Living Life in Rural Iowa
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Prepping. Homesteading. Frugal living. Tired of the BS that is our world today. Random thoughts by Erica.
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In my last post, I wrote that I was rewriting the rules for the pantry challenge and I post what I was doing. I have not made it through my pantry yet to show you those things, but this is what I pulled out this morning.

Pic 1: I have a bunch of k-cups that need to be used up. Green tea is not my favorite tea, but I will get these used up as well as the coffee ones.

Pic 2: From home, I brought apple butter that was made in 2017 to have with toast, tea that was dated 2017, oatmeal that is dated Jan. 2022, tuna packet (2023), and an opened bag of craisins.

Pic 3: I also have a half bottle of creamer from the holidays to use up. No need to waste food. I had quit drinking coffee, but I will drink it til this is gone.

#pantrychallengereimagined is the hash tag I'm using. Please use it too so I can see what you are doing!

#foodstorage #pantrychallenge #foodwaste
In my last post, I wrote that I was rewriting the rules for the pantry challenge and I post what I was doing. I have not made it through my pantry yet to show you those things, but this is what I pulled out this morning.

Pic 1: I have a bunch of k-cups that need to be used up. Green tea is not my favorite tea, but I will get these used up as well as the coffee ones.

Pic 2: From home, I brought apple butter that was made in 2017 to have with toast, tea that was dated 2017, oatmeal that is dated Jan. 2022, tuna packet (2023), and an opened bag of craisins.

Pic 3: I also have a half bottle of creamer from the holidays to use up. No need to waste food. I had quit drinking coffee, but I will drink it til this is gone.

#pantrychallengereimagined is the hash tag I'm using. Please use it too so I can see what you are doing!

#foodstorage #pantrychallenge #foodwaste
The start of cleaning out my food storage. I started with my kitchen pantry shelves and accumulated this motley selection of items. I still have three cabinets to sort through in the kitchen and then I need to tackle the basement food storage.

This pantry challenge will be going on for a while. I needed to do this for a year or better. I'm making lists of what needs to be replaced, but I don't see a lot of this being replaced. My food choices have changed over the years.

We will be having some interesting meals and desserts in the next few months...

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantry challenge #foodstorage #prepping #preparedness
The start of cleaning out my food storage. I started with my kitchen pantry shelves and accumulated this motley selection of items. I still have three cabinets to sort through in the kitchen and then I need to tackle the basement food storage.

This pantry challenge will be going on for a while. I needed to do this for a year or better. I'm making lists of what needs to be replaced, but I don't see a lot of this being replaced. My food choices have changed over the years.

We will be having some interesting meals and desserts in the next few months...

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantry challenge #foodstorage #prepping #preparedness
Supper tonight: Depending on who you are, it's burrito bowls or roast chicken and rice. I have one kid who doesn't eat meat and one who hates beans with a passion.

One chicken roasted in the slow cooker (recipe on the blog). Red kidney beans that soaked for several hours and were cooked in the pressure cooker. Brown rice cooking on the stove with water, chicken bouillon, and butter.

From yesterday's pics, I used up a bag of red kidney beans and some chicken bouillon.I also have quite a bit of brown rice I would like to eat and replace.

For those of us who had burrito bowls, we topped ours with avocado, salsa (canned in 2019), and shredded cheese.

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage
This morning it was back to the cooking and baking grind. We are starting today with banana zucchini bread.

I had two bananas that were overly ripe. I have a lot of frozen shredded zucchini that needs to be used up. I also used pastry flour and superfine sugar from the pile of things I need to use up.

The recipe comes from Real HouseMoms. It's been my go-to banana bread for a few years now.

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #nofoodwaste
Sunday dessert using up the food pile: Lemon Bars. My Grandma Rene made these. My mom made these. I make these because they are so simple!

This is food storage friendly dessert. I'm not a fan of baking or making desserts so I like simple, easy, and delicious. This fills all criteria.

The recipe is in the last photo. For the life of me, I never remembered having coconut in them. My mom does not like coconut so she left it out. I do too.

Lemon pie filling (2019)
Angel food cake mix (new)
Vanilla Extract (homemade)

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #prepping #preparedness #nofoodwaste
Sunday dessert using up the food pile: Lemon Bars. My Grandma Rene made these. My mom made these. I make these because they are so simple!

This is food storage friendly dessert. I'm not a fan of baking or making desserts so I like simple, easy, and delicious. This fills all criteria.

The recipe is in the last photo. For the life of me, I never remembered having coconut in them. My mom does not like coconut so she left it out. I do too.

Lemon pie filling (2019)
Angel food cake mix (new)
Vanilla Extract (homemade)

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #prepping #preparedness #nofoodwaste
Tonight's supper: fries with ketchup. So much for the food storage tonight. Some nights are like that.

I actually have a lot of frozen fries that need to be consumed. I got an air fryer for my birthday from the kids and I am still getting the hang of it.

Tomorrow, we will be back to the pile since I have that meal planned.

Some of you may have figured out that I am far from perfect. I have learned so much over the years with food storage and prepping. However, sometimes I get busy and overlook items or forget how long I've had them. That is why I push for the pantry challenge every year. I didn't do it last year and I regret it. This year's challenge has been good so far, but I'm not done!

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #nofoodwaste
Tonight's supper and food storage challenge: I had a pork roast in the freezer that was processed in 2019. Still good, but needs to be used up.

On the bottom of the slow cooker, I sliced a red onion and put the pork roast over it. On top of the pork roast, I put the can of cream of celery soup and a packet on dry onion soup mix from the food storage pile. I also added the half package of mushrooms from the fridge, black pepper, and thyme on top. Cooked for 10-11 hours on low and it was delicious.

I also used a packet of instant mashed potatoes along with some boxed instant mashed potatoes from the cabinet. Both needed to be used up.

We also added sliced carrots that were canned in 2015. Those were still tasty too.

You might have figured out that sell-by and best-by dates don't phase me much. While I do think you should be aware of them and use the food in a timely manner, they are just a manufacturer's suggestion. Well, except for dairy and lunchmeat - then you should definitely pay attention to the dates!

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #nofoodwaste #preparedness #prepping
I made breakfast yesterday. I usually make a hot breakfast once a weekend and 75% of the time I make baked oatmeal. I love it!

This week, it was a steel cut baked oatmeal. I used up the last of a jar of steel cut oats and opened a new bag from 2016. I'm not worried about oats - they can last a long time stored properly.

I also chopped up pecans from the food pile and used fresh blueberries since I had them. I like to eat mine with vanilla Greek yogurt.

The recipe I used was https://alexandracooks.com/2013/08/09/baked-steel-cut-oatmeal/

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #breakfast #nofoodwaste
The food storage pile after a few weeks. I still have work to do, but the pile is going down. I have added a couple things, but I'm getting there.

There's no doubt this is lasting through February now...

Today's food made: Baked Oatmeal Cups and Apple Cobbler. I'll try to post after pics, but I wanted to show what I used.

In the second pic, I made Baked Oatmeal Cups using bananas past their prime. I added dried blueberries using up this bag and dipping into another container I had of them. I also found two bags of rolled oats (dated 2016 and 2017) to use up and refill my container.

In the third pic, I made Apple Cobbler using those poor apples, apple pie filling spread on top with a mixture of instant oats, oat flour, and rest of the normal ingredients.

The only supper I made all week was a ham roast in the slow cooker on Wednesday. The rest of the week was leftovers.

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #nofoodwaste
Pantry Challenge Reimagined Update: A lot was used up, but the pile didn't seem to go away!

The first pic is Applesauce Muffins which were awesome! I used up a jar of home canned applesauce (2015) and more oat flour. The second pic is Blueberry Oat Muffins which were delicious. I used more instant oats and pastry flour. Breakfast is taken care of for the week.

Third pic: I'm back to baking bread. I made Honey Oat Bread from @therusticelk and it is divine. The perfect bread for toast and sandwiches!

Fourth pic: For lunch today was Cheesy Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice from @iowagirleats and it was delicious. I wish I had taken pics of the final product!

Fifth pic: Supper last night was lentil stew in the instant pot. So good and comforting!

#pantrychallengereimagined #pantrychallenge #foodstorage #nofoodwaste