PPPR: I give up!

We were doing pretty good I thought but a few things brought me to the breaking point.

First, I don't even know if we are over or under budget but... probably over. Much akin to the feeling I get whilst balancing my checkbook I gave it up because I can only handle so much of that feeling....

Tuesday I didn't bring lunch and didn't have time to go home. Attempting to be a cheapo I had a Mt Dew, Jalapeno Cheetos and Swedish fish... all around ethnic smorgasbord for sure! Costing me roughly $5.00 that could have been spent on fast food that could have been slightly (yeah right) more healthy.

The hubby asked for bread! Bread people.... how could he need more bread! There's no room in the budget for more bread what is he thinking! I guess actually taking lunch will have that effect eh?

So by late Wednesday night at about 8pm I just wanted some blonde girl named Tiffany to bring me a burger and then take away the dishes...

Good luck to those of you that are still at it... I admit 8 days is a horrible horrible record. But there always has to be someone that quits first and that someone will be me! Ha I love being first!

PPPR: Day 5 & 6

So yesterday I fell back on an old habit... one that will send me over my budget for sure. I was to lazy to take out anything to defrost for dinner. So off we went at 6pm to Fresh & Easy to get something for dinner. Bad bad bad! I have plenty of food to cook... why am I too lazy to take anything out! Meh...

Oh well... the honey burned some steaks and we grilled up some asparagus... good food.

Tonight, I still was too lazy to defrost so I made spaghetti & meatballs. Cool thing about that is the pre-made party meatballs from TJ's are tasty and can be tossed into sauce to defrost. A little garlic bread on the side... again good food on the cheap. No pictures though... to lazy for that ;)

Oh yeah the no-bake cookies from Day 4 were awesome! There are some still in the fridge and they are so good cold.

PPPR: Day 4

Finally an actual cooking day for me! Since I'm worried that the hoodlums around here will burn down the neighborhood were sticking close to home for the 4th of July. Right now I feel like they are throwing M80s (I think that's what they are called) over the fence its so ridiculous but I guess they are having fun....since ohhh 9am this morning.

Anyhoo... back to the food.

I marinated pork (look away Jenn!) in BBQ sauce with a little twist of OJ and sweet chili sauce to give it a little something extra. For some reason my mom never used BBQ straight up, she always put it on the stove and simmered it with extra stuff, usually a load of butter (no my mom isn't Paula Deen). Since this was normal procedure growing up I usually add something in there out of habit. Not butter though I save the butter for other things like the slow roasted corn on the cob and steamed then pan sauteed creamer potatoes on the side.

For dessert there is no-bake cookies cooling on the counter. I hope they are good because they sure have potential to be tasty. And not turning on the stove in this July heat is a blessing for sure.

I tagged this recipe last week when I saw it over on the Brown-Eyed Baker... she got it from Ezra Poundcake who got it from RecipeZaar.com ya gotta love the internet! Remember back in the day when you would watch cooking shows and you could send in a self addressed stamped envelope for the particular recipes from that show.... haha how far we have come!

PPPR: Day 3

$0.00 spent on meals today as we went to party at our cousins house for an early 4th of July celebration. I brought along the Perfect Party Cake as my contribution to the meal.

Nothing beats a delicious free meal when your on a crazy budget!

You other Pantry Raiders to see how they are doing.... way better than me I assure you.

Maria of Two Peas & Their Pod

Dayna and The Laur Challenge

Becky of Project Domestication

Tracy of Sugar Crafter

Jen of My Kitchen Addiction

Nikki of Crazy Delicious Food

Ashley of Smashed Potatoe

Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities

Susan (fearless leader) She's Becoming DoughMessTic

PPPR: Day 2

This is quite troubling... I went grocery shopping and spent more than 1/2 of the budget! In my defense Trader Joe's was crazy packed and I just wanted to get the hell out of there! So I just bought what I needed without much forethought. Hopefully I can still make it because I don't know how we could have got through without the things I did buy, nothing frivolous went into the basket. OK well I did buy Tea Tree Tingle body wash but that doesn't count as food. If you have a TJs near you, you have to try this stuff it's the only body wash I've ever bought that I've used the entire bottle every time. Every other BW gets tossed out before its used after sitting around neglected in the shower for a few months.

Nothing exciting today for tonight's dinner because the hubs stood me up to go to dinner with his boss. I guess he really does think I'm going to starve him since he's now looking for food elsewhere. Cripes it's only the second day! Oh hell I hope his boss pays or there goes the budget!

PPPR: Day 1

So as you may well know, I've joined up with some other bloggers in a quest for frugality. Spurred on by Susan @ She's Becoming DoughMessTic, the challenge is to spend only a set amount on food for our families, utilizing what we have currently in our pantry/fridge/freezer. I picked the amount of $150 for 4 weeks and you can see my starting ingredients here. This will now be known as the Penny Pinching Pantry Raid or PPPR for short mostly cuz it's funny :P
Oh and I have to tell you my honey said "You want me to STARVE!" when I told him the Penny Pinching news.... hilarious.

On my drive home I began scheming... ala Chopped. A few ingredients, what should I make? How ever much I hate Tim Allen's fake game show host voice (which sucks cuz I really like him!) I love that show mostly because I spend my time yelling at the tv the whole time "Why didn't they do this or that.... idiots!"

The players~ canned chicken, peas, 1 hash browns (stay with me) curry powder, egg, flour & cornmeal. Put them all together and you get... Indian Chicken Nuggets!

These were pretty darn good! I also mixed up a little Lingonberry jam, curry powder and sweet chili sauce to make sort of a chutney. Served it with steamed rice and a bit of naan.

For desert I made a little banana fritter with flour, oats, egg, milk, baking powder, salt & chopped super ripe banana. These are really tasty, they will be good for breakfast tomorrow too toasted maybe... yummy...I better go hide some away!

PPPR: Pantry & Fridge Contents

So here is my list of current Pantry & Fridge/Freezer ingredients.

• Pantry
• 1 can Premium White Chicken
• 1 can Roast Beef
• 5 cans Spaghettios
• 1 can Split Pea Soup
• 1 can Tomato Soup
• 2 cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 can Peaches
• 2 cans Black Olives
• 1 can Tomato Sauce-Plain
• 1 can Dice Roasted Tomatoes
• 1 jar Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce
• 1 can Chipotle Peppers
• 1 jar Jet Puff Marshmallows
• 3 pkg Yakisoba Noodle Bowls
• 1 bx Maple & BS Oatmeal
• 3 pkg Microwave Popcorn
• 1 bx Garlic Mashed Potatoes (2 meals worth)
• 1 jar Jif Peanut Butter
• 1 jar Natural Peanut Butter
• 1/4 jar Nutella
• 1/2 jar Dark Chocolate Spread
• 8 oz or so Honey
• 1 pkg Angel Hair Pasta
• 1 pkg Lasagna Noodles
• 1 bx Chicken Stock
• 1 jar BBQ Sauce
• 3 lbs Thanksgiving Farms Coffee
• 1 jar Lingonberry Jam
• 1 bx Lucky Charms
• 1 bx Captain Crunch
• 1/2 loaf White Bread
• 2 cups or so White Sugar
• 4 cups or so Brown Sugar
• 2 cups or so Coconut
• 2 cups or so Jasmine Rice
• 1/2 cup or so Aborio Rice
• Plain Oats
• Maltomeal
• Ovaltine
• Malted Milk
• Plain Oats
• Cornmeal
• AP Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Fridge Contents
• 1 Spagetti Squash
• 1/2 cup or so Sour Cream
• Buttermilk
• Whole Milk
• OJ
• 3 sticks butter
• Margarine
• Cheese a few slices of American, Pepper Jack, Smoked Gouda, Munster
• 8 oz or so Grated Cheese Parmesan Cheese
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 pkg Turkey lunch meat
• Misc. Condiments Mayo Dijon etc..
• Freezer Contents
• 1 bag unopened Edamame
• 1 box unopened Waffles
• 1 bag unopened Sweet Potato Fries
• 1/3 bag Tater Tots
• 4 Hashbrown Squares
• 1 bag unopened Corn
• 1/2 cup or so Peas
• 1 cup or so Mix Veg
• 10 Burritos
• 2 cups or so Green Beans
• 3 bags pre-cooked Chicken about 1 1/2 breast in each
• 1 bag Puff Pastry Scraps
• 1 small cambro of Strawberry BC

Edit:Upon further inspection I found.....

• Naan
• 1 Super ripe Banana
• Leftover pesto
• Leftover Rigattoni Pasta

Looking at it doesn't seem like much but writing it all down... wow! I always say we have so much food in the house, more than some American families probably have in a year. But I will have to get creative and make it work. Some interesting meals on on the horizon.

I've seen a few others that will join in the challenge, I can't wait to see how everyone does!

The Food Challenge

In an attempt to be more frugal, Susan over at She's Becoming DoughMessTic has created The $100 Food Challenge for her family of three to eat for 4 weeks with what is currently in her kitchen and $100 dollars. This is intriguing because we just bought the house and I'm so broke it ain't even funny. Our cost to keep a roof over our heads tripled but my income hasn't so you can imagine.....

We've made changes like not eating out and taking our lunches to work. Doing pretty good on eating out mostly because I love sitting down to a really well made dinner and saying holy shit this only cost us 10 bucks when a really crappy meal out would be right around 25-30 for the two of us. Bringing lunch is much harder. Even though I haven't enjoyed a fast food feast in many years it's easy and I'm lazy so we make a good pair.

My personal challenge will be twofold... eat for 4 weeks on $150 bucks for two, as we have nothing in the freezer (we haven't restocked on food since the move so I'm ascared and had to add a extra fifty) and to not drive home for lunch. Because what's the point of saving the money on your lunch if you easily blow the savings in gas. I have to let my honey in on the idea since he's a sneak eater when he's not with me. He can easily blow 10 bucks by buying 2 dollar items all day and not even notice. And just so ya'll know I don't get paid until tomorrow so I can't sneak out myself and fill up the fridge... I will post the contents tonight. Wish me luck!