The first week has posed a bit of a challenge as I came home to a nearly empty pantry and fridge. I started off by taking an inventory, a shopping trip for all the basics, and a few quick recipes.
Money Spent This Week
Groceries: $53.27
Eating Out: $0
How to Inventory Your Kitchen
Keeping an inventory of what I already have is useful without too much extra work. I've kept an inventory of what's in my freezer for several months. I have a whiteboard on my freezer door where I can track what I have and how much of it. Primarily, I do this so that instead of standing in front of an open freezer trying to decide what to eat, I can now stand in front of a closed freezer while I decide what to eat. I'm all about the energy savings.
The inventory also makes it easier to:
- Know when I need to restock
- Keep from buying duplicate items
- Meal prep based on what I have or what I'm running low on
I also have two freezers and I color code my inventory so I know which freezer an item is in.
Unfortunately, my inventory had gotten a little out of sync which my freezer as I found when I realized I had three bags of frozen raspberries. I also had no idea what was in my cupboards.
I started by taking everything out of the fridge and freezer and then did a deep clean. We're talking taking out all of the shelves and wiping down everything. As I put everything back in, I added it to my whiteboard.
Taking My Pantry Inventory
My system for my dry goods is a little different. I don't keep a running inventory, but instead just check what need before I run to the store or make a note on my shopping list when I run out of something. I might change this.
For now, I just went through what I had versus what I needed.
Fast and Budget-Friendly Recipes for This Week
The last thing I wanted to do this week was cook. Well, the real last thing was spend a lot of money, but I also did not want to cook.
I settled for a middle ground and bought some things that cost a little more but will be faster to cook. Some highlights from my shopping trip:
- Sour cream, salsa, cheese, and chips to make bean dip
- Everything baguette on the clearance shelf for $1
- Bananas for 20% off in my store's "imperfect" bin
- Evive smoothies
I tried the Evive smoothies lately and I like them. They were on sale, but they were still $6.49 for a pack. Each pack comes with two servings. I've been mixing in Greek yogurt to make those last longer. This week, I mixed in some cottage cheese instead. I bought some cottage cheese this week to see if I liked it and I do not. It's inedible. So that's an easy breakfast for some of the days.
Shepherds Pie
Shepherds pie is relatively affordable and is a nice comfort food in the winter. The big expense is the ground beef. I bought potatoes and a big bag of carrots since those will be a nice snack. For the rest, I am using frozen and canned vegetables.
I am using chicken stock instead of beef stock because that's what I have. I have several cups frozen from the last time I had a rotisserie chicken.
The recipe I used came from Jo Cooks, although I used the spices I had on hand rather than onion soup mix.
Bean Dip
I like a quick bean dip. It's a pretty filling snack and fast to put together. I just use a can of refried beans, sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, and cilantro. Along with the chips, this is going to be one of my more expensive dishes for the week.
Banana Bread
Since I got the bananas for cheap, I made some banana bread. I made one loaf, cut it in half, and froze both halves.
Falafel
I'm prepping some falafel now for freezing. My go-to recipe is the baked falafel from Cookie and Kate. I doubled the recipe since I'll be freezing them.
Annie's Mac and Cheese
Hey, some nights, cooking just isn't happening. I made some boxed macaroni and cheese and I ate some carrots with it to feel moderately healthy. For some reason, I haven't been very hungry lately -- I think it's stress after traveling for the holidays -- so this became like one and a half meals.
Wrapping Up Week 1
One week is down. Next week will be more about restocking my freezer so that I spend less energy figuring out what to eat day to day so join me for lots of freezer meal prep ideas.
