Using What It Is On Hand For Meal Planning

So I have had two successful frozen meals planned out that helped us tremendously over the past month or so. I plan on doing this again, however right now I am trying to use what is already in our cupboard.

So this weekend I organized the cupboards to take inventory of what we already have. Several cans of black beans, chicken broth, bags of pasta, etc. I did toss a few things that were way beyond expiration date, I guess this happens when you don't go through your cupboards often enough, lol.

So what I ended up buying was 3 rotisserie chickens (to have shredded chicken ready), mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Mexican blended cheese, tortillas, salsa, sweet potatoes and then our regular items like eggs, cereal, milk etc.

So using the black beans I already have, the Mexican cheese blend and tortillas we will have quesadillas a few nights.

Then using the pasta I already have, shredded chicken and mozzarella cheese I will make a chicken pasta dish that will be enough for at least 4 nights.

We have a huge bag of rice that is still about half full. So I will use the rice and black beans I already had and add some salsa and Mexican cheese and we have a few casseroles! We can probably even make about 4 total.

Then just for something different we bought sweet potatoes and will have scrambled eggs with sweet potatoes and black beans. I will also do a night or two of baked potatoes.

So just using what I have and adding a few things from Costco, we have 2 weeks worth of dinners. I will definitely be ready to plan our menu next time so we aren't have the same thing 4 times, but this is a good way to reduce waste and use what we have. Girls were thrilled with the pasta so I am sure they won't mind having it multiple times. :-)

What types of menus have you done to try and cut back on spending and use what you already have on hand?

Enjoy! <3