Pantry Living weeks 7&8

Happy Summer everyone! These last two weeks were pretty relaxed here in Jersey. The hubby finished his summer program and we have gone to the beach, the pool, the movies, Sam’s, played legos, board games, ate too much food and are enjoying our time together with little stress. Our garden boomed with a huge bushel of tomatoes and several cucumbers. We shared those with our friends. We had another friend in need of some food so we shared 3 grocery bags from our pantry stores with them. The Lord has never let me starve so I can’t sit back and make excuses. “Because I have been given much I too must give.”

Pantry after week 8

Here are the stats:

Unopened boxes of cereal after week 6: 30

Unopened boxes of cereal after week 8: 23

Jars, cans opened: syrup, fruit snacks, cookies, peanut butter, jam, flour, spaghetti sauce, corn, salsa, pasta, box drinks, granola bars, nutella, croutons, goldfish, oil, chips, ziplock bags

Things we ran out of: chicken nuggets/strips, fish sticks,

Allowable purchases: fruit and veggies, bread, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, garlic bread,

Cash purchases: movies, popcorn, doughnuts, pizza, breadsticks, cookies, soda, reusable water bottles for the older 3 kids for school, new shirts for older two, athletic pants for me,ice cream, water ice, soda and beef jerky, plastic spoons, water

Gifts/gift card use: beans, avocado oil, pasta, cereal, cake mix, frosting. I used a gift card to buy myself an awesome North Face jacket, my mom paid for part of it as an early bday gift. Also my mom bought me a new watch. Ain’t she the best?!  I used a gift card to buy new shoes for myself and Lily at a crazy amazing deal. Short story: I saved over $90 with sales and a coupon and Lily’s shoes ended up being free and made my shoes cheaper. Totally screamin’ deal!

Cheats: I bought a few Christmas and bday gifts for amazing deals on Amazon. I had to use my credit card for that. So to make up for it I spent approximately the same amount on fruit and veggies and used cash for those when I could have used my card. Point is I think they cancel each other out so I claim I didn’t cheat :)

Garden: Check it out! This was a single day of harvest. Clearly I was having too much fun that week to pick each day. I usually get 2 tomatoes a day.

How is your summer going? Let me know if you’ve tried your own pantry living!!

Happy Summer!