Pantry Living is complete!

Pantry Living was a success!!!
My documentation of pantry Living....not so much.
July was difficult because I was so consumed with work projects. August was spent on vacation.
For the record, I tried really hard to follow all of my rules while on vacation. I used mostly cash and only cheated with my credit card about 4 times. I actually saved all of my receipts with the intention of documenting it all. But after two weeks on vacation (Disneyland, family fun, mountain hikes, hot air balloon festival, lots of driving and visiting) I was so exhausted I put it off. And then I could never bring myself to actually type about it all.

All my receipts I saved.

My dear niece house sat for us and ate very little of our pantry. I told her she could but she is too kind and was trying to not inconvenience me and my pantry. Because of this we had way more food and stuff at the start of Sept than usual. Just for that I extended the Pantry Living and was doing a soft version. Once David returned to work I began buying food and using my credit card again but not for a full cart just small amounts, the essentials for school lunch and such. Thursday, Sept 27 was the first time since June that I spent over $100 on groceries. That is a huge win in my book.

Our first real grocery trip since June! It is amazing how little $100 buys.

We still have more food than usual in our pantry and honestly, I was disappointed with myself. I started thinking this year I must've made mistakes, not planned our meals well enough, not bought food our family wants, etc. But then the thought came to me....I felt very unprepared this summer but I have grown so accustomed to it all I was actually more prepared than ever before. I have learned how to do it effectively. I have actually been blessed with too much this summer. I wasn't a failure.

Pantry Living after Week 12

Pantry Living Before Week 1

Cereal before week 1 -60
Cereal after week 12- 14
Items we ran out of entirely- Parmesan cheese, canned corn, tuna, frosting, spaghetti
Items we nearly ran out of- Nutella, toilet paper and paper towels (in July we almost ran out but my in laws resupplied us), green beans, olive oil, cake mixes, marshmallows, flour
Items we have too much of- salad dressing, veg oil, Oreos(I delayed opening them and kinda forgot about them. No fear, we will eat them!), pasta sauce,
Regrets- not eating more Oreos, not documenting Aug and Sept better.

Lessons learned
-my children are becoming less about cereal. They enjoy bagels, toast, and oatmeal. And my oldest loves cooking eggs by herself. Next year I may decrease our start on cereal and see where it leaves me.
-Corn dogs are my kids obsession this summer.
- Lily hates corn and being told what to do, and loves cooking fried eggs.
-Max hates spinach and he eats standing up, but requires Tums every night before bed.
-Katy loves rice and hates corn dogs, and would eat ramen noodles and ravioli daily if I allowed it.
-Levi loves cereal and corn dogs, but hates all over meats especially ground beef.
- the hubs will eat everything I cook and his only complaint is I buy too many goodies and then he eats them.
-I don't eat much. I still hate bananas, but if you eat a spoonful of peanut butter first you can successfully swallow bites of banana without tasting it too much.

Garden lessons- next year my one garden bed will stay empty. It was a huge failure this year, it definitely needs a rest.
In the second bed- The peppers grew well but most rotted before being picked. Best guess is too much rain. My cucumbers were so bitter it wasn't worth it. But I know how to grow a cherry tomato like nobody's business. tomatoes were a huge success again!

Our family is happy and healthy and we survived our 6th year of Pantry Living. Many thanks to our parents and friends who brought us food, supplies and were so supportive of my experiment! Much love to you all and Happy Fall❤️