Are you ready for another Quarantine Food Storage Challenge update?! Our family is challenging ourselves to stay out of the grocery store for as long as possible, which means we’re eating from our pantry and long-term food storage.
Not only will this keep us and others safe, but it will give us a chance to test our long-term storage and figure out what things we want to add to our food storage inventory.
In this update, I’ll share what we ate this week, including trying something totally new, some things I ordered, and our garden expansion.
As usual, you can either watch the video or keep reading below!
What We Ate
Breakfast:
Oatmeal, cream of wheat, cold cereal, fried eggs, pancakes, scrambled eggs
Lunch:
PBJ/PBH sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, oranges, apple slices, leftover pizza
Dinner:
Baked Potatoes: We finished off the last of our potatoes. We had them with butter, sour cream, and green beans.
Hawaiian Haystacks: I used some shredded turkey from the freezer to put in the homemade sauce. We had pineapple, peas, raisins, and crunchies (chow mein noodles). It wasn’t the same without cheese and tomatoes, but it was still good. Normally the kids complain a little about brown rice (instead of white rice), but not one of them mentioned it!
Pizza: Everyone loves homemade pizza around here because we each make our own. Our pizzas were very light on cheese since we heavily rationed it a few weeks ago (there’s cheese in the freezer but we’re stretching it). We had pepperoni and pineapple though.
Macaroni and Cheese: Mike made cheese sauce with powdered milk and the cheese powder from our food storage. Our 5-year-old is a big fan. For the rest of us, it’s not our favorite, but it’s palatable.
Taco Soup: With pinto beans cooked in the slow cooker, I added onions and taco seasoning to make a pretty boring taco soup. The highlight was that I got out a bag of tortilla chips to eat with it along with some sour cream.
Split Pea Soup: keep reading below for the details…
Desserts:
I made homemade brownies twice – once with peanut butter frosting and once with chocolate frosting. I have to share the recipe with you soon because they are so good!
We made blueberry frozen yogurt with homemade yogurt and some blueberries from the freezer (like this “recipe” except substituting raspberries for blueberries). We paired it with unfrosted brownies for a family night treat.
Trying New Things: Split Peas
Among the buckets of food storage we have in the garage (shown in this video) there was one with 45 pounds of split peas. I have never cooked with split peas before. Frankly they don’t sound very appetizing to me at all (don’t tell my kids).
We decided to invite Mike’s parents to have dinner with us when they loaned us their garden tiller. They are essentially the only people we have interacted with in the past six weeks (and they’ve been staying home too).
And I made… split pea soup. 😂 In addition to the split peas from our long-term food storage, I was using dehydrated potatoes and carrots from our food storage. I diced up one of the sausages from the freezer and added it too.
Most people probably wouldn’t make a new food storage meal for company, but my in-laws were gracious guinea pigs.
Mike’s mom is a pro at cooking from her food storage and brought sweet potatoes (from last year’s garden harvest) and cornbread (made from wheat and corn she ground in her wheat grinder).
And the soup was a hit among those who tried it (the younger kids didn’t and I didn’t fight them on it).
Ordering a Few Things
I had to order a few non-food things online from Walmart this week for our family this week. They have free shipping for orders over $35, so I added in some food items that we will likely need in the near future. I keep a mental list of the food things that we will likely need to replenish first, so I compared prices and looked around to see if any of them had reasonable prices that I was willing to pay.
Here’s what I bought:
Salt– We are running dangerously low on salt considering all of the baking we’re doing. In-store a 24 oz container of salt costs about $.50 at any store. I paid $3.50 for a 2-pack. That’s heavily marked up over the in-store price, but it’s just a couple of dollars and it kept me out of the store.
Jam– I’ve told you that we eat a lot of PBJ sandwiches around here and I’m not kidding. I found a decent price on a 2-pack of Welch’s natural jam that would ship.
Peanut Butter– I didn’t get much, just a 3-pack of 16oz jars of honey peanut butter.
Starburst– Our 2-year-old and 5-year-old have trouble staying in their beds at bedtime, but they are sometimes motivated by “earning a Starburst” in the morning if they don’t come out of their rooms after they’re supposed to be in bed.
Adding those things to the non-food items I needed to get brought my total up to $35 for free shipping.
Garden Expansion?
Last week I told you that we were going to try to plant as much as we could using one raised bed that we threw together last year and some space we have in our back patio.
Most of our property is really rocky, but we found a spot that we think will be good for our melons and viney things. We even started planting there.
We are considering using our stimulus check to build the garden that we want. We haven’t wanted to invest the money into terracing a hillside, building raised beds, buying dirt, and setting up irrigation and fencing, since it will take away from our current financial goal of paying off the house.
We haven’t decided for sure, but we’re running the numbers and trying to decide. Right now we’re waiting for a quote on what a bulldozer and operator would cost to do the terracing. If we go ahead with it, I’ll share the details in posts and videos.
Quarantine Food Storage Challenge
Well that’s all I’ve got for this update! For more on our Quarantine Food Storage Challenge, check out these posts:
Quarantine Food Storage Challenge Series
Why We’re doing a Quarantine Food Storage Challenge, Pantry, Food Storage, Fridge, & Freezer Tour
UPDATE #1– What we’ve eaten, Food Tips
UPDATE #2– What we ate, Theme Days, Baking Supplies, Snacks, Seeds
UPDATE #3– What we ate, Trying New things, Garden Expansion?
UPDATE #4– What we ate, Food Storage FAQ
UPDATE #5– What we ate, New things to try
UPDATE #6– What we ate, New Things we tried
UPDATE #7– Pantry Update after 2 months of our challenge
UPDATE #8– What the kids think of the food storage challenge
What we Learned from our our food strorage challenge
How is quarantine eating going in YOUR family?!
Holy cow, our family needs to do this! We stocked up on so much frozen food items that both our freezers have to have something heavy in front of them to keep them shut. We just got the one inside our house to be able to close on its own yesterday.
Despite this, we keep going to the store. Usually for produce and other time sensitive items, but we really should just finish off what we have and make it a goal.
Thanks, I feel inspired!
That reminds me of my parents’ chest freezer from when I was growing up! We had to but a something heavy on both corners of the lid to keep it closed!
It is fun to make it a goal! We love a good challenge around here. 🙂
I’ve only shopped 1x in the past 38 days and my fresh produce is down to 1/2 a bok choy cabbage, some parsley, three potatoes and one apple. I do have frozen veggies & fruit and could put off grocery shopping for another week at least, but I’m planning to shop tomorrow. I’m craving salad!
Some meals this week have been: oatmeal with flax seed & fruit, four cheese pizza, asparagus soup, ground pork and cabbage stir fry, chicken and vegetable fried rice, sauerkraut and knockwurst casserole.
I wish I knew in advance what the grocery store will have in stock as it would make planning much easier. I’m curious to see how prices will have changed – hopefully not too much.
Sending you love.
Those meals sound delicious Libby! I hope you find what you need at the store. Salad does sound great!! I’m also curious to see how prices change when we finally go back to the store.
Very good food challenge in the time of Quarantine, thanks for sharing.
I’m not sure if it would work in your yard, but there are planters that you can buy – I’ve seen them in IG for $10. It looks like a child’s swimming pool, but the sides look to be a little higher. I am buying one for our daughter to put on her patio and am considering one for our back deck. Just a thought. Fwiw, I found you last week through Kristin at thefrugalgirl and while it’s just my dh and me, and for now, our two college aged sons, I’m always looking to stretch my dollars.
Hi Jennifer! It’s nice to meet you! That’s a great idea for patio gardening, especially for people who have limited space. Thanks for sharing!
Things are pretty normal here. We are down to single-digit new cases daily for the state; less than 20 new cases daily for the country; and our nearest town hasn’t had a new case since April 2. My husband goes into the office once a twice a week and he always stops by the shops, where he’s been finding some amazing bargains on meat and bread – 4 packs of bagels for about US 40 cents; ground beef for US $1.40/pound, chicken for under US $1/pound, etc. Meat prices, especially, are low, as much of our meat is normally shipped to Asia, but those supply chains are down at the moment. We are replacing the things we use, stocking up where we can, and hoping for the best. It’s possible Australia may eradicate this disease (instead of just suppressing it) but it’s such a tricky disease; the biggest community outbreaks now are from asymptomatic health care workers going into residential treatment facilities and spreading it to residents and other staff. Things can change so quickly! So, we’re hopeful, but not complacent. We’re using this time to prepare for the worse.
That is so wonderful to hear Becca! Glad you’re still being careful, but that’s great that Australia seems to be in a good place. And WOW those are some great deals!!
Hi Stephanie
We are still going with our challenge too. I’ve got fresh milk coming on Tuesday but that’s all that we’ve added. I’m down to the last pumpkin, last few carrots, celery stalks and onions. But there’s still frozen veg, cheese, grains and flour. Plus I have spring onions and chives in the garden, and lots of eggs. I froze a ton of whole tomatoes last year and they’ve proven to be very useful. Frozen bananas have also been handy for breakfast smoothies.
I’m a vegetarian but my husband eats meat so tonight I’m doing a roast (which has been in the freezer for yonks) for him with the remaining potatoes, cauliflower (freezer) cheese and a carrot, and curried pumpkin soup for me. Lunch is homemade bread and scrambled eggs with chives. Breakfast is a banana smoothie with long life almond milk, frozen banana, oats and peanut butter.
We need some household things this week so I might have to shop soon. So I might do a big shop and then try to go for another month. I like the idea of monthly shopping (or longer if possible) with the current Coronavirus situation.
Wow Kat! It sounds like you’re doing great with this challenge! Those foods all sound wonderful! Keep up the good work!!
Half of me wants to go all in on cooking from my food storage and garden but half of me does not want to put in the time and planning. I decided to give myself a break. I do know what I have and I use it regularly just not exclusively.
That’s totally understandable. That’s good that you know what you have and what keep it rotated. I am really interested to see how long our staples last us because I really have no idea. We’re definitely going to have to do a lot of restocking after this challenge is over!
Nice that you have chickens. We have been out of eggs for the last week or so. I let our supply of powdered eggs and flax seed get used up, so now I get to be creative with egg substitutes. As long as there is baking powder or baking soda in it, the recipe usually turns out just fine. Or if a recipe needs the binding or thickening quality of eggs, I use some corn starch. I started making sourdough in the fall. The kids don’t always like what I make with it. And half of them hate beans. They like brown rice just fine. We just ran out of fresh veggies and cheese yesterday. I’m trying out sprouting wheat and sunflower seeds while I wait for spinach and lettuce in the garden. My garden is doing pretty well. I should have planted lettuce and cool weather stuff sooner, since we live in the South and have a longer growing season, but I had a baby in January, so that’s my excuse for planting in March instead. Good luck with your house goal. We paid ours off the end of 2016 and it’s been such a blessing!
those are some good tips for when you don’t have eggs! I’ve used some of those in the past, but I’m definitely grateful that we have plenty of eggs right now. There are other things (like CHEESE!) that we’re missing right now though. I wish we had planted cool weather things too! I could really go for some salad now!! And congrats on paying off your house!!
We moved from Virginia to Utah last year and brought 200 lbs. of wheat with us. I know my husband seriously questioned that amount, but it’s been a blessing for us! I mostly grind it and use it with all-purpose flour or by itself in baked goods. I’ve also used it as a rice or barley substitute in stews and meat expansion. I’ve seen recipes to cook it for hot cereal breakfast, so I think we’ll try that to stretch our oatmeal and cream-of-wheat breakfasts.
We put in a garden last week (very small) along with some containers of herbs. I planted them just as seeds, not starts, so I’m hoping they sprout and don’t get too hot and dry out.
Our property is a good size, but has not been taken care of at all. We’ve been borrowing mowers, weed whackers, spray, to control the weeds, but really we just need a backhoe to come in and take off the top layer of rock (it’s decorative gravel that someone threw grass seed all over) and start over.
Those are some good ideas for using wheat! I’m glad it has come in handy for you! Congrats on the new place and best of luck with the garden!
The pizza looks DELICIOUS! Pizza is always a win.
We have been eating…a lot of eggs haha. And a surprising amount of like, Brussel spouts. The local farm we order from has been really awesome — always a lot of great options available. Plus we had a really great grocery shop this week — a lot of the stuff that has been out over the last few weeks is starting to come back in stock, which means we have been able to get a few things we’ve been low on. Yay!
That’s good to hear that things are coming back in stock where you are! And way to go with the brussel sprouts! I’m not sure my picky kids would handle them very well (let’s be honest… I might struggle too!).