Cooking From the Pantry

• She is like the merchant's ships, she bringeth her food from afar
• She rises while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens
• She looketh well to the ways of her household

Last week I posted a recipe and linked to the Pantry Party at The Thrifty Countrywoman. This week she has a really good post about her challenge to herself to feed herself and her husband using the budget they had when they first married--$17.50 a week!

Now I didn't do anything nearly that dramatic, but as I already mentioned, we are working on tightening our budget and really holding ourselves accountable to stick to it, which I thought I was already doing, but discovered that I'd been nickel and diming (or more realistically, $5 & $10) myself right outside the boundaries I set each week. Last payday we made a concerted effort to set an amount and stick to it--we drew out what we wanted to spend for the next two weeks and put it in envelopes, which we labeled--gas, groceries, etc. As we spent, we put the receipts inside the envelope and kept a decreasing running total on the outside of how much we had left to spend.

Let me tell you, knowing that you have only $xx.xx amount left to spend on groceries will stop you in your tracks when you start cooking and decide you need to run to the store for "just one or two more items". As a result, I've been creative and much more serious about using what I have on hand in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. And to make it even more challenging, we've only been back in Georgia about three weeks, so my stockpile is not what it usually is.

And yet....we ate quite well, with just a little forethought and planning.

Day 1, I baked some chicken--boneless skinless thighs with a little lemon-pepper seasoning. We had this with some oven roasted asparagus, peas from my parents garden this summer (via the freezer) some leftover mashed potatoes that I had in the fridge.

Day 2, Tacos--1 lb of hamburger meat, seasoned with a packet of taco seasoning, taco shells, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers. I forgot to buy grated cheese last week, so we used sliced American cheese that I had on hand.

Day 3, Baked chicken again, along with the leftover asparagus and peas, and some au gratin potatoes (nothing exciting, I admit it, these were from a box that I got on sale for about $.40 (with a coupon, of course!)

Day 4, I cooked a package of pinto beans, adding the leftover taco meat. Because I'm from Louisiana and we eat everything over rice, I made some rice and a pan of cornbread.

Day 5, Leftover beans and rice and cornbread

Day 6, I made chili with 1 lb of hamburger, 3 small cans of tomato sauce, chili seasoning, and the rest of the pinto beans. We ate this also over rice, and the last of the cornbread.

Day 7, We had chili dogs, using the leftover chili from the day before

And for a treat this past week, I made the Crumb Cake recipe that I got from the pantry party last week! It was delicious, and from basic ingredients, so I can make it again anytime I need a little lagniappe to round out my menu.

This week's menu holds smothered round steak, baked chicken, and stove-top barbecue, breakfast for dinner and probably hot dogs again for the weekend--and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up for that little something extra!

This post is linked to:

Meal Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home

Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

Until next time...