We are gearing up for a Pantry Challenge in our house.  We ate like kings over the 4th of July and now it is time to cook from what’s already in our fridge, freezer, and pantry, this is a great way to save money as well as waste less.   Our grocery budget is a little tight for the next two weeks, but with a little planning I think we will come in under budget.

This challenge was the perfect time to clean out and organize all the places we store food.   We have a upright freezer, pantry shelf and second fridge in our basement.

As you can see, we have plenty of food to assist in this challenge.   I removed everything from the pantry shelves and replaced it all.   I made sure to place like things together for easier inventory in the future.  I know I will save money by keeping like things together, since I found 4 boxes on Panko while organizing.  I did the same thing with the freezer.

When organizing the freezer, I made a list of all the types of meats we had in freezer.  Then it was time to plan a menu based on the meat and food we have on hand.   I planned a 2 week menu.  Week # 1 will be posted on Sunday evening as my Menu Plan Monday post.

Tomorrow after church hubby and I will complete our bi-weekly shopping.  Below are the goals I have for our shopping trip.   I will post an update after we are done shopping, so you can see how we did.   Wish us luck!!

Goals:
1.  Stretch our food budget by eating food we have on hand.
2.  Spend $80.00 on food related items for the next two weeks.
3.  Spend $60.00 or less at Sam’s Club
4.  Spend $70 or less on non food items.

Update After Shopping:
1.  Food Total = $119.01 (over by $39.01 due to extra fruit bought at Sam’s Club and estimating low on a few items)
2.  Non Food Total – $ 84.63 (over by $14.64 – forgot I had to buy an item for Grandpa that was $16.52)

Total Spent:  $203.64
Overall, I am very happy with shopping considering this is the cost for two weeks.  So really our food budget this week was less than $60.    This should help to get us back on track with our budget.   We might need to continue our Pantry Challenge for another week or so.

Blessings…

Paul and Jen
Faithfully Living Below Our Means!