Well, today marks the end of The Great Pantry Challenge and it has been a lot more fun and certainly easier to do this alongside others. In reality, living on what is in the pantry is a way of life for us for a whole host of reasons I’d rather not bore you with, so The Great Pantry Challenge will go on in our home. Later tonight, I will menu plan for the next two weeks and do exactly as I stated in my menu planning post–buy only what is necessary and try to use as much as possible from what already exists in the pantry.
I do have to say that towards the end of this challenge, I did have to change up a few things to get us through to the end. One night we had Cesear Salad minus the parmesean cheese because the parmesean cheese I thought was in the refrigerator was no longer there. I don’t recommend that. It was gross. Who would would’ve known the cheese makes such a difference? We moved grilled cheese sandwiches to Saturday’s lunch and had beans with hot dogs for dinner on Friday night. By Saturday night, we were projected to have beans & rice before doing our Halloween activities, but I decided that my modification in the menu would lead to two nights of beans in a row. That would not be good. So we did a very simple sandwich dinner with some applesauce and called it good. It was also a bit difficult to whip up a batch of cookies for snacks when there was about 1 cup of flour left in the whole house. To be honest, I’m not really sure what my kids ate as snacks to make it through. It was kind of a blur, but I remember something about roasted pumpkin seeds, pomegranate seeds, a fight over the last apple and some cheese being sliced up.
So we survived and I can’t say it was a bad thing to have a bit of a hungry feeling in my tummy and no convenient things around to eat. It reminded me (and I think my kids too) that even when we think there’s “nothing to eat”–there really is always something we can rustle up. We just have to choose to make the effort or wait until the next meal that day.
Thank you, Lord, that we know there will be a next meal. Many people in the world don’t know when they’ll eat again and our family is counting our blessings for all that you have given us. May we be good stewards of all you send our way. Please remind us to not act spoiled by complaining about what you provide. Instead let us enjoy with thanksgiving what you set on our table or put in our pantry.
Love it. My sentiments exactly. I love how you personalized it here with anecdotes about the Caesar Salad and your kids fighting over the apple. Good times in the Pantry Challenge…and you’ve inspired us with your beans & rice. I’ve added it to the menu for every Monday until Christmas. 😉