Nourished Kitchen» pantry challenge

Announcement: Vintage Cookbook Winners

Jenny — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:50:53 +0000

The readers have chosen, the random number generated has generated a random number and we have our two winners of the vintage cookbooks offered for December’s Pantry Challenge!

Kathy earned the readers choice for her great stick-to-itiveness in December’s challenge and has so earned a vintage copy of the Cooking of the British Isles.

Chris of Chez Musser won the random number generation and will be getting a vintage copy of the Cooking of Provincial France in the mail.

Congratulations to both Chris and Kathy for their great work on the challenge. Enjoy the cookbooks! I’ll be in touch.

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Choose the Vintage Cookbook Winner!

Jenny — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:12:20 +0000

The participants have been talleyed, and now it’s time for you to determine who did the best job at keeping to the goals of December’s Pantry Challenge. The person you select will win a copy of The Cooking of the British Isles from my library of vintage cookbooks, further I will draw another name from a hat to determine the winner of The Cooking of Provincial France.

As a reminder, the goals were to meal plan from your pantry, freezer and cupboards while keeping your total weekly budget under $10 per week for each person over 13 and $5 per week for each person under 13.

Below you’ll see those bloggers and participants who made it to the bitter end. If you made it to the end of the challenge, but are not included here please contact me. Also, if you participated and want to rally your campaign, leave a comment and I’ll edit the post to include it.

Here were the participants:

Shannon at Simple Natural Nourishing: Shannon didn’t fair as well as she wanted and ended up hitting up the store mid-December, but she’d been on a no-spend challenge for a few months and her pantry was depleted.
Erica at One Busy Mama: Erica’s total was under $400 for a large family and which is about half what they usually spend.
Kathy: Kathy ended up totally motivated! She spent about $75 for the month and then took it a step further – taking what she learned to reduce her costs in January.
Chris at Chez Musser: Chris did fantastically until just before Christmas. She was all set to end the month under $60, but some last minute shopping with a neighbor put her over $150.
Erin at Adventures in Healthy Cooking: Erin struggled with the challenge, but she learned quite a bit during the process. Not spending on special holiday foods proved challenging for her – and, I imagine, everyone.

I’m closing the poll on Sunday, January 11th at midnight! So vote early for who you feel best met the goals of the challenge.

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December Pantry Challenge! The End!

Jenny — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:24:03 +0000

Well … December’s over and we’re on to a new year!

We spent $10.10 this last week, bringing our December pantry challenge total to $68.80.

Toward the end of the month, it got a little tough–we ate ground beef about five nights in a row, squash every night and usually potatoes too.

I think that in the future, I might choose to do a pantry challenge when everything is less busy–work, family, holidays and an unexpected road trip added to the challenge of regular updates and posts.

I did, today, head to the store and spend $180 on groceries and supplements: I had a huge craving for wild-caught salmon. Still, I’m considering how valuable shopping out of the pantry has been over the course of December, and, truthfully, our pantry is still filled to sustain us much, much further.

On another note, I’ll be compiling posts from participants over the next few days so that we can poll readers and get those vintage cookbooks out and into your hands!

So, how did it all end for you?

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Crazy Busy! Pantry Challenge Update.

Jenny — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:19:39 +0000

I missed last week. My husband and I had to make a last minute trip out of town on farmers marketing business (well … it was his business, and I was just along for the ride.) That trip, of course, put a bit of a damper on our pantry challenge success as it necessitated eating out several times. Still, we managed to keep expenses low because we had the foresight to pack wholesome snacks for the road: sprouted spelt and maple shortbread, beef jerky, boiled eggs, lettuce and other goodies.

When it comes down to actual money spent on groceries so far this month, we’re looking good at $40.02. We were blessed with a windfall as one of our friends from the market is trading tons of fresh, local, organic produce for a few nights lodging in our home which definitely helps make this challenge a mite bit easier for the duration of the month.

How have you done! Please update!

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Meal Plan: 1 December through 7 December

Jenny — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:16:49 +0000

So this is the plan for our first week of our pantry challenge. The menu is fairly varied, and I’m interested to see how the rest of the month goes!

Monday

Breakfast: Oats with Raisins, Green Tea
Lunch: Leftover Buffalo Pot Roast, Greens
Dinner: Butternut Squash Souffle, Mixed Green Salad, Fermented Beets
To Do: Soak Spelt for Sprouting, Soak Beans for Chili, Slice & Marinate Beef for Jerky, Store Sauerraben, Boil Eggs

Tuesday

Breakfast:Fried Eggs with Sliced Tomatoes on Sprouted Spelt English Muffins with Cheddar Cheese
Lunch: Autumn Vegetables in Broth, Simple Salad, Sliced Fresh Apples
Dinner: Clam Chowder, Corn Bread
To Do: Make Yogurt and Kefir, Brew Water Kefir, Start Sprouting Spelt, Cook Beans in Crock Pot, Dehydrate Jerky, Make Mayonnaise, Make Egg Salad, Pick Up Milk and Cream

Wednesday

Breakfast: Yogurt with Pecans and Nectarines
Lunch: Egg Salad over Greens, Fresh Apples
Dinner: Anasazi Bean & Ground Beef Chili, Corn Bread, Green Salad & Fermented Beets
To Do: Continue Sprouting Spelt, Make Maple Vanilla Ice Cream

Thursday

Breakfast: Oats with Raisins & Dried Apples with Kefir
Lunch: Leftover Chili, Sauerkraut
Dinner: Herb Roasted Chicken, Roast Chicken Gravy, Simple Salad, Sauerraben, Sauteed Romano Beans with Pecorino Cheese & Pine Nuts, Butternut Squash Puree
To Do: Grind Spelt, Start Slow-rise Hamburger Buns, Make Mayonnaise, Make Chicken Salad, Start Bone Broth for Chicken

Friday

Breakfast: Yogurt with Pecans and Nectarines
Lunch: Chicken Salad over Greens, Fresh Apples
Dinner: Hamburgers on Steamed Sprouted Spelt Buns with Onion, Lettuce, Tomato and Raw Milk Cheese, Real Sauerkraut, Oven Fries
To Do: Soak Flour for Pita Bread, Soak Flour for Gingerbread Pancakes, Soak Chickpeas

Saturday

Brunch: Gingerbread Pumpkin Pancakes, Fried Eggs, Nitrate/Nitrite-free Bacon, Sauteed Swiss Chard
Dinner: Falafel, Sprouted Spelt Pita Bread with Fresh Lettuce, Tomatoes, Fermented Beets & Yogurt Sauce
To Do: Continue Sprouting Spelt, Thaw Bison Roast

Sunday

Brunch: Herb-baked Eggs, Buttermilk Oat Flour Biscuits with Real Butter and Raw Honey, Tomato Salad
Dinner: Bison Pot Roast, Real Sauerkraut, Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Roasted Beets, Simple Salad
To Do: Soak White Beans, Prep Slow-rise Bread

This post is part of Meal Plan Monday hosted by Organizing Junkie.

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Don’t Forget: December’s Pantry Challenge

Jenny — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:45:13 +0000

Don’t forget: Monday begins our Pantry Challenge for the month of December! There’s still time to sign up for the challenge and win one of two vintage cookbooks. So stock up your pantries, brush of your old tried-and-true meal plans and get ready for the pantry challenge.

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Foodie Event: Pantry Challenge

Jenny — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:46:56 +0000

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!

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Who should win the vintage cookbook?
	Shannon
	Erica
	Kathy
	Chris
	Erin

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