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

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Pantry Cooking Challenge

It's Finance February (it's been More Money March in the past!), and I absolutely love, love, love a good pantry challenge so I'm going for it this week!

CLEARLY I love this week. Because I did it last year. I did it this year. And I've probably done it every year for the last 10 years! 

This is the video from last year but it is SO good that I couldn't not share it with you again, It is so worth it!

This week we're all about starting with 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 (or entire year!) 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 Finance February Challenge, just open to pages 30 and 31 in your Money Planner 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. (You may need fresh produce but see what you can make WITHOUT making a trip to the grocery this week!) 

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 has been BAD at our 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. Chicken pot pie
3. Grilled ranch chicken (from week 3 PPP summer menu plans)
4. Honey garlic chicken (from week 3 PPP summer menu plans)
5. Cheesy baked spaghetti (from week 4 of the PPP freezer meals box)
6. Spaghetti with meat sauce or crockpot lasagna from week 9 of the PPP slow cooker meals box)
7. Simple grilled hamburgers (from week 8 PPP summer menu plans)
8. Grilled Pork chops
9. Ravioli Lasagna (from week 2 of the PPP slow cooker meals box)
10. Fish tacos (from the PPP summer menu plans)
11. Breakfast for dinner
12. Slow cooker ribs
13. Grilled cheese & soup
14. Orange glazed salmon & broccoli
15. Hashbrown & ham casserole (from week 2 of the PPP freezer meals box)
16. Chicken lettuce wraps
17. Cilantro Lime Chicken Bowls 

TOTAL = 17 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
• cornbread 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 (February 11, 2022) at 9:30 AM Eastern Time: 

• Ranch and Parmesan Chicken Tenders (a fan fave)
• Sweet and Spicy Salmon
• Hashbrown and Ham Casserole
• Hawaiian Grilled Chicken
• Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps
• Lemon Bars

Since it's honestly more food than we need, I'll send off a few for my kids 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:

• 1 gallon milk ($3)
• eggs ($2)
• fresh produce ($12)
• TOTAL = $20 . . .  woohooo!

I'm challenging myself to spend less than $25 thish 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 Finance February Challenge if you're interested in signing up:

• The challenge runs all February long, but you can join at any point and catch up
• During the entire month using the Money Planner, you'll have a few specific money saving tasks to complete each day
• Each Monday I'll share a Facebook Live video with budget friendly tips and encouragement for the day to help you stay on track
• Get the Money Planner with envelopes OR the ing it only Money Planner PDF files to join me. That comes out to $1.07 per week for the year for the physical copy (or just 32¢ for the PDF files!) and I promise it is worth it (especially since it includes a Money Budgeting Workshop on February 15th!) 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 for anyone who purchases the PPP Money Planner orPDF files: 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!