Do You "Eek" Out Your Groceries?

since second baby, you bet. What ends up being difficulty in getting to a grocery store, ends up making great use of freezer/ pantry food. Now i don't consider myself lazy for not grocery shopping, but just being good at cleaning out my freezer (economical too). I have 4 new tricks that have perfected my eeking. O. new method that helps this "eeking" process is a drive up open market for local produce. I can leave kids strapped in their car seats, grab a basket of fresh veg, while never taking my eyes off them. The second is switching to organic milk- it lasts for eons!!! The third is buying 4 dozen eggs at a time(they last a long time too). And the 4th is to freeze bread. My mother did it too, why else do you think we got Heinze beans and mayo sandwiches?

Hon, if that's "eek"ing then I'm totally there! I haven't eek-ed for a whole week, but I've managed three days. It's great when you're pregnant and you open the freezer and find that you can have steak with frozen broccoli and corn! It looks like you took the time to make something spectacular!

Absolutely! Only in my family we call it 'Going shopping at our house'...sometimes my sister and I 'shop at each others house' :)

You gotta do what you gotta do and I too think it can be (sometimes) rewarding when I come up with something tasty and healthy!

Waste Not, Want Not...right?

I am wondering what the opposite of eeking is. I have three freezers full of, well I really don't know anymore though I plan on creating a spreadsheet so I stop all this, stuff. I just got back from the grocery store. :(

I know there is a lot of meat in there, some relative of Bambi, Nemo? he is in there too....and some other stuff. We are having hamburgers tonight. Yes there is hamburger in there as well. :(

Oh, most definitely. I know that we could eat from the pantry for a week. Lots of odds and ends cans and dried beans and rice. And there is always something in the back of the freezer - the mystery wrapped in tin foil. LOL

I have done this and thank the internet powers for allrecipes.com. I have been known to type in a crazy collection of food stuff and find a recipe.

In, fact, I think it is fun sometimes to EEK dinner.

God Bless

I would refer to it as Spring Cleaning - and that just happens to include the frig/freezer.

But as soon as there's a good sale on something I like, I fill her right back up and the over stuffed cycle repeats itself.

I call it pantry cooking. It's an adventure and a challenge. That's when I come up with some of my best ideas. It helps me to always have plenty of rice, beans, pasta, frozen veggies, spices, salad dressings, and marinades. Just need a base to start with. If I look and see no rice or pasta or bread I know it's time to take my butt to the store.

Yah sure you betcha.

O. of my favorites was: How many ways CAN we have bacon and eggs? (we also had potatoes, rice, pasta, and a handful of veggies/shredded cheese, lemon juice, a few gallons of milk, and butter on hand) Come to find:

- Bacon & Eggs (hashbrowns)
- Quiche
- Pasta Carbonarra
- Omelets
- Egg Drop Soup
- Deviled Eggs (and potato salad)
- Eggs Benedict (ish... no bread, so hashbrown base)
- Fried Rice
- Lemonciata (lemon & egg soup w/ rice)
- Risotto
- Toad in a Hole
- Clam chowder (w/out clams)
- Spinach Salad (with shredded egg and bacon)

Not a heart healthy couple of weeks... but we were dead broke and had 100 eggs and several pounds of bacon.

Oh yeah, I eek. Why go to the store very week when you can sometimes last 3 weeks if you dart in just for milk once or twice in between....although, my kids have some staples -and when those are gone, it's hunger strike time, and my toddler won't sleep through if she skips and meals or snacks, so I at least have to stock enough of those thing for the kids. I, however, will eat any weird combo I come up with from the back of the cupboards.

I totally do this!!! I lost my main cleaning job a while back and the very next week my van broke down and it was basically "totaled" because it would have needed a new engine...we had recently moved ( which is so expensive!) so down to O. cleaning job that I do once a week...pretty big budget cut! I am notorious for stocking up on pantry items when there is a great sale, also I usually build O. bonus meal into my normal meal plan unless something comes up. So when money is super tight I can usually eek out quite a few meals. Sometimes I surprise myself and we come up with something we really like! I tell you O. of my favorite easy meals that is pantry shelf friendly are salmon patties ( canned salmon, an egg, and cracker crumbs/fry in a pan with a little oil)
Andy works nights so there are plenty of nights when it is just the kids and I and we get away with all kinds of crazy dinners, we do breakfast for dinner frequently. We make tuna salad and egg salad which can be eaten on bread or crackers. My oldest son likes wraps and pita pockets too. I agree the hard part is the kids lunches, I have two that I pack lunches for daily.

Yes I do because I don't want to go the store again (for some reason) so with my family i'll fix something small,with veggies & pile on the fruit & cheese with crackers it depends what we are having of course but till I get up to feeling like I want to go then i'll just survey what I have & go from there.My 3 kids hate PB&J's whats wrong with them of course I don't either but the once a month or every other is ok forget the Mac N Cheese it's fruit & veggies or they won't eat.Gotta love them

I've lived paycheck to paycheck for as long as I remember... we "eek" a lot, especially since I only get paid once a month... My husband and I are very creative sometimes.. and it even taste great others... I wish I could be like other people and have lots of extras, but I don't... I think we do good too with what we do have... I know some people say they don't have anything, but I am telling you, we get down to no meats, a couple cans in the pantry and just the basics, and sometimes not... I hate leaving like that but it seems like we can never get ahead...

Yup..I call it Pantry Purging. But I am a mini hoarder so I can do this, but I always have to reload Milk...and occasionally those other basics like eggs, bread and some fresh fruit (baby formula for the daycare if needed). Veggies I can "eek" out of cans and frozen for recipes.

But I also do home childcare with 7 additional kids here all day..and my teen takes her lunches. Hubby eats Subway for lunch each day. I do most of my shopping at Sam's Club..so I buy all the pantry things and meats for the freezer (and bread if I have room but we only have the side-by-side freezer space). I always have alot of canned tomatoes and similar, some other veggies and fruits/applesauce. Low cal granola bars, crackers, string cheese, other cheeses, etc. Seriously, most of the time, I shop once a month, with the milk/fruit runs in between. We do get take out a few times a week if we are busy..mostly hubby's idea. DD and I are happy with eggs or soup and sandwich for dinner.

I hate shopping by the way and am a home body most of the time by nature. Less shopping works great for me!

I get paid small amounts of money quite often. So it's not too hard to usually come up with at least a few dollars. We live close to both a Save-a-lot and a Dollar General. So we do a mix of shopping our cupboards and adding a few things from the store.

I usually have a pretty bare fridge. My family complains that my kids don't get fed. We buy what we need and use what we buy. We shop when more staples are gone than not. I also joined a produce co-op so I never know what I am going to get every other week, so meal time can be interesting trying to put meals together with what we have. But I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

I think that's awesome Denise, and I need to do more eeking. We waste too much food and it's getting SO expensive!

I would be more like you if my hubby wasn't so picky. He always has to have some kind of meat for dinner ( I've started buying the family for 4 package from our local market). He hates breakfast foods besides potaotes. I can get away w/ grulled cheese for dinner maybe once a week. I have come up w/ ways to make the meat stretch a lil (like getting 2 different meals out of O. meal). About every 2 mo I go to save a lot. If i have to buy meat I go to sams and freeze it. I find making dinner an adventure on what I can put together, most times it comes out awesome. Oh I have also made a monthely menu and only have to go to the store for fruit or veggies and milk.