Pantry Cooking Challenge (You Won’t Believe What I Found In My Freezer!) 😂

Pantry Cooking Challenge

It's More Money March, and I absolutely love, love, love the pantry cooking challenge this week (so much so that I decided to do it for the entire month of March!

This week we're all about doing a Pantry Cooking Challenge and I promise that if you will commit with me today to really do what I'm about to tell you, you will totally change how finances look in your home this week and possibly even this month with me.

Right now (I'm not even kidding, right. now.), I want you to do exactly what I'm about to tell you to do . . .

(are you ready? And do you trust me? I promise, this one's safe.) 🙂

1 – Stand up.

2 – Walk to your kitchen.

3 – Get a piece of paper.

4 – And a pen. (If you're joining me for the More Money Challenge, just open to page 12 for notes and you'll be all set.)

5 – Open your refrigerator, then your freezer, then you pantry.

6 – Write down every single meal possibility you could make using only what you have on hand.

7  – Make your menu plan for the week using what you have on hand already, and decide what is the absolute least amount of money you can spend at the grocery store this week.

Because . . . guess what I found in my freezer today (that I'm hoping you'll find too??) 

DINNER. 

for real. This was BAD at my house. Y.I.K.E.S. . . . 

But I took an hour, cleaned out my freezer, and got. it. done. 

WOOHOO!

Here's what I came up with at our house (it helps that we do freezer meals!):

1. Honey garlic chicken (from week 11 of the PPP freezer meals box)
2. Grilled chicken thighs
3. Chicken pot pie
4. Grilled ranch chicken (from week 3 PPP summer menu plans)
5. Honey garlic chicken (from week 3 PPP summer menu plans)
6. Cheesy baked spaghetti (from week 4 of the PPP freezer meals box)
7. Spaghetti with meat sauce or crockpot lasagna from week 9 of the PPP slow cooker meals box)
8. Simple grilled hamburgers (from week 8 PPP summer menu plans)
9. Beef tips & gravy (from week 11 of the PPP freezer meals box)
10. (from week 11 of the PPP freezer meals box)
11. Pepper steak  (from week 12 of the PPP freezer meals box)
12. Beef stew (from week 11 of the PPP freezer meals box)
13. Sirloin steak
14. Grilled Pork chops x 2
15. Slow cooker balsamic glazed pork loin (from week 4 of the PPP slow cooker meals box)
16. Ravioli Lasagna (from week 2 of the PPP slow cooker meals box)
17. Spinach tortellini (from week 9 of the PPP freezer meals box)
18. Fish tacos (from the PPP summer menu plans)
19. Breakfast burritos (from week 5 of the PPP freezer meals box)
20. Breakfast for dinner
21. Slow cooker ribs
22. Chicken nuggets (my kids will love this one!)
23. Grandma's beef brisket (from week 1 of the PPP freezer meals box)

TOTAL = 23 meals + leftovers  . . . success!

And here are the snacks that I can make using what we have on hand too:

• pumpkin bread
• incredible baked oatmeal (from week 8 of the PPP freezer meals box)
• chocolate chip cookies
• homemade oatmeal raisin cookies
• homemade bread (I also have plenty of frozen bread in the fridge!)
• almost homemade cinnamon rolls
• blueberry muffins (box mix)

Because we do our monthly Freezer Friday Cooking Challenge on Passionate Penny Pincher, I'll also be making these 5 meals this Friday morning (March 5th, 2021) at 9:30 AM Eastern Time: 

• easy meatball stuffed shells
• dill salmon
• slow cooker mesquite roast and carrots
• greek style pork chops
• hot roast beef sandwiches
• snickerdoodles

Because it's honestly more food than we need, I might drop off a few to my son down at college ~ which is always a big win!

And here's what I still need to swing by the store for each week this month:

• 2 gallons milk ($6)
• eggs ($2)
• fresh produce ($12)
• TOTAL = $20 . . .  woohooo!

I'm challenging myself to spend less than $25 each week on groceries (other than the food I've gotten for Friday's freezer challenge ~ it was right around $100), and totally  think I can make it (it helps so much to use up what's in your freezer!)

Would you like to join the Pantry Cooking Challenge with me? I'd sure love it if you did (I know this will save you a bundle this week!)

To join in, simply make a list of what you already have on hand and determine this week to spend as little as you possibly can at the grocery store. My bet is you will drastically cut your budget simply by using up what you already have on hand, and I know you can do this!

Here's all the details of the More Money in March Challenge if you're interested in signing up:

• The challenge runs this week, Monday – Friday, March 1st – 5th, but you can join at any point and catch up
• During the entire month of March, you'll have a few specific money saving tasks to complete each day
• Each Monday my friend Shannon or I will share a Facebook Live video at 1:00 PM Eastern Time inside the private More Money Challenge group with budget friendly tips and encouragement for the day to help you stay on track
• Save 25% TODAY making it only $12.95 for the PDF including 70 pages of budget downloads (or order the printed book over HERE on Amazon.) That comes out to $3.73 per week and I promise  is worth it (especially since it includes the coupon class!) If that's too much for your budget right now I completely understand ~ you can keep up with a lot of the challenge simply by following along each day here on Passionate Penny Pincher, as well as on our daily Facebook Live videos and Instagram posts too. 
• BONUS PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP: anyone who joins in the challenge this month will also be included in our private Facebook Group ~ you will love the encouragement and motivation in this group!

Go HERE to get the complete March More Money Challenge Worksheets and join in the challenge. And, I'd sure love if you'd leave a comment to share how it's going for you  ~ I'm cheering for you!