I’m trying to restock the pantry this month, and my goal is to have a fully stocked pantry (30 days of staples) by the end of July.  Our budget works best when I add a few extra purchases each trip, rather than buying a month’s worth of food in one week.  For example, we needed honey, so I bought a 3 lb. bottle instead of a smaller container.  I bought an extra bottle of olive oil because they are still on sale – even though I have two in the pantry already.  We used up 2 boxes of penne this week, but I bought 3 (one extra).

Instead of trying to get a stocked pantry all at once, start small.  Start with making sure you have a 72 hour kit.  Then add on until you have a week’s worth of staples.  Then add a few more items until you have 10 days of food in your pantry (replacing items you’ve eaten along the way, of course.)  This method has an advantage of being balanced, as well.  In an emergency (natural or fiscal), it’s better to have a week’s worth of flour, oil, salt, legumes, and canned goods than to have 30 boxes of pasta, but no tomatoes or protein!

I took pics of some grocery runs, but not all.

We spent:

$120.21 (June 21- June 27)

Weekly average: $123.32

Check out Grocery Cart Roundup to see more shopping trips!

We got:

$15.00 @ 99 cents Plus

3.3# bananas, 1# strawberries, 2 heads lettuce, 2# bok choy, 2.6# green cabbage, 1.5# red cabbage, 2 poblano peppers, 4 red peppers, 2 pts. grape tomatoes, 1 bunch green onions (the ones in my garden are fried), 4# roma tomatoes, 30 apples,

2 gallons milk, 18 pack eggs, 2.5# shredded cheese, 1# sour cream, 1/2 gallon ice cream

$33.07 @ HEB

32 oz. olive oil, 48 oz. canola oil, 3# honey, 4# brown sugar, 8 oz. chopped walnuts, 10 cans tomato products (28 oz.), 6 cans tomato paste (4 oz.), 2 cans pineapple rings, 2 cans black olives, 3 jars salsa (24 oz.), 1 jar alfredo sauce, 1 oz. Italian seasoning, 1 bottle soy sauce (Kikkoman has no MSG, FYI), 3 large cans pears

24 oz. whole wheat egg noodles, 12 oz. WackyMac, 2 boxes saltine crackers, 3 boxes whole wheat penne, 2# garbanzo beans, 6# brown lentils, 12# brown rice, 6 loaves whole wheat bread, 2 bags bagels, 1 loaf Jewish Rye bread

24 sugar cones, 1 pkg. Pasta Sides (free), 20 ct. Wild Berry Zinger tea, 1 box Planter Nut Bars

For those who say you can’t eat healthful food on a budget, I got this for less than $20.

$17.21 @ FiestaMart

We’re Eating:

Sunday, June 28 - lunch: leftover spaghetti, salad, apple slices
dinner: Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, juice)

Monday, June 29 - lunch: polenta and chard (using polenta/kale recipe posted on my sidebar!)
dinner: Chicken stir fry w/ cabbage and bok choy (cook 2 chickens in pot on stove; save meat for Thursday, use broth to make rice.  Throw bones back into broth, cook down to make stock), brown rice (put in water with a splash of vinegar in the AM, and let it sit and soak on the stove all day.  An hour before dinner, cook it!  Make extra for dinner tomorrow).

Tuesday, June 30 – lunch: barley vegetable soup (use broth from last night)
dinner: black eyed peas and chard (based on this recipe), cold rice salad (brown rice, chopped onions and tomatoes w/ vinaigrette)

Wednesday, July 1 – lunch: peanut butter sandwiches, canned pears, carrot sticks
dinner:Pork tenderloin (w/ pineapple chipotle salsa on top, so good!), coleslaw, sweet potatoes Forgot to thaw the meat, so we had Beanie Weenies and coleslaw

Thursday, July 2 -   lunch: macaroni and cheese with broccoli
dinner: Pollo con Crema (chicken w/Mexican spices, topped w/ cream cheese sauce and poblano slivers, in crockpot), pintos (already soaked, in freezer), Mexican rice (rice cooked with 1 can picante)

Friday, July 3 -  lunch: tostadas (leftover pintos), lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, fried corn tortillas
dinner: Pepperoni pizza, corn, ice cream, cake (Mr P’s birthday)  (grrr… must use oven for this….)

Saturday, July 4 – not sure about holiday plans! hot dogs, coleslaw, and strawberries

For more menus, check out Laura at OrgJunkie.

I jotted down some shortcuts I’m taking this week, as I recently happened on a forum discussion on how to fit real food/ Nourishing Traditions preparation into an already busy day.  I hope that helps!

Check out The Nourishing Gourmet for more tips and tricks about NT and real food!

How do you fit cooking from scratch into your schedule?

Tagged as: budget, dried beans, Food Stamp Challenge, frugal meals, nourishing traditions, recipes, vegetarian meals