This is the third day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One here.
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With a freshly organized freezer and pantry, the load on your shoulders is hopefully just a little bit lighter and you are feeling good about the days to come. When it comes to food at least, you now know what you have; now you just figure out how to use it!
Thus, today’s assignment is to brainstorm as many meal ideas as possible.
First, as fast as you can, make a list of your family’s favorite meals or your favorite recipes. Don’t worry if you have the right ingredients, just start writing things down. If your kids are old enough, they can help you with this task! Keep writing until you can’t think of any more
Read through your inventory lists and try to think of one dish that corresponds to each different food item. For instance, if canned corn is on your list, you could write down “corn chowder” or “corn casserole” or “goulash.” If you are really stumped for an item, keep moving. For items such as ready-to-eat canned soup, it is okay to just jot down “soup”
Print this meal idea worksheet and list your favorite meal ideas from all the brainstorming you’ve just done. Be sure to include exactly where the recipe was found!
{get brainstorming worksheet here}
Finally, get inspired! Look through your favorite cookbooks or magazines or on Pinterest for some new ideas, or check out 20 of my favorite stockpile recipes for inspiration:
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Be sure to a comment below listing at least one easy meal idea or recipe from the list you’ve just made, then be sure to check back to see the ideas that others have provided. You are welcome to post more than one–the idea is to gather as many “stockpile” meal ideas as possible.
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You can save a lot on your food shop, especially in Europe where we currently live. No coupons here but shops have sales on all the time. I stick to a weekly food shop, check cupboards to see what I have left and plan my meals. When in shop, I buy these items on sale that we use and are part of our diet. This is where the saving starts. I plan my meals, each week is different here. I love batch cooking, it works out cheaper to cook more than one meal at the same time and it saves you time and electricity too! Pasta sauces, casserole dishes, soups, etc. are ideal meals which you can freeze and use at a later time. I also tend to cook a little bit more during the week, so we can have leftover night on Friday evening, perfect way to start the weekend. Not all food is suitable for leftovers though, however, some pasta, soups, etc. is perfect. Also leftover potatoes make a great and quick tortilla later in the week. Last but not least, be creative. It sometimes happens that I run out of something before I am due another food shop or the children moan because the box of cereal only last 5 days rather than a week. Rather than running to the shop, we make it work by being creative and come up with other ideas. I can highly recommend a bit of planning, it gets easier when you do it more often and feel very rewarded to see how far my budget stretches!
Hi! Nice to found you. I've been reading you for a while. I would like to follow your challenge , but we don't have pantry or big freezer. We also don't swap meals . But i will give it a go just for the fun of it!!! :) thank you for you ideas!!!
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