Last Thursday night we ended up having leftovers. I had a meal plan in place for each night last week, but for some reason we had lots and lots of leftovers. So in an attempt to keep things from falling off the shelves in the refrigerator, we had leftovers…and I immediately made the decision that a pantry challenge was soon in order.
I’ve still got some great produce leftover from last week’s trip to Sprouts, and I decided that it was worth a trip in over this weekend, as they had organic canned pumpkin and fresh bags cranberries on sale for $1. I happened to be right nearby visiting my precious new niece, and I’m glad I stocked up. The cranberries are in the freezer…waiting for Thanksgiving day homemade cranberry sauce and the rest I will use for Cranberry Chicken.
With all I have on hand, there’s not need for any shopping again until it was time for Thanksgiving feast preparations, and some of what I’ll need I already have in the pantry. That leaves me with about 9-10 days worth of meals that I can make with items I’ve got in the pantry, fridge and freezer, so….it’s time for the…
Pre-Thanksgiving Pantry Challenge
What I’ve Got On Hand
Freezer
- 1 meals worth of pork chops
- 1 Cran-Apple Pork Roast (recipe coming tonight)
- 2 meals worth of stew meat
- 3 meals worth of ground beef
- 1 pkg chicken breast
- Pkg corn tortillas
- Couple packages frozen vegetables
- Individually packaged Pumpkin Spice Baked Oatmeal (will be sending these in lunchboxes!)
- Other random ingredients
Pantry
- Canned corn, black beans and corn
- Pasta, several bags of different varieties
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce
- 1 jar pizza sauce
- Tuna, coconut milk
- Taco shells
- Organic canned pumpkin
Produce
- Spaghetti squash
- Sweet potatoes
- Butternut Squash
- Baby carrots
- And more
What I Plan to Make
- Pizza Meatball Subs
- Spaghetti Squash and Chicken Medley
- Taco Night with Corn-Black Bean Salsa
- Sweet Potato and Chicken Curry
- Cran-Apple Pork Roast (recipe coming tonight!)
- Chili with Pumpkin and Cinnamon
- Dutch Oven Beef Stew with Butternut Squash
- Cilantro-Lime Chicken Enchiladas
- Spaghetti
- Coconut Rice and Beans
What I Plan to Bake
- Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon and Pecan Struesel
- Pumpkin Double Chocolate Cheesecake (recipe in my Holiday Entertaining Guide)
- Pumpkin Spice Baked Oatmeal (another batch to enjoy while kids are out of school for Thanksgiving)
Anyone else cooking from their pantry/freezer/fridge this week?
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I’m right there with ya on the pantry-challenge! Just last week, I did an inventory of my freezer and pantry. I’ve got that list together – now I just need to make meals out of it. However, I like your list better in that you list how many meals you can get out of “x”.
If I could get by without buying anything else food-wise and get through Thanksgiving, I’d be thankful for that! I waste so much food because I don’t plan. Ugh!
Thanks for the inspiration to get it done! I’ll let you know how it goes.