Clean Out The Cupboards, Week 1 (Link-Up)

Welcome to the Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge, co-hosted by Me (Crystal) here at Mrs Happy Homemaker, Laura at Frugal Follies, Denise at Shopper Strategy, Robbie at Going Green Mama, and Rebecca Jean at Midnight Maniac.

Last week, I posted my goals for this challenge, as did all of my co-hosts.  My goals were to spend less than $100 a week for my family of 5, use up some of the more forgotten items in my pantry, & to teach my family that there is something to eat in the house when no one thinks that there is.

I have fared pretty decent this week.  I was able to cook from things I already had on hand all week.  My parents drove up from Georgia to visit, so we all went out to eat on Friday night (Thank you for the treat, Moma & Daddy!).  Other than that, everything we ate was food we already had on hand.

This week, I mainly focused on using things in my refrigerator and other perishable items.  I wanted to get all the items that could go bad out of the way first.  During this upcoming week, I will be putting more focus onto things in my pantry.  The Tuna Casserole with Rice Krispies was the one thing I made with just pantry items this week, and I will be making it again a couple times this month since I have several cans of tuna & boxed mac n’ cheese in my pantry, and turns out – it was a really yummy way of using those ingredients.  Had I not signed up for this pantry challenge, I would have never tried that recipe out – and it definitely is a keeper.

I did go grocery shopping the other day for the next two weeks.  Although we have a decent pantry supply, our meat stockpile was nowhere as bountiful.  Luckily, the grocery store was having a lot of great meat sales.  Also, Super Doubles was this week!  I did end up getting some things that ended up being free with coupons – and honestly, free is just hard for me to resist!  But, I had set my goal at spending less than $100 per week on groceries for my family of 5 (including a baby), and I accomplished that.  Since I bought for 2 weeks & spent $133 – so about $66 for each week.  That total also includes pet food for my zoo (8 animals) & baby food/juice.  

I did not end up running to the store at the spur of the moment for anything, and that is a major plus.  I used what I had on hand, and just made one planned shopping trip.  All in all, I think I deserve a gold star.  🙂

Have you been participating in the pantry challenge?  Leave me a comment about your experiences so far, and if you are a blogger, link up your post about the challenge below!