Cleaning Out the Pantry Part 2

After taking inventory of our ‘pantry’ this weekend, which is really one cabinet and shelves hanging on the inside of our teeny coat closet, I realized one imporant thing: I buy way more gallon-sized Ziploc Freezer bags than we could EVER use.

Here’s the inventory:

Pasta
2.5 boxes whole wheat spaghetti
1 box whole wheat rotini
1/2 bag egg noodles
1 box manicotti
2.5 jars Ragu Sauce

Veggies
Black Beans – 1 can
Black Olives – 1 can
Green Beans – 4 cans
Corn – 2 cans
Cream Corn - 1 can
Chicken Broth – 3 cans
Mandarin Oranges – 1 can
Chestnuts - 1 can
Green chiles - 1 can
Rotel - 4 cans
Cranberry Sauce - 1 can
Pumpkin - 1 can
Cream of Chicken Soup - 4 cans
Stewed Tomatoes - 3 cans
Velveeta Mac & Cheese


Freezer/Fridge:
Ricotta Cheese – 2 containers (manicotti)
Venison Roast – hello, crock pot recipe!
Ground Venison – Lasagna? Meatballs? Burgers?
Chicken Tenders – easy, lazy weekend lunch
Lean Cuisines – lunch @ work
Sweet Potato Fries – 2 bags, easy, lazy weekend lunch
5-Cheese Tortellini – easy, quick weeknight dinner
Frozen Shrimp – Shrimp tacos, of course!
Frozen Okra – Brunswick Stew
Frozen Peas – Pastas
Frozen Green Beans – Soup
Whole Wheat Tortillas - shrimp tacos
T. Joe's Organic Brown Rice
Chicken Breast (3)

Sauces, Etc.
T. Joe's Pineapple Salsa - 1 jar
T. Joe's Bruschetta
Hooter's Wing Sauce
T. Joe's Tapenade
BBQ Sauce
Spicy Dijon Mustard

And here’s the breakdown of how it'll all be used:
Gina’s WW Baked Chicken w. Dijon & Lime
Gina’s Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas (tortillas, pineapple salsa)
Mom’s Brunswick Stew (okra, corn, chix broth, frozen green beans)
Spinach, Tomato & Mushroom Manicotti (manicotti, ricotta cheese)
Shrimp Tacos (shrimp, black beans, pineapple salsa, tortillas)
Tortellini w. broccolini & peas (5-cheese tortellini, frozen peas)& salad
Venison Pot Roast w. potatoes & carrotsShrimp w. Spaghetti (spaghetti, shrimp)
Chili (black beans, stewed tomatoes)
Chicken Pot Pie (cream of chicken, canned & frozen veggies)
Shrimp Stir Fry (shrimp, chestnuts, mandarin oranges) 

Saturday we had chili for dinner. 

Sunday I made chicken salad for lunch and tomato, mushroom & spinach manicotti with Greek Salad for dinner. 

Recipes will follow.  Look at this adorable craft room I stumbled upon this weekend at Ikea. I want one!

I'm praying the snow makes its way to DC tonight and gives me a snow day tomorrow!

cBv

Cleaning out the Pantry Part 1

With every New Year comes resolutions, cleaning, organizing and simplifying, and re-establishing healthy eating goals. And so in keeping with the theme I thought now was as perfect a time as ever to clean out the panty {and fridge & freezer}. This means only grocery shopping for the necessities; produce, milk, meat & eggs and using, cooking and eating everything we have on-hand, with the exception of the bulk-sized containers of sea salt, spices and the like. I’ve wanted to do this for a while now but every time the thought crossed my mind it was just wasn’t good timing. Now that things have calmed down, I finally have the time to actually go through our pantry and take stock of what we have and choose recipes to get rid of eat all the food.

Enter the 3 ‘family size’ jars of pasta sauce, that were buy 2 get 3 free at the store, that have made a permanent home on the counter because they don’t fit in the pantry.

I’m curious to see just how long it will take us to clean out and start afresh. I’m hoping to buy even more organic this year and eventually transition to all organic. Thanks to Trader Joe’s (love that place), this will be pretty easy and even easier on my wallet.
  Stay tuned for the inventory and some recipes; who knows what random foods we’ve accumulated.

cBv