Busy Packing And Eating From Pantry

We have a big move coming up end of the month. We are moving from HOT Texas to COLD Northern Minnesota. Can't wait to get there and see my son's and grandchildren often. As I pack a few boxes every day I am also trying to either eat up items in my pantry or giving away somethings that I have way to much of.
Last night was my fantastic ( I think ) Spaghetti Dinner http://couponloversunite.blogspot.com/search/label/Spaghetti%20Sauce and tonight it is Sloppy Joe's.
This is keeping me away from searching and buying some deals. Eat up and Use what I have is the mission.
What I have learned is maybe to not over buy and keep more of my money in my pocket. Deals are important but when you have a year's supply of something that is over doing it.
We have been working at trying to put more money into savings so we can pay for our move out of our pocket since we no longer use Credit Cards for anything.
Well back to packing..

Hope that you all have a wonderful 4Th of July and stop by again.

Remember... Never Under Estimate The Value Of A Small Amount Of Money ... Grace

Eating From The Pantry Challenge

Back in February I did a challenge along with others to eat from my pantry and not buy what I did not need that month unless it was a special deal and FREE or almost FREE.

I have decided it needs to be done again. We have chosen to move back to Minnesota near the shores of Lake Superior. Big difference from Texas. Instead of the horrible heat we will have the horrible winters.

With planning and saving we would like to leave Minnesota for about 3 months during the winters. Chances are slim the first winter but we have hopes and will plan and save towards that goal following years.

Most of our family is in Minnesota and I want to spend time reconnecting with my sons and 10 out of 13 grandchildren as I am a senior citizen even though I do not feel or act it. The other 3 grandchildren are on the east coast.

Our move will take place end of July. My pantry is full and I want to see it almost empty. Would be good to just buy as needed the last weeks before we move.

I do love a full pantry, almost an addiction with me.

Tonight I am making home made spaghetti and pulled out a box of spaghetti noodles, notice it was almost empty and panicked for a moment. Sure enough I had 2 more boxes. If you click on this link you will get my recipe. I think it is better than our local Italian recipe http://couponloversunite.blogspot.com/2009/06/as-much-as-i-love-to-go-out-to-eat.html

My challenge is to start with what I do have and buy what need to make a meal.

Did you do the pantry challenge in February, have you thought of giving it a try in the future. Join me if you would like I would love to hear from you. If you have a blog I would enjoy reading how you are doing...

My goals for the rest of the week is to list what is in the pantry and plan some menus around what I have.

I will officially start as tomorrow since my pay and budget week begins on Fridays.

Thanks for stopping by... Will do posts as I eat from my pantry.

Eating From The Pantry Challenge End Of The Month

Well the month has come to almost an end and eating from the pantry has been a great challenge. My pantry is still full of certain items. I plan to still work at clearing it out over the month of February.

There are items that we will definetly need to buy for the pantry, I like canned vegetables for a quick dinner and I do not have any pasta left except for 1/2 a box of shells.

Unless it is a fantastic price I will avoid buying anything during the month of February that I have plenty of in the cupboards.

I see some things at Krogers in their mega sale that I will purchase but not much. Plan to stock up on the Can't Believe It's Not Butter while I can get it at a good price and I can buy one tidy cat at a fair price.

I have stopped buying diet coke at the store like I did. This is saving me at least $30.00 a month. My goal this year is to drop the extra weight I am carrying. I have decided to join Curves and this savings is almost my monthly membership cost . I am going 3 times a week and am enjoying the ladies and the commitment.

Hope that you have had a great month on using from your pantry. The money I saved from not buying as helped in other areas we needed money for. Sadly my savings has not gone up except for $21.00 that I got in refunds so far this month.

Thanks For Stopping By... Lets Keep Saving Together... Grace

Eating From The Pantry Challenge

Well we are now into the 3rd week of the pantry challenge. We have done fairly good spending less at the grocery store. The money has not gone on to bills or savings though as of yet. The savings has helped us in other areas.

First week I was able to get my husband's suit pants shortened using part of my grocery money and last week I treated my self.

I am doing taxes part time at H R Block and wanted my nails to look nice so I pampered my self and got nails done plus a hair cut.

Looking nice thanks to cutting back at the grocery stores.

Total spent was $19.77 rather than the normal $65.00 a week I budget.

Pantry is getting low on some can goods but still have lots of food in my pantry.

Added up our eating out cost and it was on track. Not less but on track. We save on eating out by eating at places are more frugal, not buying soda out or using coupons to cut the cost.

How are you doing with your grocery budget .. do you see any good deals out there you want to share..



Thanks For Stopping By... Lets Keep Saving Together.. Grace

Menu Plan Monday during Pantry Challenge

Well with the start of the 2nd week of the Pantry Challenge I still have a full pantry. Freezer is just about empty but we did not have much there to start with.

This is our Menu plan for this week

Monday Left over Chicken Pasta Vegetable Soup with Pillsbury Biscuits

Tuesday Hamburger Patties with Baked Potatoes and Vegetables

Wednesday Left overs

Thursday Chili with crackers

Friday Hot Dogs with Chili and Chips and dip

Saturday Cheesburger Macaroni , vegetable and left over biscuits

Sunday Dinner out with Family

Breakfasts

Cereal

Eggs and Toast

Yogurt

For this menu plan I only need

eggs

2 pounds of hamburger

potatoe chips

sour cream

add some fruit

and I should be fine unless I find some great deals.

I love looking for ways to saving money on my groceries and eating out. Hope that I can be helping you as I help my household

Thanks For Stopping By... Lets Keep Saving Together ... Grace

Dinner From The Pantry and Freezer Pantry Challenge Continues

Tonight it is cold outside, at least cold for Texas. We may even get frost. Now I am wondering why I left San Diego. Family is the reason and a good reason I guess. I am getting to know my great granddaughter and 2 great grandsons. Well worth the cold cloudy weather.

Tonight I wanted comfort. Not to much comfort since I am desiring to lose weight this year.

So tonight was a Hamburger Hot Dish. That is what we call it in Minnesota. Different parts of the country would call it a casserole. This would be a church supper staple along with a jello salad.

So it was Hamburger with a jar of Ragu and 1 can of diced tomatoes added. Seasoned with a little salt, pepper and onion and garlic. Hubby added some velvetta cheese cubes. I mixed up a package of corn bread and opened up some peas and dinner was ready in 60 minutes.

Best of all there is more than one more meal left over.

How is your pantry challenge going.

I love looking for ways to saving money on my groceries and eating out. Hope that I can be helping you as I help my household

Thanks For Stopping By ... Lets Keep Saving Together .. Grace

First Week of Eating From The Pantry Challenge

Week 1 of Eating From the Pantry Challenge.
Well the month started out yesterday. We had a nice quiet New Years eve at home. My precious husband made us Beef Stroganoff and we decided to change the apartment arrangement.
Our lives are busy with helping family with their business plus we buy items to resell on eBay. Mainly books but if something catches our eye it is added to the collection at home.
The last few months we have been working out of the living room, making desks out of card tables so we can work on the Internet and still watch our TV shows.
The living room got more and more messy.

I had the brilliant idea of putting our office in our bedroom since we have a cable hook up their and switch our bed room to the smaller bedroom.
So we worked most of New Years day moving furniture, vacuuming and confusing the poor cat. But we are on our way to making everything more comfortable and neater.
Time to go back to the posting of the first week of the challenge.
Since we made Stroganoff the last day of the year and our great home made soup the end of last week we have had left overs the 1st and the 2nd .
Remainder of the week menus will be
Meat Loaf and bake potatoes
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Hamburger Stew and Mashed potatoes
Ham and scalloped Potatoes casserole

I will post at end of week any money we have spent on grocery items and any money eating out

Both are in different budget categories. I have decided to keep the money for groceries in one checking account and the money for eating out in another checking account so I can track better. We also put the money for gas for one week in the car. This way we can get a better feel for cost of gas and whether we need to increase this amount.

My goal for the month is the cut each food item in half if possible. My main challenge is I have very little meat in the freezer.

Thanks For Stopping By... Lets Keep Saving Together... Grace

Eat From The Pantry Challenge

Yesterday I posted my goals this next year regarding our grocery budget plus some personal goals. Today I read the post at Money Saving Mom . She and FishMama are putting out a challenge to eat out of the pantry, freezer and refrigerator from Jan 1 to Jan 31. Cutting spending on groceries and put the difference to charity, debt or savings.

Those who are joining in are linking their posts and setting up their own challenges and plans.
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/12/eat-from-the-pantry-challenge-my-goals-and-plans-and-come-link-up-yours-too.html

Hubby and I talked about it tonight and think we can cut our costs and put the extra into our savings plan for $1000 emergency fund. So instead of $62.50 I will cut this down as close to 50 percent as possible or 31.25 a week.

1. we will be buying dairy and produce as needed each week

2 we do not have a big freezer so will buy some meat. We buy a rotisserie chicken every week and will continue to do this plus what is else is needed for my menu plans.

3 plan menus around what I do have in the pantry and in refrigerator

4. I will allow myself to buy items that are free or close to free.

5. We do go out to eat on Sunday's with family plus again during the week for lunch. This comes from another envelope. I would like to see how I can cut this back during January adding that to our emergency fund.

If you are interested in joining us post your challenge on your blog and just comment here and at Money Saving Mom . Please go to Money Saving Mom and read the other posts. Everyone is coming up with their own plan and will be sharing recipes and ideas. Should be fun to see how we all do during January.

So between now and January 1st I will take stock of my pantry and plan some menu ideas around what I have. Anyone have any ideas for corn flakes and tomato soup. I am really stocked up on these thanks to good deals and coupons.

Thanks For Stopping By... Lets Keep Saving Together ... Grace