Hello Again & A New Pantry Challenge

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 A Long Absence...

The Spring and Summer of 2022 were filled with outdoor fun, hours of gardening, disc golf playing, family time, car repairs, travel, and not a whole lot of meal planning.... I found myself in a rut this Spring, uninspired, tired, bored. Our work days and after-work schedules were fuller, leaving less time for meal prep, and more often than not, Friday morning menu-plan & prep aspirations went largely ignored over the weekend. We spent a little more on groceries, a little more on eating out, and this was perfectly OK. 

I did not take many food photos this summer, so I have included a few photos from our recent travels for you to enjoy as you read along.

The Wild Horses of Corolla, NC

As we've begun to transition out of the fast paced summer months, the garden bounty has (mostly) been preserved, I've begun to notice a new burgeoning issue....our pantry and freezer. Despite rising food prices, I still managed to snag many deals over the last six months, and as a result, there is food everywhere. In our mudroom, hiding under the kitchen table, and tetrised in any other empty space I could find - never mind a full chest freezer that has spilled over into the "garden fridge" (our old fridge kept for use in the summer to handle garden harvests and drinks).

Needless to say, it's time for a Pantry Challenge! I know that I need to push myself out of this non-prepping rut and return to being more intentional with my time and grocery budget. I hope you enjoy following along.

Corolla, NC Estuary at Sunset


Pantry Challenge Goals

To keep things simple, I am going to work from a similar set of goals as my last pantry challenge in early 2022, with a few minor tweaks. I will be doing this over five weeks to start, which brings us right to Thanksgiving.

Reduce Dry Pantry Goods

Currently, our "pantry" - aka, all the random places you can hide food in a small apartment, is overflowing with....

  • Canned Tomato Products
  • Canned Beets
  • Canned & Dried Beans
  • Rice
  • Condiments (such as BBQ Sauce & Hot Sauce)

Plus too many other things to mention.
Corolla, NC Sunset

Eat from the Freezer

For the most part, we already do a good job at eating from the freezer, but over the summer, we have definitely been adding more than we've been withdrawing. Let's turn over some inventory, and make some space adjustments as well.

While we have done a fairly good job in keeping our over-fridge freezer at two-thirds full (a goal from January), I'd still like to see it completely transitioned to a "staging freezer" where we keep high-touch foods, prepped, and use-soon items. Right now it's about half way there. We need to eat down some items and make space in the big freezer to make this happen.

This is a pretty loose goal, so I am going to incorporate in: moving mostly out of the downstairs above-fridge freezer, and maintaining organization in the chest freezer, which has been going "just OK" since our last re-organizing session.
Northern Maine Sunset on the Water

Spend only $125 on Groceries  

Are you laughing? Because I am. Grocery shopping is one of my favorite hobbies, especially clearance shopping (how we got here, you see). Prices in the stores are also up, up, up. However, we will need to supplement over the next five weeks with fresh vegetables, a little dairy, and I'm sure a few miscellaneous items that are not hiding in my stash. Hopefully I can keep myself accountable and leave some of those steals for others to find when I do need to pop in.

What is likely to make this Pantry Challenge harder than the last, is that many of the items I've stocked up on are geared towards B's tastes and not mine (he is a much more adventurous eater than I). This means that I will need to work hard to ensure that I am not getting bored. Also, we don't have much in the way of frozen vegetables this time around, so I will need to be more diligent with my spending budget the ensure vegetables are the primary focus, not stock-up or clearance deals.

Northern Maine Foliage


Final Thoughts

I plan to share my progress through weekly updates on what items we managed to use up, and what our general meal plan was. Also I will be keeping track of how much I spend along the way, and sharing that weekly as well.

I hope this challenge inspires you and I look forward to sharing the experience with you!

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