Eating from the Pantry Challenge - More Thoughts

Whoo-hoo...only a gallon of milk's needed to get us through the month -- I just found a few dozen eggs in the back of the refrigerator! That's the flip side of having your mom come to stay for three weeks; I've found food items stashed in unusual places ever since she left. She has her system, I have mine, I guess.

I've gone over the goal already, but for good reasons -- like One Frugal Girl's post explains, it's really tough to give up good sales on items you really like. (Me too, Frug.) The temptation will be strong again today, when I hit Safeway for the milk, and see those 99-cents-per-pound pork loins they're advertising this week. (I will probably give in.)


The Prudent Homemaker has been keeping her budget down by using potatoes -- 360 pounds of them this winter. (She gets them for 20 cents a pound -- we pay double that. You'll want to take a look at her pantry system, too -- it's amazing. She mentions 'Funeral Potatoes' on her list of potato dishes, but no recipe. I found one here. Turns out it's a Mormon specialty...and to my great surprise, one of my mother-in-law's signature dishes!)

More lessons learned -- if there's less in the refrigerator and freezer, you can actually see what you've got. (I have a bad tendency To Stuff.) And just a bit of meat will flavor a whole dish. But the best lesson is with Husband -- eating hotdogs and leftover caramel corn with him on a Monday lunchtime, talking and laughing, is better than caviar by myself.