It’s Time for a Pantry Challenge

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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Cub Food

 

Every now and again I find that times are tight or I have NO idea what I have in my pantry. Nothing aggravates me more than wasting money on spoiling food. Well, right now Mr. Crunchy is starting a new job and times are a little bit lean. That’s why it’s time for a pantry challenge.

What is a pantry challenge?

A pantry challenge is when you challenge yourself to use a lot of goodies from your pantry to wittle down your pantry or freeze or to help feed your family during those months/weeks when you need to get your budget back on track.

You know what I am talking about, your freezer is stuff to the gills and you have no clue what’s in your pantry because you haven’t taken inventory for months. This of course means you have now bought a can of tuna EVERY shopping trip because you couldn’t remember if you had any or not. A pantry challenge is a time to get that pantry into shape and figure out what you have!

It’s also great way to get your budget back on track. Using your pantry as a base for your meal plan for a week or two means you are spending that much less on your food budget that week! Save a $100 or more, and that’s money that you can use to catch up on bills, pay some medical expenses, or just tuck into savings to build it back up!

Eating Rice and Beans for a week? I think not!

You guys know that our family is a family of foodies, so having a pantry challenge means that I have to get REALLY creative when it comes to what we eat. My kids will not eat leftover fish sticks or chicken nuggets until the cows come home.

A pantry challenge is not about eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all week. Don’t expect me to share that we ate spaghetti and marinara sauce for five days straight either. I think I would have a full blown mutiny on my hands if I told my family that.

What’s the Challenge Part?

This week my challenge to myself is to use whatever I have in my pantry, plus a budget of $50 at the grocery store to feed our family of five. Normally we spend $150-200/week to feed the family. (It’s that high because we have food allergies in our house) With Mr. Crunchy’s job changes, I really need to make sure that I knock this challenge out of the park.

Every day I will be updating what I fed the family for that day in my Pantry Challenge Daily update log! Some of them will even include some great recipes for you to try out on your own!

To prepare for my pantry challenge, I went to one of my favorite stores here in Minnesota Cub Foods. I learned anything and everything I could about them and how to make your money go a little bit farther. One cool thing I found out is that they are having the “Love Your Cub” contest on Facebook. Local peeps can enter to win up to $4,500 in groceries! Make sure to head over to the Cub Facebook page and check it out.

 

To enter all you have to do the following, and then you have a chance to enter to win $4,500 or a $45 Cub Foods Gift Card!

1.            Visit the Cub Facebook page

2.            Click on the button to “Like” Sponsor’s Page.

3.            Click on the “Love Your Cub” contest app on the Facebook platform by clicking on the link to the Contest page.

4.            Enter the Contest by completing the entry form and uploading a video (“Video”) or photo (“Photo”) and description (“Description”).

Want to join in on the fun?

Are you ready to purge your pantry and join in on the fun? You don’t have to be a blogger to join! Just link up here and come back and comment how you are doing on your challenge! If you are a blogger, write a blog post and link it up here to share your pantry challenge! Let’s root each other onto victory. It’s time to divide and conquer that pantry!