So far, so much food...

Two weeks in and the pantry challenge is challenging me. While I have had to shop, and pretty much used up the month's budget I set for myself (and then some...), I've also pulled from the pantry/freezer as much as I could.

1. Last week I tested recipes for a freezer cooking website. That opportunity came up suddenly after starting the pantry challenge, and while I was able to pull about half of the needed groceries from the freezer/pantry, I did have to shop for several things. The plus side to that is there are freezer meals now. 
2. Yesterday was Layla's 4th birthday, and while there were cake mixes in the
   pantry (leftovers from wedding baking that Jess's best friend shared with us), and buttercream frosting in the freezer from November, I did have to purchase fondant and gel food coloring. We celebrated with a breakfast brunch, but I only needed to purchase eggs. For the eggs, I used up the rest
   
   of a container of cottage cheese (I add that instead of milk or cream). I had the bacon, and used a gallon of milk from the garage frig to make yogurt. We flavored the yogurt with blueberry jam from the frig and a tiny container of honey found when I cleaned out the cupboards. Bradley also asked for lemon in his, so between the two of us, we finished the last several drops of  a bottle of lemon vitality oil. I didn't include our essential oils in the pantry inventory, but there are several bottles of vitality oils that I use in cooking. If you want to know what a vitality oil is, let me know. That's a whole different post. 
3. Bountiful baskets. This is a produce co-op that offers baskets and add-ons in
   
   our area every two weeks. It's been a few months since we got a basket, and the fresh produce was getting pretty low, so I took advantage of this week's offerings to replenish our supply. Since we share what we get, I ordered two baskets along with an add-on of cauliflower, and an add-on of avocados. I'll be freezing much of those over this week. Buying them this way means the cauliflower was $1.83 each, which is a very good price for this area, and the avocados were 38¢ each, about half of the store price. Jess took home a big box of produce yesterday, and Greg took some over to his parent's as well. 

So those have been the budget-busters this month, though according to the guidelines I use for the pantry challenge, the produce and eggs are okay to purchase. We seriously won't need groceries for at least a couple of weeks, with the exception of skim milk and more eggs. 

I have to work today at the theater, but will have a little time to work on some of that gorgeous produce from yesterday. I'm going to chop some lettuce for salad, bag some of the leaves for wraps, and cook some sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot so they're ready to grab and heat. The bell peppers will be sliced and diced and popped in the freezer for use in fajitas and meatloaf. 

We have to thaw, warm, and eat some of those freezer meals so I can fill out the feedback form, so suppers for the next few days are ready. 

Tomorrow is kitchen day, so with the head start I hope to get today, it should be very productive. It'll probably be kitchen day every day this week as that produce ripens and needs to be taken care of. 

What are you doing in your kitchen this week? I know there are others who are doing their version of the pantry challenge. I'm heading over to Instagram to check out the #pantrychallenge hashtag and see what's happening over there. See you later this week!