Monday Menus & Pantry Challenge

I am finding it harder this week than last week to eat from the pantry! lol I am out of salsa and cream cheese... not good! Has it really only been 10 days?? Last week we bought milk, cherries(way good sale!!) and ice. That's it! Tonight, we have to go buy more milk.

Oh, and it snowed!!

That is my husband and oldest son's cars covered in snow! And DS17 doesn't have a back window right now, so I feel bad for him having to deal with the snow! It was a Snow Day today, so the boys were home from school! I actually love snow days! LOL

Let's see, what else... Oh, I made some crocheted wristers... I will post a pic later, with my pattern, for anyone who wants to try them!:) I am working on the first "bought & paid for" hat for a friend!:) I was able to buy the yarn and then put the rest in the gas tank. My unemployment is messed up again, so anything I get right now is going into the gas tank.

Menus:

Monday: Spaghetti, Double Chocolate Snack Cake

Tuesday: Buttered Noodles, fruit

Wednesday: General Tso's Chicken, Rice Noodles, Brownies

Thursday: Venison steak, mashed potatoes, corn, mac & cheese

Friday: Pancakes & Sausage

Saturday: Chicken Fried Chicken & Gravy, mashed potatoes, peas

Sunday: Mini Tacos and whatever leftovers we have on hand!

Clean out the pantry challenge goals

So, my goals and rules for the Clean out the Pantry Challenge are as follows:

Goal:
We want to lose weight, so our goal is to get through all the processed and fattening stuff in our pantry, freezer, and fridge this month, so that we can replace it with healthier options.

Rules: 
So, my rules for myself for this challenge are to only buy dairy and produce, UNLESS there are just some amazing deals on healthy foods that I cannot pass up! I would like the option on stocking up when the prices are low, so I don't want to deprive myself of shopping in this case!:)

I have my pantry/freezer/fridge list on this post.

Pantry (and freezer and fridge) Inventory

Pantry Inventory:

Staples & Baking:

Brown Sugar x 3
White Sugar
Sesame Seed Oil

Soy Sauce

Apple Cider Vinegar

Balsamic Vinegar

Vanilla flavoring

Cocoa

Bread Crumbs

Pumpkin

Honey

Molasses

Evaporated Milk

Baking Soda

Low Carb Baking Mix

Jiffy Baking Mix x 1/2

Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate

Baking Powder

Sugar Free Pudding Mix x 3

Cake Mix x 4

Apriva Sweetener

Cornstarch

Olive Oil

Yeast

Chocolate chips x 1

Hershey Baking Kisses

Brownie Mix x 1

Milled flax seed

Beer Batter for seafood

Jello No Bake Peanut Butter Cup dessert

Canola oil

Shortening

Powdered Sugar

Flour x 2

Jiffy Cake Mix x 2

Canola cooking spray

Mini Marshmallows

Beverages:

Instant Coffee
Hot Cocoa Mix
Vanilla Powdered Coffee Mate
SF Vanilla Syrup
Mint Cocoa Mix

Cinnamon Spice Hot Cocoa Mix

Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix

White chocolate mocha creamer

Tea bags x 4 boxes

Oregan Chai

Various assorted loose teas and bagged teas

Tasters Choice Gourmet coffee singles

Cereal & Breakfast:

Grapenuts
Instant Oatmeal x 8 boxes
Crispy Corn & Rice Cereal
Kashi Go Lean Crunch

Honeycomb

English Muffins

Crunch berries

Cherrios

Rice Crispies

Whole grain oats x 2

Soup & Canned Pasta: 

Ramen - LOTS
Cup of Noodles x 4
Chunky soups x 2
Raviolis x 2
Spaghetti'o's x 5
Tomato soup x 2

Cream of Mushroom soup x 3

Cream of Chicken soup x 3

Chicken broth x 2

Chips & Salty Snacks: 

Potato Chips x 2
Melba Snacks
Pretzel Thins
Snack Crackers
Tortilla Chips
Waffle Pretzels
Butter microwave popcorn

Regular popping popcorn

Cookies & Sweet Snacks:

Vanilla Wafers
Microwave Kettle Corn x 2 boxes

Fortune Cookies

Fig bars

Pfeffernuse cookies

Kiddos cookies x 1

Twix bar x 1

Honey Grahams x 1/2

Sandwich Fixin's:

Strawberry Preserves
Bees Knee's Peanut Butter
Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter
Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter
peanut butter x 3

Pasta, Rice & Potatoes:

Pad Thai rice noodles
Old El Paso Cheesy Mexi Rice x 2

Rice a Roni Spanish Rice x 3

Rice a Roni other rice x 3

Chicken fried rice chicken helper x 2

Fettuccine alfredo chicken helper 

Generic spanish rice x 3

Suddenly Salad x 2

Hungry jack instant potatoes

Stove Top Cornbread stuffing

Betty Crocker(BC) Butter & Herb Potatoes

BC Sweet Potatoes x 2

BC Sour Cream & Chives Potatoes

BC Roasted Garlic Potatoes

BC Roasted Garlic & Cheddar Potatoes

Kroger Deluxe Shells & Cheddar x 2

Aldi's Shells & Cheese x 2

Spaghetti x 5 lbs

Mac & Cheese x 1 

Egg noodles x 1

White rice x 4 bags

Fruit:

Pineapple chunks
Sliced peaches x 2
Cherry pie filling
Apple pie filling
4 fruit snacks
Cranberry sauce

Mandarin oranges x 3

Pineapple slices

Condiments & Sauces:

Tabasco sauce x 3
Spaghetti sauce x 2
Salsa

Garlic & Herb Mayo

Sloppy joe x 2

Worcestershire sauce - small bottle

BBQ sauce

Turkey gravy x 2

Magic Shell

Hot Chili Sauce

Praline crunch ice cream toppers

Vegetables: 

Diced tomatoes
Refried beans
Pork & Beans x 2
Garbanzo beans

Whole kernal corn x 3

Cream corn x 2

Grean beans x 3

Peas x 3

Meat: 

Corned Beef Hash
Chili with beans
Tuna - cans x 4

Tuna - pouches x 5

Canned chicken

Freezer: 

Vanilla Orange Tango ice cream
Vanilla Ice Cream 1/2
Meatless Pepperoni x 2
Orange juice x 2
Chicken nuggets
General Tso's Chicken dinner
Parker House rolls
Maple flavored sausage links x 1
Pork & Bacon sausage links x 2
Pork & Bacon sausage roll
Lots of Venison
Bay Scallops
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - 1 pkg
Brats
Italian Sausage
Polish Sausage
Vegies
2 different shredded cheeses

Fridge:

Cheddar jack block
Shredded Mexi Cheddar Jack
Shredded Colby Jack
1 gallon milk
1/2 shredded parmesan
Lemon juice
Grape Jam
Ketchup
Peppercorn Ranch
Zesty Italian
Soy Sauce
Maple Syrup
Butter Spray
Hershey Syrup
Half & Half
Coffee
Creamers
Hummus
Butter - 1/2 stick
Margarine
Guacamole
Grated Parmesan
Eggs - 1 dozen
Oranges
Minced garlic
Cream cheese x 1
Wontons
A few 6" Tortillas
Creme Caramel Delights
String cheese
Baby Carrots

Whew! That was hard work! But it is going to save me some money at the store tonight when I go!:) Didn't realize I had some of this stuff!!:) I will update this as I go along!

Clean out the Pantry Challenge!

I am going to join in on the Clean out the Pantry Challenge over at Frugal Follies. My goal is to eat through all the "bad for us" food, so that it can be replaced with "good for us" food! DH and I are embarking on a weight loss journey together in 2011, so we will need to start eating much healthier!

I DO plan to shop tonight(it is not Jan 1st yet, so I can do that! lol) for our New Year's Even celebration, which will just be us and the kids and DS16's girlfriend. I plan to make the following snacky stuff for the night:

Jalapeno Popper Dip
Sweet & Spicy Little Smokies
Nachos
Tortilla Pie
Garlic Artichoke Dip
maybe some vegies to dip in hummus
and some sort of dessert... not sure what yet!

Now I am off to assess my pantry! I will be back with a list off all the food in my house! Daunting!!

Eating from the Pantry Challenge

So, I am challenging myself to feed my family from the pantry/freezer for the next 2 weeks. (small steps! lol) So, the only things we can buy from the store the next 2 weeks are the following:

Milk
Bread
Coffee Creamer
Ice

I was going to also say cereal and ice cream, but decided we can come up with both breakfast and dessert alternatives!

Sooo... this should be fun!:) Who's gonna join me!?
Steph