Leftovers

I have a lot of friends that are gourmet chefs.  While perhaps not classically trained in the art of cooking, as I watch them meander through their kitchens preparing delicacies from around the world, I realize how much of a foreigner I am in my own kitchen.  I tend to stick to the easy-to-prepare, no-fuss recipes.  My go-to recipes tend to include chili, meatloaf, pot roast, enchiladas, grilled chicken, salmon, and spaghetti. My husband is the king of leftovers and so I rarely have to eat this after-thought of my preparations.  I don't like leftovers.

However, as I begin this new challenge of not spending money on groceries and simply using what I already have, I found that I have a ton of leftovers in my fridge and freezer.  While, in a typical month, I would probably just toss these if my DH hadn't eaten them in a week, I feel like I need to also partake in this cleansing so that I can truly fulfill the goal of my challenge of not wasting food.

Therefore, on the first two days of my challenge, I ate leftovers...Yesterday, I finished off the chicken enchilada dip that I made for a friend's baby shower over the weekend.  Today, I used the leftover potato fries I made for my Sweet Pea - which she refuses to eat unless they're mashed - into a potato quesadilla for lunch (also using the sour cream that I had purchased and not used all of to prepare the chicken enchilada dip).  I also finished off the leftover Panda Express my DH left in the fridge.  Amazingly enough, it wasn't horrible!

Granted, my healthy eating habits need significant improvement, but we'll start where we must in order to fulfill the challenge of eating frugally and without waste.

A Challenge

Perhaps if you've been reading my blog for a while, you've realized that I'm a person who loves a challenge.  I think that's part of why I've survived being a mom for nearly an entire year...yes, my Sweet Pea is almost one!  It's amazing how fast the time flies.  Granted, I don't remember half of it, but I have my previous blog posts to help me remember it all.

As my second year of being a mother begins, I had a thought...really a dare from my husband.  We have saved so much money by using cloth diapers and cloth wipes - as well as making most of our own baby food - that I wonder where else I could save money.  After all, I love to spend money, but I can't spend money I don't have!

So, here's the idea.  For the month of March, I am going to attempt to only make meals with items that I already have in my pantry, fridge, and freezer.  I'm going to attempt to spend nothing - or next to nothing - on groceries (which is usually one of our top expenses).  I'm going to get creative with what I have and what I can do with it.  Now, I'm not saying that I won't buy any groceries.  After all, I can't let the milk and eggs in my fridge last the entire month.  But, I will limit the food that I want to buy and only buy what is absolutely needed (this means taking out that extra trip to the store for the chocolate, soda, or cheese that I want to snack on).

Perhaps you're like me, you like to keep your pantry, fridge, and freezer stocked.  Well, how often do you actually use everything in them?  I realize that there are so many things that I am wasting simply because I want to always keep them stocked.  So, now I'm going to force myself to use them while trying not to make the same thing over and over again.  To begin, I must first inventory the items in my pantry, fridge, and freezer.  Instead of listing all the items, I decided that I'd simply take pictures (listing them would take too long and I'd be quite embarrassed to actually see a written list of the items I've been wasting).

Pantry: 

Freezer: 

Fridge: 

Can someone please press "STOP"...or at least "PAUSE"??

It's so easy to get stuck in one schedule and just keep on going like the "stop" or "pause" buttons are broken.  This has been my life recently.  With all of the holiday happenings: Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, cookie parties, play group parties, work parties, decorating the house, more Christmas parties, etc. etc. etc., I've barely had a chance to have life as I know it.  Then, when you toss in a child, the fast forward button seems to be pushed.  Days fly by and before I know it, it's less than two weeks until Christmas!

I don't really have a way to stop this, but thought I'd share that this is what I'm going through right now.  While it is a blast, it is also a little bit crazy.  Hopefully you're finding ways to stop and smell the pine of the Christmas trees.  Let me know how you do it!