Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping (Meals)
A couple questions we have been asked several times over the last month regarding my No Grocery Shopping challenge are – What have we been eating? Do we have any recipes? I am thrilled that we were able extend this challenge into February! The quick answer is the meals have been “simple”. Thankfully my family does not have any food allergies so we can be a little more flexible on what we eat.
Here are a few ways we made our pantry stretch:
- Always Eat Leftovers
- Keep it Simple
- Make Meals with Few Ingredients
- Cook 1 Main Meal a Day
- Cut back on Snacks
- Make Meatless Meals
On typical day we eat toast, cereal, eggs, oatmeal or something we have on hand for breakfast. The girls have lunch at school so they are covered for that meal. Jake and I eat left overs for lunch (the left overs are usually from dinner the night before). For dinner I fix a simple, few ingredients main dish to feed our family of four then add fruits, veggies and other sides to compliment the main dish.
The first place I noticed a dip in the pantry was with the snacks. When the kids get home form school they are HUNGRY (they eat their school lunch at 10:30 AM) and are always ready for a snack. If it has been a busy day for me a lot of times they will grab an item from our “snack basket” on the kitchen counter which contains items such as granola bars, pretzels, crackers, etc…. We have noticed a dip in our dairy products too. The girls will often have a cheese stick or yogurt for a snack after school so those have been being utilized. Another snack they enjoy after school is a half of peanut butter & jelly sandwich or peanut butter with honey and veggies which gives them an extra boost of protein.
One of the neat parts about doing this challenge is I have started noticing trends in our family. I have seen what we eat more of as well as the items that get left behind more frequently. It is important to me that we all continue to get healthy meals and snacks, however, I want to eliminate wastefulness.
Along with the main meals we have a fruit and vegetable. We still have chicken and beef weekly as well as fish every couple of weeks. I will be adding the recipes for these items in the next day or two. It is our plan to continue this challenge yet another week!
I will continue to share with you the challenges, successes and what I have purchased so you can keep me accountable or even go through the journey with me by participating and sharing your story. I am thrilled that we can extend this goal and continue to use up the items we already have in our home!
Life Simplified is a series on getting rid of the extras in our life while learning how to enjoy what God has given us so we can continue to be a blessing to others. Our homes can quickly start are bursting with “stuff” and if you are like us we just have too much. I am doing a series on ways we are learning to simplifying our food, homes, and lives. When our hearts, lives, and homes get too cluttered we may start missing out on opportunities to serve and bless the people around us.
