Eating from the pantry day 2 recap...

Last night the plan was Lasagne made from leftover spaghetti sauce that was in the fridge, hm canned green beans and cresent rolls. All from things I had on hand. Well come time to fix my lasagne I discovered that I actually didn't have any lasagne noodles. I was about to stress, because this was my plan and I always have lasagne noodles and now I don't what is up with that?? Not to fear, no lasagne noodles resulted in me pulling a box of mini penne pasta (bought on sale with a coupon don'tcha know!!) out of the pantry and turning my lasagne night into pasta bake night!! It went over well and I only cooked 1/2 the box leaving me 1/2 a box of mini penne to make into something else... (I spy cream cheese in the fridge and shrimp in the freezer stay tuned the recipe for that one is super yummy)

So all in all eating from the pantry is good eats!! Good cheap eats that is!!

Leftover spaghetti sauce...free, I am counting it as free because it was technically leftover and remade before meaning, I made spaghetti once, I used hamburger, onion, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, garlic spices- and from that we had spaghetti, then I had a little bit of sauce leftover from that spaghetti dinner and I was looking for lunch one day and a meal for my mom and I added, more mushrooms and some cooked hot italian sausage that was leftover from our hm pizza night, a little water to thin it out a bit and more spices and garlic and made lunch for me and the kids and dinner for my mom that day. The sauce I used last night was leftover from those meals. So it was truely truely leftover and I consider it free!!

1/2 box of pasta .15- seriously bought on sale with a coupon and only used 1/2 a box

mozzarella cheese 1.00

Green beans..free- grew them and canned them myself or Pappy grew them and I canned them myself, that year of green bean canning was epic and I canned and canned and canned till I thought if I don't can something else we will only have green beans to eat that winter, lol Thank God for great harvests, and generous family!!

Cresent rolls- technically leftover from another dinner last week but if I had to buy them I would guess at 1.25 as they were generic

That adds up to 2.40 for dinner AMAZING!! And I have a good amount left that will go to my mom. She will be able to get at least 2 helpings from what I have left. NOT BAD AT ALL!!!

Speaking of dinner for mom I need to make her some sweet tea today too!!

Now as for dinner tonight??

Remember that roasted chicken carcass?? Yeah I have big plans for that, lol
Truely there is not enough meat on that carcass to feed us for dinner but it will richly flavor a pot of water, so yesterday I laid out some chicken legs and thighs from the freezer. I plan on Roasting them, then letting my boys eat the legs for dinner and then cooking the thighs after roasting with my chicken carcass and then turning it all into chicken and dumplings!! Mmm Sounds like a yummy meal to me!!

Oh and I have some baby carrots in the fridge leftover from my little get together on Saturday and I am going to turn them into carrot cake muffins or carrot cake bread, I was looking up recipes online yesterday!!

I think I am having too much fun with this!! Its really neat to see what you can come up with when you have very little money to spend and only have your pantry and freezer to fall back on.

I did have dh stop at the store on his way home last night and pick up for me very little to keep us going till he gets paid next week.

He picked up 2 18 ct eggs, 10lbs of potatoes, 1 jar of mayo, and 2lbs of sausage.

Those items with what I have on hand will hopefully get us through till next week. I may have to have a loaf of bread for sandwiches. I could bake a loaf and that would be fine for us at home but dh prefers store bread for his work sandwiches. I think I have enough store bread to last me for dh till next week, so maybe I should bake a loaf of bread for us to have here at home. Or maybe cinnamon rolls, hmmm the possibilities are endless!!