Summertime Pantry Challenge: Week 1

This week we kicked off our Summertime Pantry Challenge.

I will confess that I didn't do too well on Goal #1: Limiting my food spending to fresh produce, eggs, dairy, and beans. Chicken was on sale at Kroger this week, so I stocked up! No guilt here though! We were completely out, so I bought enough to last us for the month.

However, I did use up several freezer items in my cooking this week after taking a new inventory of the contents. That felt good! Plus, we bought several items at our local online farmer's market and the farmer's market.

Here's what we bought:

1 eggplant
2 pounds of sweet potatoes
2 pounds of red potatoes
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
1 bundle of Ukranian red garlic
1 pint Juliet tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 pound fresh blueberries

We will have potatoes for a while now! Yea! {I like to buy locally grown taters because they have fewer pesticides than conventionally grown ones.}

My grand total was $25.75, which included a whoopie pie for my daughter, her weekly market treat.

We also have a mess of cucumbers of squash in the garden to eat on this next week, and, hopefully, tomatoes in a few weeks. There are some nice plump green ones on the plants. Yum! Last Saturday I put up 3 pints of sweet pickle relish and will probably can some more this weekend, too.

I love summertime produce from the farmer's market and from our own garden.

Challenges for this next week:

(1) Spend less at the grocery store. This week I spent more than I had intended at Kroger and Publix, but I plan to forgo my weekly trip to Publix this week and only buy a few necessities (i.e., sugar, flour, and some other odds and ends we're out of) at Kroger.

(2) Find & try out some new recipes. This past week I was lazy with the meal planning and relied on my old standbys, but I would like to venture out a bit and try out some new recipes.

(3) Plan a preserving list. Checking out this excellent post by Keeper of the Home, which has inspired me to plan ahead. The tomatoes will be here before you know it, and I need to get prepared!

Are you taking the Summertime Pantry Challenge? If so, how's it going?