Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge: Creativity

Welcome to the Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge, co-hosted by Laura at Frugal Follies, Denise at Shopper Strategy, Robbie at Going Green Mama, Crystal at Mrs. Happy Homemaker, and Rebecca Jean at Midnight Maniac.

We invite you to join us!   Please read the rules of the challenge first.

Two weeks, I posted my goals for the challenge, as did my co-hosts (here are theirs: Going Green Mama, Shopper Strategy, Midnight Maniac, Mrs. Happy Homemaker).  And last week, I gave an update on how I was doing on the challenge.

So how did it go this week for you?

This week was easier for me, partly because I was out of town and wasn't using anything from my pantry at all!  But for the parts when I was in town, everything went well.

I'm finding that this challenge is forcing me to be more creative.  For instance, I'm running low on plastic sandwich bags.  Instead of just running out and buying more, I'm using plastic wrap, which I despise yet have several half-used rolls of on the paper goods shelf.  I'm almost out of instant oatmeal packets; I'll be making homemade oatmeal packets soon.  (I had planned to make them during my Freezer Cooking Days last week, but didn't.) 

The only thing I ran out of this week was mixed nuts, which I decided to replace.  I've also been able to use up several bottles of salad dressing by using them to marinate chicken breasts.  They're quite tasty, especially fruit-based dressings like red wine vinegar & oil dressing.  I'll definitely try to have many fewer bottles open at one time for now on.

Although my main goal was simplicity - only going shopping at one store one time per week - I've found that I'm still going to some of those stores, anyway.  I went to Target to pick up some winter clothes, to Walgreens to get medicine, and I've made some trips to Publix for a quick couple of items, when it didn't seem worth it to schlep to ALDI.  So I could have been picking up bargains at that time, too.  I miss all the bargain planning and can't wait to get back to it after the challenge is over!

Have you been participating in the Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge? Leave a comment about your experiences so far. Or, if you're a blogger, link to your post about the challenge below!