Pantry Challenge: Making Ingredient Substitutions and Creating Recipes to Save Money

Pantry challenge is a method of saving money on food which is very popular with stay-at-home moms. Pantry challenge is a challenge to see how long you can go eating and cooking out of your pantry, refrigerator and freezer without taking a trip to the store. The idea behind pantry challenge is that we all have a tremendous number of ingredients that build up in our pantry, and which never get used, causing waste. It can be very helpful when you're experiencing a cash flow problem, or if you're needing to free up some money for another purpose, such as paying off debt. I've used this method many times over the last thirteen years when we were very low on funds, and I wasn't earning an income from work. It has saved my life many times over.

Pantry challenge isn't about doing without; it's about using what we have more efficiently. It's best not to try to attempt pantry challenge if your cupboard is nearly bare. If it is, stock up on groceries, taking care to buy what's inexpensive and on sale. Focus on frugal basics like potatoes, onions, garlic, bananas, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, whole grain flour, whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, pasta sauce, peanut butter, cooking oil, oatmeal, shortening, frozen vegetables, milk, yogurt, margarine and similar recipe ingredients. Buy the store brand and large package sizes whenever possible, if they're less expensive than the other brands and sizes. Avoid convenience foods like microwave popcorn, TV dinners, boxed food, and small individually packaged items which tend to be expensive. When you're sufficiently stocked with cost-effective necessities, you can start the challenge.

Doing pantry challenge successfully takes some cleverness and advance preparation. There are many online forums like Frugalmom.net that offer an opportunity for mothers who choose not to work out of the home to meet one another and give one another support and advice. There are also email groups such as one on Yahoo Groups which allows people to get together and exchange recipes, money saving tips, and compete to see who can be the most frugal.