Pantry Challenge wrap up!

 Back at the beginning of January I joined up with the pantry challenge over at Life as Mom.
It is now February, and the pantry challenge is officially over.

Drum roll please...

This past month I have used up almost all of my canned goods and many things in my pantry that I just kept pushing to the back because I didn't know what to do with them! I tried to incorporate what I had in my pantry into every meal plan and this helped to lower my food budget for the month. My goal was $70 a week which was INSANE but I am proud to say it came out at $90 a week. I am VERY happy with that. I did take a closer look at what type of groceries I bought with my $90 a week and I am proud to report that I didn't buy a single convenience item this month. I cooked almost every meal from scratch and did a lot of baking with the kids.

The biggest portion of the money spent ($130) went to meat. I wasn't surprised at this, I didn't have much in my freezer to begin with and the hubby and kids LOVE meat. We do eat meatless usually once or twice a week so I am thinking one way to try to lower this in the coming months is to try out some more vegetarian/vegan cooking and use dishes that call for smaller portions of meat instead of meat being the focal point of the meal. If anyone has some great recipes for me send them my way.

The second largest portion of money spent ($77) was on fruits and vegetables. I was happy with this, as I think a large portion of your food budget should go to healthy, fresh food for your family. Unfortunately living in the north in the winter we pay more for fresh produce than elsewhere and there are no gardens or farmers markets to pick from. I look forward to the summer once again where I can get local, seasonal produce. Until then my kids will happily eat piles of cheap bananas from costco. Seriously, they are so cheap there.

Now the pantry challenge is over I am wondering where to go from here? This challenge has inspired me to take a hard look at what I am buying, how much I am paying for what I am buying, and what I am cooking with what I am buying. In the month to come I am hoping to restock our pantry with sale items, look for new vegan/vegetarian recipes to try and keep using coupons.

*On a note about the coupons, one of my goals was to use more coupons and I am getting better. Living in Canada we don't have near as many coupons as our neighbours in the states, but I tallied up and my coupons this month saved me...$9.25. It sounds lame but every little bit adds up right?