Eating from the Pantry

My friend Paige did this post about making dinner from things you already have in your pantry. The idea is that we already have pantry's full of food that we often don't use and forget about what is in there. I am not a very skilled cook and I am very guilty of just that. I have lots of cans of "stuff" and often go to the store without looking in my pantry and end up just buying more stuff.

So, this month, I have taken on the challenge of cooking from my freezer and pantry. My goal is to cook dinner every night using at least one item from my freezer or pantry. My friend Paige is being much more strict about it and giving herself a $100 a week grocery budget (there are seven in her family) but I am not quite there yet.

So far, things have gone very smoothly. We have had tacos (from hamburger found in my freezer--it was in the way back, I had forgotten it was there) and taco shells and seasoning from the pantry, pork tenderloin (another freezer item) seasoned from some spices I have in my pantry, a 1/2 bag of taquitos for lunch (forgotten in the freezer), noodles with salami and parmesan (pantry and the salami I bought about a month ago that has just been sitting in our refrigerator) and beans and guacamole (the pinto beans were from my pantry as well the chips). We have also had green beans every night (a Costco, freezer item) as a side as well as various canned fruits (a lot of pineapple). I know I am saving money and I am loving how much space I am gaining in my freezer and pantry.