Pantry Living 5th Year Running

 I hope you’re as excited as I am. I think my hubby is most excited for my credit card to collect dust. My amazing hubby shapes minds and behavior as a Special Education Self-Contained Behavior Teacher for 10 months of the year. He just completed his 6th year at this school, and this is our 5th Summer in our beautiful home. Since beginning this journey 5yrs ago we’ve added a 4th child and a dog. We are happy and healthy and blessed with enough. But summer’s are difficult because despite teaching a summer program the teacher’s salary is only a 10 month contract. His district does not offer a 12 month option. I started Pantry Living to help us through July and August. It can be tricky, but I think it is a fun challenge.

So here are my self imposed rules

• Live off my pantry stores and my freezer
• No grocery shopping
• Allowable purchases with a credit card: Dairy, eggs, bread, produce
• Any other purchases must be made with cash (I have a small stash I squirrelled away.)
• Start Date: David’s 1st day of summer vacation
• End Date: David’s 1st day of school in September (usually 12 weeks)

We begin our journey with

• 55 boxes of unopened cereal
• 16 boxes of pasta
• 11 jars of spaghetti sauce
• 8 bags of flour
• 6 giant tubs of peanut butter
• 63 rolls of toilet paper (this won’t be enough I predict)

Pantry on June 22nd!

I don’t stock up a ton in June. That would defeat the purpose. I try to space out my shopping all year, shop sales, and keep a good food supply as a just in case. When cereal is on a good sale I buy 6 boxes instead of 2. I buy meat in bulk on sale and then bag it and freeze it in our family serving size.  I inventoried our pantry, and our freezer, and our bathroom closet. My goal is to finish the summer without breaking my rules, without running out of cash, and to have fun!

My garden is growing! This year I’m growing cucumbers, volunteer zucchini, bush green beans, and two kinds of tomatoes. I’ve already successfully killed all my herbs. I had cilantro, basil and oregano.

Wish us luck!

Happy Summer!