Jello Jigglers

So, I've never attempted to make or have the desire to make Jello Jigglers, but today was the day. Over the summer I had picked up an unopened package of Alphabet Jello cut-outs at an estate sale. We have used them before on cookie dough, but never for their actual purpose.

While surviving on our Eat from our Pantry month, I found some boxes of Jello that I had never opened. I thought that the boys would like this fun treat. I actually made the Jello yesterday, and tonight for dessert, I cut the boys names out with the Alphabet cut-outs. I think they liked them.

At least 'Pudge' had a couple of them, while Z-man only licked one and then just smashed the rest of them.

Granted, these are not the prettiest Jello Jigglers I've seen, but I wanted you to see how they turned out.

Eating from our Pantry: Week 4

This is our last grocery trip to the store for the month of January, also know as Eat from your Pantry month. We only went to Aldi's and Walgreens. We went a little over, totaling $28.56.

I heard from my friend that the Pineapple's at Aldi's were only $1 this week!! So that is the main reason we stopped at Aldi's. We also needed some extra snacks around the house, so we picked some up as well.

Here are the items we got at Walgreens:

The rice cakes were on sale for $0.99, and we had 3, $0.75 off coupons, total was $0.75 for all 3!! The peanuts were on sale for $1.99, and with an in store coupon and a manufacturer coupon, they totaled $0.50 for both!! And the peanuts were part of a rebate, so we'll be getting that money back in the mail. Check out moneysavingmom for more details on the Walgreens items.

I went over...

I am a little sad to announce to you that I have over spent this week on our "Eat From your Pantry" budget of $25. Here's the layout of what I purchased. Earlier this week we stopped in Target to get some cheap items:

The boxes of Organic Mac and Cheese were $0.50 each and the Juicy Juice was also $0.50 each. The bag of chips was free with coupon from being a fan on Facebook. Total spent here was $2.

Below pictured is a run to Walmart for also some cheap items:

Each box of Healthy Choice was $0.88, the Blueberries were $3, and the rest was free with coupons. Total spent: $7.40.

Pictured below is a trip to Aldi's, (and here is where I think I went over):

I spent a total of $27 on the items above. I wanted to get the Pecans to add to the Homemade Granola that we'll be making this week. I also wanted to make a stew this week, so I grabbed some stew meat. I guess we could've done without the rest. I just need to be patient on things we don't really need.

At Walgreens this week, you can get 2 cans of oats for $1 (for more details here: moneysavingmom)! So this is where I decided that I'd make homemade granola.

Lastly we have our WIC items for this week:

So, since I went over our weekly budgeted allowance of $25 while we eat from our pantry, I've decided to skip next week's grocery trip. And only allow WIC items to be had. Thanks for keeping me accountable!

County Market Grocery Trip

We are still active in the "Eat from your Pantry" challenge for the month of January. And to keep myself accountable to what I have posted earlier, I wanted to share with you what I spent my $25 on this week at the grocery store.

County Market sent out another booklet of their in-store coupons, so I eagerly set out to find matching Manufacturer coupons. The only one that I had luck finding was a $1/2 boxes of Post Cereal. Which isn't bad, so I got those boxes of cereal for $1 each. Everything was pretty much $1 or lass, except for the deli meat. Total spent was $25.26 (oops, 26 cents over budge), I'll make that up from finding change in our car!

Pictured above is what we got off of our WIC (Women, Infant, Children) coupons this week. Not bad, I might say! We now have 3 dozen eggs in our fridge. I think it would be wise to use those as meals this week. Also, I was excited to see that the Honey Kix is now a part of the WIC program!

My husband and I also took time our of our schedule to figure out what meals we can make from our pantry. So far, here's our list:

Breakfast:

Cereal

Toast

Eggs/Sausage

Pancakes

Turkey Bacon

Lunch:

Salad

Leftovers

BLT Wraps

Sandwiches

Dinner:

Egg Bake

Chicken Tetrazzini

Tuna Cakes

Quesadillas

Pasta Salad

Sausage & Rice

Tacos

Free Food

This is an update on the "eat from your pantry" month...I just wanted to keep up with my blog on letting everyone know whenever I go out and bring food into our home. Here is an example of getting free food for our weekly menu. My husband and I had a chance to go out without the kids last night and we exchanged some Christmas presents that were duplicates in exchange for some fruit and bread. Is that cheating the "eat from your pantry" challenge, you might ask? My husband and I decided that technically we weren't spending any money to get the food, so it was ok in our book!

Have you decided to jump on board with the "eat from your pantry" challenge, for the month of January?

January Challenge

I've been inspired by Money Saving Mom and her attempt to eat from her pantry for the month of January. The scoop here is to only go to the grocery store 3 times a month and only spend $25 a week on dairy/veggie/fruit products. And use the leftover grocery money budgeted for that month for charity. The goal is to use up a majority of the food that is in your pantry, and use what you have on hand.

Here's a photo of our pantry as it is stocked quite nicely. We'll see how it looks at the end of January!

I've heard of other people (on blogger) going for a couple weeks just eating from their pantry, so I know that this is an obtainable goal. You just have to get creative. And I consider my husband and I to be pretty creative people. So if you're up for a challenge, I suggest you try it as well. We can be in this together!

We are fortunate enough to have a couple of pantry's. Here's a photo of our little swivel cabinet. I know there's a fancy word for it, but that's what I'll call it for now. It is well stocked with cereal as well.

A couple of our rules in the Fisher household for the "eat from your pantry":

• We are allowing to use the WIC coupons that we get from the Health Dept., which include bread, milk, cheese, etc.
• We will be allowed one trip to the grocery store each week for fresh food, $25 worth.
• We are allowing those who want to give us free food, to accept it with open arms! haha!

So do your usual weekly grocery trip and jump on board for the January "eat from your pantry" challenge! Set your own rules and have fun!