Clean Out Yo' Pantry Challenge-Extravoganza

My sister Sarah, has a great blog about living frugally, and last week she announced a contest for all of her readers and anyone else who would like to participate.  It is a month long challenge to cook with what you already have in the pantry and freezer (click on this link for more details.)  I'm participating and will be blogging about it. 

Step #1 The pantry/freezer inventory:

I swear it's feast or famine around here! Some days the fridge is bare and other times we are stacking things like tetris blocks!

Do we have enough condiments? 

Oh, and this blog post is not sponsored by Hersey's syrup! I had an ice cream feed for my kids on the last day of school and over bought.

Jealous of our spacious pantry aren't ya!

Nope, not a cake that's what I store my homemade bread in.

Eek! I need to move some of this stuff into the freezer out in the man den.

What the hell can I make w/ 45 lbs of summer sausage and 20 cups of peaches?

Step #2: Figure out a meal plan.  Thanks to Sarah's brilliant suggestion, I already plan our meals on a weekly basis, here is a rough outline of what I have planned for the next few weeks.  Our pantry and freezer are bursting with food, so I am adding a personal challenge -- I cannot buy more than one ingredient for each recipe, and I am also trying to keep our weekly grocery bill to +/- $25.

Week #1 (March 13-19)

Sausage & Kale soup 

Chicken pot pies w/ asparagus 
Shakshuka 
Black beans & rice 
Week #2 (March 20-26)

Spaghetti w/ meatballs & focaccia (WTF!!! spellcheck suggestions for focaccia: fogyish, freakish, dogcatcher, cowcatcher & quackish)

Egg Pie w/ frozen broccoli

Mexican pizza w/ salad

Chicken tortilla soup w/ salad

Week #3 (March 27-April 2)

Orange soup AKA butternut squash, sweet potato & carrot soup

Salmon w/ quinoa & frozen broccoli 
Meatloaf w/ homemade bread & peas

Fajitas w/ Spanish rice

Week #4 (April 3-9)

Venison curry w/ rice

Hamburgers w/ salad

Cabbage & Noodles
Stirfry w/ rice

Week #5 (April 10-16)

enchiladas w/ Spanish rice

Chana Masala

Kale and white bean stew

Phoning it in...something leftover from the freezer