More Eating From The Pantry Stockpile

Over the years of staying at home, I have consistently tried to be aware of areas where I could try and cut back. It seems like that task doesn’t come easy with rising prices of absolutely everything around us. The only place that seems to be an area where I can show some progress in spending less is in the grocery area. With the economic times as they are, if extra has to go into utilities, gas for vehicles, etc…..I want to be able to do my part by keeping our grocery spending minimal. The biggest difference that I have found has been cooking things from scratch and concentrating on using what I have to put meals on our table.

Here is the menu that I have served, using my stockpile, for the remainder of the week. Part 1 can be found HERE.

Wednesday:

Whole Wheat Spaghetti noodles *

Homemade Spaghetti sauce with browned ground beef

Yellow and Green Summer Squash, pan fried with olive oil and garlic

Lettuce Salad

Thursday:

(a busy Country 4-H  Day for us)

Chicken Salad Sandwiches (from leftover de-boned chicken that was in the freezer)

I also had another whole chicken in the crockpot while I was gone all day. When I got home I strained the broth, which made almost a half gallon of liquid, and de-boned the rest of the chicken and put in the frig. for future meals for the remainder of the week.

Friday:

Chicken Pot Pie

• 11/2 cups diced up chicken (from the chicken I had in the crockpot yesterday)
• Approximately 3 cups of mixed type vegetables (any that you like and have on hand, either canned or fresh from garden)
• Chicken broth (from chicken in the crockpot)

Thicken broth with cornstarch/flour or other thickener and use a little milk or half and half to make a bit creamier

Mix above together and until tender (if using fresh vegetables), otherwise, just heat it through until creamy, thicker mixture

Pour into pie crust (if you like double crust) or pour into greased pie plate and then add a top to your pot pie with either a boughten pie crust or homemade.

Bake in the oven at 350 for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown

Saturday:

(another busy, gone all day)

Pork Roast (cooked in crockpot)

New Garden Potatoes (I put extra water in my crockpot as it is cooking. Approx. 2 hours before supper time, I clean the potatoes and add them into the water of the roast, in the crockpot. This cooks your potatoes, thoroughly) We made some brown gravy and had the pork roast and potatoes. We also had sliced cucumbers and cherry tomatoes with our meal.

Sunday:

(another 4-H day)

Grilled hamburgers

Fresh cut watermelon

This actually isn’t the best “typical” week for us. I usually try to only go to town on one day a week, thus our meals are a little more planned out and not as basic. This week we spent several days in town for activities, so we did the best we could relying on quicker type made meals with what was on hand, along with some basic ingredients.

I hope that you have enjoyed this peek into our pantry and a few recipes/ideas for nightly meals. Once you make a commitment to actually eat from your stockpile you will probably become more creative with using up what you have and in the mean time, you will see a difference in the savings.

What meal did you make from your pantry this week?