Ever browse your pantry and feel overwhelmed staring at a whole bunch of the ingredients you don’t know how to use up?
The Eat Your Pantry Down Challenge by Food Print and April McGreger helps you reduce food waste and save money by shopping your kitchen. Food Print has a great introduction blog post that sparked inspiration to participate in the challenge! A few reasons for unused pantry ingredients vary from disliking the dishes I made in the past with uncommon items (looking at you mung beans and TVP) to feeling like the ingredient is restricted to only a couple recipes not in my regular rotation list.
Taking Inventory & Planning Meals
Here’s how to get started on The Eat Your Pantry Down Challenge!
- Take Inventory: Tally up what’s in your pantry and freezer on your phone, laptop or a notebook. Short on time? Do a 30-minute inventory sprint! I found it helpful to take inventory of my fridge too.
- Make an Idea List: Draft a list of meal ideas. Get creative and pair ingredients from your inventory that could go together.
- Create a Meal Plan for the Week: Write down your plan for the week and build a shopping list to fill in any holes. The goal is to buy as little as possible and use what you have first. Below is my inventory list and meal plan options.
Now Presenting the Meals
Most Creative: Chili & Cornbread
Here’s a look into the first meal I attempted during the challenge because I knew it would end up delicious and motivate me to continue on.
- BEANS (black and kidney)
- Textured Vegetable Protein – It’s a soy-based meat substitute I tried to cook with once before and the meal came out terrible, which discouraged me from using it again. I did a little bit of research on prepping the TVP this time and it ended up being a fantastic addition in the chili.
- Frozen tomato paste, canned spaghetti sauce and salsa – I was out of diced tomatoes, but had chunky salsa we did not love in the fridge that became my solution!
- Dried chilis – There’s an excess of dried chilis in our pantry and I’m slowly making my way through the jar. Only 2 little ones seriously spice up my meal.
- Leftover gravy – I made gravy for a meal the day before and figured why not throw it in the mix!
- I baked cornbread to use up a very large container of cornmeal that’s been untouched for months.
The Crowd Pleaser: “Snickers” Date Bar
I’m not one to typically push “healthy” alternatives to candy bars, but this was a fan favorite. I made a batch when family visited, and it’s now in our meal prep rotation.
- Dates – They become the “caramel” in bar.
- Honey peanut butter
- Melted dark chocolate with coconut oil
- Crushed cashews – A massive Sam’s Club size container of sesame maple cashews has been staring me down and unfortunately, I didn’t know what to do with it. I’m happy to report the container is now empty, freeing up food storage space.
Favorite Meal: Ginisang Munggo
The shining gold star of the week. My pantry was stocked with a ton of mung beans ready to use up during the challenge. When I searched recipe ideas, this comforting Filipino dish popped up. It was easy to make, nutrient dense and SO flavorful. My mouth is watering thinking about it. This is the recipe I followed.
- Jasmine rice
- Mung beans – I had a surplus from the one time I made a mung bean omelet but was left with no clue on using up the rest. They are going to be my new pantry staple just to make this dish every month.
- Frozen spinach
- Canned coconut milk
- Canned diced tomatoes
- Dried chilis
Inspiration Meal: Haywood Common’s Kale Caesar Salad
I worked at Haywood Common in West Asheville for two years and still regularly visit. Their kale caesar salad is out of this world and I want to make sure they get the recognition for my dinner idea! I recreated it at home to use up the leftover cornbread from the chili & cornbread earlier in the week.
- Kale – TOO much was lying around in my fridge begging to be used.
- Cornbread leftovers crisped up
- Olive tapenade – Whipped up a batch with lemon, onions, dehydrated tomatoes from my dad’s garden, capers, olives and wild garlic from my front yard.
- Dressing – Soaked cashews (I was able to use the remaining cup of unsalted cashews in my pantry), dijon mustard, capers, wild garlic and frozen miso paste.
My Daily Snack: Palitaw
Palitaw is a sweet Filipino afternoon snack made with glutinous rice. Imagine sticky rice condensed down to create a chewy center. Mine is purple because of the added ube extract.
- Mochiko – A popular type of Japanese sweet rice flour made from short-grain glutinous rice. I bought it to make mochi brownies on a whim but never got around to it.
- Palitaw topping – It consists of coconut flakes, sugar and black sesame seeds. I wish I grounded up the topping so it more evenly distributed.
Pantry Cleanout Recipe: Granola
Top left: After making the Palitaw, there was leftover coconut, sesame seeds and sugar topping.
Top right: We ran out of creamer for our coffee, so I blended and strained the rest of the maple sesame cashews with two dates and water.
Bottom photos: I’ve never made my own granola and learned it is very easy! I used oats, saved cashew pulp from the creamer, palitaw topping, dried cranberries, dehydrated cinnamon apples, chopped candied nuts that were going close to going stale, coconut oil, maple syrup, and more coconut flakes.
& The Rest!
- Zucchini Fritters featuring zucchini that was close to going bad, canned corn, whole wheat flour and nutritional yeast.
- When in doubt, make a stir fry! A ton of veggies in my fridge were a day or two away from being tossed into my compost bin (shoutout to the Asheville & Buncombe County food scraps drop-off). The stir fry sauce had doenjang and ginger paste from my freezer.
- Potato salad meal prep with canned corn, onion, cabbage and herbs.
- Shepherd’s pie is the ultimate tastes better than it looks food. I made mine with the leftover boiled potatoes, frozen peas and carrots, canned corn and frozen meatless crumbles.
The Best Parts
WOW! I am super impressed with how the meals and snacks turned out. The boring ingredients in my pantry completely transformed, nothing tasted bad, and I had minimal food waste. I surprised myself with how creative I got in the kitchen. Enough food was made to cover lunches the following day and snacks throughout the week. Our household of 2 spent about $50 on groceries that week which is significantly less than usual.
A pro I was not expecting was the inner satisfaction making Filipino food. Even though I’m half Filipina, I’ve felt disconnected from part of my culture because Filipino food is not traditionally vegetarian friendly. Over the years I recreated vegetarian versions of dishes like adobo, lumpia and pork skewers and am always searching for more recipes. Cooking two Filipino dishes during the challenge made my mom very happy.
While overall the challenge was a fulfilling experience, I do have one warning if you want to participate. I relied on recipes daily, which led to spending A LOT of extra time in the kitchen.
A New Perspective on the Food in my Pantry
For a long time, I was stuck with ingredients in my pantry I had no idea how to use up but couldn’t justify throwing out edible food. This challenge forced me to look at my stock head on and give certain goods a second chance. I was ready to compost my TVP because of how unsuccessful a dish I made before with them was, but turns out I didn’t know how to properly cook TVP. It felt great to create nourishing meals for me and my fiancé. Eating down my pantry really refreshed my regular go-to dinners. If you want to reduce wasted food at home, try out this challenge. Who knew the odds and ends in your pantry could be so delicious!
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Written by: Rechelle Ray
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