The All New Grocery Store Challenge! Join Us!

[HeatherFeather]

It is time to shake things up around here with the Grocery Store Challenge. Previously, each week we would all set our own personal challenges and they could be anything at all to do with saving money on our food budget. That version seems to have run its course, so I have decided to change the way Grocery Store Challenge works. Hopefully everyone will enjoy this even more

Here is how the All New Grocery Store Weekly Challenge Works:

Every week, choose from one of the 5 challenge options below:
1) Coupon Crazy - this challenge involves saving money on your weekly budget using either coupons, sales, discount cards, etc. You set the amount you hope to save and report back on how much you ended up saving at the end of the week.
2) Pantry Purge - this challenge involves shopping your own pantry, freezer, fridge for food and designating specific foods you wish to use up that week. Select 2-3 items you want to focus on for the week. Let us know how you used your ingredients.
3) Prix Fixe - fix your budget price for a specific amount for the week that is considerably less than you normally spend, such as $25 for the week (you get to choose the amount). Report back on how well you did.
4) Sort & Store - pick one area of your kitchen that needs a good organizational overhaul and finish the project by the end of the week. Let us know what you plan to work on and report back what you were able to accomplish
5) Planning Ahead - set aside time to plan meals ahead and take steps to set the plan in motion - make some freezer meals, prep all your ingredients for the week, make large batches of main items (like a sauce or a large meat) and have a plan to use it up in multiple ways. OAMC*, OAWC*, canning & preserving, making up dry mixes, stocking an emergency food kit, etc all would count as well.

*(OAMC and OAWC = Once a month cooking and Once a Week Cooking menus planning)

Pick a challenge and post in this thread about how things went for you. You may choose to select weekly or select several challenges for the month in advance. If you choose for the month, pick 4 challenges, and you may repeat any challenge as often as you like.

for example: you choose to select for the month and would like to do Pantry Purge for 2 weeks, Planning Ahead one week, and Prixe Fixe for the 4th week.

If you want to just repeat 4 weeks of the same challenge, you may also do that. Just change the items you are focusing on for each different week.

NOTE: For the purposes of this event, weeks begin on Sunday, end on Saturday.

[HeatherFeather]

I am choosing just a weekly challenge this week, and I will go with Pantry Purge.

I would like to get that House of Autry chicken coating used that I never got to in last month's Use it Or Lose it. I also want to use 1 marinade. My third item will be a sugar cookie mix I have sitting in my pantry. I usually don't use cookie mixes, but this was from a gift.

[Roxanne]

I'm going to do a 4 week pantry purge cause that is my main thing right now. For actually choosing a few items per week, well I'll start easy since Sunday is around the corner and Saturdays are always an "eat out" day for me.

So going through the freezer this morning I found a container with barbadine punch "ice" cubes in them. I forgot I froze it so I want to eat/drink that tomorrow (basically I want to whizz it up so it'll be soft serve style like ice cream) - one less thing taking up freezer space.
I have for this week started using the protein powder and cinnabon cereal. I mixed some powder into the milk and had it with cereal for breakfast yesterday. I could tell the difference with the protein powder in there, it just has this weird mouth feel even though it's tasteless but it wasn't so bad that I didn't want to eat it.

Some items for me will re-occur weekly till I use it all cause some things just require a small amount to be used (protein powder) Other things I just have a lot of it around.

[racrgal]

I'm still working on the Pantry Purge. I will also be working on Sort & Store.

So far in Feb my Pantry Purge has yielded the following
Buffalo Potatoes http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/buffalo-potatoes to use up the last of the potatoes in the pantry and half a bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce. These WILL be a regular recipe.
Shredded pork from a freezer pork roast which will be topped with the last of a bottle BBQ sauce.
Banana Bread with frozen bananas and eggs which would go out of date tomorrow.

[Roxanne]

Oh wow, those buffalo potatoes look MMM!

[racrgal]

Oh wow, those buffalo potatoes look MMM!

They ARE! Perfect flavor mix.

[Roxanne]

So my pantry purge items for the week of Feb 5th - 11th will be
- At least 1 pk of mac n cheese - of 5 packages I want to use by the end of the month
- At least 1 potion of baked ziti (frozen)
- Protein powder (will elaborate at the end of the week the ways I incorporated it into my meals and drinks)
- Vanilla drink mix (also will elaborate at the end of the week - this one I need to mask the flavour so ideas appreciated)
- Potato flakes - I have a few ideas for this.

Anything else not listed here (but I do have a list on a notepad for the whole month of February) will be mentioned here at the end of the week. Those listed above are my main culprits I want to use.

I managed to use some rice krispies cereal the other day making a delicious snack, yum! That also needs to be used up before the end of Feb. cause that is the BB date on it.

[racrgal]

For my Super Bowl cooking I was able to use pantry/freezer items:

Dried cranberries, single serving applesauce, canned peaches, for warm fruit salad
Diced sponge cake as a base for warm fruit salad
Frozen cream cheese, frozen jalapenos, frozen bacon and half an onion for stuffed pitas
Frozen orange juice for chicken wings

[Kchurchill5]

This week it is the pantry purge.

I did buy the pierogies, and then superbowl, but now until Sunday I am basically using all items that are in my freezer

Soup from the freezer
Pasta and chicken made into a dish (freezer)
Pita pizzas, all on hand
Seafood chowder, I may buy some Cod or Halibut, but the rest is all on hand and in the pantry or freezer
I also have shrimp, ham, stuffing for a chicken dish and turkey.

So, I can easily create something out of what I have. So my week is pretty much set with leftovers. Next Sunday I am making an old favorite corn chowder which I haven't made in a while.

Most items I am using are ones I don't like to keep too long so I want to use them up.

Saturday is my new day and I am looking forward to pork or lamb stew slow cooked in the crock. I will be fishing midnights so I want something easy.

[HeatherFeather]

I am using the marinade tonight for dinner - I have a bottle of miso marinade (which I had bought in addition to a tub of miso as a backup when I made homemade miso marinade for another recipe). It will go on salmon.

I also will be using the chicken coating to make oven fried chicken fingers, some of which will get stashed in the freezer to eat another day.

This should all get done tonight or tomorrow, so I little late, but better than not getting used up:)

I didn't get to make the cookies yet - everything got set back as I was sick part of last week and didn't feel up to much.

So this week, I am continuing my same pantry purge items, but adding feta cheese to the list for this week. I bought some to use for a recipe, used half. Then I meant to make Greek Salad with the rest, only I didn't get to that yet. Hoping to make it this week and use up all of the remaining feta.