2026 Pantry Challenge Week #1

I've been a fan of Three Rivers Homestead on the Tubes for a while now and have followed her annual Pantry Challenge. It's a great way to focus on using up all that you've preserved, stored, dehydrated or frozen. For us, living in the mountains, it's also super beneficial because sometimes we get snowed in and need to rely on what we have on hand because getting to the store can be a bit of a challenge in itself (although, frankly, I'm in walking distance to our little town grocery, so it's not that dire).

As of this writing, we are supposed to get 20 - 30" of snow in the next couple of days, so this week I'll be hunkering down and doing a bit of baking. But, enough about this upcoming week! I started this Pantry Challenge on January 1st, and wanted to give you a report.

But first, the rules I've adapted... I'm allotting us the ability to buy some dairy (milk only) and fresh fruits and vegetables. 

I don't have enough canned or frozen vegetables on hand to last us, although the challenge does make me focus on using up what I do have, which isn't much. We just aren't big canned/frozen vegetable consumers. I'd rather rely on stored onions, garlic, squash, potatoes and sweet potatoes during the winter months and throw in fresh greens and other longer storing vegetables like carrots, parsnips and broccoli. 

I do have a lot of frozen fruit and canned fruit, so we'll be using those up. Which is a good thing, otherwise I'd be ignoring them since, during peak fruit season, I'm apt to just throw stuff in the freezer because it's too hot to process. And then promptly forget about them.

As for the dairy - I'm planning on making my own yogurt during the challenge. I also have a lot of cheese making supplies (aka enzymes and starters) hanging out in the freezer, so I'll be making some soft cheeses as well. Stay tuned for that.

Week 1:

I started off the New Year by making chicken stock out of the roasted chicken that we had for Christmas Day. I had frozen the carcass, along with some other vegetable ends and simmered it in the crockpot. I also soaked some dried red beans overnight to make Hoppin' John for New Years Day dinner. I had defrosted some bacon that's been hiding in the freezer to use as well. And so, for dinner, we had that. We ate this for dinner leftovers the next two nights.

I also defrosted some 5 Seed Whole Wheat bread from the freezer (from a batch I made 2 weeks ago). We used this for toast to go with some jam I've been trying to use up. I also made a big batch of granola to eat for cereal and to go with yogurt (when I make some).

I defrosted some chicken to use in a Chicken Tortilla soup for another dinner. Since I had soaked too many beans for the other night, I simmered the rest of the red beans in leftover chicken stock to use as well. My son had made some pasta sauce that was sitting in the fridge, so I threw that into the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients for the chicken soup, so that didn't go to waste. 

I got a griddle for Christmas, so I decided to make some flatbread to go with the soup and it turned out great. Honestly, it was a naan recipe. I got rid of my tortilla press when we moved and I didn't have the energy that day to make tortillas, so naan it was! And it was a hit. I thought we'd have leftovers of the bread, but they were all eaten. 

Last night, I made a "Hamburger Soup", although it's really just more of an enormous pile of vegetables and ground beef. I made it with some of the chicken stock, some tomatoes and a lot of herbs. I used some of the Yukon Gold potatoes we grew this year that were hiding in the pantry. I dialed back on the amount of broth so it was more of a stew. I thought we'd have leftovers, but it was gone before I knew it. Are you sensing a theme here?

Oh! And the Boil Advisory was lifted Sunday afternoon, so no more of that shenanigans! That added an extra layer as I didn't want to use anything that needed to be rinsed when I was planning dinners. 

I feel like I'm missing a few things - I'll try to keep better track this next week.

How long am I doing the challenge, you ask? I think Jessica runs hers for the months of January and February. My plan is to do at least through January and see where we are. I do have an Azure Standard delivery scheduled for late this month, but I may put it off unless something is on super sale and we absolutely need it. Otherwise, I might just stick to things like more carrots, onions and the like if we're running low (and the snow situation doesn't make it difficult to go pick it up).