Challenge

Because of the impending storm we were to have last night, and the fact that I was already running short on milk, I stopped by the grocery store last night. I came home with some canned goods, brown rice, juice, milk, bananas, and some frozen fruit and veggies. When I went to the pantry to put away the canned goods, I thought, "Geesh. There's alot of stuff in here." Then I went to the freezer. Same thing. Lots of stuff. Did I mention I also have a deep freeze in the garage? Yep. You guessed it. Same scenario. Lots of stuff. I began thinking about all the money I spend every week going to the grocery store to "get the necessities." This usually entails a few duplicated items I've got at home already that I forget about because of all the other stuff I've got in there. After mulling it over for awhile and sleeping on it, I'm challenging myself to avoid the grocery store for the next 30 days and use up some of the stuff I've got in my freezer and pantry. Now I can't avoid the store completely. There are actual "necessities" that may need to be replenished over that time period. These include perishables such as milk, bread, eggs, and maybe a few fruits and veggies. I say "a few fruits and veggies" because I do have some canned and frozen, but not probably not enough to last us 30 days. I know I'll have to get more milk. Between Brody and I, a gallon won't last a week. I've got no reason to buy any meat, though. I have brats, roast, hamburger, chicken breast, fish, shrimp, and a couple hams in the freezer. If I dig, there are probably even a few steaks in there! We also have lots of beans, pasta, cereal, and random assortments of other pantry staples. Personal hygiene and cleaning supplies will still be needed, so don't send me hate mail or give me dirty looks if I go to Dollar General or somewhere else for these things, either.

Now don't get me wrong. Brody and I won't be living on Ramen noodles for a week if we get down to the end and I can't scrounge up enough stuff to make a healthy meal. I just want to clean out some of the excess we have stored up over the last year or more. That actually kind of sounds gross. Storing food for over a year? Ugh. I guess it's not like I've been storing a glass of milk on the counter for over a year, though.

So, do I have anyone else out there who will join me in this challenge so we can share recipes for random things and hold each other accountable? Like I said, I'm not going to avoid the grocery store completely. Props to you if you can avoid buying ANYTHING from the store for 30 days, though! I'm pretty sure we can make it 30 days, however, anything more than 2-3 weeks that will help clean up some excess is a pretty successful effort if you ask me!

Oh yeah. If you have any good recipes, please let me know. I'll try and keep a daily commentary on what we are doing for meals (or at least every few days) on here and Facebook.