Penny Pinching Pantry Ponderings

It’s official…  The Penny Pinching Pantry Raid is over!  It’s hard to believe it has been four weeks already. When I started the challenge, I wasn’t sure if I would make it for four weeks, but now that it’s over, I’m wondering where the time went.

Before I get into my ponderings and reflections on the challenge, let me take care of some business…

Produce from our CSA share and garden…

After missing our CSA share in week three of the challenge, I was especially thrilled to pick up the share last Wednesday.  As always, it was full of wonderful veggies!

• Cucumbers (2)
• Zucchini (2)
• Yellow Squash
• Asian Eggplant
• Heirloom Tomato
• Golden Cherry Tomatoes
• Baby Red Potatoes
• Fresh Sweet Onions (2)

In addition to our CSA share, our garden has started to provide us with some produce each week.  This week we were able to pick:

• Yellow Squash (7, yes…  I said 7)
• Jalapeño Peppers (4 or 5, I forget)
• Red Hot Cherry Peppers (2)
• Snap Peas
• Green Beans
• Fresh Herbs – Basil and Thyme

What I cooked last week…

I managed to do a pretty good job of utilizing what I had on hand this week while still coming up with fairly healthy and creative meals.

• Wednesday (July 22nd) – Mexican squash skillet, using up some yellow squash, tomato, and jalapeño (It was delicious… I have good intentions of posting this recipe soon!)
• Thursday (July 23rd) – Whole wheat pasta with squash, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs
• Friday (July 24th) – Leftover Cajun bean soup and quick and easy buttermilk-less biscuits (I will probably post this soon)
• Saturday (July 25th) – Quick frittata with potato and onion from the CSA
• Sunday (July 26th) – Greek chicken wraps with pasta salad, fresh corn on the cob, yellow squash hummus, and veggie chips (We had my parents over for dinner, which I hadn’t planned on… I’m only counting half the cost of the chicken since we had company)
• Monday (July 27th) – Buffalo chicken pretzels (don’t criticize…  you know you want to have pretzels for dinner, too!)
• Tuesday (July 28th) – Southwestern stuffed yellow squash made with leftover chicken, corn, cherry tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and of course, yellow squash (I will post this recipe eventually, too!)

The budget…

Ok – now it is time for the moment of truth.  This week, I ended up buying a few extra things for our dinner on Sunday that I hadn’t anticipated.  I have decided to only count the cost of 1/2 of the chicken that I purchased for dinner since I was cooking for twice the number of people. I am counting the rest of the food I bought, though. I did manage to utilize food from my fridge and pantry for the rest of the dinner.  Here’s what I bought last week:

• Organic Vegetable Chips (to go with the hummus on Sunday)
• Boneless Chicken Tenders (1 pound)
• Skim Milk

In total, I spent $6.82 this past week. Since I had $6.31 to spend this week, I am $0.51 over budget.  All things considered, I think I am OK with that. I probably have $0.51 in the center console of my car that I can throw in for the budget!

Ponderings on the Pantry Raid...

Now that the challenge is over, I thought I would share some of my reflections on the challenge – what I liked and what I didn’t, what worked and what didn’t. While I don’t plan on going on a permanent $100/month budget, I am glad that I participated. It’s been an eye opening experience, and I feel that it has taught me quite a few important lessons.

I think the biggest lesson I learned from the challenge was to utilize the food I have on hand instead of always loading up a cart full of groceries when I go to the store. I was in the habit of always buying more groceries and neglecting to use the leftovers in my fridge, frozen food, and items in my pantry. The challenge has forced me to utilize those items on a regular basis, and after doing it for a whole month, I think that I will be more likely to do it in the future, even when I’m not on a tight budget.

One of the things that was both a blessing and a curse during the challenge was my CSA share. It was wonderful having fresh produce each week (well, 3 of the 4 weeks), and I got more for my money than I would have shopping at the grocery store.  The difficult part was that the CSA brought my shopping budget down to $45.00 for the month. Because I could not control what produce I got in my CSA share each week (and the fact that it was primarily veggies and not fruit), it meant that I had to be fairly creative and flexible with meal planning, buying versatile items at the grocery store each week.  It did help that I got my CSA share at the beginning of each week so I had a little extra planning time.

I think the hardest thing for me when it came to sticking to the budget was that I like to try new things.  I tend to wander around the grocery store and try new things that sound interesting.  Because I had to stick to the budget and buy items that could be used in multiple dishes, I found that I was only buying staples and not giving myself the opportunity to buy new and interesting things to try.  I also didn’t get to buy soy milk for 4 weeks – one of my favorites for coffee drinks.

The future…

As I mentioned above, I don’t think I will be continuing with a $100/month budget permanently now that the challenge is over.  Instead, I think that the $100/month budget is more like a week at the spa. It’s a great way to “cleanse” your kitchen and shopping habits so that you can clean out the pantry and have a good reminder not to over buy and over spend at the store. Just like a periodic spa day or spa week, I think I may go back to the challenge for a week or two at a time when I think I need a good reminder.

Regardless of whether or not I am following a strict budget, I do think I will continue to be mindful of what food I am purchasing and what food needs to get used around the house.  Following the challenge has made me much more conscious of my spending habits (and wasteful habits when it comes to food in the fridge).  My husband and I are very fortunate and blessed that, in this economy, we have not had trouble putting food on the table and maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel like we live extravagantly. I have trouble spending a lot of money, which I think can be a good thing. I still cut coupons out of the newspaper each week and compare prices at the grocery store. However, after participating in the challenge, I think I have become much more aware of what it’s like to be on a strict budget… While I did it voluntarily (and was able to make exceptions for some special occasions), I know many people do not have that option.

My part of the challenge is now officially over (except for a few recipes that I still need to post).  Hopefully some of my recipes and tips from the challenge will be helpful to others who are in a similar situation.  Perhaps I have even inspired a few others to try a challenge of their own!