My bother and I were heading to our local stores today (a 1/2hr away) with my list of all items I needed to stockup on and was totally out of (which is not like me w/the exception of milk thats something that we never seem to have enough of) anyway we were only about 5 minutes onto our ride and I smelled something burning I pulled over to the side of the road and the smell was coming from my passenger side front tire I know that I to have the wheel barring replaced (I knew this last week I'm just waiting for the part to come in and the good thing it is that it's still under warranty) and I also need to get new brakes so I decided not to take a chance with it catching on fire or ruining whatever is the problem is(I'm just guessing it's the wheel barring?)so I turned around and came back home..I was spitting mad cause I don't go to the stores only but once a week now ....I use to go a couple of times a week (thanks to the posters on this board)so I'm not wasting gas and combing errands all in one shot... Now I'm thinking I'm out of dish soap(I have a stockpile at my MIL's and didn't know that I was out till this morning because I've been giving my 3 boys dish duty everyday for the past 3 weeks and I haven't had to wash any dishes till this morning)paper towels,,milk and so on...so I got thinking what am I gonna do to comphensate for what I need till my DH comes home from work..I had planned of picking up a package of hamburger for taco's and I also needed lettuce... I'm a good one for always lacking a ingredient that is needed for whatever it is I want to make...so heres what I came up with... I pulled out a chuck steak and put into my crockpot and I actually have everything I needed to make my Vegetable Beef Stew...(YAY for me!!) then I got thinking it would be great to have a fresh loaf of bread to go with it (this stew although it makes alot there is never any leftovers) that way maybe I will have some left over ...so I pulled my KitchenAid mixer out and made Honey Oatmeal bread...again I actually had all the ingredients...now what's for dessert? I decided to make a Honey Bun Cake it required milk and lucky for me I had a box of powdered milk so that I ended up having everything I needed for my whole meal....It is such a great feeling having everything you need...It was because of this board I have learned to include such a variety of baking items having items that you use on a regular basis and stocking up on them..I've stockpiled for many years but never really knew how to use it to my advantage and how to cook from scratch or using powdered milk when I didn't have any milk...I just want to thank you all... I have really been blessed finding this board..

p.s. when it came time to do the dishes I put water in the dish soap bottle and had enough to wash all of my dishes..even though that would be common sense... before learning to be more frugal I would of just thrown the bottle out and never thought of putting water in what little was left...

Nice job! I wonder what other meals you could make with what you have in the house? You could go through your cupboards to see what other things you could make and that would be a real motivator for the future.

~That's awesome!It's amazing what you can do when you HAVE to! Sounds delicious. You can also use a smidge of laundry detergent to wash dishes. I've seen my mom do it tons of times!~

Thanks for the compliments!!

my4littlebuffaloes: You are right I could of scoured through my pantry,freezer and cameup with lots of dishes to make..I'm not very creative..I was brought up where you almost always had a meat,potatoe and veggie meal and never dessert..My mom was an excellent cook but lacked in a variety..I'm slowly learning over the past year to make different meals that my family doesn't get board with..

nuisance26: LOL... that was the first thing that came to mind... that being said I can say I never run out of laundry soap..

What a great thread. Isn't it neat what you can do with what's in your pantry. Great job.

Good for you! :thumb:

good job making due! now want to share the honey bun cake recipe? lol

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil, eggs and sour cream. Stir by hand approximately 50 strokes, or until most large lumps are gone. Pour half of the batter into an ungreased 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter in the cake pan. Spoon the other half of the batter into the cake pan, covering the brown sugar and cinnamon. Twirl the cake with a butter knife or icing knife until it looks like a honey bun (or whatever design you want to make).
Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Frost cake while it is still fairly hot. Serve warm.
To Make the frosting: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.

Note::: I used a Bundt pan.. I left the cake in the pan and poured the frosting over the whole cake that also includes poking holes in the cake .... .... Enjoy...

woo hoo!!
Great job!!

that sounds awesome! thanks so much

Your very welcome! I have to say that it will be a recipe that I will make often....It's Delicious...

Great job!!! I'll be doing alot of that kind of meals this month. I've been stock piling, so much so that I went over my budget by $100 this month. I must do better next Month! That cake sure sounds yummy! Think i'll try that when company comes over! Thanks!

Congratulations!!! You are doing great. :D

Thanks Brenda 67 for the recipe. It sounds delicious and I am going to try if over the holidays. I love new recipes and this looks like a keeper.

Monner 1

Isn't it amazing what you can make outta nothing...Our pantry is full and for that I thank God. Great job!! Blessings...Kathy

Isn't is amazing how creative we can be when our pantry are full with the staples that we need..you did a great job!!!

Oohh I have all the ingredients in my cabinet, guess what is for dessert tonite!

As a fairly new bandwagon-rider to the stocked pantry concept, I'm excited for you! It's a whole new world, isn't it?!?

~~

Doing the happy dance for you! Awesome what you can do with a little motivation!

LOL
Was talking to my sister this morning and she has a flat on her car and can't get to the store. They are out of everything. Its snowing like mad here so
she wouldn't travel anyway.
We got talking and she said I do have some cheese and noodles ( she's never made homemade mac and cheese ) but don't know how to make the sauce. Told her how. Then she looked in her freezer and got our a package of rhubarb made a pie. Then she found package of venison so marinated it and cooking in oven in sauce.
She found a meal she didn't know she had....
I have to do that a lot.
You did great.....

Don't ya just LUUUUUUUUUUV doing something like that?! :D

I wanted to make some of my homemade carrot soup the other day, but didn't have any cream, so I added cauliflower to the recipe instead of the cream. It came out really really nice. And now that I know I can make it that way, I'm going to try it with butternut squash! :D Plus, cauliflower, even when you buy it in one of those pre-cut-pre-washed tubs is STILL cheaper than cream (and way less calories too!).

Naderbug--if you puree the cauliflower with a bit of water or broth, it comes out creamy and has a good consistency for soup!


I must say I do love my pantry--I just made out a menu plan for a month and still have things left over!!:cheer4:

Um..forgot who I was talking to:loop: Brenda67?? I hope your car can be fixed cheaply. Congrats on the frugalness, too. I love it when I can save a few pennies, especially in the wake of something that I just know is going to cost a fortune!

Naderbug--if you puree the cauliflower with a bit of water or broth, it comes out creamy and has a good consistency for soup!


I must say I do love my pantry--I just made out a menu plan for a month and still have things left over!!:cheer4:

Um..forgot who I was talking to:loop: Brenda67?? I hope your car can be fixed cheaply. Congrats on the frugalness, too. I love it when I can save a few pennies, especially in the wake of something that I just know is going to cost a fortune!




MC..my vehicle is fixed and it was totally covered under warranty..thanks for asking!! Yup your right on about frugalness it really a wonderful thing..