My First Pantry Challenge In 2026

 

Pantry challenges aren’t just great for saving money, but they help me to control food waste and allow me to keep my food inventory under control and more manageable.  One thing that often happens with me is that I end up with quite a bit of food “squirreled” away in my freezer along with several open items in my refrigerator and freezer.  I’ve decided it is time for me to start working on these things.

 

Open packages of frozen foods and anything in the kitchen freezer that could be at risk of freezer burn along with any fresh produce and dairy that could spoil is my top priority.  I also want to finish up a few open condiments that have been hanging around for a while so they don’t have a chance to get weird.

 

In the pantry I’ll be focusing on canned items that are getting older like some of my soups, chili as well as fruits and vegetables.  It is always good to make sure these items are rotated to be used and replaced on a routine basis.

 

In the process I am also looking to stretch my food dollars to get the most out of every item and save even more money, if possible.  I want to make wise choices and still boost my proteins and nutrients in the process.  Challenge accepted!

 

Of course, it will be important to make sure I prepare meals I enjoy eating so I will actually eat them rather than let them languish and go to waste.  Variety is key to keeping me satisfied.  That’s pretty much my plan.  Well, I guess I’d better get started!

 

Recession Proofing My Pantry

 

As a single person forty years ago my total monthly grocery budget was $65 for food and non food items.  At that time I was able to feed myself while slowly establishing and building a pantry.  Over time, as my finances allowed, I was able to add funds, which was especially helpful when my household size increased and eventually lead to active and “starving” teenagers… with friends.

 

With a little tweaking over the years I was able to raise my monthly grocery budget to $125 and I felt like I was on top of the world with “so much money” to spend just on food.  I then added a separate monthly budget of $25 for nonfood items like toiletries, cleaning and laundry supplies, paper products and whatever else I felt I needed to run my household.

 

Recently I sat down and reviewed my grocery spending over the last twenty years and was pleasantly surprised to see that despite inflation and other challenges that came my way during this time not much has changed.  With prices steadily rising on goods and services I found I was still paying about the same price for, well, pretty much everything.

 

Careful planning, strategic shopping and keeping things really basic and simple have allowed me to keep my family, friends and now just myself well fed and my freezer, pantry and LTFS well stocked without busting the budget.

 

Being resourceful and creative as well as willing to put in a little bit of extra work helps me to save money while still having the things I want without feeling deprived.  I make most everything from scratch including most of my salad dressings and condiments.  I rotate items, making sure things are used up in a timely manner, and I meal plan with the idea of using what I already have on hand so nothing has an opportunity to sit around and go bad.

 

I’m resourceful with adding to my food stores with simple things like re-growing green onions so I’m able to triple the amount I originally purchased.  I happily accept veggie bombings in the summertime and my friend’s extra zucchini to grate and freeze for recipes or grind up along with other veggies to make sweet pickle relish.  I grow what I can in my raised garden beds.  I make sure to utilize leftovers and often use them to make my own reheat and eat frozen meals.

 

Because I work hard to limit any potential food waste I need to purchase far less at the grocery store.  And because I buy basic ingredients and make my own food rather than purchase overly processed “food” or convenience items I save a lot of money.  Basic fresh or frozen produce, meats and dairy items plus a few basic pantry staples allows me to create so many things at a fraction of the cost of premade items like breads, cereals and frozen entrees.  In review of my grocery spending over the years I can confidently say my strategy is pretty much recession proof.  For that, I am truly grateful.

 

Healthy & Delicious Meals From My Pantry #4

 

I created a lot of delicious, simple and healthy meals this last month.  It always amazes me how much I enjoy my meals when they are simple and basic.  Like tuna salad.  Simple, easy and delicious.  I opened a couple cans of tuna and drained the juice into the kitty’s bowl for them to lap up.  To the tuna I added a couple diced hard boiled eggs, some homemade sweet relish and a blob of mayonnaise.  I used this to create grilled tuna sandwiches using low carb bread for four different lunches.  Very good!

 

Grilled tuna sandwich w/sliced peaches

Simple, yet delicious!

Easter Sunday I prepared a special dinner to enjoy mid afternoon complete with dessert.  I grilled a London broil and made macaroni salad, seasoned green beans and deviled eggs to have alongside.  Dessert was strawberry rhubarb shortcake.  It was so good and I had plenty of leftovers to enjoy in the coming week.

 

This was so amazingly good! 😋

One evening I paired leftover macaroni salad and green beans with a grilled salmon fillet and dill sauce.  Divine!

 

Cobb salad

Taco salad

Dinner salads were a biggie this month, especially the Cobb.  I dressed my salads with olives, marinated artichokes, pickled beets, sliced hard boiled eggs (I even pickled some in the beet brine) and my own homemade salad dressing or my favorite store bought blue cheese.  Perfect spring meals on a busy day.

Bacon & cheddar omelet with a slice of toast

 

This is one of my very favorite meals - Pot roast!

I prepared a chuck roast sprinkled with au jus seasoning in the slow cooker.  I added red potatoes, carrots and broccoli.  Then I made a delicious gravy out of the rendered juices and a cup of beef broth I had in the freezer.  This meal was so wonderful and I had enough roast left to put away in the freezer for a future batch of my delicious bolognese.

 

Beef & barley soup w/cornbread muffin

Homemade soup with a side salad and a cornbread muffin were perfect after a busy work day.  I enjoyed minestrone soup and beef barley on two occasions.

 

I made chocolate chip, cranberry oatmeal cookies too

I am so grateful to be blessed to have so much delicious and nutritious food to eat on a daily basis.  I am also very grateful to have the ability to prepare these meals, preserve food, plan and shop for my food and be able to keep my overall costs relatively low.  I am truly blessed.  God is very, very good to me.

 

My Tireless Retirement - Week 211

  

Hello my friends!  I had so much fun last Friday.  I went to lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages and we got a good visit in.  Then I met another friend for Happy Hour at a local brewery in the next town over.  Then I ended up at a birthday party after that.  Fun, fun, fun!  When I came home from the party the skies had opened and it was a torrential downpour.  I couldn’t complain about that because we need the moisture.  It has been a dry winter for us.

 

I spent the weekend watching it rain and we got a lot of precipitation beginning Friday evening all the way through to Monday evening.  I’m not complaining at all because it has been a rather dry winter for us and we really need the moisture.  I was happy to see snow in the mountains, again very much needed.

 

The weeds are growing like gangbusters once again, but I’m not complaining about that either.  FREE chicken food is very much appreciated as my girls continue to keep me and my friends well supplied with delicious and nutritious eggs.  I go out every other day and pull up enough to fill up a five gallon bucket and that supplements their feed for at least two days.

 

At Christmastime

My electric fireplace is showing signs of its age (20+ years old) and I know it is time to replace it before next winter.  Now is the time to purchase one as the season has changed and they are being clearance out.  I found a beautiful replacement at Home Depot for half price.  I redeemed some saved credit card rewards points for a $25 gift card to use to save me even more and my final cost to replace the fireplace was just a little over $100 with FREE shipping.  It should arrive next week so I’ll be ready when the old one finally gives up.  It has had a really good run.

 

I only worked on Monday and Tuesday this past week which, to be completely honest, was A-OK with me.  I’m feeling some burnout and I think it is because of all of the crap surrounding what we have all been dealing with regarding the toxic one (TTO).  Monday I was told by our supervisor that our HR case was investigated and closed.  She gave no explanation as far as what was discovered or if any changes would be made.  Quite frankly, I’m not all that surprised.  Disgusted and disappointed, but not at all surprised.  It always amazes me how the worst employees get away with so much and the rest are left completely unsupported.  It is such a sad situation.  By Tuesday TTO was back to her usual attitude and behavior – she won!  And she made sure we all knew it.

 

What to do next?  Well, I am going to be taking it one day at a time.  I am very blessed and fortunate that I don’t have to work, it is a choice.  I feel bad that my fellow co-workers are left feeling unsupported and stuck in their present circumstances, especially because of our current economic state.  One thing I have learned about this entire situation is that you can pull a lot of shit at work and still keep your job, with no repercussions whatsoever.  So my plan moving forward is to enjoy pushing back and calling out TTO every single time she tries to pull her crap, knowing that at any time I choose I can simply walk away.  The likelihood of getting fired?  Pretty darned slim.  The day it is no longer fun I will hand in my badge and let it all go as I embark on the next chapter of my life.  I am not a vindictive person, but I no longer feel the need to walk on eggshells around this (enter swear word of choice) anymore and I have no plans to put up with any bullshit from either her or that supervisor.  I’m over it!

 

And with that my week happily and euphorically came to a close.  Oddly enough, I feel rather liberated because I no longer have that burden of caring.  My wonderful coworkers and I have forged a rather special bond that I truly appreciate.  The supervisor and TTO not so much!  As far as I’m concerned those two can go pound sand.  I am now in a perpetual state of short timers syndrome and I love it!

 

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!  The week ahead looks to be sunny and bright!

 

2026 Spring Canning Projects!

 

This past Fall and Winter season I used up six flats of pint jars and a flat of half pints to make my meals so it was time for me to get busy and get some of them filled back up.  One of my favorite items to can is seasoned meat which I use a lot to pull together a quick meal or two.

 

Beef au jus

Stew meat or chuck roast are tougher cuts of beef that take a while to cook and make tender.  By pressure canning them with some au jus seasoning and a little bit of broth or water I can have it on the shelf and ready to go to make a quick stew, soup or pot roast dinner.

 

Taco meat

From the deep freezer I pulled out seven pounds of lean ground beef.  I browned it with a large diced onion.  After adding a pint of crushed tomatoes and some taco seasoning I filled up nine pint jars and pressure canned it.  I use this regularly for tacos, burrito filling, taco melts, nachos, taco salads, etc.

 

Carne asada

Carne asada is another really nice item to have on hand for quick tacos, salads or burritos.  I buy round steak and slice it, then brown it lightly with chopped onions and green bell peppers.  Once seasoned with taco spice and cumin I filled six pint jars plus a half pint and pressure canned them.  With two empty spaces in my canner I added two pint jars of dried beans with ham broth and water to make my own canned beans.  My favorite is to can half pinto and half black beans together to use to make a quick batch of refried beans.  I will also often add a jar of beans to my taco meat to extend it and make it go further.  I also enjoy the flavor of the meat and bean combination for tacos or to use to make my burrito filling with.

 

Boneless skinless chicken breast

Another canning project was to pick up a package of boneless skinless chicken breast at Costco.  I cut it up into chunks filled my pint jars adding salt and a bit of water to each jar before I pressure canned the jars.  Having canned chicken ready makes it super easy to throw together a quick soup, casserole or batch of chicken salad.

 

Chicken stock for soups & recipes

I am able to save quite a bit of money doing these types of canning projects.  For one, I can take advantage of bulk buys and larger quantities which tend to save me on the cost per pound.  Home canning dry beans saves me quite a bit of money over buying cans of beans at the supermarket.  The best part is I am able to control the quality of the ingredients I use so I always know what is in my food.

 

Before

After - gaps filled & older jars are pushed to the front

I also love how I am able to minimize waste by reusing the jars, time and again, and only having to dispose of a flat lid as opposed to an entire tin can.  Reducing the amount of packaging used allows me to make my footprint smaller and become a more mindful consumer.

 

Home canned soups & chili

Having these jars refilled with healthy and nutritious shelf stable proteins allows me to enjoy quick delicious meals or a bowl of soup any time I find myself too busy to cook or lacking inspiration.  It also gives me great peace of mind knowing I am able to add them to my LTFS and ensure my ability to feed myself and others well into the future.