Monday, November 17, 2008

Gettin' creative

One of my goals this month is to reduce my monthly grocery bill. I was spurred on by Kath's Thanksgiving Challenge, http://www.katheats.com/. This has definitely been a "challenge" for me! I am a serial grocery shopper. Yes, I admit to staking out many a grocery store to find a particular food and if there is launching of a new food product that will fit into my food plan, I'm on it, searching the planet for it! Needless to say, my freezer, fridge, extra freezer/fridge and pantry were busting with food. Now, I will say that I do eat most of my meals at home, so does the husband when he's working from home and the daughters bring their lunches/snacks to school. We rarely eat out, even on the weekends. Anyway, I am trying my best to whittle down what we have instead of constantly grocery shopping and stocking up for the next century. What I am realizing in doing this is we do waste food (there, Mom and Dad, I said it!). We tire of leftovers and therefore, just throw them away because we don't "feel like eating that". I am working on changing that this month and it's been an exercise in gettin' creative. This morning's breakfast was a perfect example. As you have seen, I made pumpkin cheesecake pudding for dessert a few nights ago. It was good the first night and the second night, but no way was I going for a third! Too much "sameness" for me. I still had two servings left in the fridge and they were staring at me this morning begging to be used. So, I decided to add it to my oatmeal! I am glad I did; it was great! I cooked the rolled oats with water, then added the pudding. I couldn't help adding one teensy sprinkle of granola. So tasty...







I think the addition of some pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon would have made it even better. See? The possibilities are endless! Try gettin' creative in your kitchen today. Let me know what you come up with!





3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is good to have a well stocked panty. Sometimes I feel that I do not no what to shop for or how to put the food in my panty together. Need to do meal planning ahead of time, I guess.
-margie

Anonymous said...

Read Kath's Thanksgiving Challenge. Great idea!
-margie

Marisa @Loser for Life said...

Margie- I think meal planning is key. Or at least having a general idea of what you will have for the week. It is definitely helping me with this Thanksgiving Challenge. If I can make it to the end of the month with what I have left(pantry and money-wise), I will have cut our grocery bill in HALF this month! Whooo Hooo. The husband will be ecstatic!