Monday, July 07, 2008

The Pantry Plan: Week One Shopping at the Farmer's Market

After a holiday weekend where I did little cooking I came home yesterday afternoon with the first batch of allowable groceries under The Pantry Plan.

My first stop was the Farmer's Market, where because my garden isn't quite ready to give up any other vegetables than the last of the lettuce and spinach, I had to purchase a few more fresh vegetables than I hope to in the coming week or two when hopefully my garden will be giving up tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and peppers.

My Haul from the 07/06/08 Farmer's Market

My haul included some lovely Rainbow chard, collard greens, zucchini, summer squash, two heads of garlic, corn on the cob, a nice red onion, two I plums, one Early Girl tomato, and the first blueberries of the season. Grand total for all this was $8.90!

Not only did I get a whole weeks worth of vegetables and fruits to supplement what I have in the freezer but I got a chance to use my awesome new canvas bag that Foodbuzz sent all their Featured Publishers at the market.

Foodbuzz Bag with

It is a great bag with lots of room for all the things big and small you find that catch your fancy as you wander the stalls. The bag even has these nifty buttons with my blog's name on it!

Foodbuzz Bag Buttons

I received lots of compliments on the bag and questions by people about Foodbuzz. I really enjoy being part of the program. If you are interested in Foodbuzz, drop me an email and I'll fill you in or contact the wonderful folks over there and tell them I sent you!

After I brought home and put away my haul from the farmer's market I headed for the Stop and Shop where I picked up a quart of milk, a large container of yogurt, and one dozen eggs for $7.61 and updated my pantry lists I made on Tadalists last week showing my pantry, fridge, and freezer contents to reflect the additions from the farmer's market and store.

Sample Pantry Tada List

Tonight, I came home and picked the last of the lettuce from garden before it gets bitter from the heat we are having this week and made a lovely fresh salad using some shrimp from my freezer, two extra pieces of bacon from the batch I made this morning for a breakfast sandwich of egg, cheese and garlic roll left over from the Bakeanista Garlic Knot bake fest, a few of the grape tomatoes I bought last week before I started the Pantry Plan, and a handful of grated Romano cheese from the fridge. I just sprinkled some fresh ground pepper and a squeeze of lemon on top for dressing.

Pantry Challenge: Shrimp Salad

I enjoyed it with a slice of fresh bread I baked when I got home from work tonight spread with some butter.

Pantry Challenge:  White Sandwich Bread

For dessert, I used the last of the Chinese take-out rice, golden raisins from my pantry and some half and half to make quick and easy microwave rice pudding. There is enough rice pudding left over that I can have it for breakfast tomorrow morning with a bowl of fruit from the farmer's market and glass of grapefruit juice.

It was a fabulous meal and if being on the Pantry Plan means eating like this every night, I'm going to be loving it!

Pantry Plan Week One Grocery Totals:
Farmer's Market $ 8.90
Grocery Store $ 7.61
Weekly Total: $16.51