We soon discovered that since I have switched grocery shopping habits from buying what we needed to hardcore couponing, we had more food that two people could eat in many, many months. Our kitchen pantry is stocked; our downstairs storage is… overflowing.

(Enter the Eat-Out-of-the-Pantry Challenge)

Money Saving Mom and Fishmama have offered up the challenge of eating out of the pantry for the month of January. There are many reasons to do it so they encourage each participant to create her own goals best tailored to fit the needs of her family. Since we have so many different types of food stored away and an extra tight budget this month due to unexpected car repairs etc, I have based our family’s goals on those two things.

- Develop weekly meal plans around the abundance of food already in the house including ground beef, pasta, frozen veggies, and some forgotten items pushed to the back of the freezer.

- Purchase ONLY the necessary produce and fresh dairy items for less than $25 for the month. The remainder of our $200 grocery budget will go toward paying off the car repair bill.

There is a little leeway in the spending goal simply because the grocery budget also encompasses household paper products and toiletries and there are some things our family seems to always be short on like conditioner for a certain curly haired someone. Even so, I feel like $25 is a reasonable figure considering the amount of fresh veggies and fruit we eat during the winter.

I hope to be documenting this whole experience here on the blog so I can share any success (yay!) or failure (boo!) with you.

Questions?

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