by Leah Ingram
My family has done a pretty good job these last few years of planning meals, cooking at home, and stocking up on food when it’s on sale at the grocery store. But now, I feel like we’ve hit a tipping point. Here’s why:
After my husband did the grocery shopping, and I was finishing unloading and putting away the groceries, I realized we had no more room in the freezer. Literally. I had to squish the last few things in there.
And we have two freezers that we use.
From the free Thanksgiving turkey we got with supermarket points last November to leftover batches of chicken soup I’d made and frozen when I was sick two weeks ago, we have enough food in the freezer to make at least a month’s worth of dinners. At least that’s what I think.
So here’s the deal my husband and I made: We’re going to embark on a frugal dinner challenge for a month.
We’ve done the no new spending month. We’ve taken a spin with The Grocery Game. This time around, except for produce and dairy, we aren’t going to buy anything new to make dinner for the next month. If we want something that we don’t already have in the freezer or the pantry, we’ll have to do without, find a substitution, or make something from scratch to fill in.
I’ll keep you posted on how our frugal dinner challenge is going by posting what we made for dinner from items we already owned. I’m pleased to announce that in the past three nights, we’ve already done just that–with pot stickers and rice from Trader Joe’s on Saturday, gnocchi with vodka sauce (that my husband made from scratch) on Sunday, and chicken, baked potatoes, and salad on Monday.
If you’ve embarked on a similar dinner challenge, tell us!
We’ve been working on the frugal dinner challenge too. One goal is to use up food in the pantry and our chest freezer. With grocery prices going up, this has helped our budget.
Diane
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Reminds me of my mom’s house! My mom loved to shop at the grocery store and the fridge was always full. Every time she went for milk, she came back with enough for dinner. If she went for a few items, she’d do a week’s worth of shopping. We had three or four pots of leftovers going at any time, new stuff next to expired stuff, and things we’d bought years ago taking up room in the freezer. It was dangerous to open the cupboards lest something fall out!
It’s a bad expensive habit, but nobody gets hurt. At least it’s not smoking.
I’ve embarked on strict food budgets and “no new food this week” type challenges. It’s pretty easy at my house because we’re not fussy and we don’t expect gourmet.
I’ve done this! I included my pantry too. I was only allowed to purchase fresh fruits and veggies, along with milk. (Even bread I refused to, as I had some mixes for a bread machine in my pantry!)
I’ve been thinking about trying it again… thanks for the encouragement!
Yes! I do this twice a year! In my case it is because my power company is so useless that I try to empty out the freezer before stormy times of year. In the winter, I expand it to include the beans and grains in the pantry since they should be turned over too.