Times are tough at the end of the year. Food and heating costs are soaring, yet we all have to make a little room in our budgets to save for the holiday season – even a simple season.
So, it’s time for a pantry challenge! The harvest season is finished, and your pantries, cellars and larders should be fully packed. Now it’s time to put that hard work to good use and live off what you’ve squirreled away.
The Rules:
- The Pantry Challenge Begins at 12:01 a.m. on December 1st and ends at 12:01 a.m. on January 1st.
- Post your progress by Wednesday of each week.
- Check-in here every Wednesday after you post for that week’s mini-challenge (i.e. Pantry Inventory, Meal Planning etc.) and to let us know you’re progress and share any tips you might have.
- Use only what’s in your pantry, freezer and cupboards. Be inventive and creative.
- If you desperately need to head to the store, keep your tab under $10 per week per person over 13 and $5 per week per person under 13 not to exceed $50 per week.
- Keep a running total of any money spent on food in each of your Pantry Challenge blog posts.
Tips
- Inventory Your Pantry, Cupboards, Cellar and Freezer
- Do some bulk shopping now to prepare for December
- Meal Plan, Meal Plan, Meal Plan
The Prizes
Of course, what good is a contest without a prize? For this go-around, I’ll be giving away two vintage cookbooks. The Cooking of Provincial France and The Cooking of the British Isles. I LOVE this series as it provides an amazing glimpse into the traditional foods of cultures around the world. These books are used and worn with decades of cooking, but the information is solid.
To win the Cooking of Provincial France, please comment or link to this post from your blog alerting your readership to the Pantry Challenge. Each commenter will get one entry and each person who posts about the challenge will get seven entries. Following the challenge, I’ll toss all the entries into a hat and a winner will be selected at random.
The Cooking of Provincial France
The winner of the Cooking of the British Isles will be selected by the readership of The Nourished Kitchen. Everyone who successfully completes the challenge without going over the budgetary alotment for a family of his/her size will be eligible, and in the first week of January, I’ll post a poll asking our readership to vote on who best fulfilled the guidelines of the challenge with their adherence to the rules coupled with their creative cooking abilities. The blogger our readers select will win the cookbook!
So, sign up, post about the challenge, do your last minute shopping and get prepared fto begin the challenge on December 1st!
Sounds like a great idea. I am already heading in this direction because of my no spend challenge for November and December so I’m in.
I also blogged about it: http://simplenaturalnourishing.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/nourished-kitchens-pantry-challenge/
Great idea!
Shannon
Shannon’s last post: Nourished Kitchen’s Pantry Challenge.
Sounds like a great challenge! There is no way I can keep it under $25 a week though, not with 6 people in our house plus 2 full time daycare kids. I’ll try for under $50 a week!
Erica’s last post: Meal plan Monday.
Erica, after think about your comment, I modified the weekly amount. $10 per person 13 and over and $5 per person under 13, not to exceed $50. There’s no reason a family of six should have to maintain the same budget as a family of two or three! — Jenny
Great challenge — and perfect timing!! I was just thinking that the freezer and pantry were bursting at the seams and I needed to do something like this anyway… So I’m in for December.
Ooh! I like a good challenge – now I just have to make sure I’m in good shape when it comes to staples… but count me in!
Haley W.’s last post: Cooking for One: Sausage, Zucchini, and Apple Pithiviers.
Hey! I just found your website TODAY and am absolutely intrigued by the pantry challenge! I’m not sure if it makes a difference that I don’t have a blog of my own; maybe I won’t be in the running for winning a cookbook, but the chance to clean out the cupboards and freezer– not to MENTION spending less on food in December, when other costs invariably go up– is very appealing. I’m in!
I love this idea. I’ve been trying to put together a meal plan for the next few months so I can do some big bulk orders.
I need to mull it over because I’m still doing GAPS (just restarted) but I think I can find a way to make it work…
I don’t have a blog, so I won’t be able to join in in that way. But, my husband and I have already decided to do this kind of challenge in December to save enough so that I can order my garden seeds in January. I usually order about $100 worth of seeds. Then I fill my basement and freezer with the produce. All 3 freezers are so crammed that we are jokingly “pushing with our feet” to close them. So, I’ll be eagerly gathering ideas from all of you in December.
This is a great challenge! I recently posted a pantry inventory on my blog, so I’ll need I am really looking forward to it. My concerns are that we spend $40/month just on raw milk and $20 on eggs, but as I think about it we should be able to manage on $15/week for fresh vegetables. I’m going to review my inventory and do some final stocking up this week.
Chris’s last post: Pantry Challenge.
This is a great idea! I’ll be brainstorming with my husband as to how we’ll make this happen, but I think I can safely say “count me in!”
Jen’s last post: The secret lives of mole people.
I’m IN like Flynn!
So excited to find out what’s even in that thing I call a ‘pantry’…lol
Erin’s last post: Mexican Food ROCKS.
This sounds like a great idea, however, I wonder if it’s possible for families such ours (two adults, one child) who live in a one bedroom apartment with limited space (and thus, no packed larders, stocked pantries full of canned goods). Any suggestions or advice?
Maria’s last post: Baby steps to the frugal, debt free life.
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Maria -
Actually – you might rethink that! We’re a family of two adults and one child living in 750 s.f. condo! It has definitely taken a lot of creativity, but we’re managing.