Pantry Inventory

One thing I enjoy about the January freezer/pantry challenge is taking inventory of the cupboards. The actual process is a bit overwhelming to begin with, but I like having the written list of what's in the back corners and dark recesses of that top shelf. I started this process on Monday morning, but had to leave it halfway through to go to work. On Tuesday I finished up what was out, and then emptied the spice cabinet and got that straightened and listed.
I pull everything out of the cupboards and off the shelf in the laundry room where I store "extras", off all the counters where holiday baking supplies get stacked, and I spread them all out on the counters in categories.

Top of the refrigerator - cereals and odd boxes

The top of the frig is where the cereal is usually stored. I pulled the ice cream cones, vanilla wafers, and graham cracker crumbs from the cupboard, but there wasn't room on the baking supplies or the other counter for them. The graham cracker crumbs and the 3 boxes of old-fashioned oats were given to us by Jess's good friends. They had some leftover groceries after their wedding, and thought we could put them to good use. I plan to have the kids make graham cracker pie crusts with the crumbs. The oatmeal is destined to become granola. Yum.

Chips, crackers, snacks, croutons

 I took some of the chips to the theater on Tuesday, along with a crockpot full of pulled pork and the bag of buns in this next photo. The kids are always appreciative when I bring supper to share.

potatoes, boxed goods

 I try to stay away from boxed and canned grocery items, but there are a few basics that I do keep stocked. Taco shells - this is my favorite brand because they're thin and light and very crispy. I buy the big box because the grandkids really like tacos. There are just a few potatoes left from our holiday cooking, and after they're used up, we won't buy more for awhile. We're cutting out "white" food for awhile. The sweet potatoes are delicious when baked and served with salt and pepper, or sliced in rounds and grilled or roasted. There's a tiny bit of pasta for homemade Spaghetti-O's that the grands love. Oh, and some alphabet pasta I'm going to put in homemade vegetable soup for them.

cans and jars

 We have quite a large inventory of beans, most of which are dried and not pictured here. That jar of black beans next to the pasta will become hummus next week. Black bean and jalapeno hummus is pretty doggone delicious. In the far front corner there are some jars of flavored honey as well as some jars of jam and fig butter. Some of that will go in granola, some in baked granola bars, I think.
The canned fruit was intended to go into quick breads. I have a recipe for fruit cocktail cake that was in my grandmother's recipe box, so I picked up a can of that a few months ago. I'm hoping it's like the fruit cocktail cake we used to have in our school lunches when I was a kid.

baking supplies

Those cake mixes were given to us, and there are some things we don't usually keep around, except for holiday baking. We've already used the bags of marshmallows for a double batch of Rice Krispie treats. Layla's birthday is next week, so two of the cake mixes and much of the powdered sugar will be used for her birthday cake and frosting (just wait until you see the cake she wants!). There are several kinds of nuts, which will be great in the granolas I have planned. I'll make some muffin mixes and a container of pancake mix. That huge jar with a little bit of cocoa was down-sized. There are two jars of hot cocoa mix right next to it. No problem using that up. The grands like hot cocoa with their after-school snacks.

The weather today is gorgeous, lots of sunshine warming things up, so this afternoon I'll get out to the garage and get the freezers and refrigerators inventoried, then will write up the meal plans. As you can see, there are lots of ideas already. I'll post our pantry challenge meals on Instagram as we officially start using up the food, and will post progress here every few days.