Cleaning Out the Pantry!

I collect food. When there is a threat of a bad storm, I go shopping. When canned tomatoes are on sale, I stock up. When I see something new that might be yummy, I buy some. When our staples run low, I refill the canisters - and then some.

The abundance of food in our pantry makes it difficult to keep everything organized and then we don't know what we have, so we buy more. That is how we ended up with 10 cans of tomato soup when only one person in the house eats it!

For the last 2 months I have been attempting to eat down the pantry, fridge, and freezer. I have only made purchases when absolutely necessary. I have made regular purchases of milk, eggs, butter, and frozen veggies. Otherwise, if I lacked something for I recipe, I tried to be creative. It has been a challenge, but it has meant we had some amazing dinners without spending anything!

In July I shopped the Crest meat sale. I spent $150 on meat. I had a ham, a pork roast, and ham hocks left from a pig we purchased a year ago. It has been 8 weeks and we have only eaten half of the meat from that purchase. In the last 3 weeks, I have spent less than $60 a week to feed our family of five! That is how much food I have stashed away in the pantry!

I have had a lot of fun! Here are a few of the amazing dishes we have had.

Pintos and ham hocks was my first experiments. I soaked the beans all night, and then started cooking them early in the morning. They simmered ALL DAY LONG and they were amazing! The homemade wheat bread and corn on the cob made a great dinner. I purchased nothing for this meal. Everything was in the pantry (beans and bread ingredients), freezer (ham hocks), for the garden (corn).

Split pea soup has never been a favorite of mine, but Jonathan loves it. I had a bag of split peas in the pantry, onions from the garden, a few carrots left over, and the last of the ham hocks to use up. I found a recipe online and we experimented. I am happy to say, that I did enjoy the soup.

The biggest win of this adventure was my artichoke chicken, pita, lentil salad, and hummus. I wanted to make a yummy artichoke chicken recipe that we had tried before and loved. I only had half a jar or artichokes (something that usually sends me running to the store), and I needed Parmesan cheese, but only had feta. I used the feta instead, added enough roasted red peppers to make up for the missing artichokes, and threw in a few capers for good measure. It was delicious!

The same thing happened with my lentil salad. I needed mint, shallots, and kalamata olives. I replaced them with basil, onions from the gardens, and fresh tomatoes and bell pepper from the garden.

I decided that I would make some pita and hummus to go with the chicken and salad. I had all of the ingredients in the pantry. I even added some roasted red peppers to the hummus. We also ate some leftover cucumber salad with our meal. It was all delicious and it made for some yummy leftovers too!

I love how creative I have been with our meals! I have also been more mindful in my shopping. Which has lead to healthier meals and a lot of fun in the kitchen. Well, and maybe a few more dishes to wash.