Eat From The Pantry Challenge ~ Blessings of A Stock Pile

Money Saving Mom and Life As Mom are both hosting a challenge for the month of January titled, “Eat From The Pantry Challenge”!

When I first saw this challenge, I was a little hesitant to sign on with the idea, however, I gave it much thought, and I’m going to jump on in, and do the best I can! I have been seriously stockpiling for a little over 10 months and have plenty to use to make some great, healthy meals for my family. It will also give me a much needed period of time to use up what is about to expire in the first quarter of 2010! I have never relied on “just” my pantry for more than a week, so this should be very challenging and fun!!

Since each blogger sets up their own rules, I can tailor it to the specific needs of our family. So here are my rules that I will be using during the month of January!

1. No Take Out or Drive Through Meals. *I have a couple of business dinners that I have to attend, but other than that, no food outside of the house. “All meals need to be prepared from the food I already have on hand.”

2. The only things I’m going to go to the grocery store for are: Fruits, Vegetables, Milk, Eggs, and Bread. Hopefully, I am going to make 90% of my bread with the ingredients I already have on hand.

3. If an item is “REALLY Rock Bottom” or FREE at a particular store, I am allowing my self to buy it to add to my stock pile. Since there are times of the year where particular items are sold at rock bottom, I want to make sure I get these items. So basically, I will only buy something if it close to free or FREE, but will try and use what I have on hand before using the new stuff, unless I am out of it.

4. The extra money saved from not being in the grocery store every week will go into savings!! “smile”

I will be posting my successes, challenges, and recipes I come up with during this time!

I would love for you all to try and eat from your stock piles in January, or at least a few meals a week can be from your stock piles!! I hope you leave me some of your recipes, and ideas as well!

A few months ago I wrote an article on the, Blessings of Stockpiling, and several of you asked to see pictures of my stockpile. At the time, I felt that my stock pile wasn’t picture worthy to show you, but during the past week, I have organized it enough to go ahead and show you!!

One of the ideas I have for the year 2010 is to write articles, tips, and ideas on a regular basis on stockpiling and the blessing of stockpiling! I am very excited to do this!! Stockpiling is a hobby of mine that is both Frugal & Fun, and I would love to share my adventures, tips, and tricks with all of you. There are so many blessings from stock piling for both your immediate family and for others, and I really want to talk about that with all of you.

Below are the pictures of my stockpile area, which is in my basement. Remember, I have been seriously dong this for about 10 months. I hope you will find these pictures encouraging and motivating to set time aside each week to watch the sales and use coupons even more in the year 2010.

So get ready to join me on a regular series of building and utilizing your stockpile!!