My mom and I have a bet going to see if we can go the whole month of January without buying groceries.  Just eat from the freezer and pantry.  I know I have enough stockpiled and I have some things I need to use before they expire.  We will make an exception for milk, bread, eggs and such.  I do have a list of a few items that I am out of that I need to buy this week before we can start, like tinfoil, cooking oil and maybe 3 other things.

I am going to inventory my pantry and freezer and make meal plans.  Anyone want to join me?

Also, anyone have any ideas for using fresh cranberries, besides bread or muffins? I have some leftover from Christmas. 

 Since my food stock is low, I'll have to pass on this one. I am interested in seeing how others do though.

 I could use my pantry, but there is no way that the pantry will have 800 meals in it- I could try to use it up with only fresh food added, but with dh's job being a little shaky I am a little hesitant to deplete most of the pantry, although then could pay down a little more debt-

Bigger ?- in case of job worries, is it better to have a pantry, emergency savings, or lower debt, if you were picking one of these?

Patti,

You can just put the cranberries in the freezer as they are, if you're not ready to use them yet.

I am curious how this challenge goes for those of you that are up for it. I find myself truly craving fresh green things this time of year. My personal challenge is to indulge that craving and still keep costs low. Tonight we're having a stir fry w fresh chard and broccoli...the protein source is a sliced omelet, so is fairly cheap.

Latenightleader in answer to your question about in case of job worries which is better?  I would choose emergency savings.  Pantry, you can always use a food bank for awhile or may even qualify for some sort of government assistance.  Lower debt, is nice but you can always pay the minimums on those until better times.  I think emergency savings because that can be used to buy gasoline to go to job interviews and other things like paying utilities and mortgage or rent or home repair in case the heater needs a part during the winter.  So sorry to hear that your dh's job is not as secure as you would like. 

I'm up for this challenge. DH will be gone for two weeks of Jan. I will need to buy milk, maybe eggs, some bread.  I am freezing Christmas leftovers to use in Jan that will help the budget .

Babs 

2 cats mom-

His company was bought by the guy who invented MTV and his group of investors- his company is mostly direct mail campaigns, and he's a writer,  We have talked if this guys going to try to change it to be more internet based, less need for his style of writer, the two or four page letter you get to buy things. Direct mail works, is the thing, and internet does sometimes and sometimes not- anyway, his type of job would have to change drastically, and he has never written for the web.  Would you be concerned?

I would be concerned too, there is always changes when a company is bought. Doesn't mean he will lose his job but the uncertainly is there about the direction of the company. Hopefully it all works out for the best! 

Interesting challenge, I planned to eat out of the stocked up stuff in the house  alot but will have to shop for fresh stuff and stuff to fill holes in the pantry like hotdogs, black beans, sugar, kraft dinner plus any great grocery deals.  Have chicken, pork, ham,bacon and some ground beef, frozen veggies, chimchangas, burritos, pizza pops in the freezer,  no fish, hotdogs or reg sausage, have chorizo sausage but since I have the homestay student I can't feed him the same meals over and over. the family doesn't mind if I served beans and hotdogs a couple of days in a row but I think he would.

I have stocked mainly  5 or more..coffee,cold cereal, juice boxes, cake & brownie mixes, cookies, crackers, baked beans, chicken noodle soup, cream of mushroom soup (case lot sale a while back), hamburger helper, spaghetti sauce, pasta. have a few cans of tuna & other canned meat (only cats and I like it), canned fruit, corn, some lentils, reg tea downstairs in the cupboard. some from case lots sales and some from the chrisco hamper.  We only eat canned corn not other canned veggies. chicken soup is for the kids and cream of mushroom is for making crockpot pot dishes since dh doesn't like mushrooms. kids don't like canned fruit either.

Have a wide variety of stuff upstairs in the kitchen like soup, lunch stuff, rice, cereal, crackers, baking stuff, side dishes etc. have lots of main stuff just need stuff to fill the holes, like I have everything for chicken soft tacos etc but the tortillas.  definitely have enough candy from xmas!

I will try to join you but will have to modify! I need to make a meal plan first and check my pantry. My parents gave us about 20 lbs of beef for Christmas and I have three 1 lb packs of bacon, three 1 lb packs of ground sausage, a bag of frozen chicken, some frozen talipia (4 filets), 1/2 a bag of chicken nuggets, two 1 lb packs of lunch meat I froze before it expired (ham and turkey) and a pork loin. Some left over minute steak from the last batch of beef (or cubed steak, if that's what others call it). I think we could get through the month of January without buying meat (and maybe longer!). I have a family of 4, DH, myself and 3 yo and 1 yo sons. I want them to eat balanced and healthy foods with as much fresh fruits, veggies and milk as we can afford. 1 yo son still needs whole milk. So I think I will have to make an exception for fresh fruits/veggies and milk and will still shop for those weekly. I have about 2 lbs of butter and 3 doz eggs to last a while. Plenty of canned veggies and fruits to fill in as needed to stretch. I have several boxed cornbread mixes, muffin mix and plenty of pasta and sauce.

I would be interested in seeing how other folks do with what they have. I know some have different dietary needs and have different things stocked so let's all share how we save grocery $$!

Well, now I'm in, dh did lose his job today- 2 months of severance that I will need to stretch to cover the basic bills and mortgage with unemployment when that kicks in-