Take the Pantry and Freezer Challenge

If you’ve read my post Small Grocery Savings in July, you’ll know that I’ve decided to take the pantry and freezer challenge for the month of August. I have been inspired by so many others online who have taken this challenge and saved money on their grocery bill for a month or two by using up the food they had in their pantry and freezer. Because I did such a small amount of grocery shopping in July, I thought the month of August would be the perfect time for us to take the pantry and freezer challenge and save a bit of money on groceries as we go along.

Here are some benefits of using up the food you have in your pantry and freezer:

• You avoid food waste by consuming food before it reaches its expiry date.
• You rotate your food “stockpile” and make space for new items.
• You get really, really creative in the kitchen and have lots of fun!
• And best of all, you save money.

While we don’t have a whole lot of food stored either in the pantry or the freezer, there are items that have been lurking around the cupboards, and the freezer, for a while now and it’s high time that they get used. Some of these items were bought on special and as a result in slightly larger quantities, some were leftovers from certain meals and desserts that I’d made at some point (which is partly why I no longer cook or bake using “fancy” recipes for which I need to buy a whole heap of stuff) while others were simply freebies or items given to me because someone else didn’t want them (my mom, for example!).

I plan on making at least 2-3 meals, and a dessert, each week using the ingredients in our pantry and freezer. I will be posting recipes as well as week-by-week progress posts to help keep me on track and hold me accountable during the challenge! I am definitely going to be saving money on groceries this month because I won’t be buying any extra food, except for a small amount of veggies, as we’re probably going to run out of those soon. Other than that, we really have all that we need at home to get us through the next few weeks.

So to start with, here is a list of items which we currently have in our pantry and freezer that need to be used up.

Pantry

• 2 tins Peaches in syrup
• 1 tin Fruit Cocktail in syrup
• 2 packets Lasagne Sheets
• 3 packets Melba toast
• 2 packets Prawn Crackers
• 1 packet Wheat Semolina
• 2 1 packets Polenta
• 1 tin whole Corn Kernels
• 3 tins whole Tomatoes
• 3 tins Tomato & Onion mix
• 1 tin Tuna
• 2 tins Corned Beef
• ¼ jar Custard powder
• ¼ tin Cocoa powder
• ¼ jar Fish Batter
• 1 packet Soya Beans
• 4 tins Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce
• 1 packet Mealie Meal Porridge
• ½ packet Castor Sugar
• 2 packets Bolognaise Cook-in Sauce
• 5 packets Soups
• 2 packets Rice Pudding
• 2 packets Beef Stroganoff
• 2 packets Spicy Beef Goulash

Freezer

• 2 kg Stewing Beef
• 1 kg Mince Meat
• 2 packets Savoury Rice
• 200 gr. Butternut strips
• 200 gr. Baby Marrow strips
• 500 gr. Mushrooms
• 1 ½ packet Shrimp
• 6 Hake fillets
• 2 Puff Pastry rolls
• ½ packet Bacon
• 1 packet Barley & Lentil soup mix
• 1 packet pre-cooked Spinach, Carrot & Beans mix

So stay tuned for recipes and updates, and if you’re up to it, join me in the Pantry and Freezer Challenge this month!

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