We are one week into our pantry challenge, and it is going well! I wanted to share a little bit about how we have used up some of our freezer and pantry stash so far. We discovered we had quite a bit of meat in our freezer that we didn’t even remember, so we can follow this challenge for much longer than we originally thought. However, even if you don’t have much on hand, I think a few of the things we have done could help you save some cash on your next grocery bill while feeding your family more home cooked and whole food meals.

We started by doing a freezer inventory and writing down everything we have. We have two chest freezers, but I think we will be able to combine them into one as we use some of this meat up. This is the most organized our freezers have ever been! Our pantry is much smaller, so we can easily see what we have on hand, otherwise we would write all that out as well. Just knowing what you have to work with will make a big difference in meal planning. If you don’t have meat on hand, shop the sale flier at your local stores. Only meal plan around what protein is on sale that week. You might even want to buy a little bit extra to start your freezer stash if it is a really good deal. Meal planning is a must if you are trying to stick to a budget.

We found that we actually had some whole chickens left from 2018. They are in great shape, but I would like to use them up sooner than later. I love to cook a whole chicken in the crockpot by layering onions on the bottom and placing the chicken on top. I use a rub on the chicken and cook on high for 5 hours or on low 8-10 hours. It is such a simple meal and only takes 10 minutes to prep. We typically eat the dark meat and a portion of the beasts when the chicken is done cooking, but then we are able to use the bones for broth and the remaining chicken breast for soup. With this 4 lb chicken we ate 3 dinners (the bones made 10 cups of broth, which easily made 2 meals of soup). Store bought chicken is cheaper if you buy the whole chicken rather than specific cuts. I avoid the rotisserie chickens that you buy in a plastic bag under a heat lamp, because making it at home is just so easy.

We also ate some chicken breasts from our 2019 chickens as parmesan chicken and cooked some chicken legs and wings that we also used for soup. The rest of the chicken breast package will be used for a chicken pot pie skillet tonight (from the Prairie Homestead Cookbook). With all of these chicken meals, we’ve been able to make a lot of broth. I also found some bones that I threw in the freezer to make broth later (a great option if you don’t have time to make broth right now, but don’t want to throw the bones away). I made 22 cups of broth from those in my two crockpots and that all went into the freezer for a later date. I’ve started to switch to freezer safe deli containers from mason jars, because I’ve just had too many break lately.

Also on the menu, I made some venison tenders into stroganoff in the crockpot last night, which turned out great. I’m still on the hunt for some good venison recipes to use up last year’s meat. We used some roasted cubed zucchini and green beans from the freezer as sides this week. I also made bread and veggie sticks for lunches because Harrison takes a cold lunch to school every day. He likes peppers, carrots, and celery the most.

I baked zucchini muffins with some frozen shredded zucchini and put about 20 of them in the freezer to be eaten over the next few weeks. I have found breakfast to be so much easier in the morning if we have the freezer full of options. I can also cook in bulk and use up eggs when we have a surplus. I like to make breakfast burritos, french toast, and muffins. They all freeze really well and each kid can have a different breakfast if they want with minimal effort for us. They can also choose from cereal or oatmeal if they prefer and we always serve fruit with breakfast. We are running out of fresh fruit, so in the meantime we will be eating canned peaches and applesauce. I did find some crushed strawberries in the freezer, so I made that into 4 pints of jam. I can easily avoid buying jams and jellies just by strawberry picking each summer. I add blueberries and blackberries when they are available on our land.

So far, we are pretty happy with what we’ve been able use, but as we run out of fresh fruit and vegetables it will get a little more difficult. We might be buying some groceries later this week, but we will stick to a small budget. These kids drink so much milk and we prefer to buy organic so it gets expensive fast. That will take up a good bit of our $50 weekly budget, but I also plan to get some more fruit and vegetables. We are not participating in a no spend January, but we are definitely trying to decrease our spending to help save for our vacation in February. I hope to post a little bit about how we budget later this week, so stay tuned if you are looking for some cash saving ideas that have worked well for us!