Frugal's Bugle: WHAT'S UP DOC

Old Mother Frugal has been on a self-imposed pantry challenge.

You ask, “What is a pantry challenge”?

It’s when you create meals based on what you have in your pantry. No shopping in advance. No big shopping while on the pantry challenge. It requires taking inventory of your pantry and eating accordingly.

You design your own “rules” on when to spend money, if any at all… for milk, eggs, perishable fruit; how much you will spend, it should be minimal in amount, and for how long the pantry challenge will take place.

If your family does not enjoy leftovers, any leftovers that you have from one meal is recreated and transformed into another meal.

Last month, Old Mother Frugal’s pantry challenge covered 18 days. This month, the challenge has taken place all month. The fun part about a pantry challenge is the creative juices that flow from such an event.

An added bonus is the savings that takes place at the end of the challenge. During my challenge, I had a low of $10 spending for the week and never exceeded $13 for a one-week period.

You experience what it is like to have a finite amount of money to spend and having to rely solely on what you have in your pantry for meals.

Until this event, homemade waffles with carrots and cinnamon would never have crossed my mind. They were delicious. What’s up with that? A dish called “cowboy beans” was an epic fail until they were transformed into a bean mixture for bean burritos. There were no flour tortillas in the house. The first successful stack of homemade flour tortillas were made during this challenge without a tortilla press.

At least once a week, a pot of “The Week in Review Soup” was made from broth in the freezer and any meat/vegetables that were left uneaten over the course of the previous day’s dinners.

If there are unexpected bills coming up and you need to find some cash, consider doing a pantry challenge of your own. If you’re blessed to have a large stockpile of food on hand and you have had items for a very long time, use them up with a pantry challenge. Whatever your reason for doing so, if only for a week, you may just surprise yourself with the results!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: There are several websites that will help you in a pantry challenge. One that comes to mind is www.allrecipes.com. Insert your ingredients and the website will direct you to a recipe.

CINNAMON CARROT WAFFLES