When I started thinking about how to revisit the pantry challenge from February, I wasn’t sure what to write. A friend asked me and so I made some notes, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be all inclusive, no matter what I wrote. Lots of things are ongoing, learning, process, continuation… With that being said, here are some ‘take aways’ I had from the No Shop February pantry challenge. If you are unfamiliar with this, see my original blog post about it!

Although I am already a ‘from scratch’ cook, I am no purist. There are definitely things we still purchase that are processed, including breakfast cereals (I am picky here as well!), chips and crackers, and granola bars. Sometimes I make these things at home, other times I do not. During the challenge, I found myself relying on things like oatmeal as a morning snack for my family. Often times snacks include cheese and crackers, fruit, yogurt and granola, etc. Oatmeal made for a healthy morning snack that I had on hand and was yummy and filling.

I began to run low on butter, a staple in our kitchen. Because of this, I relied on some home rendered tallow I had made an frozen a while back. This helped for pie crust and skillet dinners! ‘Make do, or do without”… isn’t that what they said? I was tickled to be forced to remember I had this gem in my back pocket and tallow came to the rescue. I saved the butter for toast and my son’s birthday cake.

As I stated above, I do purchase chips. I try to get non-GMO whenever I can and I choose chips with very limited ingredients. These often accompany burger night or BBQ chicken. However, after running low on/out of chips, I decided to be more creative and made things like skillet potatoes, baked beans, roasted peas, and the like for sides to our normal burger night. I always have raw sauerkraut on the table and so even if we are lacking in the veggie department, we have our kraut!

It is always enjoyable to ‘shop’ the basement where I keep our home canned goods. One convenience food I canned last year was chicken soup. It has come in handy several times as a ‘fast food’ choice. I just add tomatoes (or juice), green beans, peas, corn, etc… with some garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper! Add toasted sourdough or a grilled cheese and it’s an amazingly quick meal to get on the table.

Condiments and dressings are on my list for making at home as well! I buy organic ketchup but would love someday to make my own. We ran out of BBQ sauce as well as French salad dressing. So, I made some! A friend at church gave me her French dressing recipe and it was a hit! The sauce I made was a copycat of Arby’s sauce… I know some people don’t care for it, but I love it! Vinegar based sauce is a favorite of mine! It also turned out really good! And both were made with natural ingredients I already had at home. I had made ranch and Italian dressings before, but French was new. So, I plan to work these into my normal routine! Why should I purchase dressings with way too many ingredients that I don’t want to eat, when I can make my own?

My final take away would be that I didn’t have enough of certain staples on hand. These were mainly in the dairy category, but not always. Butter, cheese, sugar (I use unrefined cane sugar)… I even ran out potatoes, which didn’t have to be the case. We plan to grow more potatoes in our garden this year and store away, so hoping they won’t be on my list next February.

Would I do it again? Perhaps! It definitely was a challenge, especially with a family. March 1st was much looked forward to! Winter is a good time for reusing menu items, like soups, without losing creativity. And, it makes us more in tune with seasonal eating and what we can look forward to as the days warm and things begin to grow in the garden. Each of these things pointed to why I thought it was a good idea to try in the first place. It is helpful to view things with a different perspective.

Some good questions to consider if YOU are interested in challenging yourself, even for one week: What can I do without? Do I really need to have this in the pantry? Can I stretch things so that I use up what’s already in the fridge? What meals can I make with this small amount of something? Try it! I am certain you will learn something about your own patterns in the kitchen as well as how you shop.