2011 Pantry Challenge – The Results

Overall, we had an amazing Pantry Challenge in 2011! My main goal was to spend 20% less on our grocery budget. Our normal budget is $300 per month, so the Pantry Challenge goal was $240 for the month. Well we succeeded and only ended up spending $239 this month for groceries! Wow that is amazing! I am thinking of the possibilities if we could spend that every month!


The downside of a Pantry Challenge is that we are a bit low on a lot of our pantry staples as well as meat in our freezer. So I am going to have to make a rather large grocery trip within the next couple of days. To every negative, there is a positive. The positive is that I have some Giant Eagle Foodperks that are expiring that need to be used! So I can save an extra 12% on my groceries. The other positive is that February is a shorter month, so I think we will stay below our $300 budget once again.

I have participated in this Pantry Challenge for the past two years and I cannot express how beneficial it is to participate in this challenge. It also comes at an amazing time of year, right after the Christmas spending rush!

A 2011 Pantry Challenge

I am joining Life as Mom in her Pantry Challenge for January! I did this last year and it turned out to be a success! I create my "own rules" for this challenge because each family is different. The key is to use up a lot that is in our pantry and save some extra $$ this January to kick 2011 off right! My rules are as follows:

1. Use one pantry item or freezer item in each meal.  I will indicate in my weekly meal plan which pantry or freezer item I am using.

2. Only buy what is necesary which includes produce, meat and dairy products.

3. Cut our normal grocery bill by at least 20%, so we can only spend $240 this month!

I'm linked up over at Life as Mom for this challenge!