February Freezer Challenge

Today I am writing a different style blog post and I'm really excited about it! This post is designed to be an interactive challenge and I hope you'll participate!

This month Home in the Hollow is starting the first ever February Freezer Challenge.

What is the February Freezer Challenge?

The February Freezer Challenge is designed to help inspire us to use the food that was purchased, grown, or preserved throughout the past year. For the month of February, those who choose to participate, will be encouraged to make at least one meal every day that includes an item already in your pantry or freezer.

The idea for this challenge was sparked by several different things. First, if you're anything like me, it's easy to spend time shopping, growing, or preserving food only to have it lost in the dark abys of the freezer. I tend to grab the first thing on the shelf in front of me and sadly, the bag of frozen Brussel sprouts gets missed, buried behind burger and pork roasts. Can you relate?

Second, Caleb and I work hard to source local meats, grow fruits and veggies, and preserve the harvest. What's the point of all that work if we forget to eat it?!?

Third, this is an opportunity to save money. Using all the random things left in the pantry and freezer keeps your trips to the grocery store at a minimum. The February Freezer Challenge is designed to help us think about ways to use what we have, instead of making whatever meal we feel like in the moment. Believe me, I get it! Coming home after a long day at work, it can be daunting to start a meal from scratch. But I think, if we're intentional, we can create beautiful and nourishing meals that don't take much extra effort.

What are the rules?

The rules of the challenge are going to look a little different for everyone. Caleb and I are lucky enough to have the opportunity to purchase half a beef from a local farmer. We are also blessed to be able to have our own eggs and raise lots of our own veggies.

For our challenge we're choosing to eat only meat from our freezer and veggies that we've preserved or grown over the past year. We aren't able to raise much of our own fruit and we don't have any way to get dairy or grains without going to a store. For this reason, we are going to give ourselves a 35-dollar budget for the month of February to purchase grains, fruit, or dairy as needed. For us, 35 dollars isn't much compared to our normal grocery budget, but we want to challenge ourselves and get creative with our meals.

Like I mentioned, your challenge will probably look different from ours and that's okay! The main goals are to reduce waste, save money, and eat healthy homemade foods!

Where do I start?

Start by getting organized! I started with going to the pantry and freezer to take inventory. Then I wrote a list of pantry and freezer staples we currently have in our house. I've included my lists below to help give you some inspiration.

Next, I wrote a meal plan for the month to help me utilize the food I have (and to help me on the days when I'm uninspired and have no clue what to cook). I downloaded a free calendar online and wrote our dinner menu for each day. Below is my meal plan in case you need some help brainstorming.

I'm not worried about a meal plan for breakfast and lunches. We usually eat eggs or yogurt for breakfast and lunches usually consist of leftovers from dinner the night before. If you want to make a meal plan for all 3 meals of the day, by all means go for it!

What not to do:

Don't go out and stockpile food the last week of January. That defeats the purpose of the challenge. If you don't have enough food stored for the whole month then maybe your challenge will be to make a homemade meal with a pantry or freezer item 10 days out of the month. Make the challenge your own!

Let's connect!

If you're interested in participating in the February Freezer Challenge leave a comment below. I am hoping to create a chat or group email where those participating in the challenge can connect and share recipes, inspiration, and encouragement with each other. I will keep you posted. Let me know what thoughts and questions you have about the challenge!

Thanks for reading,

Abby