The Challenge

Is Jimmy Hoffa hiding back there? You could feed a developing nation... Do the survivalists know about you? You could wait out a nuclear war with the supplies in your pantry.

All of these are comments that have been made about the contents of my dry goods pantry and/or my deep freezer. And they are on target. (As an English teacher, I understand that the previous sentence is not grammatically correct, as it begins with the coordinating conjunction 'and,' which means it would need to be attached to an independent clause in order to function properly in a sentence. However, because I have demonstrated that I know the rule, I can break it for emphasis. And I did.)

The contents of my freezer include but are not limited to... 2 packages of frozen french cut green beans, 1 package frozen peas, several pounds of frozen cranberries, Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, some precooked chicken terryaki meatballs, cream cheese wontons from the Schwann man, 3 sundae cones from the aforementioned Schwann man, 2 eye of round roasts, 5 New York Strip steaks, at least 10 pork loin "chops" 2 actual pork tenderloins, boneless skinless chicken breasts, bacon, sausage links, a brisket, a whole chicken, pork ribs, a sirloin, some burger, tenderloin tips leftover from an Omaha Steaks purchase my fiance made this past winter, a fresh (but now frozen) Costco Chicken Pot Pie, Several bags of "Open and Saute" Asian cuisine... orange chicken, I think, and perhaps some Beef dish... A tray of muffins from Costco, several frozen pizzas, an enormous box of all beef hot dogs leftover from a National Honor Society function that I am housing until the next National Honor Society function that requires an enormous box of hot dogs...

My dry goods pantry includes but is not limited to... 15 cans of chicken broth, some beef broth, some cream of ... soups, at least 8 different bottles of 30 minute marinade, the required canned goods to make chili, some canned crab, every possible type of Italian or Asian noodle imaginable, every Asian condiment an adventurous Midwestern girl could own... plum sauce, fish sauce, coconut curry, peanut sauce, masala ingredients..., noodle pouches, and noodle pouches, and more noodle pouches, cake mixes of every flavor, an enormous bag of freeze dried exotic mushrooms from Costco, every baking candy known to man... chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, red and green swirled mint chips, butterscotch chips, mini chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, Andes mint chips, raspberry chips, cinnamon chips, toffee chips...

So here is the challenge...

I am going to see how long I can feed myself and my fiance without grocery shopping for anything but fresh produce, bakery and dairy items. I will replace fresh fruits and veggies, breads, cheese and milk. I will purchase no meat, no frozen items, no snack foods, no canned or boxed goods... nothing for the pantry or the freezer.

This challenge has three major benefits...

1. I will eat food I've already purchased.
2. My future grocery bills will decline
3. It has to be pretty healthy.

I will post all details... (Recipes, success:flop ratio, mood of the fiance as we are reduced to eating the Costco chicken pot pie in the middle of July because we are sick of pork chops...)

I really like the European/ big city notion of stopping at the market every day to purchase the items you need for that day only. Once I clean out my cache of frozen and pantry items, I can begin doing this with a clear conscience, and the knowledge that there is nothing else in my home to eat, so I have to get the makings for dinner.

I am leaving for vacation in about 3 hours, so the challenge will begin when I arrive home, on Sunday, July 13!