Challenge Accepted, Dude

You know I'm always up for a good challenge.  I pick the biggest & meanest ones too.  Like the one I inadvertantly picked on Tuesday of this week.

"NO GROCERY SHOPPING BEFORE VACATION", declared I…all over the Facebook world!  Then, I sealed the deal, by posting pictures.  Real genuine proof that there's plenty o' food here at the Gway house to keep us nourished and fed.

Note:  The bulging pantry

 

 

I even crossed the threshold of "not a secret anymore"  and shared for the world to see…the inside of my fridge!  Gasp!

Of course, you've probably figured out by now — that every little thing I decided to cook had one or two ingredients missing.  Challenge accepted, pantry war.  Onward I marched!  When I found myself out of mayo for the tartar sauce, I sucked it up and cooked the fish anyway.  Who's going to notice?

Oh yea, them—>

Oh, don't let all those happy grins fool ya.  They like what they like and when it comes to eating fish, they like it with tartar!  Snobs!

My next hurdle, was milk.  Who doesn't replace the dang milk?  My family doesn't drink tons of it, but when we need it or want it….it better be there!  Nope, out!  I realized this after I'd already started homemade macaroni-n-cheese to go with the fish. Oops! Luckily for me, I had a carton of lactose-free milk in the fridge. I've been using it all summer and I love it. But I hadn't cooked anything with it, just poured it over my morning cereal. No problem, it worked fine.

Guess who went on and on about my mac-n-cheese?  Ally, the pickiest eater in my family.  She ate 3 big servings and packed a to-go bowl for work the next day.  She asked me what did I to the mac-n-cheese?  It's the best you've ever made!  Zing!

The dinner was looking a little weak for hubby. He doesn't eat cheese and I was out of potato's. I needed a starch of some sort to go with the green lima beans & fish. Rice maybe? The only snafu?  I had fed him rice the night before. I needed a switch up, like….Rice-a-roni.  You know, the fancy stuff. But I was out of that too.

So, I got all THIS IS WAR Suzie Homemaker and made my own and don't act like that's not impressive. How many of you are cracking up Angel Hair pasta into a pan of rice and butter?  Huh? I thought so.

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It turns out, you can make meals out of what you have on hand.  Who knew?  I'm proud of my determination and stick-to-it-ness.  I'm weak when it comes to meals and I pay dearly because of it.  My grocery bill is higher than it needs to be and I hope to change that very soon.  I mentioned yesterday my new grocery obsession, Aldi.  When I return from vacation and need to do my shopping….it's there that I plan to go.

Now, I just have to make it until Tuesday night.  I don't know if I'll go without milk until then….but I PROMISE, I'm not going to the store for G R O C E R I E S!!

Money in the bank, right?  Challenge, accepted!

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