frozen food challenge

we have 3 freezers in our house. i mean, we have the one in our kitchen, we have a small deep freeze and we also have a fridge in our garage (most people buy these for beer, ours is full of dr.pepper, juice and soy milk); hence, three freezers.

yesterday i was getting into the deep freeze for some ice and i thought ''holy heck do we have a ton of food in here''. i mean, a TON of food. then i opened the other freezers and while they weren't busting at the seams, they were pretty full too. i am a bargain shopper, i stock up on items when they are on sale* or i have super good coupons, and then freeze them til i need them.
 *when i say ''sale'' i mean giant bargain; like getting 5 bags of shredded kraft cheese for $1 or getting 4 bags of Reames egg noodles for $1. i try to combine awesome store sales with coupons to get the best deal
not only does this save us money, but it also keeps us prepared in case of a major storm or emergency. not only are our freezers stocked but our pantry (aka giant lazy susan) is too. well i decided to challenge myself, i wanted to see if we can eat only the things in our freezer and pantry until payday, thursday the 28th. i mean not purchasing anything in addition to what we have (unless we run out of peanut's milk). so the first thing i did was make a list of everything in our freezer(s). for the sake of keeping myself organized as well as possibly inspiring someone else to do the same, i'm going to share that list:

meats:

1.5lb boneless skinless chicken breast tenders

1 lb. sausage

1.5 box of chicken nuggest

1lb bag of beef ravioli

1.5lb pork ribs

veggies:

3 bags of broccoli, 3 bags broccoli with cheese

1 bag corn

1 bag peas and carrots

1 bag frozen hashbrowns

1 bag chopped onion

1 bag chopped onion/celery/carrot mix

meals:

homemade chili

homemade potato soup

homemade chicken noodle soup

2 frozen pizzas

other:

5 pkgs kraft shredded cheese

1 bag frozen biscuits

2 bags of egg noodle

2 boxes of Cheerio

fruit:

2lbs strawberries

1lb peaches

9 bananas

whew! i told you it was a ton of stuff. so after listing everything out, i started looking in the pantry as well and mentally putting meals together. once i realized how well my pantry was stocked, i started another list. one list for dinner meals and one list for lunches. here are those. keep in mind that i literally have everything on hand needed to make these meals:

Meal #1: Chicken Fried Rice

-l.5lb blsl chicken tenders

-2 cups of peas and carrots

-a couple eggs

-rice

Meal #2: Breakfast for Dinner

-1lb sausage &

-1 bag frozen biscuits to make biscuits and gravy

-1 bag frozen hashbrowns
-scrambled eggs

-fruit smoothie using strawberries/bananas/peaches

Meal #3: Ravioli

-1 bag beef ravioli w/spinach and cheese

-spaghetti sauce

-1 bag broccoli w/cheese

Meal#4: Pork ribs with Rice

-1.5lb pork ribs

-rice

-1 bag frozen corn

Meal#5: Chicken Nuggets and Fries

-chicken nuggets

-french fries

-fruit salad

Lunch#1: Potato Soup

-thawed homemade potato soup

-fruit salad

Lunch#2: Homemade Mac & Cheese

-kraft shredded cheese

-mickey and pals shaped pasta

-milk, butter, velvetta

-1 bag frozen broccoli

Lunch#3 Pizza

-frozen pizza

-applesauce

-corn

Lunch #4: Soup and Sandwiches

-thawed chicken noodle soup'

-grilled cheese sandwiches                               

Lunch#5: Chili

-thawed chili

-jiffy cornbread

-fruit

that is 10 meals, made completely from on-hand ingredients. while i am a pretty frugal shopper already, even i am amazed that we have enough food to feed a family of 5 for a full week! breakfast is usually cereal, yogurt and juice so that is taken care of as well.  typically i spend about $70 a week on groceries, sometimes more depending on the cost of produce. that means that this week i am saving $70+ and we're clearing out overfilled freezer. the great part is that we're still eating fairly healthy and balanced meals. thank goodness i stock up on fruit and veggies during dillons' 10/$10 sales!

so without sounding to bossy, i encourage you to check out your cabinets and freezers...you might just be amazed!