Monday, January 4, 2010

Eating from the Pantry in January and learning to cook gluten free


 Part of my goals for this new year was to eliminate excess in our house, buy less stuff, especially stuff that comes in a lot of packaging that will end up in the land-fil and of course to save money.

  So when I saw that Money Saving Mom and Life as Mom were hosting an eat from the pantry challenge for the month of Januarly, I decided that would be right up my alley.

 This really shouldn't be too hard as we are pretty well stocked up, we have potatoes, grains, jam, maple syrup (the real stuff) and beef to last us for the year and quite a lot of other stuff too. God has truly blessed us. Hopefully we can find ways to share with others too.

Anyway here are my goals for this month:

  • I will need to buy milk, eggs (some of the time my parents give them to us, so this will depend) and fresh produce. I get milk every Saturday at a Dairy (so I can get hormone free, raw milk) and I spend $12 a week on that. I am planning on allocating $100 for those expenses for the month.
  • We also decided to try having Megan go Gluten Free (more on this later!) in hopes that it might take care of some health problems and so I did end up spending $30 on stuff for that today. I think that should be sufficiant for the month combined with what I have on hand.
  • Also there are some loss leader sales that I have been waiting for (such as peanut butter!) and so if great sales come up during the month I am willing to use up to $75 so that I don't miss out and have to wait another 6 months. If there aren't great sales than I simply won't use that money.
  • No trips to Walmart. That seems to be the place where my cart suddenly becomes very full of food and I end up spending a bunch.
  • Other shopping excursions (other than to the dairy) will be limited to 4 times or less for the month.
  • Donate to the food shelf at some time this month.
This months cooking should be interesting, especially with cooking gluten free foods. I am sure I will be reporting regularly!

7 comments:

Lisa said...

Hello Abbi! I very much enjoy your blog and your fantastic ideas. I see on your sidebar you have read "John Adams" by David McCullough. Have you read "1776"? It is excellent!

Happy new year!

Jackie said...

Abbi, I am glad to know you have joined the challenge, too. I am loving having a meal plan and realizing that I already had so much food in the house to feed my family.

Abbi said...

Lisa,
Thanks so much for your kind comment. I have seen "1776" but never read it. Thanks for the recommendation, I think I should be able to get it at the Library. I do enjoy his thorough and precise historical writing.

Jackie,
I do enjoy challanges of this sort because It makes things more interesting. Also saving money is always fun!

Nola said...

I am actually doing a pantry challenge this month too! My main thing that I have to use up is potatoes. We do not have a cold room, so they are just in my basement, and I find that they only last down there until around February or maybe March. I need to learn if it can be done better...but I have about 60 pounds down there still (had more). My daughter does not like potatoes, so I am trying to make them less obvious while at the same time teaching her thankfullness :). I did a pantry challenge last year joining in over at KeeperoftheHome and I got a lot out of it. Hope yours goes well!

Amy and Mark said...

This is a neat challenge! Thank you for sharing! I am going to join as well! One of our resolutions this year was to open our home more often to company...we'll hopefully have great fun using up our pantry goods AND entertaining!

Also, what is it about Wal-Mart?! They truly have a great advertising/arranging department because I always buy too much!! Glad to hear I'm not alone. So, I think I'll join you in not going there this month as well.

Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads said...

We're not doing the challenge as I don't have a full pantry. lol! I'm still working at getting stocked up after the move.

But, I look forward to seeing how different people approach this challenge. I also look forward to seeing you incorporate gluten free eating into the challenge. (We're gluten free.)

Anonymous said...

I think you have a great goal. I agree with the WalMart cart. Something just happens to my cart when I am in there. :)

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