I write a lot about self-sufficiency, building up food storage, and living off the land, but I still purchase things from the grocery store. Many years ago, a community of one hundred and seventy other readers joined me to take the 14-day pantry challenge together. It was inspiring and empowering!
We discovered that a pantry challenge can save money on your grocery bill. Get started with these meal ideas and tips, and eat the food you have.
There are a lot of fun challenges that you can join online with other people. I know many homesteaders who participate in a Pantry Challenge every year for the month of January. There's also a fun trend called “No Spend November,” where you're challenged not to spend extra money throughout the month.
Listen to the full podcast, Episode #69 – 8 Lessons Learned Eating Only From Food Storage for 14 Days of the Pioneering Today Podcast, where we don’t just inspire you but give you the clear steps to create the homegrown garden, pantry, kitchen and life you want for your family and homestead.
Why You Should Try a Pantry Challenge
I was so intrigued with the idea of a food pantry challenge. The self-sufficient skill of using foods solely from my great depression era-pantry excited me. I have built up my pantry with must-have items for long-term storage to save money and live frugally for years!
Could I sustain our family for 14 or more days on what we have while saving money on groceries? There is only one way to know if you can really do what you think you can and that is to give it a good ol' try.
Once I met the challenge and strove to accomplish it, I thought this would be inspiring to do with other people who are purposing to live more self-sufficient lifestyles. I found fellow modern-day pioneers like me who want to try to live solely off their pantries with little or no extra grocery shopping.
I realized the challenge gave me more time to do other things since I drew only from my food storage. My time wasn’t spent making a grocery list or driving to and from the grocery store. I had more time and creativity to cook and bake, which my family loved.
The other great thing was the money we saved, lowering our grocery bill. It forced me to look at my shopping habits and re-evaluate what I needed versus wanted, purchasing items that may not get used like I thought they would. I was thrilled that our grocery budget had more margin!
Pantry Challenge Guidelines
The pantry challenge guidelines are not “cut in stone” rules to meet every family's needs. Obviously, we each have our own dietary habits that we will achieve through our freezer and pantry items. The idea here is to eat what you have and purchase little or nothing for 14 days.
I know my family's menu preference for each meal consists of proteins. Since we raise our own meat for the year (beef, chicken, and pork), I knew we had plenty of meat in our freezers. I have canned or dehydrated fruits and veggies on the pantry shelves, and oats, flour, and grains are part of my bulk food storage supply.
We don’t have a dairy cow anymore, so I'm purchasing organic, grass-fed milk from a local farmer. We have backyard laying hens, so eggs are readily available for us. You may have to purchase your eggs along with some fresh produce before you get started or along the way, depending on your family's size.
Tips for a Successful Pantry Challenge
The pantry challenge lessons I learned worked because of these tips I’m sharing with you. You can tweak it however you need to make it successful for your household. I found these tips worked for our household and may help you with your Pantry Challenge.
Take Inventory of What You Have
Taking inventory of what I had in my fridge, freezers and pantry helped me see what I was starting with. I also made the necessary changes in my pantry and freezers using my 6 tips to avoid food storage mistakes.
I did find some items in the back of the fridge that were beyond use… way beyond! I had items in the pantry that I had forgotten about for months (out of sight, out of mind) and needed to use up quickly.
Taking inventory showed me the holes I needed to fix in my pantry, making it more self-sufficient. It also revealed what I could use ASAP for meal prep and menu planning, so there was no (or less) food waste.
Meal Plan
Meal planning is somewhat daunting for some of us when we feel like we are making and eating the same meals day after day, month after month, year after year.
The Pantry Challenge opened new menu and meal ideas for me because I had to get more creative and use only what I had. I had more time to get out of the meal rut and use the resources I had on hand instead of buying more groceries to fit my “meal rut.”
We live too far from a grocery store to get a quick item; it’s not practical. I enjoy batch and freezer cooking for homemade meals; it’s time-saving and easy. My 8 tips for easy-from-scratch meals were invaluable during the pantry challenge for meal planning.
Swapping recipes with a friend or group who is doing the challenge with you brings new meals to the menu, too. It's a great way to experience community, as I did when doing this with several families.
Use Opened Items First
The idea of throwing away food is tough for me. I know we all get busy, and sometimes, foods get lost in the fridge, pushed to the back, and become unusable. Look for anything open or that may be on the edge and figure out how to use it for a meal or snack.
I often have opened food items, crackers, pasta, cereal or chips, so I purposed to use them first in the 14-day challenge. This was a great way to eat up the foods that can become stale and get creative with a topping for a casserole or dessert.
Commit to Using What You Have
Many of us tend to cook more along the lines of what we want rather than what we have. The Pantry Challenge was a reality check when it came to choice. When you dedicate yourself to only using the ingredients on hand, you learn to craft your eating and meals with the resources you have.
I thought we were already doing this for the most part, but when you commit to something without giving yourself another option, you really see where you need to follow through. It’s good to see how well we could use what’s on hand if that’s all we had. Thus another great takeaway from the Pantry Challenge!
Take Note of What Needs Improvement
You might be able to eat from your food storage for a long time but possibly need more variety in a few areas. During the challenge, I kept a list of items we didn't have, ran out of, or were very low on. Take a good hard look at what you can add to the pantry and what food you can slow down on preserving.
Nutrient-dense veggies instead of specialty items use valuable pantry space more effectively.
I rely on being able to buy fresh vegetables to supplement our canned variety more than I realized during our off-growing season. I need to can, freeze, or dehydrate more vegetables.
If you don’t have a dairy cow or laying hens, milk and eggs might be lacking in your food storage. Since we don't have Clover, our milk cow, anymore, I know I need to put more blocks of cheese and butter in our freezer. Dairy products freeze beautifully, even powdered varieties for sauces and baking.
Try New Recipes
Items in bulk, like rice, beans, lentils, oats and other grains, give you a lot of material to explore new recipes.
Oats, for example, are way more versatile than I realized. Seriously, oats are a breakfast go-to. They make wonderful cookies, can be ground into flour, used as toppings for muffins and desserts, and don't get nearly the credit they deserve as a pantry staple!
Use Substitutions
My kids love this Thai pasta recipe I make; it’s one of their favorites. I was making it one night and was missing a key ingredient for the sauce. Running to the store was not an option, so I substituted another ingredient. They never noticed and gobbled it up!
The Pantry Challenge tests our pioneering spirit to see if we can use what we have in our pantries and freezers without running to the grocery store. These 37 ingredient substitutions everybody should know are one tool we can use to be successful throughout this challenge.
Accountability
I enjoyed doing this 14-day challenge with my Pioneering Today Academy members, and I will more than likely do it again. You can learn so much when doing challenges in a group setting. If you want to know when the doors to the Academy open, make sure you sign up for the waitlist and you'll be first to know!
Resources
- The Home Food Preservation Ultimate Resource Guide
- 6 Tips on Buying Food in Bulk
- Time-Saving Tips when Cooking From Scratch
- Verse of the Week – Psalm 34:7 & James 1:17
