I had not been out to truly grocery shop since before the holidays, I knew that I could not participate all month. But after spending $60 at the beginning of this month plus $8 at Meijer this past weekend, I think I can make it for the rest of the month with what I have in the freezer and my pantry.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish that I was participating considering it makes everything very concrete. But after being called a chicken by one of my closest friends, I knew that I had to put the challenge out there. :)

So here is what I'm challenging myself with:

---Buy only fresh fruits, veggies and dairy products this month---I'll let you know what I spend
---Cook from what I have in the freezer or pantry
---Try a new recipe(s) in the process
---Save on our overall grocery bill for the month

(Now, I will be picking up freebies or almost freebies from the grocery store.)

Here's the meal plan for this week:

***Monday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Salad w/ Chicken Nuggets, wheat crackers
Dinner:Two free Raising Cane's Meals---total $0.00
---It was so delicious and I even have leftovers.

***Tuesday
Breakfast: Waffles
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Chicken and Rice in the crock pot (double batch to eat Wed, too), veggies, rolls

***Wednesday
Breakfast:Eggs and Toast
Lunch: Grilled Cheese, carrot sticks
Dinner: Leftover Chicken and Rice,baked potato, veggies

***Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch:Quesadillas, apple slices
Dinner: Roast, Mashed Potatoes, cooked carrots, bread

***Friday
Breakfast: Waffles
Lunch: Chicken Nuggets with some veggies
Dinner: BBQ sandwiches with leftover meat from roast, hash brown casserole (no onions), pan-seared green beans

***Saturday
Breakfast:Church Breakfast---No cost
Lunch: Snacks---we're usually really stuffed after our annual church breakfast :)
Dinner: Pizza Night---No cost to us again...thanks to a very generous person who provided the funds for it. :)) What a blessing!

Snacks:
Apples, Oranges, Carrots, Cheese, Crackers, PB & J, Popcorn, Jello, Pudding

Dessert: Warm Delights, Hostess Cakes, I'll probably make some brownies this weekend.

I may switch any of these around if it fits better for us.

You may notice we are eating alot of cereal and waffles for breakfast. Well, there is good reason for it. I literally have about 15 boxes of cereal in my stockpile that needs to be eaten. About the waffles...this afternoon my friend and I had a waffle making party with her new waffle maker. We made about 16 huge waffles and split them up. I'm putting them in the freezer and reheating them in the toaster as needed. :)

I think this challenge will be great for us. I have a huge stock pile of things in our pantry, but if we waste it, what is the good in that? It's absolutely wonderful to get freebies and stock up on items, but it's even better to put them to good use and eat them.

So I'll put the challenge out to my readers...will you join me? I will be doing this until the end of the month. If you think your family can participate, leave me a comment letting me know you're in. :)

This should be interesting!