Empty The Freezer Challenge {Days 5 & 6}

Welcome To Day 5 & 6 Of The Empty The Freezer Challenge!

Yesterday was all about when life throws you curveballs

[Read Day 4 Of The Empty The Freezer Challenge Here]

My internet was down for, essentially, 4 days last week and I lost close to 20 hours of productive time.

Seriously.

One would think that the downtime would have helped me with cooking from the freezer, but that would be wrong. Now that we’re past internet-geddon, I’m working extra hard to make up for lost time this week!

Before we get into days 5 & 6, if you’re new to the challenge, I’m taking a little break from my regular postings in December to do a Challenge designed to help save money, simplify, and prepare for the new year:

The “Empty The Freezer Challenge”

What is it? The Empty The Freezer Challenge is my way of encouraging you to not only slow down this season, but save money and get creative! I would guess that most of you are like us: you have tons of food in your freezer which may or may not be edible, that you’ve either forgotten or aren’t super motivated to eat.

They may require some creative meal preparation or presentation, but they’re still good to eat!

Starting December 1st, I’ll by on a mission to use up everything in my freezer – that is still safe to eat. I don’t want to buy anything from the grocery store except for milk. We get eggs from friends who have chickens, so don’t think we’re avoiding using eggs – we’re not.

We may or may not get through all of the food in our THREE freezers, but we’re going to try! Then, on December 25th when we have family over I’ll finally be able to cook with new food from the grocery store!

What Will The Challenge Accomplish?

The Empty The Freezer Challenge have several purposes:

It will encourage you to spend very little/no money on groceries during most of the month of December – a no-spend month of sorts, but without calling it that.
It will get tons of food our of your freezer!
And it will give you a blank slate for the new year – at least as far as your fridge/freezer are concerned
As a bonus, your family will probably complain a lot less in 2016 when you make a creative or inexpensive meal!

Today I want to talk simplicity.

Just because you’re emptying your freezer doesn’t mean that your meals have to live up to the standards of regular, shopped for meals – at least in intricacy.

Health-wise, balanced meals are important, but the complexity of them is not.

For instance, we keep our breakfasts pretty simple. Eggs, proteins shakes, oatmeal, etc. Nothing to brag about.

Lunches also tend to be quick. Today, we’re using up some pizza crusts and having pizza (I’m making extra for the hubs to take in his lunches for a couple of days), and for dinner we’re using up some pork chops and making coleslaw (plus mac & cheese…..probably).

There is absolutely nothing fancy about these meals but they’re using up food out of our freezer, they’re quick, and they’re nutritionally sound.

Dare I say it?

During this, the Empty The Freezer Challenge, and the holiday season, hold yourself to a lower standard. There will be plenty of time to pull out all of the stops when Christmas dinner and New Year’s parties roll around, so for right now, kick up your feet and keep your meals simple!

Here’s what we ate on days 5 & 6 of the Empty The Freezer Challenge:

Breakfast – The kiddo and the hubs ate at the grandparents house and I had a protein shake at home.

Lunch – Again the kiddo and the hubs at the grandparents house, and I had an apple and peanut butter. (If you can’t tell, I don’t eat/cook much when they aren’t home)

Dinner – The hubs was still gone for dinner, so the kiddo and I had mac & cheese. Always a winner.

Breakfast – Sunday breakfast was a disaster. My father in law had asked us to come eat breakfast at Hardees with him (something about biscuits and gravy?) but when we showed up he didn’t. He had a change of plans and didn’t let us know, so rather than drive 25 minutes home we ate out. It was delicious, but I admit I was kind of mad…..

Lunch – Lunch was better, a potluck lunch after church.

Dinner – None of us were hungry for dinner, so we just snacked on leftover. Baby girl had a PB&J