Weeks 6 & 7

Family time is the best! We've had a month of visitors and it was dreamy. My sweet niece that stayed with us for July just left and her place was quickly filled with more family that we haven't seen in years. We spent a few fantastic days together hitting the beach and rides and loving life. We are so blessed.

Pantry after week 6

Pantry after week 7

Quick pantry recap:
Unopened boxes of cereal after week 5: 29
Unopened boxes of cereal after week 6: 22
Unopened boxes of cereal after week 7: 18

Allowable purchases: gas,
Cash purchases: ham, bread, pepperoni, cheese, raspberries, blueberries, apples, bananas, grapes, potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, graham crackers, chocolate bars, marshmallows, root beer, ice cream, pencils, contact solution, curtain rod, bug zapper, clothes, flip-flops,
Gifts purchased with cash: board games (christmas presents), toys(christmas presents), pillows & wash cloths (wedding gift), play-doh (b-day gift)
Cheats: originally my amazing deals for christmas were done with a credit card but I put my cash in the bank the next day so it forgave the cheat. These were the most amazing deals at Target! I spent $113 and saved over $156. Seriously so good!
Jars/bottles opened: ranch dressing, graham crackers, choc bars, marshmallows, root beer, sprite, sandwich bags, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, rice, applesauce, chips, vanilla wafers, cookies, pudding mix,
Food gifts: cereal, milk

Garden update: my zuchini plant is dead. I am so sad. I only got three beautiful zucchinis from it this year. Last year I got 8. It suddenly died in a matter of days. Everything I reseached says it was probably a vine burrowing bug that killed it. My tomatoes are unaffected.  They are flourishing. My green beans have been plentiful but are starting to turn yellow and aren't looking so good. We've been very dry lately and I'm not the best at watering them because it usually rains every few days to help me out. I need to improve for their sake.

Exactly one more month of pantry living. Wow! Time is flying by.

Happy Summer!

Pantry Living Week 5

I didn't cheat this week! I'm really proud of that.

We kept busy this week at the beach twice, the aquarium, playground, Grammy's pool, and lots of playing.
This week I lost my cell phone and my two year old, separately. I am pleased to announce both were found!

Pantry after week 5

Here our the stats:
 Unopened boxes of cereal after week 4: 33
Unopened boxes of cereal after week 5: 29
Cash purchases: cilantro, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pencils, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, flip-flops, rash guard, silly cups, parking, tortilla chips
Allowable credit purchases: gas, oil change
Gifts: 2 mangos, milk
Yummy treats I made: banana crumb cake, mango salsa
Items opened: ketchup, flour, goldfish, large box of granola bars, ranch dressing, toilet paper, water bottles, sandwich bags, plastic wrap, salsa

This keeps happening

 The garden is practically throwing tomatoes at us. My zucchini plant is still only half alive, but the alive side is growing a nice zucchini for me. I've also decided next year I want to build a second raised bed garden. But this one I want to be for my children. They regularly get scolded for harvesting veggies without permission. They need plants to tend and responsibility. We discussed it and they have grande plans, so far they want to plant tomatoes, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and zucchini. We'll work out those details later. But they are entirely thrilled!

Let me know how what you're doing for fun.

Happy Summer!

Mango Salsa

 

 My kind daddy bought me two mangoes. They were delicious! I ate one accidentally one night. I just wanted to taste it and then it was gone. oops. With my second I made yummy mango salsa that my children won't eat. In my opinion, they decided before tasting it they didn't like it. I'm not that upset, more for me!  :)

I found a recipe on pinterest, reduced it greatly (they wanted me to use 6 mangos). Ran to the grocery store at 10pm to buy fresh cilantro. And made up the quantities that I thought would be best.
 

 

I used a bunch of my fresh tomatoes, one small onion, and one mango.

 

I chopped all of those up.

Then I chopped some cilantro. 

I added three cap fulls of lime juice 

and one dollop of olive oil,

and a little salt.

That's it!

Super tasty Mango Salsa!

Pantry Living Week 4

Another week has zipped along. We are blessed to have our niece staying with us this month. She is a beautiful nine year old who helps lots with little Levi and plays wonderfully with the other kiddos too. We are going through a touch more food than usual but I'm glad to have her here.

Pantry after Week 4

Week 3 unopened cereal: 36
Week 4 unopened cereal: 33
Allowable purchases: bread, sour cream, yogurt, OJ, bananas, juice, margarine, whipped cream, carrots, gas, renew Sam's membership
Cash purchases: pizza, $1 summer movie and popcorn, dumpling wrappers
Yard sale finds: kid clothes, books
Cheats: doughnuts, inexpensive christmas present
Opened jars/boxes: pancake mix, bbq sauce, french dressing, Sprite, graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate bars, plastic wrap, twizzlers
Gifts: 3 boxes of cereal from my sweet Daddy 

Garden Gains: one monster zucchini, 8 tomatoes, a bushel of green beans

I'm worried about my garden. My strawberry plant I've given up on. The birds stole all the strawberries it grew except for three. My green beans are doing fine. One tomato bush is big and full of green beauties. The second tomato bush is trying to take over my back yard. It is pulling over the cage. It is resting its arms on the green beans and in the other direction on the zucchini. I've had to reinforce the cage and add a second cage beside it to hold up the weight. But my real concern is for my zucchini plant that was beautiful and healthy until we had a foot or so of rain dump on us on Wednesday. It appears the down pour damaged one half of the plant. I'm not sure if it will recover. But I'm keeping it in my prayers. Yes, I pray for my vegetables. It can't hurt. 

Confession: Yes, I am on "pantry living". No, I'm not supposed to buy anything except my originally designated items. But I can't allow an amazing deal to get passed up if I am certain it will cost me significantly more if I wait until September. Last week, I had a long list of cheats.Some were food items that were needed to help me host 33 people at my home for our family reunion. Several had nothing to do with my reunion. I bought my hubby really nice new flip-flops that were on clearance for $4.81. Seriously, I couldn't pass that up. Also I got each of my potty trained kids underwear in the next size up because I encountered an amazing deal. 10 pairs for $6. If you've ever shopped for kid underwear you'll understand how crazy expensive they are. And when you have as many kids as I do I can't pass those savings up. This week I bought an item that a certain family member will really appreciate. I got it for about $6. It is worth the tiny cheat in my book.

Confession #2: I really like doughnuts. That was my other cheat this week. I could have rung that order up separately at the grocery store since it cost $3.39 and freed myself from the "cheat". but it is just easier to confess it than hassle the clerk and the already long lines at the grocery store and the 4 children I had holding on to my shopping cart.

Hope you're filling your bellies with good food and your home with good fun!

Happy Summer!

Pantry Living Weeks 2 & 3

This last two weeks have been crazy! We hosted a marvelous Vigue family reunion. There were 33 of us eating and playing at our house for a week. Each family took turns providing a dinner but my pantry helped fill in the gaps. Some of the details of these days is foggy but I'll try and recap what happened with our pantry.

Pantry after week 2

Pantry after week 3

After Week 1 unopened cereal: 51
After Week 2 unopened cereal: 43
After Week 3 unopened cereal: 36
Cash purchases: swimsuit and shirt for my niece, dress for my daughter, ice cream, funnel cake, bananas, apples, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, burger king, pizza,
Cheats:  plastic forks, Italian dressing, ranch dressing, styrafoam bowls, peanuts, juice, frosted brownies, cookies, notebooks, socks, flip-flops, kids' underwear,
Allowed purchases: watermelon, sour cream, milk, eggs, gas, bread, cheese
Items opened: strawberry jam, spaghetti sauce, napkins, case of water, corn starch, vanilla, hand soap, several Italian and Ranch dressings, cookies, soda, Powerade, box of margarine, flour, tortillas, corn chips, mayo, fruit snacks, veg oil, syrup
Good Gardening: 1 monster zucchini, 1 bushel of green beans, 5 very large grape tomatoes, a few small strawberries(the birds are stealing them)

My first harvest! The tomatoes were all devoured before they could be photographed.

Our reunion was fantastic and we made wonderful memories together. My sweet family was concerned about depleting my pantry. They are so kind and respectful of this summer project I impose upon myself. I tried to be accommodating and allow them to anything they might need from our pantry. In the end we used more than usual but we still have mountains of food left. We used gobs of toilet paper but I was prepared for that one ;)

I told you there were a lot of us. The 3 of us pic below weren't even it this one.

We were the photographers for the group photo.

We take this reunion thing very seriously.

All the grandkids with Grammy and Pop storming Vigue Beach!

Happy Summer!

Pantry Living Week 1

Week 1 was fun! We went to the beach. We went to the boardwalk and went on the rides. We played inside and outside. We visited the library and checked out movies. We got ice cream and even bought a pizza for lunch one day.
The beach required no money,
the boardwalk and rides-no money,
playing- free
library- free
movies- free
ice cream- Grammy treated us
pizza- I used my cash.
We had so much fun and spent very little. It was great. Our beaches do require tags and the rides do require tickets. I bought all of those back in the spring with cash so that was my summer fun investment.

Pantry after week 1

Stats after week 1-
Unopened boxes of cereal before week 1: 54
Unopened boxes of cereal after week 1: 51
Allowable purchases: gas
Cash purchases: family picture poster for our reunion, pizza, Rainforest Cafe(end of school celebratory lunch),  two boxes of fruit snack that I forgot to buy last week, ice cream/milk shakes to celebrate after recital, two boogie boards
Credit Card cheats: tummy medicine, flowers for Lilia's dance recital,
Items/jars opened this week: large peanut butter, box of margarine, box of butter, flour, Italian dressing, sandwich bags, hand soap, cookies, large box of goldfish, bag of tortilla chips, pack of toilet paper

Our garden hasn't produced anything yet. And I think the birds are eating the  few emerging strawberries.
Let me know how your garden is doing.

Happy Summer!

Pantry Living Third Time Around

Summer time and the livin' is easy. I'm loving life and my pantry is bursting at the seams. So here's the deal:
My awesome hubby is a special ed middle school teacher. He teaches in a self-contained behavior classroom. He is amazing at his job and works so hard for 10 solid months to provide for our growing family. But he only receives his salary during those 10 tough months. Unfortunately, our family still needs to eat in the summer. My good hubby teaches a summer enrichment program in his district during the summer but it isn't quite the same financially. I am trying my best to be a great mom and great wife. I try to be fun and give my family lasting memories all year long. Summer holds lots of excitement here at the Jersey Shore and we love it. But I try really hard to make it possible for us to experience the fun without emptying our savings account. So two years ago I started "Pantry Living". It is a self-imposed project that helps us spend less but still eat well. I set guidelines for myself and report on our progress weekly. I document it with pics of the pantry and our garden.

Here are my rules:
-No grocery shopping or any shopping.
-Allowable purchases: fruits and veggies, bread, eggs, and dairy
-No credit cards except for allowable foods and gas.
-Cash only. If I want to treat us to ice cream I use my cash. If I want to buy a new skirt I use my cash. If I want to buy pizza for dinner I use my cash. My cash is saved up from doing odd sewing jobs for friends and teaching dance. I do not get cash from the bank. When I run out of cash for the summer, oh well.

Pantry Living begins on my hubby's last day of school in June and goes until his first day of school in Sept. This project helps me see what food we really eat. It helps me rotate my pantry. It helps me see if we could really sustain ourselves during a zombie apocalypse. I try to shop all year long as if my hubby's job was in jeopardy. I hope we'd be ok for about 3 months if we were in a financial tough spot.

 Here is the pic of the pantry on my hubby's last day of school.

Ready, Set, GO!

 My food has started to stretch to the other side of the pantry too. It sure looks like a lot of food but trust me when I say it will be gone in a flash.

Our garden was planted in May and has already flourished. I planted one zucchini plant, two grape tomato plants and three rows of green beans. Also one cilantro (which is already dead) and a small bucket strawberry plant. I love to mix marigolds all around. They help deter bugs and add lovely color to the space. 

Our garden when planted in May.

Last year I created an Inventory List. I kept track of how many of each item we started with and what was left at the end. A few went into the negatives because I had to cheat and buy extra flour and such. We have some goodies and chips and things but even those must last all summer.

A few beginning stats:
Unopened boxes of cereal: 54
Rolls of Toilet Paper: 72
Jars of Peanut Butter: 5
Bottles of Laundry Detergent: 11
Jars of Spaghetti Sauce: 13

I hope this will inspire you to test your preparedness and live financially savvy.

Happy Summer!