How to do a pantry challenge?

Simply organize your pantry, make a meal plan, and pledge to eat everything you buy . You'll save money, you'll save on waste, and you'll probably benefit from healthier eating habits while you're at it.

How long can you do a pantry challenge?

I have done them for a week with no grocery budget at all. Or one for two weeks with half of our regular grocery budget. I would say most pantry challenges can go up to a month before there needs to be major grocery shopping done! Obviously, this depends on the size of your family and your stockpile.

What is pantry challenge?

A pantry challenge is a quest to eat as much of the food in the house that you already have, with little to no grocery shopping . The purpose is threefold: to eat the food you have. reduce your food waste. save money by having no grocery list or grocery bill for a length of time.

How do you do a food challenge?

Have a food allergy? A food challenge test may be an option for your family. A food challenge is a definitive procedure for testing whether someone can tolerate a specific food. During the challenge, your child will be given small, increasing amounts of the food in question and monitored very closely for a reaction .

How do people finish food challenges?

Stomach elasticity is usually considered the key to eating success, and competitors commonly train by drinking large amounts of water over a short time to stretch out the stomach . Others combine the consumption of water with large quantities of low calorie foods such as vegetables or salads.

How do you layout a walk in pantry?

If your pantry space is large enough to walk in and have three walls of shelving, think about using deeper shelves on one side for small appliances, serving dishes, baking dishes and such. Then shelves on the other side not so deep to store food, like canned goods, cereal boxes, dry foods and such.

How do you stage a walk in pantry?

Staging a walk-in pantry requires careful planning and organization. Start by decluttering and removing any unnecessary items. Then, organize the remaining items by category, such as baking supplies, canned goods, and snacks. Use clear containers for loose items like pasta or rice so they're easily identifiable.

How to do a walk in pantry?

You can always include lower cabinets or open shelves as walk-in pantry ideas. However, pull-out drawers will make storing and retrieving food items a breeze. Line up boxes, bags, and cans and use narrow baskets to group flimsier packages, such as bread or nuts.

What should be in a walk in pantry?

Walk In Pantry With Cabinets Cabinets in a walk-in pantry provide plenty of storage for pantry items, kitchen essentials, and household supplies . They can accommodate a wide range of items, including dry goods, canned goods, kitchen appliances, cleaning supplies, and more.

Take the Pantry Challenge - Rules and Recipes (2024)

By Marjory Pilley Published Dec 28, 2019 · Updated Sep 23, 2022

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Take the Pantry Challenge and use up the food in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. It will help you organize your kitchen AND save money too.

When should you do it?

After holidays to use up the special ingredients you bought.
At the beginning of the year to save a little cash.
Seasonally to keep everything in order.
When you can't find anything in your pantry or freezer or you're throwing out expired food.
To make room in your pantry/refrigerator/freezer for a healthy dinner plan.

You can even make this part of your monthly shopping routine!

Pantry Challenge Rules

You set the rules for YOUR challenge to eat the pantry clean. Here's what to cover:

#1 Set a time frame for the challenge.

If you've never done it before then try it for 7-10 days. Once you're a veteran, try it for even longer!

My time frame: 7 days

#2 Decide if you will step foot in a grocery store.

If you are, what's your budget? There are many reasons to allow this. You may need certain products for special diets or for children. Or, you may want a little wiggle room for fresh items, like milk or fresh produce.

My goal: $20

#3 Clean out your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry.

Work in sections (i.e. start with spices, dry goods, refrigerator and then the freezer.) Lift out everything. Discard anything that has expired. Donate or give away items that you definitely don't plan to use.

#4 Make an inventory of what's left.

Simply make a list of everything you have on hand. Highlight or place an asterisk next to items that you need to use asap.

#5 Create a meal plan.

This is the fun part and you should definitely get the family involved. Print out our free meal planner and follow the easy process to set-up a weekly meal plan using the food you have on hand.

Get creative. When things start running low, think about dishes you enjoy and whether you can substitute something you have to come up with a new favorite. For example, make chicken fajitas instead of beef. What's Cooking America's Baking and Cooking Ingredient Substitution Chart is also a great resource.

Recipes Ideas

Just because you're eating your pantry clean doesn't mean meals should be boring. Here are some recipe ideas that are easily customized based upon what you have on hand:

Breakfast

Eggs - Make it a scramble and stir in vegetables or beans.
Quiche - Use the basic quiche template and variation suggestions in Crustless Quiche to Make-Ahead and Freeze.
Smoothies - Substitute different berries in our Simple Strawberry Smoothie recipe.
Muffins - If you stocked up on baking supplies, make muffins! Do you have cans of pumpkin puree? Make one of these Pumpkin Muffin Recipes.
Oatmeal - Load it up with toppings such as nuts and frozen or fresh fruit. Follow our directions to make steel-cut oatmeal in a crock-pot.

Of course, use up any ready-to-serve items, such as frozen waffles or boxed cereal.

Lunch and Dinner

Rice Bowls - Make rice, quinoa, farro...or any grain base for a bowl. Add in protein, vegetables, cheese, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, crunchy toppings and drizzle with a little sauce. What sauce? Use salad dressing or use olive oil and vinegar.
Soups - Many of these Soup Recipes are customizable by swapping out the protein.
Salads - Use those greens up early in the challenge so they don't go bad.
Pasta - You can add just about anything to Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic.
Breakfast for dinner!

If you have:

Ground beef - make crumbles for Gourmet Sloppy Joes or make Turkey Meatloaf Muffins (you'll need ground beef, chicken or turkey, cheese and breadcrumbs or oatmeal, onion and salsa.)
Chicken breast- my favorite sheet pan recipe is Mediterranean Chicken Bake. You can easily swap out the ingredients in this recipe.
Beans - go meatless! Use them in place of meat in the ideas above.

Use up any frozen dinners and vegetables!

Snacks

Here are some healthy snack options

Fruit
Cheese and vegetables or crackers
Energy Balls - Use any nut butter in this recipe. Swap Medjool dates for an equal amount of honey.
Trail mix - Use nuts, cereal, dried fruit to make these.
Healthy Veggie Muffins - these recipes call for only a few ingredients

Good luck and have fun!

Did you take the pantry challenge? Do you have questions or tips to share? Leave a comment below!

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