Cupboard Challenge



thank you frugalvillage.com!

 So week one is up on the Lillard family budget, and so far it's been interesting.  We had an unexpected expense come up for one of our rental properties.  David had his suit pants hemmed (so he could actually wear those nice suits we bought a few months ago).  One of the stones in my wedding ring was loose so I had to get that fixed.  All of these were expenses we don't usually have every month, but we budgeted for this kind of thing so it was okay. I kept having to remind myself that's what that money is for!  It's made me aware (in just a week-- I can hardly imagine what it will be like in a month!) of how much of what goes where.  It's weird being on a budget, but a challenge no less and being the competitive person that I am, I'm always up for a challenge and I'd like to do well.

With week one now being over (David and I decided to start our fiscal week (fiscal, haha!) on Fridays), I looked in the cupboards and the fridge to see what we might need for this next week.  That's when I began to get real with myself and realized that in actuality- we needed nothing.  We had plenty of rice, pasta, beans, frozen veggies, frozen chicken breast, beef jerky, a few fresh veggies and some apples and oranges.  Not a ton of variety (that's what gets me into grocery trouble- thinking I need more walnuts or feta cheese or maybe another bag of lemons or dried cranberries blah blah blah) but we had absolutely enough.  My thoughts went back to Joel's sermons about the orphans our church visited in Africa and how they lived on flat bread, rice and beans and here I was wondering what I needed at the grocery store.  We had plenty of food without visiting any store.  I could litterally shop in my own pantry.  Okay.  I thought.  Let's up my game here.  I decided right then and there to do a cupboard challenge.

Starting today, Friday, until next Thursday- basically one whole week, I (or we, if David is home... He just counted himself in on this challenge when he's home this weekend!) will eat what we have on hand.  If we don't have it, we won't be eating it. 

This means beans and rice, frozen veggies, defrosted chicken breast, that weird looking beef jerky in the cupboard...  I will tell you right now I can't wait to start and I can't wait for it to be over.  I think it will be fun and boring all in one challenge.  It's going to be like an episode of "Chopped".  Oh boy.

It's time to get cooking from the cupboard....