Day 24 and 25 Pantry Challenge, running low of favorite tea.

I side tracked last night after dinner dishes was done to work on a puzzle we are doing as a gift for another family member.

 We had the meat loaf from the deep freezer, mashed potatoes (potatoes were bought in Nov for Tday dinner) and corn from the deep freezer.Bread, butter and jam rounded out the meal.

 I pulled a container out of the freezer in the mudroom frig. I could tell it have chicken pieces and carrots and potatoes, other then that I was clueless as to what it was. This morning I checked it, it was thawed enough to transfer to casserole dish. I think it's what was left from chicken and dumplings but I don't know what it has potatoes in it if it is.

 Oh well, right now it's in a casserole dish to warm for dinner tonight, I will add bread, butter and jam or apple butter to go with it, maybe cottage cheese,applesauce and beets. I might make a fruit crisp to go with it also. Depends on the puzzle.

 I had a friend ask me what was my point of doing the pantry challenge, I wasn't really going without anything. I am but I just don't acknowledge it because I know how to substitute pretty well in the kitchen. That was knowledge that I had before becoming a personal chef.

We ran out of chips and we are low on chocolate bars. Those are hubby's two junk foods. He eats peanut butter on his chocolate bars before going to work.I got him 2 small bags of chips at Aldi's the other day and that's all until next month.

I am running out of my favorite flavored tea. I have enough for 2 more tea pots. I've been tossing in some home made teas from my herbs.

 I have an herb and spice pantry of over 100 different kinds.My apple mint that I also use for tea is real low and my plant died so I am really having to be careful of how often I use it until I get a new plant in and producing.

 I am out of some types of pasta.I am out of some types of rice.I am out of chuck roast and don't have any roasting chickens.I am out of sub buns, hot dog buns, ciabatta bread and Texas toast garlic bread.
Because there is only the two of us I put our breads in the freezer and only pull out what we need as we need it. I do bake, I used to make all of our bread except for one loaf of sliced bread a month. We don't eat bread as much now days.

I am out of tomato sauce and fire roasted tomatoes that I make tomato bisque out of. Need to plant more tomato plants this year.

I am low on some dried fruits that Hubby favors and he has acknowledged that he is going to have to use the others up. YEP, he asked for them and then hasn't used them. He adds them to his yogurt for his lunch/snack at work.

I am out of eggrolls, I use that for lunch a lot of times or snacks. I am almost out of  pot stickers, that hubby likes for snacks when he isn't working.

I am out of Italian green beans until the season comes back in. Yes I noted to plant more of that type of bean.

There are bare spots in the pantry, in the freezers and in the frigs. That's okay. In fact I changed where I stored a couple things.

I used the last of the onions we raised last year. So I will have to buy onions until next fall...so I need to plant more than I did last year.

I don't look at the grocery ads. I don't go to the store for milk or bread, hubby does that because he drives past the local small store on his way home from work and he gets just exactly what I say we need. If he sees a good sale and thinks I might be interested he will call and ask...not just buy like I would.

I am using things that would have sat longer if not got used at all. I don't want to use up the favorites and then be stuck eating a bunch "why in the world did I buy this" type of food.

I know we have eaten out or bought take out food 4 times since Jan 1st. I know tomorrow we will eat out also. So my thoughts are on that is 5 times in 31 days (as I know we will eat home the rest of the time). That is half of what we have been eating out. So that money has been saved and we have ate healthier also which helps when we both got the flu and I got 2 different flues.

My goal for next month is to do the Pantry challenge again, to drop the eating out down to 2 or 3. I would just say 2 but Valentine's day and our anniversary is in Feb and if I say 2 then I will feel bad if it is 3. Since we didn't eat my birthday dinner and it's in the freezer maybe I will talk Hubby into just eating it instead of us going out.

I know I need to make some pizza crusts for the freezer for those times it's "I want a pizza".

Puzzle calls,

Blessed be
Juls