Pantry Living Lessons Learned

 It is over! I am through, for now.

Pantry Living Before

Pantry Living After

I began with 31 unopened boxes of cereal.
I ended with  4 unopened boxes of cereal.

I had the pleasure of grocery shopping with just the baby. I spent an hour going aisle by aisle picking and choosing things we may need, things that we might like. It was nice. I may have gone a bit overboard with on sale cereals though. I bought 13 boxes :)

Anyway, I've learned much during this experiment. Here are a few:

1. I can't do it alone. Without the help of my mom and dad I would've struggled tons. They are so good to me. 
2. My husband and children are super supportive. My family rocks! David even helped with the cooking. He makes amazing crepes, homemade pancakes, stuffed manicotti, and pizza.
3. We don't eat as much BBQ sauce as I thought. 
4. We eat oodles and gobs of peanut butter. 
5. We eat approx 3 boxes of cereal a week. 
6. We eat more canned green beans than canned corn. 
7. Keeping extra loaves of bread in the freezer is a must for us. 
8. Sam's has the best and cheapest toilet paper. And it lasted all summer! 
9. We  make a lot of pancakes and syrup...I think in efforts to use less cereal.
10. If you cheat a rule once (which I did) its so tempting to cheat again (which I did NOT). Hold strong to your principles.
11. WANTS vs NEEDS This is the ultimate lesson for me. If we didn't have it I had to figure out a way to make it work. Most of the time I could do it. This lesson was demonstrated best with my goal of Cash Only, and credit cards just for gas and perishable foods.
12. I am a good shopper and saver. During the winter and spring months I was able to put away cash here and there for my summer spending. Yesterday I pulled out the last $20 from it. I believe I started in June with about $400. Yeah, I'm that good.
13. SUCCESS! I label the experiment a success. I loved it so much I may make it a summer tradition. Its a great way to work through food storage to ensure no food is being left too long on the shelf as well as to test our preparedness and resourcefulness. I would love to compare my current results with future results. If Max eats 2 bowls of cereal now....how much will he eat at age 15????

Thanks for following my progress! May this inspire you to be prepared, test your limits, and pinch your pennies! Happy Pantry Living!