This is what 3 months looks like!

 Okay, as I am trying to take care of the last bit of garden abundance from all of the YUMMY things we have from our garden and neighbors gardens with  

canning, drying and preserving, 
I thought, I would post the list of everything 
that we went through in our 
"3 Months of No Shopping" from 2010.

Tracy and I are always amazed at this list and marvel 
that we really do go through those amounts of things in 3 months worth of time.

I LOVE that we do this challenge 
to ramp up our skills and to grow and learn. 
It is a passion of mine and I think that I will definitely do this each year, to keep "honing" our skills and to keeping "stretching" ourselves and  
seeing even more what we are truly made of!

This year, my meal plans were a little different than last summer as we didn't cook as much with our Dutch Ovens, but come the weekend, I will finally have time to go through all of my lists and add everything up that we went through these past 
19 weeks of no major shopping...
(can't wait to compare this year to last year)

until then, here is last years challenge list.

(originally posted September 7, 2010) 

Here is a list of the major things we went through.

With cooking every meal from scratch,

we went through A LOT of the staples.

This has been very helpful to help us in planning for LONG term storage.

(BTW...we have chickens that we get eggs from, so we didn't have to use egg powder)

(staples)

100 pounds unbleached flour
25 pounds sugar
10 pounds brown sugar
2 pounds powdered sugar
10 pounds honey
10 pounds raisins
1 pound dried cherries
13 pounds wheat
2 pounds corn meal
1-1/2 pounds SAF yeast
3/4 pound baking powder
2 pounds baking soda
3 pounds salt
6 pounds rock salt
25 pounds steel cut oats
8 pounds rolled oats
8 pounds powdered milk
9 pounds dried beans/legumes
9 pounds rice
12 pounds pasta
3 pounds popcorn kernels
5 pounds raw almonds
1 pound walnuts
1/2 pound pecans
1 pound sunflower seeds
1 pound cashews
(1) 23 ounce container unsweetened cocoa powder
32 oz. bottle REAL maple syrup
12 ounces molasses
16 ounces corn syrup
2 packages marshmallows
1 pound Citric Acid
2 bottles Lemon Extract
(3) 8.2 ounce bottles REAL vanilla
2 liters Olive Oil
72 ounces Canola Oil
2-1/2 pounds cornstarch
72 ounces chocolate chips
6 ounces white chocolate chips
(2) 40 ounce jars peanut butter
(we also used quite a bit of Cajun seasoning, lemon pepper, taco seasoning, cumin, chili powder, granulated garlic, beef and chicken bouillon, dried parsley oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and All-Spice)

(cheese/butter)

10 pounds Monterey Jack Cheese
1-1/2 pounds sharp cheese
2 pounds Mozzarella Cheese
24 pounds butter

(meat)

4 pounds chicken
8 pounds hamburger
5 pounds pork
10 pounds salmon
22 cans tuna
2 packages Pepperoni & Canadian Bacon (from freezer)

(misc.)

40 limes (limes, citric acid and sugar turned into this)
6 packages Pink Lemonade Kool-Aid
25 pound bale carrots
(2) 46 ounce jars pickles
(2) 24 ounce bottles ketchup
(2) 30 ounce jars Mayonnaise
10 cans stewed tomatoes/tomato sauce
2 bottles salsa
2 packages dry Ranch Dressing Mix
20 packages Doublemint Gum
bag of 200 Menthol cough drops

(we also went through a few cans each of pineapple tidbits, olives, diced green chilies, canned beans, evaporated milk, bean sprouts, water chestnuts and chow mein noodles...ALSO, a few packages of Ramen for our backpacker meals)
1 large bag charcoal briquettes

(I lost track of how many pounds of frozen fruits/berries we used for our smoothies, (here) but I had pineapple in my freezer from 2007 and 2008 and it is all used up and we are on this years pineapple chunks..click here for how I freeze pineapple)

(cleaning/toiletries)

(4) 56 ounce containers Soft Soap
48 ounces shampoo
48 ounces conditioner
30 ounces hair gel
33 ounces hair spray
(1) 13 ounce bottle Curel lotion
18 rolls paper towels
60 rolls toilet paper
(1) 36 count box tampons/(1) 18 count box maxi-pads
1 box of each sandwich and snack sized bags
2 boxes of each gallon and quart sized bags
1/2 box Q-tips
20 oz. mouth wash
(2) 100 ounce jugs laundry soap
1 box Borax
90 ounces dishwasher soap
32 ounces Glass Plus
12 ounces 409 cleaner
16 ounces Armstrong floor cleaner
40 ounces Bathroom cleaner
40 ounces Shower Cleaner
64 ounces Hydrogen Peroxide
3 gallons vinegar
1/2 box Bounce sheets
1 gallon CAR oil
1 gallon windshield washer cleaner

As you can tell, the past 2 weeks, 
have been full of YUMMYNESS,

FUN meals and meals celebrating the veggies of the season.

Stay tuned this weekend 
 for the results of this years challenge 
of going 19 weeks with NO major shopping.

Have a wonderful, happy, 

frugal & joyful day!