https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:36:37 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2428063 Tue, 19 Jan 2016 16:41:11 +0000 gingerbebe 2428063@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hi! Just checking in. We were sick all weekend long with DS' most recent daycare virus (and it was a doozy).</p> <p>This weekend I made/used up:</p> <p>- Chicken and dumplings (not a pantry meal, it was just a chicken soup-ish meal for being sick).<br /> - Pizza (used up remaining goat cheese, turkey pepperoni, etc).<br /> - Chicken salad (made at the same time I was making the chicken and dumplings since a lot of the ingredients overlapped - used up apples, almonds, pickles, mayo, mustard, relish, celery, raisins)<br /> - Soup from the freezer<br /> - Brown rice from the freezer<br /> - Moco loco (used up another pound of ground beef, gravy mix, and some eggs over my freezer rice).</p> <p>I did buy a bit more food this week between being sick and going on a Costco run, but we had to replenish quite a bit of stuff we'd used up. </p> <p>All the oatmeal is gone, we're almost done with the bread that was in the freezer, we ate up pretty much all our fresh milk, eggs, fruit, and veggies, and all our nuts and dried fruit are gone. We also ate up some old saltines while we were in the depths of our illness! We finished up some mustard, pickles, mayo, hot dogs, frozen pancakes, and marshmallows too. We're working through some popcorn kernels in our air popper for snacks and maybe if I have some energy I'll try to bake DH a birthday cake (its tomorrow), but I can't make any promises!</p> <p>This week I'm going to try and make:</p> <p>- Spaghetti and meat sauce or meatballs with salad<br /> - Crockpot Italian beef sandwiches (not a pantry/freezer meal - I had to buy all the ingredients, but its DH's favorite for his birthday and luckily I got the meat on sale).<br /> - Tuna salad for sandwiches or salad<br /> - Something using up the remaining chicken and bacon - maybe another pasta or a big entree salad.<br /> - Perhaps a baked good or cake for DH's birthday </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2417583 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 17:39:28 +0000 gingerbebe 2417583@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Woo hoo!</p> <p>Someone posted a question about ways to get more veggies into your kids in creative ways and I replied with a zucchini pancake recipe that's quite tasty for kids and adults alike. Which then led me down a fritter recipe wormhole and....yeah. Anyways, I stumbled upon a pretty easy, generic recipe from Mark Bittman and decided to whip some up for DS using junk from our freezer.</p> <p><a href="http://markbittman.com/recipe/vegetable-pancakes/" rel="nofollow">http://markbittman.com/recipe/vegetable-pancakes/</a></p> <p>I had half an onion and a few florets of broccoli laying around in the crisper, and cut spinach, peas, and corn in the freezer, so those were my veggies of choice. I microwaved all of the veggies, squeezed out all the water in the spinach, chopped them up coarsely in my food chopper, and added a handful of shredded cheese to finish the bag. This used up most of my remaining frozen spinach and the rest of my bag of peas!</p> <p>This made about 20 fritters and I think 1-2 is a good size portion for DS. I drained the fritters after I pan fried them and they are currently cooling on the counter. I'll package up most of them to freeze in 4-patty portions and save a few for me and DS to have today and tomorrow.</p> <p>While I was digging around for the veggies I found an open bag of mini chicken cilantro wontons, so I pan fried those up too. DS will have that with the fritters and some fresh fruit for dinner! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2417314 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:25:44 +0000 gingerbebe 2417314@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsrain: Mmm, that casserole sounds good. I have a random open bag of pretzels that have to get used up - maybe I can find a similar recipe to use for those! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2416930 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 12:37:00 +0000 mrsrain 2416930@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not sure I can do this for all of January, but it'll be a big help for the next two weeks while we recover from holiday expenses!</p> <p>I haven't completed my inventory yet, but we have been eating leftovers for all of our lunches so far, and the rest of the week we have some pantry and freezer items we can use up for lunch (i.e. Butter noodles, fish sticks, etc). </p> <p>For dinner tonight: ritz chicken casserole</p> <p>We have a small grocery budget so I am very motivated to use stuff we already have! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2416795 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:37:24 +0000 TemperanceBrennan 2416795@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Weekend was way more busy than originally planned, but I'm cleaning out the cupboards tonight after work! You guys are inspiring me! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2416785 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:33:12 +0000 gingerbebe 2416785@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Last night the pork didn't cook in time for dinner so we ate leftovers and will have pulled pork sandwiches tonight. </p> <p>DS and I polished off the old bread with PBJs as an after dinner snack (he is going through a post-illness hangry phase). We are almost done with the oats - one more round of breakfasts should do it.</p> <p>Fridge got cleaned out of all old leftovers and old condiments. Fresh ones from the pantry replaced them. Seeing more room in my dry storage too.</p> <p>I had Thai basil beef on the menu for the ground beef but now I can't stop thinking about baked spaghetti, so maybe I'll switch it up to that! </p> <p>Happy Monday! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415876 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:49:43 +0000 gingerbebe 2415876@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@youboots: my husband looooves loco moco and it's the easiest meal to make so it's a win win for all! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415861 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:32:45 +0000 Bao 2415861@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Tonight for dinner, instead of making something we are eating things out of the fridge that need to get used up before they get bad. Leftover homemade waffles, two pieces of frozen pizza and some turkey. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415852 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:27:52 +0000 youboots 2415852@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Loco moco has proved to be a great way to use up burger meat. Yum! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415847 Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:20:47 +0000 gingerbebe 2415847@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Okay it's Sunday so gearing up for the week! </p> <p>I found ground beef, hot dogs, bacon, and chicken drumsticks in the freezer. We are also carrying over two portions of curry and rice, and 4 portions of jambalaya. I will probably freeze some of the jambalaya for another week.</p> <p>Tonight we are having the pulled pork sandwiches and will save half the pork (without sauce) for carnitas tacos on Tuesday night. </p> <p>Tomorrow we will have Thai basil beef with the ground beef topped with a fried egg over rice.</p> <p>I've got BLTs planned for the bacon and bread in the freezer I found. If we have some avocado leftover from taco night I will put some in there too. I also have deli turkey to turn them into club sandwiches. We have frozen fries and sweet potato fries we can eat on the side.</p> <p>The chicken drumsticks I will probably crockpot in a Vietnamese style sweetened soy and black pepper sauce and crisp them under the broiler. DH likes that. We can eat it with frozen green beans.</p> <p>The hot dogs I will cut up for some of DS' meals this week and I can eat them with eggs for breakfast (weird childhood thing). I might make some chili with some other ground beef in the freezer to make DH some chili dogs if he wants.</p> <p>DS helped with the challenge by eating the rest of the frozen pancakes and a good amount of turkey sausage for breakfast. He also finished up a bag of organic frozen meatballs and a few chicken nuggets. We have some frozen fish sticks he can eat this week. He also helped me finish a loaf of bread that's drying out in the form of peanut butter toast. He has also been helping by eating a few stale marshmallows leftover from Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole as his after dinner treat! </p> <p>Breakfast for DH and I will be oatmeal and cereal and we have eggs, bread, bacon and turkey sausage if we want something heavier. I also found pancake mix in the pantry - one opened and one new - so I can make more silver dollar pancakes for DS' freezer stash and break out the Belgian waffle maker I just got for Christmas! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415264 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 21:25:46 +0000 farawayyama 2415264@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've been trying this the last couple of weeks. I found we ate a bunch of freezer meals last week. Tonight I cheated and we ended up eating lamb because it was only $7/pound! This week we have a whole bunch of pork and beef on the menu, which isn't ideal but gets it used up. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415147 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:57:09 +0000 MamaBear87 2415147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is so helpful for me! We're moving a state over the first week of February so I'm trying to use up as much as possible since I don't want to move food! </p> <p>Thanks for ideas! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415119 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:22:31 +0000 gingerbebe 2415119@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Pantry challenge dinner party!! I have a vegetarian and a DH who can't eat cheese so I'm making two pizzas - one with goat cheese and tomatoes and parm, and a cheeseless supreme with hot links and pepperoni and peppers and onions! I will make a salad with apples, walnuts, raisins and blue cheese on the side with French dressing. I AM buying a cake bc it's to celebrate finding out our baby's gender but we have pop and booze and everything else! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2415117 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:18:10 +0000 regberadaisy 2415117@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ha! We are doing this coincidentally. Today DH made an awesome beef soup. We had a bunch of miscellaneous beef bones. Beef marrow, prime rib bone from Christmas, T-Bone. We roasted it in the oven for about 20 minutes. And also roasted veg we had in the house, some carrots, a bell pepper, onions, leeks. Threw all that in a big stock pot and simmered for a few hours. Then we made a stir fry eith celery, black mushrooms, onions, leeks and threw in ground beef we had in the freezer. That plus some rice vermicelli and hot beef broth on top. It was absolutely delicious and both girls devoured it. Can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow!<br /> Tomorrow we're making homemade raviolis with a broccoli cheese sauce. The raviolis will be filled with a ground beef /sausage mixture with roasted squash and kale. We have everything in the house already!</p> <p>This week we will be making cod fillet fish tacos with yam fries, chicken Marsala and pan seared salmon. All mainly things we already have in the house.</p> <p>Other things in the freezer: pork loin, pizza dough, fish tofu, chicken legs, while turkey, ton of frozen whole fish, pork ribs, another fillet of salmon, fish balls. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414962 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 15:15:26 +0000 looch 2414962@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: Oh, that got me thinking...I can use the pizza dough to make cheeseburger pockets! </p> <p>I also realized I have a half package of lasagne sheets, so I am going to make some kind of small lasagne, maybe with the squash. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414951 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 14:56:19 +0000 gingerbebe 2414951@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: You can make BBQ chicken pizza! Or cheeseburger pizza! We do a similar cornbread bake but we call it chili bake. The peas can get thrown into the curry - we did that last night! You might be able to hide some squash in the spaghetti sauce if it's the puréed kind. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414907 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:30:57 +0000 Canoli 2414907@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: yum, that cornbread bake sounds delicious. I'm definitely adding to my list.</p> <p>Well unfortunately discovering a mouse (gross) in our pantry motivated me to clean out our pantry! </p> <p>I do need to use some stuff in our freezer. Loving these ideas! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414906 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:21:49 +0000 looch 2414906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@travellingbee: Exactly. I do the bottom layer with the ground beef and beans, then I put the cornbread mix and corn on top. I think jiffy uses one egg and about 1/3 cup milk and I sometimes add cheese.</p> <p>I have some polenta in the pantry, so I am thinking about using that and doing from scratch cornbread to use up more stuff! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414901 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:07:40 +0000 travellingbee 2414901@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: interesting idea- the cornbread bake. Do you make up the mix and it just Bakes a layer of cornbread on top? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414879 Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:19:50 +0000 looch 2414879@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I took my inventory this morning. In the process I found a few loaves of bread that we're never going to eat and I've cut those up to feed to the ducks today.</p> <p>I have 4 packages of chicken tenderloins (from Costco), 4 packages of ground beef, 1 bag of shrimp, 2 half used bags of peas, 1 bag frozen spinach, 1 box frozen squash, 1 premade dinner of pulled pork and one bag of PF Changs Fried Rice.</p> <p>My fridge is pretty bare from having been away in December, but I have a roll of pizza dough, sweet potatoes and eggs to use up.</p> <p>Tonight we're probably having fondue, but I am thawing a package of chicken and beef in the fridge right now. I plan to make the ground beef into bolognese and the chicken I am still undecided. I think I have a package of curry paste in the pantry, if so, that plus sweet potatoes and a can of garbanzos will become curry.</p> <p>I sometimes do a cornbread bake to get my cabinets cleared out (sauté onion, 1 pkg ground beef, enchilada sauce or taco sauce, 1 can kidney beans and then top that all with one can corn (drained) and a jiffy cornbread mix. I use whatever cheese needs to be finished up too. Bake in the oven and then I even bring it as leftovers to work. My husband likes it too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414264 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 16:54:23 +0000 wrkbrk 2414264@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: That all sounds so delicious and creative! Can I move in with you?? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414159 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:22:14 +0000 Bao 2414159@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: got it! Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414156 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:18:17 +0000 gingerbebe 2414156@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bao: No real rules. The point is to save money, clean/clear out space in your kitchen, rotate through your stock, and get you in the habit of meal planning for the new year. Just take stock of what you already have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry and meal plan around what you have as much as possible. Grocery shopping should be limited to just filling in small ingredient gaps and fresh necessities like egg, milk, fruit, etc. </p> <p>For example, we have multiple open boxes of cereal and a giant bag of oats that have to get used up, so that's breakfast for now, instead of eggs and toast and what not. The oatmeal gives us a chance to use up a bunch of open packages of nuts, dried fruit, brown sugar, cinnamon, etc. If you have frozen fruit, smoothies could be your use-it-up breakfast.</p> <p>Dinners are usually a mix and match of meats or canned beans combined with grains, pastas, and breads we have on hand, plus frozen vegetables. This is a great way to get rid of a lot of sauces, gravy/seasoning mixes, etc. </p> <p>Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414126 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 14:38:37 +0000 catgirl 2414126@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't have a ton to use up, no meat or anything in the freezer except vegetables, but I am desperately want to use up the random things that are kicking around. </p> <p>I saved roughly $30 this week compared to a regular grocery trip. I think I will be able to do this same next week. After that there will only be a few things left. It just feels good to limit waste and save a little money. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414117 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 14:32:13 +0000 Bao 2414117@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh I didn't know about this! Are there "rules" like the no spending challenge? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414107 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 14:23:43 +0000 TemperanceBrennan 2414107@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've been doing this this week. It has gone great so far.<br /> We had lots of leftovers from the holidays. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty random meals (leftover shower cake, various dips, popcorn, mac and cheese, buffalo chicken dip,etc.), but we came up with Parmesan crusted chicken cutlets over pasta and homemade tomato cream sauce last night. It was great! </p> <p>Now that we finished most of our perishables, I'm taking inventory of our freezer/pantry this weekend and planning meals around that stuff. I'll post an update after I do!<br /> I'm going to </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414083 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 14:12:12 +0000 autumnlove 2414083@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Great thread. I bought a bell pepper today for jambalaya! I have a lot of frozen chicken breasts in my freezer that I want to use up. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/january-pantry-challenge#post-2414060 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:44:38 +0000 gingerbebe 2414060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Some of us had talked about doing a pantry/freezer clearing challenge in January to help clean stuff out and save a little cash, so I thought I'd create a check-in board to see how things are going and to give some inspiration to those of us trying to use up odds and ends!</p> <p>We've had a great week on the freezer front. In one freezer I found a small pork shoulder, ground beef, chicken breasts, spicy sausage, and shrimp in the freezer. I also found hamburger buns, a loaf of bread, frozen burritos, and 3 individual portions of Thanksgiving leftovers I had packaged for a rainy day. </p> <p>I took a gander at what we had in the two areas of the house I keep dry pantry goods and what was hanging out in the crisper and came up with this menu for this week:</p> <p>- Spicy Jambalaya - used up 1 chicken breast, a handful of shrimp, 2 sausage links, limp celery, an onion, some broken bay leaves, most of our remaining basmati rice, and a can of tomato sauce. Only fresh purchase was a bell pepper. </p> <p>- Japanese curry with pork - used some pork, some baby carrots, brown rice, and a box of curry mix. Just bought 1 potato for this.</p> <p>- Indian chicken curry - This will use up the remaining chicken breast, the last of the basmati rice, 1 can of kidney beans, an open bag of frozen peas, a can of coconut milk, and a packet of Indian curry paste. </p> <p>- Moco Loco - 1 pound of ground beef, 1 packet of brown gravy mix, eggs, and brown rice. Will serve up with some frozen corn on the side.</p> <p>- Crockpot carnitas - Pork shoulder, a can of salsa, an avocado, bay leaves, and Worchestershire sauce. Just need to buy a package of tortillas for this meal.</p> <p>- BBQ pulled pork sandwiches - Will remix the carnitas by mixing in some BBQ sauce and serve with pickles and hamburger burns with salad on the side. </p> <p>- Spicy sausage and shrimp pasta - Remaining 2 hot links and frozen shrimp, open box of pasta, tomato sauce, and the limp kale in the fridge.</p> <p>For lunch we had dinner leftovers and the Thanksgiving leftovers. I also finished up some leftover soup in the fridge and took some frozen burritos to keep at work in case I get hangry.</p> <p>For breakfast, we finished up some cereal (down to 2 open boxes!) and are plowing through an older bag of rolled oats for oatmeal. The oatmeal helped clear out an open bag of raisins, a bag of nut topping, some candied walnuts, and currently a bag of dried cherries. DS has been eating silver dollar pancakes and turkey sausage out of the freezer for breakfast.</p> <p>For snacks, we've been eating up open packages of cookies, pretzels, baby carrots and hummus, and random Christmas sweets leftover. </p> <p>Today I'm going to dig through my fridge and throw out any expired condiments and old leftovers to clear out more space. I dug through another freezer last night and found some more meat and bacon, so I'll post next week's menu when I get a chance to sit and think it through! </p> <p>On the grocery shopping front, I had to buy a bunch of extra stuff for DH and DS because they have been sick, but in terms of our actual menu plan, I only needed:</p> <p>- Carrots<br /> - Potatoes<br /> - Bell pepper<br /> - Tortillas<br /> - Milk<br /> - Fresh fruit </p>