Pantry Challenge Week #2

Week Two's greatest success was that I only spent $38 at the grocery store. I love that groceries can be brought into the house in one trip and spending less time at the grocery store is a bonus as well. The week was filled with common meals; things I have made before. Friday's meal was enjoyed the most, but that had more to do with the company and conversation than the food.

• Monday's rib eye steak, marinated in Yoshida sauce was yum, but the Suddenly Salad creamy ranch and bacon was blah. We deemed it not even worthy of leftovers.
• Tuesday's meal was to be fish—fish I found in the freezer but couldn't remember purchasing. I did remember that it wasn't well liked the last time I made it, who knows how long ago. I just couldn't bring myself to fix the fish, so we opted for a frozen bag meal of orange chicken with jasmine rice. This provided enough for lunches the next day.
• Wednesday I faced the fish again, and again just couldn't do it, so the fish got pitched and we opted for Saturday's meal, which was eggs, hash browns, and sausage. Meh—and that is all I have to say about that meal.
• Thursday, we had simple ham sandwichs. Both the ham and buns were leftover from sometime around Christmas, and although not a glamorous meal, it was tasty. 
• Friday was the "fanciest" meal of the week because that is the day that our son often comes to dinner. When it is just hubs and I, we can get away with pancakes or waffles. What a treat to have son thrilled to see me making stuffed shells, as that is exactly what he had been craving. Plenty leftover for lunch the next day.
• Saturday was a boxed pizza that had been in the fridge a while and . . .
• Sunday was simply pancakes, made from a box of oatmeal pancake mix I found shoved to the back of the cupboard.

Dessert for the week was a version of my multiple choice bars that had pretzels for the crust, ice cream caramel sauce, dark chocolate chips, pecans, and cinnamon chex. These were not nearly as good as the first version of multiple choice bars I made two weeks ago, but they did disappear. Yesterday, I rounded up the last sleeve of ritz crackers, some peanut butter, leftover semi-sweet chips, and white chocolate bark to pull together chocolate covered Ritz peanut butter cookies. If you have never had these simple cookies, you are missing out on a great, simple treat.

As we look to next week, it seems we have plenty of fixin's for all sorts of soup, but I don't desire soup every night. With a little extra head scratching, I have come up with some good variety and we will be trying at least two new recipes. For dessert, I have made our favorite brownies, pictured here. They probably won't last all week. I have a new recipe ready for dessert back-up, and the best part, I have all the ingredients on hand.

What to do with all the money I am saving? Well, you will have to wait at least another week to see what I am planning on purchasing.