Occasionally, I give myself an end-of-the-month grocery shopping challenge. What can I cook for dinners through the end of the month using items I have on hand instead of buying all new groceries, and how much can I save in the process?

This month, my own spending in other categories, as well as rising grocery costs, have brought me to another end-of-the-month grocery shopping challenge. As much as I’d like to stay on budget, sometimes other expenses just crop up. For me this month, it was Easter outfits, Easter shoes, and all the fixings for Easter dinner. Yes, I even bought some candy to fill the eggs.

That leaves me with smaller-than-usual grocery funds, just $40. With the goal of staying on budget, I made note of our current stock of food. Here’s what I found:

• 1 whole roasting chicken
• 1 bag of frozen chicken breasts
• Ground beef (lots of that in the freezer after purchasing ¼ cow of freezer beef!)
• Shredded cheese
• Wild rice
• Taco seasoning
• Taco shells
• Potatoes
• Spaghetti sauce
• Crescent rolls
• Strawberries

Using these supplies as a base, I have planned the following meals through the end of the month:

April 22 – Creamy Crock-Pot Chicken Alfredo
April 23 – Tacos
April 24 – Creamy Ham Soup

April 25 – Roasted Chicken and Mashed Potatoes
April 26 – Dinner with friends
April 27 – Hamburgers
April 28 – Calzones
April 29 – Poppyseed Chicken and Rice
April 30 – Cheesy Chicken & Rice Bake with Crescent Rolls

Here’s what I purchased to complete the recipes (and make sure we have something for lunches, too!):

• Carrots ($1.49)
• Cream of chicken soup (3 cans – $0.59 each)
• Milk (2 gallons – $2.69 each)
• Sour cream ($1.29)
• Cheesy melt ($4.29)
• Colby jack cheese ($1.99)
• Flour tortillas ($1.19)
• Crackers ($1.79)
• Butter ($2.19)
• Lunch meat ($2.49)
• Flour ($1.49)
• Shredded cheddar cheese ($3.49)
• Pure vanilla ($1.99)
• Chocolate chips (okay, so we don’t absolutely need chocolate chip cookies, but I have a few extra pennies, so why not?) 🙂
• Bread ($1.29)
• Hamburger buns ($.89)

These totaled $34.61! Goal met, and larder filled!