Pantry Cooking Challenge

If you're like me, you probably buy more at the grocery store than you need or plan for.  Or you get ingredients to make a meal, and then don't, and those special ingredients just sit in your pantry.

It's time to try the Pantry Cooking Challenge!

I will do the pantry challenge 3 or 4 times a year, usually before we go out of town or when I deep clean my pantry and fridge.

You'll see that I make a lot of meals in bulk and freeze half or more for later, which is a great money saver as long as you eat them.  Sometimes I'll forget about some meals, or they slip to the back and can't be easily seen and forgotten.

I also stock up on meat when it's on sale and freeze it for another meal.  Until I forget about it or it's on sale when I'm shopping and use that instead.

Why should you do this?
1. It saves you money.  It's great if you're doing a no spend month, or need a little extra money one month.  You should already have most of what you need in the house, so you can use that money elsewhere.

2. It helps you clean. You're already going through to look at what you have, might as well clean up too.

3. You're stopping waste.  By regularly going through your freezer, you're able to see what you have that will expire soon.  Most frozen items have a 6 month shelf life, so by going in every 3 or 4 months you're making sure you get through everything.

What you do:
1. Look at everything you have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer.  I will take everything out of my pantry on shelf at a time and inventory it (this is when I wipe down where it came from) then I repeat with my freezer and fridge.  It's amazing what you find that you forget about!

2. Now that you know what you have, make meal plans that revolve around them. I try to buy as little from the store as possible to make these meals.

3. Start using up what you have. This can last me anywhere form 1 week to a month, depending on what I have laying around.

4. Look at all the space you have!

It's amazing to think you had so much just sitting around, and now there's room again!

After I finish, I try to meal plan as much as possible to keep from piling up.  I'll do a big batch of fresh freezer meals to fill the freezer back up a bit, but other than that I try and keep it light.

Then a few months later I'll do it over again.

I hope you enjoyed this! Let me know when you try this, or if you have tried this before and have any extra tips!

XOXO,
Sarah

Looking at My Impact On the Environment

Hello everyone!! So I have been taking a second look at my impact on the environment.

This all started about a month ago when I was walking on the beach and noticed plastic straws on the sand.  With a little digging I started to see how much waste is created by plastic and single use items.

I decided it was time to make a change.

I will probably not make it to be 100% waste free, but I am working to greatly reduce the impact I am making on the environment and hopefully helping others cut back on their waste as well.

Please stay tuned for more developments and my views and struggles with this change.

If I can reach and impact at least 1 other person, then I will be happy!

Please share and send this out to friends and family and let me know in the comments below what you will be doing to help our environment.

XOXO,
Sarah

Aldi Haul, 1 month under $100 for 2!

So if you haven't shopped at Aldi, do it now!  It's an amazing store, but you just need to give it a chance.

It is a budget grocery store, so it doesn't have the bells and whistles, but I'll get a post together with what you need to know when you shop at Aldi.  You can also watch my video here.

Now I was able to get enough food for a month for under $100 for 2 people. We do go out to eat once a week and have a leftover night, so this gives 5 dinners a week.  I did already have some ingredients at home, but if you're shopping sale meats, you should have some too.

One of the keys to these meals is cooking lager quantities and having leftovers for lunch and maybe even dinner the next night.  I'll make double quantities and freeze half for a couple weeks in the future.

Here are all the dinners I can get from this (each meal also has at least 1 serving for lunch):
Spaghetti and Meatballs: 2
Spaghetti Pie: 2
One Pot Pasta Dump: 2
One Pot Greek Pasta:2
Meatloaf: 2
Bean, Cheese, and Rice Burritos: 2*
Beef Stroganoff: 1
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup: 1
Chili: 4*
Pizza: 1
Meatball Subs:1
Hot Dogs: 1
Hamburgers: 1
Breakfast For Dinner: 2 (no leftovers)
Beef Taco Soup: 2*

*These meals I made a big batch and freeze in individual portions. They are easy to defrost and take for many lunches throughout the month.

Lunches: Leftovers, pizza, sandwiches, hot dogs, quesadillas, etc.

Breakfast:  I actually did a whole post on the breakfasts, that I will be linking shortly.  Lots of goodies including oatmeal, chorizo and eggs, waffles, pancakes, hash, and muffins.

I hope you enjoyed this post and are ready to give Aldi a change!  Let me know some of your shopping wins!

XOXO,
Sarah

My Favorite Meatloaf

There's nothing quite as comforting as a nice meatloaf. It's great any time of the year, and is great leftover for lunch. Plus you can keep all the ingredients on hand so you'll always be ready for some nice comfort food.

There are a lot of variations, but this one is simple with a sweat glaze.  It's also great in muffin tins for easy serving and saving.

What you need:
Meatloaf:

1 LB Ground Turkey

1 Egg

½ cup Breadcrumbs

1 TBSP Roast Seasoning

dash Worcestershire Sauce

Sauce:

¼ Cup Sugar

½ Cup Ketchup
1 TSP Worcestershire Sauce

What you do:

Heat oven to 350. Mix all meatloaf ingredients in a bowl until incorporated.   Mix sauce ingredients in a separate bowl.  Put meatloaf mixture in an oiled loaf pan and pat down.  Pour sauce mixture over. Bake for 55 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

That's it!  Let me know if you try it and what you think!

XOXO,

Sarah

Easy Chicken Veggie Soup

Soup season is here!  There's nothing quite like a nice warm cup of soup on a cold winter day. I love that you can toss everything in the slow cooker while you're out braving the cold, and come home to piping hot soup.  Plus soup is relatively cheap and very healthy!

I love making big batches in my slow cooker and freezing half to eat later!  You can make soup for months in only a couple weeks.   Then you can rotate and never get bored (not that I would anyway). I'll have something up soon with how to freeze soup...

There are so many different varieties, but Chicken Veggie Soup is on of my favorites!  Plus you can change what you put in, depending on what you have on hand! You can make it with canned veggies if you want, for those days you're feeling soup or trying to clear out the pantry.

The best start is Homemade Turkey Stock. You can also use homemade chicken stock, which you make the same way.  Homemade stock is so much richer than store-bought, and if you make whole chicken or turkey so easy to do!

I have a base to this recipe, but I always look at what I have on hand to use up, or add extra flavor.  This is great if you have your own garden to use what you grow, or use what you get on sale!

Printable Recipe

Base:
2 cans beans (or the equivalent dry beans)
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cups shredded chicken, or diced chicken
8 cups broth

Other Additions:
zucchini
onion
tomatoes
pasta
spinach

Put everything in the slow cooker (except pasta and spinach). Cook on low 6-8 hours. Add pasta the last 30 minutes of cooking.  Once you're ready to serve, add spinach to the bowl, and pour the soup over.

See super easy!  Let me know what you think! What else would you add?

XOXO,
Sarah

Slow Cooker Turkey Stock

It's soup season!!!  I love snugging up on the couch with the fire going and a nice warm cup of soup!  I could eat soup every day! There are so many varieties and they're so easy to make. Plus you can make a huge batch and freeze it so easily!  I'm making 2 or 3 a week, and easily filling up my freezer for the rest of winter, or when a cold hits.

Now nothing adds a kick to soup than homemade stock.  I have to confess, it took me way to long to start making my own stock.  I don't know why I thought it would be a daunting task.  Now I can never look back!

I made Slow Cooker Turkey Breast, and realized I can leave the carcass in the slow cooker after getting the meat off, and then throw everything on top!  I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but I'm very proud of myself! Plus it's basically free, since you'd just be throwing the bones away anyway.

Seriously you just stick everything in the slow cooker for 24 hours! The bones add all the flavor, so all you need to do is add a little celery and carrots.

Once it's done I'll stick in the fridge overnight to let cool before dividing up to freeze.  You can see that a layer of fat forms, so refrigerating it lets you get that out!

Then strain the stock into a bowl and divide it into your containers. Make sure you have the measurements on them, so you'll know what you need to grab for your recipes!

I like to divide mine into different measurements (1/3 cup in the muffin tins, 2 cups in a couple mason jars, and 4 cups in freezer safe bags. Why the bags? They store so easy in the freezer, and when I'm making soup, I'll just pull a bag or two out (depending on the volume of soup) cut it open, then heat up in the pot or slow cooker.

Print Recipe
What you need:
1 carcass from a turkey or chicken
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
about 18 cups water (enough to fill your slow cooker)

Dump everything in the slow cooker.  Cook on low 24 hours.  Chill overnight.  Remove fat, and strain stock.  Divide into your containers and refrigerate up to a week, freeze up to 6 months.

Make about 16 cups stock (depending on the size of your slow cooker and how much water you add).

Total cost: basically free (just water and energy).

I hope you enjoy this!  Let me know when you try it out!

XOXO,
Sarah

15 Minute Veggie Chicken Pasta For $1 a Serving!!!

There have been many days that I just don't have a plan for dinner.  I've gone through my leftovers, or I'm really not feeling what I had planned that day (yes the one downfall of meal planning).  The pasta base is Pasta Roni (no I'm not paid by them to promote this, but I'd happily take free stuff!) which is so easy as a side too. 

This pasta is great when you don't have a plan, time, or have leftover chicken or turkey.  It's great with cooked shredded chicken or you can cube and cook the chicken first.  I always make it with turkey after the holidays.

You can also use any veggies you have on hand, so it's great for using up any extras you have or busting out some seasonal sales. I've used carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, zucchini (like here) or any squash, the possibilities are endless!

I also love this recipe because it uses 1 pot for all the cooking. I love one pot pastas since you just dump everything in and only have 1 pot to clean.

Pasta Roni is a little more pricey than just plain pasta, but it's so easy to have on hand when you just want a little kick.  You can get a regular box around $1(I've gotten it as low as 88c), and the family size (twice the size) for about $1.50.  I keep an eye out for coupons or sales in the store and stock up when I can. I've tried it with a variety of flavors, and they are all great.

What you need:
1 box Pasta Roni
1 cup (about 4 oz) shredded chicken or turkey
1 cup veggies (I used zucchini here, but any veggies are great!)

Cook Pasta Roni according to directions. Add meat and veggies in the last 3 minutes of cooking and stir.  Let sit according to package (about 3-5 minutes to make a sauce).

*If using fresh chicken, dice and heat in the pot you are using for the pasta with 2 tbsp butter (don't add the butter, and cook about 2 minutes. Then add the water and cook according to the package instructions. The chicken will continue cooking with the pasta.

Makes about 2 servings.  Total cost: $2.00 or $1.00 per serving.

I hope you like this!  Let me know when you try it.

XOXO,
Sarah