Stephen:
The Cave Book (Wonders of Creation)
Christy:
After Eden: Understanding Creation, the Curse, and the Cross
Hannah:
Elsie Dinsmore
Marissa:
Case for Christ--Student Edition
Elisabeth:
The Complete Ramona Collection
Emily:
Charlotte's Web
Elijah's read-aloud:
The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
Rebecca's latest:
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
and
Prayer for a Child
Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge
December 31st, 2009 | 
Author: 
What?
The photo upload capabilities of my blogging software have gone the way of my energy–away. I have a very talented man that can fix these things, but the blogging frenzy of a woman with a mission can wait for no man, not even the near-genius who will have this quirk eliminated about thirty seconds after downing his first cup of java.
December is nearly over. I over-spent. Part of me would love to bid farewell to Legos and babydolls and new slippers on Christmas, much as the Voskamp family has done, thus maintaining an even clearer focus and eliminating overspending. The other part of me, however, loves watching my children thoughtfully plan, budget, sew, shop, wrap, relate the story behind the gift, and delight in the recipient’s joy, all in conjunction with Christ’s birth. I don’t doubt that God similarly loves watching our delight in receiving The Ultimate Christmas Gift.
Regardless, December once again has seen me exceeding the budget by just a hair…or a hair ball, to be truthful. Therefore, January is a perfect time to jump on board the Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge sponsored by Crystal and FishMama.
The premise behind the challenge stems from the wealth of food most of us have stored up which we forget about and eventually toss. No matter how inexpensively the goods were obtained, tossed food is a waste in more ways than one. While we buy on sale, stock up, and rotate our supply, it is the latter part, the rotating, that will be heavily exercised this month.
My goal is to spend no more than $250 on groceries for eight people this month, while eating through our supplies. Why so much? We eat heavily from fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. Our garden supplies nothing, and our freezer is not currently loaded with enough produce to get us through the month. While I could rely on our canned supply, I simply do not want to. (Pout, stomp foot.) I should have enough in that budget to buy produce, milk, eggs, and cheese–hey, I’m from Wisconsin, and cheese is its own food group dontchaknow.
This cleansing will allow me a fresh start in February, as well as the chance to scrub out the freezer. (Thanking God for the ability to scrub a freezer!) It will also free up a bit of the grocery money for debt reduction.
Normally something like this would tempt me to stock up in advance, but the purpose is not to merely succeed in January, but to succeed as wise financial stewards in general all the time. So…no cheating (Stern look, slapping ruler into palm of hand.)
If you wish to join this challenge, hop on board. I think you’d be surprised how long you can go without really shopping. Of course, this will require a bit of creativity, some exercise for the ol’ noggin, but we’re all up for that, aren’t we?
Look at that: he’s only halfway through his first cup of joe and he’s got the photo bug fixed already. Let’s see if I can fix the budget as well as he can fix everything else. Feel free to hold me accountable! In fact, please do.
Posted in 
Tags: 34 Responses to “Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge”
Leave a Reply
I’d join you, except we’d be living off the leftover popcorn & cat food. Yeah, we shop/eat/shop again ~ realistically, we ought to be ‘stocking up’ more – I do have a cubby with soups & such that I picked up through some great sales not long ago, but hubby won’t touch ‘em. I used the words ‘squash’ and ‘soup’ in the same sentence the other day and he twitched.
[adorable pic!]
That’s so funny! My husband literally cannot swallow lima beans.
Ha! Why is it that our cameras and their related equipment always fail us right when we are ready to post or upload or share pics?? Mine does the same. I can never find the silly connector cords and flail around the house until my husband – inevitably – tracks them down in the most obvious of places. So, all that to say, I know what you mean. And I’m glad you found yours – because – that picture – priceless!
[...] to stop feasting. Christy a new member of the High Calling Network talked about this in her post: Eat from the Pantry Challenge. She has aptly categorized this post under “frugal family [...]
Hi Christy — Found you through High Calling and just about laughed to see that other people actually have a name for what I have been trying to do: eat through to the bottom of my pantry and freezer before splurging and spending on my cravings and desires again. I haven’t put rules to the project, per se, but it is helping to foster a greater sense of gratitude that I have more food just going stale in the cabinet than most people have to eat at all. Thanks for putting words to this discipline.
Found you through High Calling as well and tremendously enjoyed your humorous and relevant post. Thanks for giving lots of food from the panty for thought!
Christy, mostly signing in to say nicely done!
cindy hanson´s last blog ..4 Ways to Hear God
This is certainly my initial stop by and I really like what I’m seeing. Your weblog is so much fun to look over, quite compelling as well as informative. I’ll undoubtedly recommend it to my friends. Nevertheless, I did have some problem with the commenting. It kept giving me an problem whenever I clicked on publish comment. I hope, that can be fixed. Many thanks
I enjoyed reading this post about Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge. Really interesting. I will come back to visit this blog again.
This is a great post Christy, gave me a chuckle. I’m definitely going to try this, I hate to think how much food we throw away in our house. We ignore so many boxes of stuff we have already bought. My husband is the worst culprit.
If you can spend only $250 in grocery for 8 people per month that would be amazing! Its only me and my boyfriend and we spend about that much just the two of us.
Fred@Los Angeles Divorce´s last blog ..Improve Your Search for a Los Angeles Divorce Attorney
Me and my family use around $1000 each month on groceries – sometimes even more. More and more of the household budget is used on food….
You shouldn’t have to skimp on the things you like. If you plan your budget right, choose to be smart, and know what to buy and when, the rest will happen on it’s own. Just take it slow. Every month, lower you budget a little more. Once you get into the groove and start to see some savings, you’ll be more comfortable knowing what your family’s needs are, and how that matches up with a reasonable food budget.
Nice, neat work! Happy I came by your page first to have read this!
You know what, we are very lucky because we still got dimes to spend for food, things and even luxury. Nowadays, more and more people are getting jobless and homeless.That is a great challenge we can consider. It is also good to teach kids at a very young age to become thrifty.
I am curious, how much did you end up spending in the January. It sure looks like a great challenge, but it’s almost over. Wonder if they’ll be doing it again this year. Christmas is almost here.
Kevin@How To Get My Ex Back´s last blog ..5 Signs Your Ex Wants You Back
That’s a real challenge. I hope the table turns for you this year. Though it’s an inspiration for us to manage money because it doesn’t continue to overflow.
Such a cute post! Groceries can be really expensive!
Sharon@Philadelphia Divorce´s last blog ..Useful Tips in Finding the Best Philadelphia Divorce Lawyer
What a cute picture!! Its great to teach kids at such a young age. They will appreciate a lot more.
Sharon@Philadelphia Divorce´s last blog ..Useful Tips in Finding the Best Philadelphia Divorce Lawyer
Hi there excellent blog! Does running a blog like this take a lot of work? I have absolutely no understanding of coding but I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyways, if you have any suggestions or techniques for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off topic nevertheless I just wanted to ask. Many thanks!
I would like to express appreciation to you just for bailing me out of such a predicament. After surfing throughout the search engines and coming across thoughts which were not beneficial, I thought my entire life was over. Living without the presence of solutions to the problems you’ve solved as a result of this website is a serious case, as well as ones that could have in a wrong way affected my entire career if I hadn’t come across the website. Your good training and kindness in dealing with a lot of things was precious. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had not encountered such a step like this. I am able to now relish my future. Thanks a lot very much for this impressive and results-oriented guide. I won’t hesitate to endorse your web blog to any individual who should get recommendations on this topic.
Many thanks, I’ve recently been searching for details about this topic for ages and yours is the very best I have discovered so far.
Nice post! funny and it was nice to read thanks for sharing….
What a great write-up! No idea how you wrote this report..it’d take me long hours. Well worth it though, I’d suspect. Have you considered selling ads on your blog?
projektowanie stron internetowych, best prices
Really beneficial many thanks, There’s no doubt that your current followers may well want a lot more info of this nature. Maintain the good work!
It’s best to take part in a contest for probably the greatest blogs on the web. I will advocate this site!
An newsworthy language is worth account. I judge that you should make more on this topic, it mightiness not be a preconception field but generally people are not enough to utter on specified topics. To the next. Cheers like your Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge.
An engrossing communication is couturier report. I guess that you should indite many on this content, it power not be a prejudice master but mostly fill are not enough to communicate on specified topics. To the next. Cheers like your Eat-From-the-Pantry Challenge.
I loved up to you will obtain performed proper here. The sketch is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish. however, you command get got an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following. sick unquestionably come further earlier once more as exactly the similar just about a lot ceaselessly inside case you protect this increase.
I was on Twitter looking for Hypnosis for weight loss when I found a link to this blog, happy I stopped by. Very Nice Photos
I don’t even know how I finished up here, but I believed this put up was great. I do not recognise who you are however certainly you’re going to a famous blogger should you aren’t already
Cheers!
It’s actually a cool and helpful piece of info. I’m glad that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
Cheers!
I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already