Use What You've Got

In January, I like to do a few weeks of cooking based around everything that's already in our pantry and freezer to use up old supplies.  Here's what we had from January 7 to 26.

Tex-Mex veggie soup for which I already had all ingredients on hand.

We had spaghetti from a box with marinara from a jar.  Not picture-worthy, but already in our pantry.

For the pork roast, I just had to buy carrots.

Beans and rice for which I only purchased the cilantro, avocado and lime.

Salad with all ingredients newly procured in our weekly shopping trips.  We had salad three times.

Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn dinner ingredients were all in our home already.

The tater tot and broccoli casserole was not a favorite, but I only had to buy eggs to make it happen.

For the Moroccan sweet potato and lentil stew, I only purchased the sweet potatoes.

The cheddar and nut quesadillas just wanted some salsa and sour cream from the store.  And if you're wondering, yes, I do like to put sour cream on a lot of things.

We had strip steak and baked potatoes for which I didn't need to buy any ingredients and of which I got no photo because the steaks had basically been eaten before I had unwrapped the baked potatoes and put fixings on them.  So much for letting your meat rest.

One day we lucked into plentiful leftovers of Mexican food from Craig's conference at work.  And another day we had turkey breast and stuffing our grocer had on clearance.

We used the turkey leftovers to make soup for which we just needed carrots and parsley.

And then we had German night with Thueringer Knoedel, fried onions and sausage. I had to buy the sausage.

We had another German dish called Milchreis.  It's a childhood favorite of mine, a sweet in-between risotto and rice pudding.  Ella also really enjoys it and tops hers with frozen blueberries.  Just had to buy milk.

And we had two nights of leftovers, odds and ends, sandwiches etc.  No purchase necessary.

So at the end of these three weeks, our pantry and freezer are nice and empty.  Our grocery budget for all meals in that time frame (breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, desserts) was about $450.  That's $4.50 per person per day and really quite good, especially given how much organic, dairy and gluten free we buy.