The $20/$20 Challenge: Paige From Salem, Oregon Shows Us Her Pantry

And so it begins. I can’t believe how fast you guys work. My inbox was hit almost immediately after posting the $20/$20 Challenge with pictures of your pantries. You. Guys. Rock. I’m so excited to see all of the different ways my reader organize, shop, splurge, etc.

First up is Paige. Can I just say that I adored her from the very first picture? I mean, she planted a garden in her front yard. How cool is she?! Take a look at her story:

Hi Mavis! I’m Paige. I live in Salem, Oregon. Last ye​ar I found your blog and started a garden {in my front yard GASP!}.

This is my fridge. We are a “leftovers” family, which means I usually make one large dinner meal that we can eat for lunch the next day. Sometimes for dinner the next day too. I try and make something my husband can easily transport and heat up at work {and that tastes good reheated}. This way we get a lot of good meals we really like AND fewer dishes, which I happen to abhor doing.

This is my pantry {upper} and longer term food storage (lower). Our home is about 1100 square feet so we have fun trying to make the most of our space. Also on the counter next to the toaster is part of my reused Pirouline tin collection we use for dry goods storage {yes, I have a Pirouline weakness and yes, I have a LOT of tins}.

​I used to make a dinner menu but found its upkeep tedious and buying missing ingredients to often be expensive. I buy what’s on sale or is a good deal and start watching prices for our favorite ingredients when we are running low. I stick, mostly strictly, to whatever gets onto the shopping list and buy when the price is right.

However, if something we use a lot of goes on a good sale, I buy a ton and we stick it down here. I think the small space actually helps us use all of the food we buy. Our dinner menu is driven more by what will expire soonest. We haven’t thrown anything out for spoilage in many years.
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Our fresh foods and compost containers live on our counter. During the summer it was so full of produce from our garden, we had very little preparation space!

We were blessed with a free and perfectly functional deep freezer last year and have begun to build our frozen reserves. It lives in the garage.

I buy sale meat, sale popsicles, and our favorite {guilty Trader Joe’s splurge non sale} frozen fast dinners for when nobody feels like cooking {because it’s still cheaper than eating out}, and throw them in here. Also, easy frozen lunch meals for when there are no dinner leftovers for the next day live here. On the middle shelf to the right are tomatoes from our garden and cherries we preserved from the 2014 harvest!

We are a family of four with two children. One 4 years old and one 2 years old. I prioritize buying organic meat and produce as long as I can make the budget work and they are available at the store. I primarily shop at Winco and hit the Fred Meyers sales if they have something I need. I buy mostly honey and salt at our natural foods stores when we are low, and hit their organic produce/meat sales, and I bake bread as often as I can. ​I don’t coupon and we usually have to make a store run once every 6-10 days. It usually costs us between $60 and $110 a trip, depending on if I buy to stock up on a sale or not. I was astounded to see you spent that in a whole MONTH! Thanks for letting me share, and thank you for donating to food banks!

Sincerely,
Paige

Find out more about the $20/$20 Challenge: Show Your Pantry – Fill a Pantry