Pantry Challenge, Week Three Report

We are still eating well.  This week we finished off the wheat pasta, which will be replaced with gluten free pasta after the pantry challenge.  Also I moved the remaining freezer items around and was able to defrost the freezer.  I love how clean and neat it looks now!  We are really running low on beef though.  We have a little cooked hamburger and onion, three packs of round steak, one pack of hamburger and one pack of good steaks in our freezer, and my in-laws might have a little more round steak, two packs of good steaks and 2 packs of burger.  For such big beef-eaters, that is very little!  We do have a little stew meat and a few roasts, but I hesitate to cook those because it's so hot, and those need long cooking times.  For the next two weeks, I need to plan carefully to stretch that beef.  We are looking at lots of chicken, canned salmon, sausage, and some ground pork.  We don't do meatless meals here.  That would be heresy :)


Here's what we ate this week:

July 16: lunch was leftover grilled chicken and fresh fruit; dinner was spaghetti with italian sausage, sauteed snow peas and leftover grilled corn (I ate my meat sauce over fresh spinach and it was paleo awesomeness!)
July 17: lunch was leftover grilled chicken; dinner was tamale pie and green beans with bacon, I ate leftover baked beans (gluten free)
July 18: lunch for hubby was a quesadilla and some leftover breakfast sausage; lunch and dinner for me was a paleo stir-fry of frozen pre-cooked hamburger and veggies; dinner was leftovers
July 19: lunch was bacon cheesburgers and corn the I froze in 2010.  Dinner was leftovers again.
July 20: lunch was hamburger macaroni (kind of a homemade Hamburger Helper) and leftover green beans with bacon; dinner was chicken fried steak for hubby, pan-fried round steak for me and the rest of the green beans
July 21: lunch was leftovers- chicken fried steak, pan-fried round steak, salad; dinner was fast food in town for the family, I ate a tuna and garbanzo bean salad that I had packed

On Friday, my father-in-law surprised me with some fresh veggies like white asparagus, salad mix, and brussels sprouts.  I estimate that was about $25.   Then yesterday I took the kids into town for a fun day a local craft festival.  We stopped at WalMart on the way home for some fresh fruit, milk, ice cream, pullups, and a loaf of bread.  I spent $50.  I think that brings my total to $315 for the month.  So I am a little over budget.  Hopefully I won't go into town until August!